judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. the biden agenda. the present doubles -- president doubles faxing goals in the first news conference of his administration. then, on the border with mexico. we are on the ground as migrants continue to cross into the u.s., despite the dangers and risks of deportation. and hunting for vaccines. volunteers use every tool at their disposal to find a shot for those in need. >> we are going person-to-person , getting them vaccinated. ladies and men that are on the

margins of society, that folks are not advocating for them -- that is our target. judy: 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 is new? >> andriis expecting. >> twins. >> change in plans. >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. the candida -- the kendeda fund, investing meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and

ideas. more at kendedafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and stitutions. ♪ ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to the -- to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the president speaks. toy's white house news

conference was heavy on the subject of immigration at the southern border, but it also touched on voting rights and the biden agenda's prospects in the u.s. senate. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor was there, and she has our report. yamiche: after 64 days in office, president biden held his first official news conference. he began by naming a new target for covid vaccinations. pres. biden: we will, by my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million shots in people's arms. that's right, 200 million shots in 100 days. i know it's ambitious, twice our original goal, but no other country in the world has even come close. yamiche: but the challenges at the u.s. southern border took center stage. and is there a timeline for when we won't be seeing these overcrowded facilities with -- run by cbp when it comes to unaccompanied minors? pres. biden: and so what we're doing now is attempting to rebuild -- rebuild the system

that can accommodate the -- what is happening today. if you take a look at the number of people who are coming, the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back. yamiche: mr. biden was questioned about possibly doing away with the filibuster, a potential roadblock to immigration reform and his larger agenda. pres. biden: successful electoral politics is the art of the possible. let's figure out how we can get this done and move in the direction of significantly changing the abuse of even the filibuster rule first. it's been abused from the time it came into being by an extreme way in the last 20 years. let's deal with the abuse first. yamiche: the president also criticized efforts by republican state legislatures to restrict voting access. pres. biden: what i'm worried about is how un-american this whole initiative is.

it's sick. i am convinced that we'll be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing. this makes jim crow look like jim eagle. i mean, this is gigantic what they're trying to do, and it cannot be sustained. i'm going to do everything in my power, along with my friends in the house and the senate, to keep that from -- from becoming the law. yamiche: president biden also made news. he announced that he expects to run for reelection with vice president harris on the ticket. have you decided whether you are going to run for reelection in 2024? you haven't set up a reelection campaign yet, as your predecessor had by this time. pres. biden: my predecessor needed to. [laughter] pres. biden: my predecessor. oh god, i miss him. [laughter] pres. biden: no, the answer is yes. my plan is to run for reelection. that's my expectation. yamiche: in the wake of two recent mass shootings, the president was questioned about gun control. but he quickly pivoted to infrastructure. pres. biden: it's a matter of

timing. as you've all observed, successful presidents -- better than me -- have been successful, in large part, because they know how to time what they're doing, order it, decide and priorities what needs to be done. the next major initiative is -- and i will be announcing it friday in pittsburgh in detail -- is to rebuild the infrastructure, both physical and technological infrastructure in this country. yamiche: after nearly 20 years of war in afghanistan, mr. biden did not commit to withdrawing american troops by a may 1 deadline agreed to by the trump administration. pres. biden: it's going to be hard to meet the may 1 deadline. just in terms of tactical reasons. it's hard to get those troops out.

we've been meeting with our allies, those other nations that have -- nato allies who have troops in afghanistan as well. and if we leave, we're going to so in a safe and orderly way. yamiche: he also said he would challenge china's president xi on human rights abuses, and said former president trump skirted that responsibility. pres. biden: we're going to continue, in an unrelenting way, to call to the attention of the world and make it clear, make it clear what's happening. that's who we are. the moment a president walks away from that, as the last one did, is the moment we begin to lose our legitimacy around the world. yamiche: the president then departed the east room to meet virtually with european union leaders at the european council summit. judy: and yamiche joins me now from the white house. hello, yamiche. so, the president, as you reported, was asked a lot about immigration today.

what is his explanation for why so many migrants are now trying to enter the u.s.? yamiche: that's right. a lot of the president's first press conference was spent on this issue, a big challenge for the biden administration, immigration. he laid a lot of the blame for what is happening at the southern border at the feet of his predecessor, former president trump. he says he inherited a mess and that former president trump dismantled largely the legal -- the legal immigration system. and he said that he was now trying to rebuild it. he said that he didn't back down on the idea that he was going to follow u.s. law, something that president trump didn't want to do, which was allowing unaccompanied minors into the united states. he also, though, said that migrant families, all of them, most of them, and not -- are being sent back right now, but all of them, he wants them to be sent back. they're being sent back right now under title 42. that deals with public health and the idea that we're in the middle of a pandemic and can't at this time take in families. that being said, president biden said that he really needs time to get his hands around this. he also said that he would give journalists access to those overcrowded border facilities where we see a lot of children

sleeping on floors and saying that they're terrified and not getting sunlight. but he says he has to first be given a chance to implement his plan before we can start to see those facilities as reporters. judy: and, yamiche, the president was also asked about gun violence in america after these terrible shootings in atlanta and in boulder, colorado. he didn't offer many details today. but what is known about what the white house is thinking with regard to guns and gun violence? yamiche: president biden did not spend a lot of time talking about gun reform. and that is telling, because it is an issue that he talked about on the campaign trail when he was a candidate. he pivoted very quickly to infrastructure, talking about roads and bridges. white house officials tell me that the president and his aides are really -- they're looking at a number of executive actions, including possibly requiring background checks for so-called ghost guns. these are hand-assembled firearms that right now are not registered as firearms. they're not -- you're not required to have a background check to purchase these.

so, that's something they're looking at. but part the reason why the president didn't talk about -- a lot about guns today is because the filibuster and the issue in the congress is really something that would hold up a lot of gun reform and immigration reform and voting legislation. we heard the president today call gop efforts to restrict voting rights "sick." but just hours after that, georgia passed a really telling voting bill that restricts access to voting by mail to a number of people, as well as gives more power to the state legislature there. so, that tells you in some ways why the conversation about filibuster is so needed among democrats, and why they're still talking about it. judy: and, finally, yamiche, all this comes as the country, of course, still in the grips of this pandemic. what is the president saying about plans to get more people vaccinated? yamiche: well, the president outlined a plan, a new goal, 200 million shots in arms by the end of his first 100 days. i have been talking to white house officials about this goal.

i talked to cameron webb. he is a senior white house policy adviser on covid equity. and he told me that there's a detailed plan that they're announcing today to invest $10 billion focused specifically on covid equity, along with this new goal. it's going to be targeting community health centers. it's also going to be targeting patients who are on dialysis who are having kidney failure an kidney problems. and, also, it's going to be trying to get vaccine confidence up in places like rural communities, as well as communities of color. but i have to tell you, judy, this is really important, because there's some analysis, including at the new york times, that said african americans, their vaccination rate is half of that of white americans. and that gap is even bigger among latino americans. judy: all right, yamiche alcindor reporting from the white house on the day of this first news conference for president biden. thank you, yamiche. yamiche: thanks. judy: and as the biden administration works to respond to the influx of migrants, our amna nawaz was on the border last night, watching as several people crossed into the united

states. she reports from ciudad juarez, mexico, and el paso, texas. amna: as the sun goes down over juarez, this group has just made their way from mexico into the united states. after crossing the river and climbing the banks, they quickly scale the wall. from our vantage point, they disappear among the trains on the other side. we have come to this place that we have heard from local sources the number of border crossings has been going up in recent weeks. sure enough, that crossing that we just witnessed happened in a matter of minutes. what's really remarkable, though, is that this was an area that was patrolled by mexican national guard just a few minutes ago. and there's a u.s. customs and border protection truck about 100 yards down that way. at this location, the distance from one nation to the next is a matter of feet, separated by a shallow, narrow stretch of the rio grande river. the pedestrian bridge linking the u.s. and mexico is mere minutes away, but without documents to enter, they'd be

turned back before setting foot on american soil. crossing here means they're likely to get picked up by border patrol, and can then make a case to stay in the u.s. on the juarez side, people are milling about in these evening hours. a park nearby draws parents and children. on the el paso side, border patrol cars regularly scout the area. still, very soon, we see another crossing at a point further down the banks -- this time, a group that looks like four adults, one carrying a baby in his arms. they climb up the u.s. side, jogging for a moment, then walking along the wall and out of our sight. soon after, 50 yards the other direction, a group that looks like four teenage boys. not long after that, what looks like a mother and daughter. they wade carefully through the water, but the mother struggles to make it up the steep incline. the girl reaches back to help her up. eventually, they reach the top, and continue walking, hand in hand on their way.

i have to tell you, this is an incredibly long stretch of land. the families and groups seem to come out of nowhere, and then make their way quickly across. we did try to ask some of them as they were crossing where they were from. we did not get an answer. so we don't know much about the families, but we do now they -- do know they have made their way into the united states. the vast majority of people apprehended crossing the border right now are being turned back around to mexico under a pandemic-related rule called title 42. but the biden administration is not turning away unaccompanied minors, and border agents are making exceptions for some families. u.s. officials say they are seeing high rates of recidivism, the same people attempting to cross again and again. ruben garcia, who has worked in migrant services in the area for over 40 years, says the rule keeping people out could also be fueling the current increase in unaccompanied minors. ruben: families that have been expelled multiple times that are traveling with children, and some of them are making the

decision to send their children in by themselves, because they have families someplace in the u.s., and they know their children will be released to them. so, in a sense, our title 42 policy is helping to contribute to the unaccompanied minor surge that we're seeing. amna: in response to our request for comment, a customs and border protection spokesman reiterated that the border is not open, and that the vast majority of people crossing are sent back to mexico under that title 42. but he also pointed us to recent data specific to this el paso sector. year to date, the number of unaccompanied minors crossing here has seen an increase of 144% compared to last year. among single adults, they have seen an increase of 231%. congresswoman veronica escobar, whose district includes el paso, says those numbers will grow. but many of the single adults are the same people trying to cross multiple times. rep. escobar: so, title 42

doesn't address anything. it doesn't solve anything. it basically postpones the inevitable. none of these policies that push people and limit their legal avenues do anything in the long term. amna: in an op-ed for the new york times today, she wrote -- quote -- "americans must finally acknowledge that the real crisis is not at the border, but outside it, and that, until we address that crisis, this flow of vulnerable people seeking help at our doorstep will not end anytime soon." last week, a group of republican house members visited el paso to decry president biden's policies. on friday, a republican senate group will visit the southern border. escobar will host her own congressional delegation here in el paso this weekend. rep. escobar: all of these republican delegations that are coming to the border, the -- what is unttling to me is the way they use the border as a prop. all of that moves us further away from a real dialogue and

real conversations. we have got to focus on solutions, or we're going to have this conversation every single year. amna: those solutions may be harder to find with washington's political wars now being waged on the border. for the "pbs newshour," i'm amna nawaz in juarez, mexico, and el paso, texas. ♪ vanessa: i'm the necessary wheeze for stephanie sy. we will -- i'm vanessa ruiz, in for stephanie sy. at least one tornado has struck the birmingham, alabama area, with reports of five deaths and multiple injuries. officials say a storm hit a subdivision of birmingham and several towns to the south. it tore up homes and a civic complex and ripped down power lines. efforts to ship covid-19 vaccines to needy nations have run into major delays.

the gavi alliance, backed by the u.n., says 90 million doses of astrazeneca's vaccine are affected. they are being produced in india, but domestic demand is rising in that country. in u.s. economic news, new claims for unemployment benefits in the u.s. fell to 684,000 last week, the lowest since the pandemic began. i suspect -- the suspect in the boulder, colorado, shooting had his first court appearance today on 10 charges of first-degree murder. the lawyer for ahmad al aliwi alissa asked for a mental health assessment. that will delay the next pretrial hearing. and prosecutors said it could take a year to try the case. michael: today's court appearance is the first step in what will be a long journey to justice for the victims, their loved ones, and this community. and i can promise you every step of the way we're going to fight incredibly hard to secure the right outcome in this case. vanessa: alissa did not enter a

plea at the hearing. arkansas is now the second state this year to enact a law banning transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams. republican governor asa hutchinson signed the bill into law, saying it would maintain fairness in women's sporting events. nickel and child welfare groups, however, say the restriction will have a devastating impact on transgender use. the university of southern california has agreed to pay $852 million in a record settlement involving sexual abuse. the money goes to more than 700 women who accuse the longtime campus gynecologist. dr. george kendall -- tindal is also facing misconduct charges. the supreme court of california issued a major ruling today that bars holding people in jail simply because they cannot afford bail. the unanimous decision said lower courts must consider the

ability to pay, unless the defendant is deemed too dangerous to release. the upshot is that many indigent defendants may now be released. and in russia, opposition leader alexei navalny says that his physical condition is worsening in prison. he complained of poor treatment for back pain and leg problems. navalny was jailed for violating probation because he traveled to germany to recover from being poisoned. he blamed the attack on the putin government. protests in myanmar today led to fresh violence, with reports of four people killed. troops attacked crowds. meanwhile, the u.s. imposed new sanctions. state department officials told a senate hearing that they will hit the army regime where it hurts. atul: what these are doing now is really pinpointing the commander in chief, his family, his ruling circle. these are very carefully sort of designed sanctions to put pressure on the commander in chief, to put pressure on his

children, on his family to make him realize that he has bitten off more than he can chew. vanessa:rews cre still struggling to clear egypt's suez canal of a giant cargo ship that is wedged across it. leaders of the effort warned today that it could take weeks. tugboats and cranes have failed to free the ship, which ran aground on tuesday during a sandstorm. at least 150 other vessels are now blocked from transiting the canal. still to come on the "newshour," europe struggles to manage a new wave of infections and the challenge of vaccine rollout. problems of equitable distribution continue to plague the paycheck protection program. volunteers here at home use every tool at their disposal to find vaccines for people who need help. this and much more. ♪ >> this is the "pbs newshour"

from weta student -- studios and from arizona state university. judy: much of continental europe is suffering through a third and brutal wave of covid-19. making matters worse, the drive to vaccinate throughout the european union is faltering, and badly. coupled with recent concerns about the astrazeneca vaccine, as nick schifrin reports, the e.u. is running behind. nick: on the banks of the seine, the city of lights feels a little bit dimmed. paris is under a new, month-long lockdown. and along with this spring's bloom comes heavy gloom. france faces what european leaders call the crisis of the century. hospitals are overwhelmed with a faster-spreading variant first discovered in brain. and the lockdown will not prevent the city's fate, warns the head of a paris intensive care unit. jean-francois: whatever we do, those who are infected today

will need to go to hospital or in intensive care units in 10 days from now, and those in the icu will stay for two weeks. in any case, this coming month will be hell. nick: a deepening circle of hell, in part because of a vaccine shortage. across the european union, only 5% are fully vaccinated. that relative deficit comes in part from the 27-country bloc centralizing procurement, but being too cautious in guaranteeing supply. in a greek tv interview last night, french president emmanuel macron admitted europe should have had more of what he called american ambition. pres. macron: without a doubt, in a way, we didn't shoot for the stars. i think that should be a lesson for us. we were maybe too rational. nick: but that rationality also included generosity. the e.u. has distributed 71 million doses internally, but exported 43 million doses to more than 30 countries. that disparity has led to incredible political pressure on and from e.u. leaders. during today's european summit,

leaders confirmed they would block exports to countries with better vaccination rates, but continue exports to the u.n. and developing world. nathalie: what has led up to this announcement is basically the fact that, in europe, things are not going very well. nick: nathalie tocci is a special adviser to the e.u. leadership and directs the international affairs institute in rome. she says vaccine failures reaten european solidarity and could increase european nationalism. nathalie: this is really, in a sense, not only about the pandemic, but it's really about the future of the european project. if the e.u. does not deliver, that nationalist, sovereign -- sovereigntist sort of wave that had swept across europe is going to be back. nick: but it's a different story in recently divorced britain. 40% of the country has received at least one shot. it's imported 10 million doses from continental europe and exported zero. today, british prime minister boris johnson visited a day

care, and showed off his painting skills. p.m. johnson: needs work. nick: but said the zero to 10 million ratio worked just fine. p.m. johnson: one thing i'm firmly libertarian about is free trade, and i don't want to see blockades of vaccines or of medicines. i don't think that's the way forward, either for us or for any of our friends. suerie: the big concern is that, once the e.u. stts to clamp down more and more on exports of vaccines, that this can undermine efforts to vaccinate the rest of the world. nick: suerie moon co-directs the global health center at the graduate institute in geneva. she says astrazeneca is the developing world's most important vaccine, and export reductions could hurt everyone's ability to overcome covid. suerie: economically, it makes sense for richer countries to make sure poor ones get access to vaccines, in terms of political stability and political relationships. and in terms of trying to prevent the emergence of new mutations, new variants of concern, which can come back and undermine the pandemic control efforts in wealthier countries, it also makes sense to vaccinate everywhere.

nick: also not helping, more vaccine skeptici. overnight, astrazeneca released new data of its u.s. trials, in response to government criticism it had cherry-picked preliminary data. in denmark, authorities today extended a freeze on astrazeneca for three weeks. that kind of news has led to more hesitancy, including back in france, where brigitte becker shows off the inhaler for her asthma, the toys for her grandkids, but refuses the vaccine that will let her see them. brigitte: considering everything that has been said about astrazeneca, i don't want to take it anymore. nick: the irony is, countries distributing european vaccines are reducing covid rates, helping prove vaccine safety and efficiency. suerie: and soin some ways, people should be even more willing to come forward and be immunized. but it's really unfortunate. the daily headlines, i think, are going to make it even harder. nick: scientists insist astrazeneca and all the vaccines are safe.

it's now a question of how quickly the world can distribute them and avoid more lockdowns. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ judy: the u.s. senate voted today to extend the application period for the paycheck protection program until the end of may. questions remain around how equitably the aid is distributed. we talked to several latino business owners and lenders about the pandemic's impact and the application process. it's part oour race matters series. denise: my name is denise hernandez. my husband and i work at our family-owned business. it's a catering company called true flavors catering. david: hi. i'm david adame. jose: i'm jose martinez. david: i'm president and ceo of chicanos por la causa. we're one of the largest community development corporations that we call

ourselves in the country. ilianna: my name is ilianna. d this is my mom, gloria. and our family business is for kids' clothes in anaheim, california. gloria: considering that we were closed for three months, that's a long time. and no revenue, that's a long time. and it wasn't like the bills stopped or they froze. it's not like that. mark: we're in the events business, so in our business, we're -- our business, there's gathering, right? so we were very quick to be affected by this. denise: we went dark for a while. we were the first affected. we were hit the hardest. it's going to be the longest industry to recover. gloria: it's just my husband and i covering the hours, no employees. and we have been working like that since may until now. so, we work seven days out of the week. denise: when you're self-employed, you're in it. you do everything. like, you wipe tables and you clean toilets, and you will fire -- you will file reports or whatever it might be, right. like, we do it all. ilianna: it's not like someone called the store saying, hey,

the ppp application is out. here's how you can apply for it. let us know if you need help. they don't -- no one does that. we don't have a whole finance department or a whole accounting department. like, 's right here. [laughter] mark: we have somebody that helps us with our accounting side, right, that we can easily pull up reports, and we can easily pull up financials at the push of a few buttons. and if you don't have that, it could be so stressful. it could be so tedious. jose: many of these small businesses, they don't have significant relationships with banks. and they're expected to go to a bank and get one of these loans. just like the last recession, right, our communities were hit harder. they rebounded slower. so, this pandemic is no different. it just amplifies what we already see in our society. ilianna: when the very first ppp loan was announced, i was refreshing every hour for days, just waiting for wells fargo to

release the application. my parents have been banking with them through the business, thinking, ok, we have been longtime customers. they should be able to help us. they rejected our application. i remember watching webinars from my local small business administration. i was watching them every single day trying to get answers. and, i mean, there were thousands of people on these zoom calls from my local sba, and they were all asking, like, we got rejected. what do we do? david: there was no thought process about outreach, even marketing, for that matter, right? the marketing was, hey, we know you're struggling, and here it is. you go to your local bank and try to figure it out. so, even with the banks, as large as a system it was, they got bogged down, right? and, of course, of the smaller businesses probably weren't going to get the biggest attention. jose: my team was working seven days a week, really trying to figure out how we can get as

many ppp loans out there to our community. we helped a lot of restaurants. we helped a lot of janitorial services, all the way down to individual uber drivers. mark: it wasn't generating the revenue that we -- denise: by no means -- mark: by no means. it was just not even a fraction of what we're used to. but it allowed us to keep employees working. denise: that money ran out, right? and so, i would say october, maybe october, november, to when we were funded again in march, those months were super stressful. and so we were having to let people go. gloria: we're just making the most of it and waiting to see if they give us something. but we're still there. and just like a lot of businesses there, you're just waiting to see what happens. judy: so good to hear directly from these americans. and we dig in now into more of

the details with our congressional correspondent, lisa desjardins. so, hello, lisa. tell us, overall, where is the country right now with regard to the paycheck protection program? lisa: let's go through some big numbers here. this program, since it was started, judy, has given out eight million loans. and since january, that is three million. almost a third of the loans on this program have been this year. there is $80 billion remaining in funding and -- or -- i'm sorry, $80 million remaining in funding, and the thinking is that that should be enough to end the program. that is what sources on capitol hill tell me. judy: and, lisa, we were just hearing these voices, of course, from people who have struggled to get the loans. tell us about where we are with regard to disparity in handing out this money? lisa: as we heard from those

voices across the country, there is a wide spectrum of experience here. but in general, we know this. last year, the loans given out in ppp were disproportionate. in fact, twice of rate of loans for ppp were given out in white areas than were in areas that had more of a minority population. now, why is that? i think you heard some of this in the tape. banks are a big factor. we know that banks have more relationships with white businesses. j.p. morgan chase had an analysis last year that found that, in fact, disproportionately, minority-run businesses do not have financing the way that white businesses do. also, minority-run businesses, we know in the case of the hispanic chamber of commerce, they say they're smaller, an average of three to five people per business, sometimes just sole proprietors. and, now, congress realized this in december, made some changes to the ppp program that have gone into effect this year. and watchdogs i have talked to

think that this disparity actually has improved, that things are getting better. one note, especially for sole proprietors, if you're a sole proprietor and you didn't feel like you could get ppp last year, the rules have changed, and you should try again. judy: and so, finally, lisa, you have done a lot of reporting on this. tell us, where are -- how are small businesses in this country doing right now? lisa: right. let's look at these numbers. this is from the national federation of independent business, a survey of their members that came out just today. look at this. they say 42% of those businesses are still struggling, meaning they're well below their levels from 2019. but on the more positive side, more than a third are recovering, meaning they're almost back to normal or at normal revenue levels. and then this was what surprised me as we. there is a percentage, 23%, almost a quarter of their businesses say they're actually doing better than they were in 2019. so, you see a situation where we still have the haves and

have-nots, some businesses struggling, others not. and i should say quickly it's $80 billion left in this program. judy: really helpful to have this window into how these programs are going. lisa desjardins, thank you very much. lisa: you're welcome. ♪ judy: as we reported earlier, president biden pledged to meet a higher public vaccination goal today. right now, more than one in five americans have received at least one dose of a covid vaccine. but in many areas of the country, people who are eligible are still struggling to get vaccinated. john yang reports on some volunteers who are stepping in to help. mansi: my name is mansi, and i'm a volunteer. does harriet still need help in securing an appointment for the covid-19 vaccine?

>> yes, desperately. she's 93 years old. john: for weeks now, mansi shah has been helping strangers nab slots to get their shots. mansi: are you guys taking appointments for seniors above the age of 65? >> no, we're booked. we're totally booked. john: shah works full time, but she makes calls and scours the web early in the morning and late at night, when spots are made available. mansi: if i'm not working, if i'm not sleeping, i'm doing this. john: vaccine supply remains limited in some areas. distribution systems are fragmented and tough to navigate. and some 25 million americans don't have internet access for online registration. that's where shah comes in. mansi: as soon as i find something, i will be calling you. john: she started by helping her parents. mansi: my mom doesn't speak english, and my dad's not the most tech-savvy, so i just felt really bad about how inequitable the reach was. john: now she's helping folks she's never met, like sandy cosentino, who put pen to paper

to describe her circumstances. sandy: "i am homebound for the greater part of my day, always cautious. i stay on the side of caution because i have two undering conditions." john: but she couldn't find an appointment until w girls, a nonprofit, connected her with shah. sandy: mansi said to me, "don't worry, sandy. i'm going to help you." i call her my guardian angel. john: the 73-year-old recently got her first dose of the moderna vaccine. sandy: i'm going to wait until i can, and i'm going to call my grandson michael, and i'm going to tell him his meemaw is coming to give him the biggest hug. john: cosentino is one of hundreds of people whom shah has signed up. mansi: it's their stories that i connected to initially. i mean, that's literally what keeps me up at night and wakes me up in the morning in time for these appointment slots going up. john: i mean, it takes a special person to try to help them. i mean, where do you think that comes from?

mansi: so, i think it comes from my best friend, who she passed away because of covid. her funeral was online. i got married in the summer. that was over zoom. my husband's parents weren't there. nobody from his side was there. and i just was lost in darkness. and i think this is the light at the end of the tunnel. michaelene: covid has taken quite a bit from myself and my family. this is a way that i can help others. john: michaelene carlton estimates she's made over 50 appointments for people. but she says she gets something out of it, too. michaelene: i'm actually home on disability right now. i'm out of work still due to covid complications. you know, i have a lot of free time. and so, when they couldn't find any vaccines, it kind of gave me purpose. john: the mother of two is a so-called covid long-hauler. her symptoms have lasted almost a year. michaelene: i have daily headaches, heart palpitations,

and i have shortness of breath. john: does that give you an added mission here, that you really want to help people get vaccinated to avoid what you went through? michaelene: i don't want anyone to have to go through what i go through. i struggle every day. some days, my headaches are so bathat i can't look at a computer screen or even a phone, where it's just too much for me. but the days that i can, and i can help other people, it makes me feel unbelievably happy to offer this to somebody. elisabeth: getting an appointment is like winning the lottery. the feeling you get when youet that appointment is just one that is unmatched. john: 15-year-old elisabeth decker is part of a group of ninth graders who've secured more than 600 appointments for new jersey residents. alexa walters, who's 14, started the effort. alexa: we look on facebook groups, twitter drops.

literally anywhere that offers advice, we probably have looked there. john: the girls use social media to search for drops, times when appointments become available on websites, and then sprint to sign up. elisabeth: it just -- it takes time. they do go out quickly. it's frustrating, but it's so rewarding in the end. john: the teens even got a slot for their township's deputy mayor, victor sordillo. he'd been trying for 10 weeks. victor: iteminded me of when i was younger and i used to try to get -- be the 12th caller on a radio show to win free tickets. you have to call and call and call, and most of the time, they hang up on you or you get a message that says there are no vaccines available at this time. and then i heard about this group. john: how long after that did they get an appointment for you? victor: well, let me tell you, i -- she asked me when i was available. i told her that i was available monday or tuesday. i was getting my shot tuesday.

it was amazing. and i just don't know how they did it. john: walters and her friends wish the process was easier for people. alexa: they should not be dropping appointments at 4:00 in the morning or at midnight. why should elderly people or people with preexisting conditions have to stay up until then, and really have to fight other people in the same boat? elisabeth: it's a fight to get a vaccine, and that's not how it should be. john: since not everyone the -- has the technical skills needed for the complicated sign-up process -- >> your appointment is at 1:00. john: volunteers are offering help face-to-face. mark: we're the computer interface for a lot of folks that don't have access, can't navigate their way to make an appointment. john: mark meeks is pastor of the city church of sacramento. he's teamed up with u.c.-davis health to get people vaccinated in his neighborhood of oak park. mark: we are going person to person.

do you want to be vaccinated? ladies and men that are on the on the margins of society, that folks aren't advocating for them, at's our target. john: meeks' church hosts a weekly vaccination clinic. mark: having the vaccination site in our community makes it not only more convenient, but more accessible to those in the community. john: since the first clinic a few weeks ago, more than 300 people have been vcinated, like cynia mckinney. cynthia: they said, come on in on friday, and i was happy. oh, my lord. to be able to spend time with our family members will be so good for me. john: meeks hopes to ramp up the effort every week to meet the need. mark: people feel overwhelmed with the task, and they don't know where to go. i'm humbled to be in a position to effect change. and, as i keep telling our faith community, we don't know where this is headed. only god knows. but we just have to be faithful to the task. john: whether on the ground or on the web. for the "pbs newshour," i'm john

yang. judy: three top executives from big tech are back in the hot seat on capitol hill, the focus, misinformation, disinformation, and how it spreads. but, this time, mark zuckerberg of facebook, sundar pichai of alphabet, and jack dorsey of twitter face questions about their companies' own responsibility in the january 6 riots. william brangham reports. and for the record, the chan zuckerberg initiative is a funder of the "newshour." william: judy, there was tough criticism from both sides of the aisle today. on the democratic side, lawmakers tried to pin these executives down on whether they bore any responsibility for the ocean of election misinformation that in part led to the events of january 6. for example, congressman frank pallone of new jersey today, he

contended that these companies are so dependent on heavy, heavy engagement of content, and that they don't really care whether that content is true or not. rep. pallone: the dirty truth is that they are relying on algorithms to purposely promote conspiratorial, divisive, or extremist content, so that they can take money, more money in ad dollars. william: republicans -- it wasn't all about misinformation today. republicans, for their part, were largely critical of the -- what they argue is silencing and censorship on these platforms. representative cathy mcmorris rodgers of washington state today said that these platforms also pose a major risk for children. rep. mcmorris rodgers: do you know what convinced me big tech is a destructive force? it's how you have abused your power to manipulate and harm our children. your platforms are my biggest fear as a parent. it's a battle for their

development, a battle for their mental health, and ultimately a battle for their safety. william: so, let's talk a little bit more about what came up today. sarah miller is the executive director of american economic liberties project. that's a nonpartisan group that advocates for corporate accountability and antitrust enforcement. and part of that project includes the group freedom from facebook and google. sarah miller, good to have you on the "newshour." i want to pick up on the argument that we just heard from congressman frank pallone, which ishe argument that these companies' business models, even the very algorithms they use to keep us on their sites, are meant to keep us glued, and that they often will feed us increasingly dubious, dangerous misinformation. how fair is that accusation? sarah: it is exactly right. and i think it's really refreshing to see members of congress focus on the underlying financial incentives that are driving the misinformation and disinformation and toxic content

that are flooding kind of our online communications ecosystem. so, we're beginning to focus in on the right problem, the money and the advertising dolls that are driving this toxic content, and creating this polarization and kind of anti-democratic, antisocial content that is having real-world effects on our society and on people's lives. william: one of those real-world effects that some representatives brought up today was january 6, and that they argued that these plotters plotted their insurrection, as some call it, on these platforms. they celebrated on these platforms. the tech ceo's said, look, when you go to assign responsibility, the plotters themselves bear more responsibility than us, the place where that plot was hatched and discussed. what do you make of that argument? sarah: yes, i think policymakers are seeing through that argument.

the truth is that this sort of toxic, engaging content is actually what these platforms are designed to amplify. so, for example, according to our estimation, we think that facebook may have made as much as $3 billion off of keeping q-anon content on the platform. so, this isn't an issue of trying, but failing to capture all of the dangerous content that's flooding through the platform. it's actually an issue of these platforms being designed to amplify exactly that te of content. it's the most engaging. it's what keeps people glued to the platform, and it's what keeps them making money. william: one of the things that we know that has been keeping people glued to their -- to these platforms is misinformation about the pandemic and this virus. i want to play a little bit of sound that came up today, some tussling between facebook ceo mark zuckerberg and representative mike doyle of pennsylvania. and doyle was arguing that there's like a dozen or so sites on facebook that are the overwhelming majority of misinformation about covid-19.

and he took zuckerberg to task for that. let's listen to this. rep. doyle: why, in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed over half-a-million americans, that you haven't taken these accounts down that are responsible for the preponderance of vaccine disinformation on your platforms? will you all commit to taking these platforms down today? mr. zuckerberg? mark: congressman, yes, we do have a policy against allowing vaccine disinformation. rep. doyle: well, i know you have a policy, but will you take the sites down today? you still have 12 people up on your site doing this. will you take them down? mark: congressman, i would need to look at the -- and have our team look at the exact examples to make sure they're violating the policy. [crosstalk] mark: we have a policy in place. rep. doyle: look at them today and get back to us tomorrow, because those still exist. we found them as early as last night. william: this is what a lot of the hearing was today, of these accusations and then the ceo's trying to rebut it. in his defense, mark zuckerberg has repeatedly said that facebook has taken down a

billion -- that's billion with a b -- facebook posts and pages that do have this disinformation on it about the pandemic. do you think that these platforms are doing enough? sarah: no. i think the point is that they are so huge -- and then this gets into the question of their monopoly power and their reach over our communications infrastructure -- that even if their financial incentives weren't pushing them to amplify this type of content, there is simply no way that they could have safe platforms that didn't promote dangerous, engaging content like this. so, i think one of the things that's important to understand -- and i think that policy-makers are moving in this direction -- is that it's actually their responsibility to regulate these platforms, ideally to break up these platforms, so that they're more manageable, both internally for themselves, as well as for policy-makers to keep track of, so that these sorts of incentives are no longer at play. and that's something that we have done in other industries. there's a track record for that.

and we hope to see congress taking responsibility, in fact, for the way that facebook has been able to grow into a really kind of dangerous and socially destructive entity within our online communications ecosystem. william: we certainly heard a lot of congressmen making rumblings about some kind of legislative action to come. sarah miller, thank you very much for being here. sarah: thank you. ♪ judy: finally tonight, we want to take a moment to remember the 10 people who died on monday in the grocery store shooting in boulder, colorado. lynn murray, a retired photo editor and mother of two, was working as an instacart shopper when the shooting began. her husband told reporters, "our tomorrows are forever filled with a sorrow that is unimaginable.

she was 62 years old." denny stong, the youngest of the victims, worked at the grocery store, king soopers, for several years. according to his facebook page, he was an avid lover of planes, bikes, and motorcycles. a high school friend called stong a kind soul with a funny sense of humor. he was 20 years old. 51-year-old police officer eric talley was the first to respond to the shooting. the father of seven made news in 2013 after rescuing a group of ducklings trapped in a drainage ditch, leading them to a nearby pond to be with their mother. his younger sister said, "i cannot explain how beautiful he was. you always wanted to be a pilot. soar." 23-year-old neven stanisic was killed in the parking lot of king soopers after fixing coffee machines inside the store. the son of serbian refugees who

fled central bosnia, his family's pastor told reporters neven was hardworking and took a job right after graduating high school. suzanne fountain, 59, had been active in the local theater community. she even took home a denver drama critics circle award as best supporting actor for her performance in "the glass menagerie." oftage, as a licensed medicare agent, she helped senior clients enroll in the federal program. her friend of 30 years called her generous, a peace-lover, and strong feminist. 61-year-old kevin mahoney was a regular shopper at king soopers. his daughter erika, who is pregnant, remembers her father as a dad to the entire neighborhood. she tweeted, "my dad represents all things love. i'm so thankful he could walk me down the aisle last summer."

teri leiker, 51, worked at king soopers for about 30 years, according to her friend lexi. the pair met in 2017 through a unersity of colorado-boulder program that connects students and members of the community with intellectual and developmental disabilities. lexi said teri was the most innocent, caring, and loving individual the world held. 25-year-old rikki olds worked as a front-end manager at king soopers. family members remember her as bubbly. her uncle bob told reporters, here"'s a hole in our family that won't be filled. she didn't get to experience a lot of the stuff that we get to experience in life." tralona bartkowiak, known by family and friends as lona, was the eldest of four siblings and co-owned a clothing and accessory store in downtown boulder with her sister.

a co-worker and friend told reporters, "she was so kind and loving and accepting. we need a lot more people like that." she was 49 years old. jody waters, 65, had an eye for design. she worked with a handmade leather accessory store in boulder, embrazio. the co-owners of the store posted on social media, saying: "jody was a beautiful soul with a warm and loving heart, a mother and grandmother, and she will be dearly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know her. we are so sad." 10 of them, a terrible tragedy, reminding us that they were each going about their lives in an ordinary way, when they were cut short. and that is the "newshour and -- the "newshour" for tonight.

please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular school has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson and johnson. bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. ♪ ♪ >> the alfred p sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the "newshour."

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 performed by the national captioning institute, whh is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪ >>

>> today, i'm taking you to the charming little village of ezcaray in la rioja in northern spain to meet my friend and two-star michelin chef francis paniego. we'll cook together in his home kitchen, making minestra, a luscious yet humble vegetable stew. and back in my san francisco kitchen, inspired by my time in spain, we'll make an endive salad with oranges, pine nuts, and cabrales cheese and monkfish with romesco. i love to travel the globe in search of new food and wine discoveries. for me, it's about more than returning home with a handful of new recipes. it's about taking the spirit of austria... of italy... of greece... and of the danube river... and injecting some of their magic into our everyday lives. food has a unique ability to transport us.