captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> right now, i'm scared. >> woodruff: warning signs: the head of the c.d.c. voices concern as covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise, while a new report explores the origins of the coronavirus. then, facing justice-- opening arguments in the trial of the police officer charged in the death of george floyd. and, prime union-- amazon employees in alabama face the biggest attempt to organize in the company's history. >> so many labor experts are saying this is the most important unionization drive in the united states of america in 10, 20, 30 years. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> 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.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> the chan-zuckerberg initiative. working to build a more healthy, just and inclusive future for everyone. at czi.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: the president urged state and local officials today to keep or reinstate mask mandates as he and his team delivered some of the most urgent warnings yet about new covid surges. the sobering messages came as the country is approaching a death toll of 550,000 people. president biden described the efforts to increase mass vaccinations as a race against the spreading virus. >> by april 19th, three weeks from today, 90% of adults, people 18 and older, will be eligible to get vaccinated. 90% of all americans will be living within five miles of a place they can get a shot. and of course it'll take time for everyone to get their appointment. it's a big country. and as fast as we're going, we still have a long way to go to finish this vaccination effort.

>> woodruff: mr. biden's remarks came as the c.d.c. reported the moderna and pfizer vaccines are highly effective at preventing covid in real-life conditions. a new study found the vaccines were 90% effective two weeks after a second shot was given. but cases are rising right now. more than 60,000 a day on average over the last week. that led to an impassioned plea from c.d.c. director dr. rochelle walensky. >> i'm going to lose the script and i'm going to reflect on the recurring feeling i have of impending doom. we have so much to look forward to. so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope. but right now i'm scared. i so badly want to be done. i know you all so badly want to be done. we are just almosthere but not quite yet. >> woodruff: we're going to

spend some time now looking at these warnings, the risks and the moves to open more widely around the country. dr. leana wen an emergency physician and public health professor at george washington university. she's a former public health commissioner of baltimore. her latest book about her work in this field is called "lifelines." dr. leana wen, welcome back to the "newshour." we hear dr. rochelle walensky at the c.d.c. speak of impending doom. there are some of the most sobering words we've heard from the administration in weeks. are they warranted? >> doctor: judy, we are seeing that the number of cases are now increasing. first there was a plateau, and now they're increasing, with specific hotspots across the country. we've seen this playbook before. we know what happens next, which is that we'll also see a rise in hospitalizations, and, unfortunately, a rise in deaths after that. now, the good news, of

course, is that we're getting vaccines out in record speeds. 2.5 million vaccinations being done a day, which is credit to the biden team for ramping up vaccinations in this way and ensuring supply, but that makes everything even more tragic. we're not so far from the finish line. we just have to hang in there a bit longer. i think at this point, we need to switch to a strategy in this country of harm reduction, recognizing that we can't tell people to just stay inside and not doing anything. we're not trying to get to zero risk. but i want to urge people to get vaccinated when it is your turn, to really keep your risk to a minimum until then. and then after that, know you are very well-protected, but still keep on wearing a mask while in public. >> woodruff: so what is it, dr. wen -- i hear you saying wear a mask, get vaccinated. but what is happening around the country that is causing this rise? >> doctor: it is often framed as we're now in this race of vaccines versus variants.

and to some extent that is true because we do have more transmissible variants. and when we have mething that is more transmissible, it means that the activities we once thought were pretty safe are now going to be higher risk because something spreads more easily. there is a third factor here, though, as well, and that's human behavior. we are seeing restrictions being lifted all over the country in many states. everything can be operating at 100% capacity. and i actually understand the reason to do that. we want our businesses to come back. but i don't understand the lifting of mask mandates. because for the time being, we need to understand masks and vaccines are a ticket back to pre-pandemic normal. that's our ticket out of this pandemic. >> woodruff: but one can understand why people, in a way, feel they're getting mixed messages. they're being told we're almost there. vaccines are going to be widely available, even more so than they are now, and yet we can't let our guard down. it is a concept, i think

for many people it is tough to understand. >> doctor: right. and i actually think there is a way to simplify this. i hope that the c.d.c. will come out with even better guidelines about what it is that fully vaccinated people can do. i think that's what will help people to distinguish the kinds of behaviors they can do. if we can say to people, for example, please hold off on traveling until you're fully vaccinated. and two weeks after you receive both doses of pfizer or moderna or the single dose johnson & johnson, you can travel at that time. you can see your family at that time. i think that is something that is a lot more understandable, and now, especially as we're getting more evidence about how these vaccines don't just protect you from getting ill, it also protects you from spreading the virus to others. there could be much better guidance so we, as clinicians, can give our patients much clearer advice. this pandemic has been so challenging, and people just want to get back to

normal. let's help them to do so in a way that takes into account their risks and values of what is most important to them. >> woodruff: we'll see whether the c.d.c. does as you suggest and comes out with some of these specific guidelines. i do want to ask you, dr. wen, about something else, and that is: in a report on cnn yesterday, dr. deborah birx, who was one of the team of people in the trump administration at the white house who were coordinating the response to this pandemic, she said in an interview that in the initial surge they understood 100,000 or so americans would die. but after that, she clearly suggested that steps could have been taken to mitigate the number of deaths, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of deaths. how does that come across to you? is it -- how should the american people accept that? >> doctor: it's a gut punch. it is really difficult to

hear that, especially for all of the individuals who have lost loved ones, to hear there were hundreds of thousands of deaths that were preventable, that this didn't have to happen, is really hard to hear. i think, unfortunately, she is right. i think that first wave of covid-19 deaths may have been hard to prevent because it was like a freight train coming at us 100 miles per hour. but after that, we knew what to do. we knew about masking. we knew about the importance of testing. we knew about why we shouldn't be politicizing something as basic asthmatics or quarantining. why we needed to bolster our public health capacity and not open up too soon. we knew about all of this. and to see it happened, and there was that disconnect between public health and the political messaging, that is really disheartening, and i think so tragic because we know the consequences. so i gut punch that. there is a lot of

reckoning that the united states has to do once we're through this, about how to prevent the next pandemic. and really all these lives that were lost. >> woodruff: a lot of reckoning, for sure. dr. leana wen, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> doctor: thank you. ♪♪ >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin opened in minneapolis, with dramatic video of his fatal encounter with george floyd. it showed floyd pinned by chauvin's knee on his neck, for nearly nine and a half minutes. the defense argued drugs and health problems caused floyd's death. we'll look at all of this in detail, after the news summary. a judge in michigan today ordered three more men to stand trial for allegedly plotting to kidnap michigan governor gretchen whitmer last october.

the f.b.i. says they were anti- government extremists who were angered by covid restrictions. eleven other men have already been charged in federal or state courts. in myanmar, security forces killed more protesters after the deadliest weekend since the military coup. demonstrators with slingshots clashed with security forces today, and at least five were killed. 114 were shot dead on saturday. meanwhile, thousands of myanmar's ethnic karens fled into thailanto escape air strikes by myanmar's military. thailand denied it is forcing them back to myanmar. the biden administration responded to the killing in myanmar by suspending a key trade deal. white house press secretary jen psaki called the military's actions unacceptable. >> we continue to make clear that we will impose costs on the military regime for the deadly violence against peaceful

protesters and the suppression of human rights. we, of course, continue to work with our allies and partners and like-minded institutions as we condemn the actions of the military, call for the immediate restoration of democracy and hold those who seize power accountable. >> woodruff: the announcement does not stop all u.s. trade with myanmar, but does make it more difficult. traffic in the suez canal has resumed tonight after a huge container ship was freed. it had blocked the waterway for a week. the vessel was escorted out by tugboats, once salvage teams dislodged it with help from a high tide. with that, a backlog of some 370 ships resumed their passage through the canal. back in this country, u.s. senator tom tillis announced he has prostate cancer and will undergo surgery next week. the north carolina republican said he expects to make a full recovery. till is in his second term and is 60 years old. there's word that russian

hackers breached the e-mail account of president trump's homeland security chief. the associated press reports chad wolf, and his cybersecurity staff, were targeted in the so- called solar-winds attack. officials discovered the hack in december. at least nine federal agencies were affected. and, on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 98 points to close at 33,171. the nasdaq fell 79 points, and, the s-and-p 500 slipped three points. still to come on the newshour: opening arguments in the trial of the police killing of george floyd. the world health organization releases its report on the origins of the coronavirus. amazon employees in alabama attempt to unionize. plus much more.

>> woodruff: the trial that's being watched around the world, the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin, got underway today. george floyd's death touched off nationwide protests, and a reckoning over racism and policing in america. lawyers for the prosecution and defense began to lay out their cases. yamiche alcindor has the story. and a warning: because cellphone video was part of today's arguments, this report does contain graphic video of what happened to mr. floyd. >> 9-2-9. the three most important numbers in the case. nine minutes and 29 seconds. >> alcindor: this morning, that was minnesota prosecutor jerry blackwell's main message. that, he said, was how long derek chauvin kneeled on the neck of george floyd. in today's opening statements, blackwell tried to paint a

picture of excessive force by the former minneapolis police officer. he showed nearly the entire length of the now infamous bystander cellphone video of the incident last may. >> he's not even resisting arrest right now! >> mr. derek chauvin betrayed this badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of mr. george floyd, that he put his knees up on his neck and his back, grinding and crushing him until the very breath, no, ladies and gentlemen, until the very life was squeezed out of him. you can believe your eyes, that it's homicide, it's murder. >> the evidence is far greater than 929. >> alcindor: meanwhile, chauvin's defense attorney, eric nelson, focused much of his opening statement on what he believes caused floyd's death. >> the evidence will show that mr. floyd died of a cardiac arrhythmia that occurred as a

result of hypertension, coronary disease, the ingestion of methamphetamine and fentanyl, and the adrenaline throwing-- flowing through his body, all of which acted to further compromise an already compromised heart. >> alcindor: nelson also laid blame on the crowd of people who gathered around chauvin and his fellow officers and who pleaded with chauvin to remove his knee from floyd's neck. nelson said the concerned onlookers were a “threat” that diverted the officer's attention away from providing adequate care to floyd. >> derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19-year career. the use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing. the trial, and the intense focus it's brought back to minneapolis, is expected to last about a month. to help us look at today's develoents, we turn to mary moriarty. she is a former public defender

in hennepin county, where minneapolis is located. she has been following the case closely and watched today's events. >> yamiche: thank you so much, ma, for being here. what was the goal of the prosecution today, and how did playing that video of george floyd pleading, saying he could not breathe -- how does that underscore their goal? >> it is interesting the way they chose to start out their opening because they started out talking about public service, police officers being plpublic servants. and they had a picture of a minneapolis police department badge, and it said "to protect and serve." and then they talked about this mantra that the minneapolis police department has, "in your custody is in your care." and i thought that should be the theme -- one of the themes that they talk about. so in talking about the mantra, the logo, everything that police officers are supposed to do, that was such a juxtaposition to the video. and so when i was watching

the video, i couldn't help but thinking about all of the things that minneapolis police department is supposed to do. and so i think that they were pretty successful talking about use of force. they also said that the chief of police is going to testify that this was excessive use of force. it is not what derek chauvin was trained to do. so i think they did a nice job of playing out their argument about what the evidence will look like. they also had these visuals quite well. they had a picture of about eight medical experts that they're going to call. and so they used visuals in a way that i think were probably very helpful to the jury. >> yamiche: and what about the defense? what do you make of their approach as they try to create reasonable doubt here? >> you know, i was expecting something a little different from the defense. because when you hear, and you see, compelling evidence, the way their state laid it out, you've

got to come back really hard. you've got to tell the jury what you've got. it isn't hide the ball here. it is we have a story, too, and this is what it is about. let me tell you that. and they did start out talking about reasonable doubt quite a bit, but the problem with that is the jurors haven't heard any reasonable doubt. they don't really know what the defense story is. so, you know, eventually they did get there. they did talk about -- he did talk about the medical evidence here. some of that may come back to bite hied e bcaout the medical examiner, dr. andrew baker, and one of the things he said was they even got -- they didn't even like his work, necessarily. they got a second opinion. the department of justice asked the medical examiner of the army to take a look at dr. baker's findings, and they agreed with all of it.

so there were some things that were taken out of context that i think may be damaging to the defense. but they did get across their theory that george floyd died of an accidental overdose. whether they can actually pass reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors remains to be seen. >> yamiche: questions there and opening statements, and we heard from witnesses today, as someone who has tried murder cases, what stuck out to you? >> well, the first one was that they had the 9-1-1 dispatcher. and she was dispatching a call, and dispatching other calls, too. but there was a tv on the wall which was recording -- there was a camera that was actually recording what happened out there. and she thought at one point that her -- that the frame had frozen, that the tv had frozen because of the length of time she saw the officers on top of george floyd. she actually took the step

of calling the sergeant to tell the sergeant that she thought something was terribly wrong. and she knew -- she said instinctively she thought something was wrong. we actually her heard call, and what she said was, call me a snitch, but i think you should get out there and look at what happened. and that was something she had never done before. the other witness who was still on the stand, who will come back tomorrow morning, everybody did hear his voice in your clip, he was one of the by-standers who was yelling at the police officers. he is an expert in martial arts. he spent his life wrestling and participating in martial arts. it is strategic or lucky that the state called him. he is still on the stand. he'll come back tomorrow morning. and so the jurors will get to hear him after having have his words linger in their ears overnight because he was a very compelling witness. he saw what happened, and

he is one of those people that everybody in the world probably saw on that video, or on one of the videos, yelling and pleading and begging for the officers to help george floyd. >> yamiche: well, those are all really interesting and really important observations, a case that clearly the nation is watching. thank you so much, mary moriarty. >> thank you. >> woodruff: today, the pbs newshour obtained a joint study by a group of independent researchers working with china, and convened by the world health organization, about the origins of covid 19. as nick schifrin reports, the researchers call it a starting point, and their critics, say it doesn't go far enough. >> schifrin: the virus that caused the worst pandemic in a century most likely started in

bats, and jumped to humans through an intermediate, animal host, possibly a mink, raccoon dog, or a civet, among others, according to the w.h.o-convened, joint study, obtained by pbs newshour. >> prior to the mission on the ground in china, there was a real missing link in this, trying to understand where covid came from. >> schifrin: peter daszek is a member of the w.h.o. team that spent four weeks in wuhan, half under quarantine, for what the team calls a joint study with the chinese, into covid's origins. they found that while wuhan is a modern metropolis, until last year its downtown markets still practiced an old chinese tradition of selling wildlife that residents ate, providing a pathway from the location of many of these animals in southern china to wuhan, hundreds of miles north. >> the evidence for that pathway is that the market in wuhan, the one seafood market, was selling live animals and frozen mammals. there's a pathway that there are animals that we know can carry

coronaviruses in the market. >> schifrin: the team concluded the second most likely origin, was direct transmission from a bat to a human, infected frozen seafood was less likely but still possible. and a lab leak, was “extremely unlikely.” >> there's no evidence that the viruses that that lab was working with or even the genetic sequences were the progenitor, the ancestor of sars-cov-2, that when you visit the lab, when you talk to the management is an efficiently run lab. they do audits, safety checks. >> i would call it somewhat superficial, skewed and incomplete. >> schifrin: david relman is a medicine and microbiology professor at stanford. he says the report relies too much on summary judgements by chinese scientists. >> as a scientist, the thing we value the most and the thing upon which we most rely are data. and when i look at this report, i'm struck by the fact that there are very few primary data,

original data on which we can judge the kinds of assessments that are made, in some cases quite, quite enthusiastically in this report. >> schifrin: a separate group of academics and scientists published a letter that said, because of “structural limitations” the team wasn't given the “mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation.” >> when it fails to produce evidence, pro or con, for or against a lab origin, which as well is a very credible hypothesis, one shouldn't then conclude that it's very unlikely. we can't simply dismiss one idea as very unlikely and hold another as very likely when in both cases we have no direct evidence. >> schifrin: former administration officials go even further on the lab. a january state department statement, that three former officials tell pbs newshour was the result of new intelligence the u.s. received last fall, concluded, several researchers

at the lab became sick with a covid-like illness in the fall of 2019. the wuhan institute of virology had a separate, military-run lab. and that the lab “altered and then removed online records of its work.” >> from the get go, this team lacks sufficient authenticity and credibility because it goes in on the terms of the chinese government. this is a government that started the cover up from the very beginning. >> schifrin: miles yu was the china policy advisor in the state department during the trump administration, and is now a fellow at the hoover and hudson institutes. he and others make a political argument, starting with the w.h.o. itself. last summer, according to three former senior officials, the trump administration proposed three scientists to represent the u.s: heinz feldman from nih; navy capt. brianna skinner from the f.d.a.; and matt moore, an epidemiologist at the c.d.c. the w.h.o. called none of them, and instead chose daszek. daszek's one of the world's foremost virus experts, and has spent years collaborating with

the wuhan institute of virology. his critics say, that makes him biased, and argue in china, chinese scientists ultimately answer to the communist party. >> let's put it this way. all the chinese scientists who have spoken the truth, have all disappeared. so what we're hear from the chinese scientist, many of them, maybe excellent scientists, are state sanctioned views. so that's not really the whole picture. we want the truth. >> schifrin: are you confident that you would know if the scientists at the lab who you were speaking to were lying? >> i've been speaking to them for 15 years, you know, they have found a virus that was high and of high interest that they were working on, they would have told me before the outbreak because that's what we were doing before the outbreak. we shared information on a weekly basis. yes, some of them answer up the

party chain, but they also are scientists. if there is something that the intelligence agencies know that they could supply to the team, then supply it. and we will look at that. >> schifrin: publicly, secretary of state tony blinken backs up trump era concerns. >> we've got real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that report including the fact that the government in beijing apparently helped to write it. >> schifrin: but privately, biden administration officials question the january statement. a senior state department official told pbs newshour the statement “put spin on the ball,” and was “plucked out of a cacophony of noise, to point to one theory.” a senior intelligence official tells pbs newshour there's a“ possibility” covid came from a lab, but the january statement was “not a complete story,” and the intelligence community does not have high confidence in any origin theory. did you put spin on the ball? >> i don't think so. what we're disclosing is not a conclusion, we're just pointing

out there are some cases that require independent inquiry. >> schifrin: and do you believe today's report answers some of the questions that you asked? >> no, the international organization has lost its credibility by believing one government narrative. >> it's a distraction from the failures of the last administration. and it's a very politically expedient distraction to blame it on china. >> schifrin: tomorrow, the w.h.o. will release the report publicly. its authors admit it doesn't provide all the answers. but it also won't silence the debate, over the origins of covid-19. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: for almost two months, amazon workers have been

voting on whether to unionize at one of the company's major warehouses in alabama. the voting concludes today. since amazon is the second- largest private employer in the country, the stakes are high. and as paul solman reports, the battle is being closely watched. his story is f our series, "making sense." >> so many labor experts are saying this is the most important unionization drive in the united states of america in 10, 20, 30 years. >> reporter: and, says author steve greenhouse, who started covering labor for the "new york times" back in the '90s, it's amazon. >> it's the iconic company of today, and a very vehemently anti-union company. >> what do we do? >> stand up fight back! >> reporter: a company now vehemently fighting the drive to unionize amazon's new warehouse in bessemer, just outside birmingham alabama, where workers seem more exhausted than vehement. >> 10, 11 hours a day, standing on your feet. just two breaks. it's stressful. it's tiring.

>> reporter: darryl richardson, one of the warehouse's 5000 plus workers, is a “picker”-- gathering products for customer orders, at the rate of about one every eight to 10 seconds. >> every time i hit the button it's just like this. consistent. over and over again. so i'm standing like this all day. >> reporter: so you're talking like 4000 separate packages in a day. >> yes, sir. yes sir. >> reporter: every day? >> every day. >> reporter: in 2021, fully 75 years after charlie chaplin famously lampooned working conditions in industrial america. but it's more than just the work that bothers richardson. >> they don't respect you. you mistreated. which is unfair. >> reporter: unfair how? >> i've seen a young man get fired for going under a conveyor belt. >> reporter: a safety concern says jennifer bates. >> but there are no signs, it doesn't say don't go up under the belt. so i felt that that was unfair. >> reporter: and when bates was subjected to a random security check one day... >> you have to empty your pockets, take off your shoes,

shake your shoes and be scanned and all that stuff. so as i'm putting my shoes on and put on my vest and stuff back on i ask her do i get this time back from my break? she said no. >> reporter: bates and richardson, recounting one mistreatment after another, are pro union. amazon never granted our request for an interview, but in written statements elsewhere have said that workers like these are in the minority.“ our employees choose to work at amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available everywhere we hire.” william and lavonette stokes, who also work at the warehouse, take the company's side. hey, starting pay is $15.30 cents an hour. plus ... >> the benefit package is one of the best you can have. i mean, amazon pays 95% of your college tuition if you choose to go to school. >> we have great insurance, we have a great working environment. we started out going in knowing that we would have long hours of standing. >> reporter: but standing for ten hours a day? >> they iterated over and over

again in the training that this is what you would have to do. but now we're here and not everybody is happy with those conditions. >> it's labor work, but is not labor work that where it's just back bending killing you type labor work, you either packing a box, picking an item or whatever the case may be. >> reporter: that doesn't exactly square with richardson's experience, however. >> i'm 51, about 3:00, i can't give no more. i'm finished. your legs be sore. feet be sore. and when you go home the only thing you want to do is lay down and go to sleep. >> 10 hours i think it's too much to have anybody work for a shift at amazon. people have have fainted, fallen out. i've seen people come out of there in wheelchairs. >> reporter: it's complaints like these that have helped turn the union drive, which began in february, into a national event. >> the choice to join a union is up to the workers. full stop.

>> reporter: even the president weighed in on twitter. >> today and over the next few days and weeks workers in alabama and all across america are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. this is vitally important. and there should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda. >> get those ballots in right now. >> reporter: and on friday, despite the alabama tornadoes, bernie sanders showed up to rally the troops, taking special aim at amazon's $180 billion man, founder and c.e.o. jeff bezos. >> i say to mr. bezos: why, when you have so much money, more than can be spent in a million lifetimes, why are you spending millions trying to defeat an effort on the part of workers here who want nothing more than decent wages, decent benefits,

decent working conditions. (applause) >> reporter: and so the struggle, like so many these days, has become partisan. and that's what really bothers the stokes', whose counter- protest at a union rally was captured by a local news channel. >> this whole union push is more politically motivated than anything. you know, everybody wants to be the one to so-call slay the giant, you know, to be the first one to get in and everything. >> reporter: the retail warehouse and department store workers union begs to differ. this is a classic labor struggle, says organizer josh brewer. >> amazon really has spent the better part of the last five months with a very sophisticated pressure campaign on their employees. >> union organizers are not allowed to set foot on company property, whereas the company can talk to the workers 24/7 with videos, with speeches, with mandatory meetings. they send three, four, five anti-union text messages a day to the workers.

and something i've never, ever seen before in writing about labor for 25, 30 years, they have anti-union posters in the bathroom stalls. >> when you go to the bathroom, who want to look at that? >> reporter: and then there are the old reliables: and amazon made typical anti-union threats says richardson. >> you gonna lose your wages, you're going to lose your benefits, you know, we got we gonna shift the company out and move somewhere else. >> oh, what? amazon's going to run out of alabama if they get a union. where are they going to run to? they ran to alabama to exploit wages and run from unions. >> reporter: on the other hand, if the union wins and bargains for higher wages, it could backfire says conservative economist michael strain. >> there will be more of an incentive for amazon to automate if its labor costs go up. and the goal of a union is to increase the labor costs of its employer. unions raise the wages of union workers, which is a good thing. but unions also reduce employment overall by making it more expensive for employers to hire workers. >> we said that in the '80s and '90s.

automation, production, this is going to kill jobs. it's another one of the fear thing, the fear tactics that have been used to keep employees from coming together. >> reporter: so which side is likely to prevail? on the one hand says steve greenhouse: >> it's not easy to win a unionization battle in the south. >> reporter: but on the other: >> the bessemer-birmingham area is an old industrial area. it had steel mills and coal mines and a pullman railroad plant and it was heavily unionized. so it really could go either way. >> reporter: hat, if any, would be the significance of a union victory in bessemer, alabama, against amazon? >> it'll be a boon, a huge victory for labor. it will encourage workers at other amazon fulfillment centers to try to unionize. it will encourage other workers in the south to try to unionize. >> reporter: and if the union loses? >> it's certainly a blow to the union, but the union will probably say, we'll be back to try to win again. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, th is paul solman.

>> woodruff: today the biden administration extended a federal moratorium on evictions through the end of june. there are no changes to the rules, which, as john yang reports, can be complicated and confusing for judges, landlords and tenants behind on their rent. >> yang: it's a place rickey ewell hoped he'd never have to be: waiting for his eviction hearing. >> i'm down here trying to trying to fight my case. >> yang: are you nervous, anxis? >> well, yes, of course. i mean i mean, i'm like one step away from being outside. so, yes, i am, you know, yes, i am nervous. >> yang: ewell lost his job as a cook last spring when the pandemic hit, forcing restaurants to close. since then, he hasn't been able to make rent, and last month, his landlord filed for an eviction.

because the property manager said yule never reached out to explain. he is one about 9.5 million americans, 17% of u.s. renters, who are behind on their ren according to the census bureau. in 2017, that figure was only about 6% of renters. >> the truth is you will answer to god. >> reporter: yule and about 100 other 100 other tenants are scheduled to plead their eviction cases before a county judge at the columbus convention center. center, home to the county's eviction court since last june when it reopened, after passing at the start of the pandemic. most cases are decided in minutes. >> there is >> there is an eviction moratorium in place. so why are we here in franklin county, ohio, that sees an average of 100 cases a day? >> there's a pretty big misunderstanding about what this eviction moratorium is. >> yang: jysohu tsushima is an attorney with columbus legal aid. he says the c.d.c.'s moratorium only prevents landlords from forcing tenants out.

actually revicting tenants fromfailure to pay rents, not from filing notices that can permanently blemish someone's financial record. >> even from different mature streets and judges in our own >> even between different magistrates and judges in our own court, they interpret it differently. so they will decide based on their own interpretations. i mean, part of that's due to a lack of legal clarity and the definitions of the terms of the c.d.c. moratorium. >> reporter: for tenants facing an eviction order, it can be baffling. >> if they can get an attorney, then we can help them take the steps and make sure they're in a situation to ask for the moratorium. but for a lot of other tenants who don't talk to an attorney beforehand, they have no idea. they end up moving out of their properties. >> reporter: to qualify from eviction, they have to show they lost income due to the pandemic. that can be pretty intimidating for a >> that can be pretty intimidating for a lot of tenants because essentially it's an inquiry into them being poor.

>> reporter: while it doesn't protect them from having to pay back rent, it qualifies them for federal rental assistance to take care of it. those are administered by housing aid and poverty groups that are on hand at the convention center to help tenants while they wait for their hearings. some say it is a some say it's a double-edged sword. some tenants may be more likely to make their court dates knowing that help is here. but at the same time some landlords might be more willing to file eviction notices knowing if they get their tenants here, they can get their money. >> that is the catch 22 that we're trying to work around. >> yang: bo chilton heads impact community action, a nonprofit antipoverty group that distributes rental assistance in the county. >> once you get that eviction filing on your record, you become >> because once you get that eviction filing on your record, you become part of a class of unrentables. with that eviction on your record, or your conviction felony conviction. it is very difficult to find housing here in central ohio. >> reporter: that is why he encourages his tenants to apply for rental

assistance, instead of filing for eviction. some landlords already do just that and more. even though a majority of tenants at this complex on columbus' north side are behind own rent, eviction notices are rare. that's because property manager rachel bluebell works hard to find them help. >> i search at home. when i'm not at work, i spend a lot of time on the internet lúoking for resources. sometimes i go through and printout a little sheet of places for, like, food, health care, whatever they need. i print it out and deliver it to their doors. >> reporter: it sounds >> yang: it sounds like you're as much a sort of social worker almost than a property manager. >> somewhat yes. >> yang: is that how you feel sometimes? >> yes. but this is our community. we need to take interest in it. >> reporter: it takes time that some small landlords say they don't have and can't afford.

while some may qualify for covid mortgage relief, many say without reliable rent payments coming in, they can't keep up with insurance, property taxes, and maintenance. that's why nationwide landlords are still filing for evictions for non-payment every day. like the coronavirus itself, the fallout is harder on people of color. >> eviction has always disproportionately affected black households higher than any other rate. and that trend has continued through the pandemic. >> reporter: emily teaches health justice at the wake forest university law school. >> black households are two times as likely to be evicted. and the results of this is health inequity among people of color because we know that the people who are most vulnerable to eviction are also the most likely to suffer health conditions that would place them at high risk of complications and morality

hey e tlly w preparcoing to go before the jue when he got an unexpected surprise. at, ckt jwhenhauseredppe? h >> well, great news. the impact service that i was on that was representative representing me in the ce, we are, they're going to pay my rent. >> yang: so the key word here is plaintiff shall dismiss this case? >> that's right, absolutely. it turns out yule minderstood how many months of back rent rental assistance would hav covered. were you not aware you could hav >> no, no, no, no. because i'd never been in this position before. you know, i was always paid my rent and never been in this position before. so, you know, it takes a lot of people. it throws a lot of people for a loop. >> reporter: and now that he is up to date on rent, he is confident he can keep up his payments from here. >> now that jobs are opening back up again, i can finally go out here

and try to find me some >>or sust thg edin tmelis heke to get >> yang: so you just needed this help to get out of the hole? >> absolutely, absolutely. it's like throwing a rope and pulling me out >> yang: and now that you're back on level ground, you're okay? >> yes, i can carry on from he. i'm not into quicksand any, >> yang: a lifeline, just in time. for the pbs nehour, i'm john >> woodruff: after two mas political debate on capitol hill for more gun control legislation has resumed. here to analyze that issue and more, our regular politics monday team. that's amy walter of the cook political report. and tamara keith of npr. >> woodruff: hello to both of you. so good to see you. let us start, tam, by

talking about where we are after these terrible mass shootings. we've been here before. we've seen this situation. we've looked at congress to see what the reaction was going to be. what are the political dynamics right now in 2021, when it comes to gun legislation? >> tamara: the political nacs appeato be quite similar to what they've been in the past, which is there is a high-profile mass shooting, or in this case, there were two of them. there are calls to do something about it. calls for gun legislation that is widely popular was the public. things like expanding background checks. and then usually it fizzles. and we ll see if this time is different. y said sechghphmatoybthr imuris s inet ause the n.r.a. is having financial troubles and is somewhat depleted, so gun

safety advocacy movement is stronger than ever before. and certainly there is a president in the white house who has a history of being allied with those groups. but it is not clear yet, and president biden said his next priority for legislation is infrastructure, which he'll be announcing later this week. and it is not necessarily putting all of his political capital on gun control measures. he said politics is the art of the possible. and so frequently it has not been possible. he has experienced that himself, heading things up for the obama administration after sandy hook. >> woodruff: and, amy, he has said that, but he has also said we need to do something about gun tenvice ththfresh er >> amy: you know, the art of the possible is a really good quotebide t you heknow, back when he was

in the senate, and the last time we had really substantive gun-control legislation, the brady bill, the assault weapons ban, there were about 64, supported that legislation.at side who opposed it, but what you had there was, again, talking about the possible, you had a much bigger universe of potential partners to work with on the other side. a bill that just passed in the house -- two bills, actually, that just passed in the house the other week, that would strengthen background checks, eight republicans suortted thosoe. believe that you're going to get something done on a bipartisan basis that could get 60 votes. if that is the case, where the president would have to go politically is to

get rid of the filibuster. and even then, we know that a number of democrats have shown some unease about the bills that have passed the house, including joe manchin from west virginia. we also have one other red state senator that i'd keep an eye on, john tester from montana. so putting this through is a challenge. this is why we' hear a lot more abou things that hithnke i t administration will dve oorders, that the president can do through executive orders. we don'ttalk abdentout adpoaluet siny hmoisd presidey than donald trump did pot. >> woodruff: striking. and we need to pay a little more attention to that than we have been. but thank you for reminding us of it. the other thing i want to raise with both of you, is something we mentioned earlier in the program, and that was about a cnn

report last night, in an interview with someof the top -- tam, some of the top people in the white house, in the trump adnionmitio rawh, rewe ad pandemic.veral of thed mse ted that not only mistakes were made, but we heard dr. deborah birx make a really striking acknowledgment, admission, let's listen to that. >> doctor: the first time we have an excuse. there were about 100,000 deaths that came froth mind, coe been mitigated or decreased substantially. >> woodruff: tam, that's a sobering that caught everyone's attention. i should say president trump issued a stfecta his legacy?

where do you see something like this landing? >> tamara: the former president put out what was a lengthy statement that in some ways was just like a very, very long series of tweets, but he is not allowed to tweet anymore. and clearly he sees this as a legacy issue, and it is a legacy issue. he was president of the united states when the pahndemic, and more than half a million people died. and i think that public health experts, not just in the government but outside of the govent, ve aousl edtraff idth.esede and there are numerous moments along thewh in, mewhe ength they announced yes, we think people should wear masks, president trump came out and undermined the announcement asitas wear

masks, but you don't have to and i'm not going to. and masks became this completely politicized thing that public health people say, like, could have saved a lot of lives if masks hadn't become a big political fight. >> woodruff: amy, not just about how many tests were being made avail,ab out buto the public from the whe house. >> amy: right.i they did in the 2020 election. president trump's approval rating on handling the coronavirus, it started out pretty high at the very beginning. and then over the course of, you know, apr , ce, , eilny,to the fall, it collapsed. and i think the judgment that voters made was job, andwe didn't win re-election. joe biden's overall approval rating on handling covid is not just higher, bu significantly

higher. in some cases, ti saw one poll where it was in the 70s. he is getting cross-over support, even republicans giving him credit for how he is handling this now. i think for the american public, they've already weighed in on this, and probably are more interested in seeing where we go from here than looking behind. >> woodruff: well, as we heard from dr. leana wen earlier, people are going to be asking for an accounting. i think she used the word reckoning. we'll see where this goes from here. but sobering admission from people like dr. birx and others. amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: and with that, that's the "newhour" thd tfoat'sewr heal nl of us ap bs

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and me wgfanthorulk ugro more at kendedafund.org.driv byt ideas. caerint. macarthur foundation. coitcfted to.o brguilding a more >> and with the ongoing support of these institutionsograwas mae

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

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -welcome t"america's test kitchen" at home. today, i'm ming murgh makhani, jack will help us better rs ttadeo omnducprat and becky's making palak dal. we've got a lot in store for you today, so .