captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff on the newshour tonight, the road ahead-- president biden pursues a push to sell his infrastructure plan. we explore the state of our streets, pipes and bridges. then, getting the vaccine-- new questions around astrazeneca complicate global efforts to deliver inoculations. and, crisis in ethiopia-- the military crackdown in tigray displaces tens of thousands and prompts accusations of ethnic cleansing. >> above all i want my own home, peace and my own home. if there is peace i can go out to work and feed my children. but our desires now seem too

heavy. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: the european union's drug regulator has discovered a "possible link" between the astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine and rare blood clots. several dozen cases had been investigated among the 25 million who received that vaccine in the u.k. and europe. but the agency said the side effects were "very rare", and insisted the benefits still outweigh the risks. >> covid-19 is a very serious disease with high hospitalization and death rates and everyday covid is still causing thousands of deaths across the e.u. this vaccine has proven to be highly effective. it prevents severe disease and hospitalization, and it is saving lives. >> woodruff: britain's vaccine advisory agency said it would offer people under 30 the choice of an alternate vaccine. astrazeneca's vaccine has been approved for emergency use in more than 70 countries.

it's also the main covid inoculation administered throughout most of the developing world since it's more affordable and easier to store. we'll have more on this later in the program. meanwhile, the head of the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention says a highly contagious virus variant first found in britain has now become the most common strain in the u.s. it is more transmissible and infectious among younger americans, which has contributed to a recent spike in infections. president biden said today he's open to compromise on how to pay for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure package. as part of his proposal, the corporate tax rate would increase from 21% to 28%. at the white house, the president said he is willing to negotiate with republicans for a lower rate, as long as the infrastructure projects are funded. >> we gotta pay for this, we gotta pay. there's many other ways we can

do it, but i'm willing to negotiate that. i've come forward with the best most rational way, in my view, the fairest way to pay for it, but there are many other ways as well, and i'm open. >> woodruff: we'll have more on the president's plan, and the state of the nation's infrastructure, after the news summary. there's word tonight that president biden will nominate david chipman to be head of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. he is a retired a.t.f. agent and an adviser at the gun control group "giffords." it is the first time the agency has had a confirmed director since 2015. the biden administration today also announced it's resuming u.s. aid to the palestinians. it will provide $235 million for projects in the west bank and gaza, and for the united nations' agency supporting refugees. former president trump had cut off nearly all funding to the

palestinians during his tenure. in the derek chauvin trial today, a use-of-force expert with the los angeles police department testified that chauvin had his knee on george floyd's neck from the time he was handcuffed facedown until paramedics arrived. sergeant jody stiger told prosecutors that that type of restraint was excessive. >> he was not attempting to resist and t pressure that was being caused by the body weight could cause positional asphyxia and death. >> woodruff: stiger also refuted claims from chauvin's attorney that the officers at the scene were distracted by angry bystanders. he said from the evidence he'd seen, the onlookers didn't appear to be a "threat" to police. in eastern indonesia, at least 140 people are dead and dozens more are still missing following days of torrential rainfall that triggered landslides in the

region. clean up efforts began on lembata island where villagers returned to find their homes damaged and filled with mud. jordan's king abdullah said his country is now stable after a rare public rift with his half- brother prince hamzah. he addressed it for the first time in a statement, saying, "it was the most painful because those who are party to the sedition were from our own home." the prince has denied involvement and is under house arrest. meanwhile, president biden held a call with king abdullah to re- affirm u.s. support. back in this country, the los angeles county sheriff's department said tiger woods was going 40 miles an hour over the speed limit when he crashed an s.u.v. in february. they blamed the accident solely on excessive speed and the golfer's loss of control behind the wheel on a stretch of road that's notorious for crashes.

>> there's two factors: the speed and the failure to maintain the straight course, the curvature of the roadway. that's it. there's nothing from his cell phone to indicate any type of distracted driving. based on all the facts, there was no evidence of any impairment or intoxication. >> woodruff: woods underwent surgery for multiple breaks in his right leg and is recovering in florida. in economic news, the u.s. treasury department today reported it's issued more than 156 million direct payments as part of president biden's covid relief package. and, trading was light on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained 16 points to close at 33,446. the nasdaq fell nine points, and the s&p 500 added six to hit another record close. still to come on the newshour: the crumbling state of u.s. infrastructure and president biden's push for his plan. new questions around the astrazeneca vaccine complicate

global inoculation efforts. teachers face multiple challenges returning to in- person classes. plus much more. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, president biden is floating proposals to pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure package. our william brangham brings us this look at why america's infrastructure is in such need of repair. >> brangham: the president's plan includes funding for many infrastructure priorities. re tmon $600 billion in transportation infrastructure, more than $100 billion for drinking water projects, and more than $100 billion to expand broadband. just last month, the american

society of civil engineers released its 2021 report card, and it gave america's infrastructure a "c minus." i'm joined now by emily feenstra. she is a.s.c.e.'s managing director of government relations and infrastructure initiatives. emily, great to have you on the "newshour". i have to imagine, on one level, for people -- for civil engineers like you, this has got to be an incredibly exciting time when the president proposes a nearly $2 trillion infrastructure bill, but, more seriously, this is meant to address some very serious deficiencies in our country. could you just give us a snapshot of what your record card tel tells us. >> that is an exciting time. it's been a long time coming. these issues, the roads we travel on and transit systems and water systems have flown under the radar and it's great to see the national attention on this issue. at the same time, i am a parent,

i would not be happy if my kid brought m a c minus, so we have a lot of work to do and a lot of categories in the d range. >> reporter: what types of things jump to the priority list of, look, if i had to choose, this is the stuff i think we've got to get done? >> one thing that we like is really that comprehensive approach. we look at 17 categories of the report card, and it's really a connected system. so, in a way, you know, our ports are only as good as the roads and the rail that connect to them. at the same time, t if you lookt the categories in the ds a few stand out. our lowest grade on the report card are transit systems. our communities across the country are just facing a huge maintenance blog when it comes to transit, and the pandemic certainly tinted help -- didn't help that. the agencies are facing huge revenue declines.

wastewater utilities, we're in the ds, there's a lot of work we could be doing. inland waterways are fun. when barges have to stop on the mississippi river, it costs goods to increase more, hours of delay, and that's something we really need to prioritize. >> reporter: i know tere's been semantic quibbling going on, where the administration says infrastructure could include broadband and water systems and electric charging stations for ev cars, and republicans say, no, that's not what we traditionally think of as infrastructure. i know the society of civil engineers society tries to be nonpartisan and apolitical in all of this, but do you guys come down on this issue of what is infrastructure and what is not? >> i certainly think one road map is, again, our infrastructure report card. people are surprised to know that we look at those 17 categories, and one that i would point out that's been in our

report card since 1998 -- we have been doing this since 1998 -- once every four years, is school facilities. so we've looked at schools. they have not got an lot of attention. when you think about where our kids are spending eight or more hours a day, and you look at the number of kids that are in portal classrooms or hvac systems aren't updated, there's a lot of common ground. there are new things in the proposal that might go beyond the 17 categories, but, again, we appreciate that it includes core programs like surface transportation but also water, the energy grid, inland waterws anayso many of these things that go out of sight, out of mind. >> reporter: i hear everything that you're saying about the importance of these projects, but we know that many people look at this and think, it's too much money to spend, a $2 trillion infrastructure bill is too high a price. what is your response to that? >> i can absolutely understand how sometimes it seems like

sticker shock, but what people don't realize is that we're already paying. it's almost like a hidden tax from this gradually declining, deteriorating infrastructure that doesn't work the way that it should, and we've actually quantity fide that cost, in addition to the poor grade, we know that it costs society of civil engineers households, on average, $3,300 a year in personal disposable income. that's equivalent -- >> reporter: that's a lot of money. >> yes. it's a takeout dinner for a family of four each week. and that's significant. it's things we know intuitively, you know, when the pothole messes with your alignment that you've driven over five or six times on the way to work, when a water main break shuts down a business, when a blackout, as we saw in texas, wreaks havoc, these things cost money, add up, make our economy less productive, and thing what, you know, there actually is strong voter support for these investments. they pass an overwhelming margins at the ballot box at the

local and state level and what we need is the strong, federal partner that we have been missing. >> reporter: emily feenstra of the society of civil engineers society of civil engineers, thank you very much for being here. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: we explore the politics of the president's infrastructure plan with our yamiche alcindor at the white house. hello, yamiche, we know president biden that one of the things he said he was going to do with this infrastructure plan was include efforts to promote racial equity. how exactly does he do that? >> reporter: well, president biden has said he wants to make racial equity a central part of his infrastructure plan and, to do that, he's investing billions and billions of dollars on initiatives to impact specifically black communities and communities of color. when you walk through the plant, you see a number of things that are targeting community that have historically had issues, that have historically been targeted and have had some troubles. i want to walk you through some of what's in that plan.

$400 billion is dedicated to in home care for disabled and older americans, the white house says it will raise wages of those working in the homes and predominantly who are low paid, often women of color. the white house says this will help black and latinos that have trouble with access to broadband. the drinking water systems, that the white house says will impact children and specifically children of color and then $20 billion to invest in communities historically by infrastructure plans. that's african-american communities in new orleans and syracuse that perhaps had highways and other infrastructure plans guilt through their neighborhoods that then led to black-owned businesses and plowrgdz and all -- playgrounds and economic hurt to the neighborhoods. so those are some of the things specifically targeted to the community of color. >> woodruff: yamiche, how does

the president make the case that racial justice is part of infrastructure? >> reporter: well, all of this, judy, president trump -- all of this, judy, president biden says is really targeted at racial equality. he says the access to clean water, lead pipes being eliminated, he says the ability to have a living wage as well as having access to broadband, which, of course, is key in a society now that is relying more and more on internet, all of this is really about how people survive and thrive in america. he says that has to be part of what we consider to be infrastructure. he said the idea of infrastructure has been evolving for generations, and he said this should be another generation that involves that, he says part of this is about making sure that families can have a new generation of americans who can look at their lives and say there is dignity to work there, living wage, a way to survive in this country. i press the white house on that. they say this is a jobs plan, and we should be thinking about it not just as infrastructure but how we're impacting people's

lives across the country not just related to infrastructure but the way they can survive. >> woodruff: so many parts to this big and complex infrastructure plan that the president's proposed, and we're trying to look at each part of it. yamiche alcindor, thank you. >> reporter: thank you so much. >> woodruff: the global push to get people vaccinated for covid hit a new set of concerns today. nick schifrin reports on why the astrazeneca shots are critical around the world. >> schifrin: the astrazeneca covid 19 vaccine is one of the that could be a blow to global vaccine efforts, especially low and middle income countries,

because astrazeneca is relatively inexpensive and easy to store and transport. it's 79 percent effective at prevents symptomatic infections and 25 million people in europe have already received it. for more on today's news we turn to dr. nahid bad bad, medical director of the special path gins at boston medical center. the agency concluded unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as a very require siesked of astrazeneca. >> they're saying there's a plausible link between the astrazeneca vaccine and what they're seeing which is blood clods that don't manifest in patients that are high risk, but these are blood clots seen in younger patients, and the proposed mechanism is that after you get the vaccine you may develop antibodies that attack a

port of your blood that allows your blood to clot, the platelets and leads to risk of clots in some areas and risk of bleeding in others. the reason this plausible link exists is because they're seeing those at higher rates above what might be seen in the general population. but the numbers are still very small. the numbers at the european medical agency used, one in 100,000 people that receive the astrazeneca vaccine may see thisand one, and according to the u.k. regulators, they released the numbers of one in 250,000 people who may receive this vaccine may potentially see this. compare that to blood cloths from flying which is one in five thousand. so still a very rare side effect but defend something to look out for if that link exists and more studies are required to connect the two better. >> reporter: understanding the risk is rare. is there a way to mitigate it? >> one of the ways that the british regulators have approached this is they have decreased the eligibility to

those over 30, with the understanding that these types of cases are being seen mostly in those over -- under 60 and potentially in younger patients and because in younger patients, you know, one of the ways these clots manifest is something called cerebral venus sinus thrombosis, a condition that sometimes is seen in young women who are on birth control. so i think what they're trying to do is mitigate the risk by potentially making only those over 30 eligible for this. i don't know -- you know, is that the right way to go about it? i still think the risk, the benefits outweigh the risk because as both the w.h.o. as well as the european medical agency have said, the risk of mortality from covid outweighs any risk of mortality from these rare blood clots that we're seeing. >> and we saw the eu and the u.k. ultimately say that, yes, the benefits outweigh the risks. do we know how this compares to other vaccines.

>> so there are some numbers that were shared in the same report, and, so, you have seen rare, again, i think the denominator is different, right, and i think you're seeing small numbers, two or three cases reported in johnson & johnson, and the 4.5 million that might have been released of vaccines, i think you're seeing a handful of these, again, in the mrna vaccines, there have been millions released, you're not seeing it at the same rate. you're see ago three fold increased in astrazeneca from the denational monumentators we have currently keep that in mind add also in terms of the way we have been looking for them. but i do think it raises the importance of? there is a link particularly with astrazeneca what we should do as next steps is put that guidance out to product tigsers in and patients getting it that about four to 20s days after you get these vaccines if you see side effects, headaches, visual changes, swelling in your feet, a blood clot in the abdomen there might be abdominal pain, keep an eye out because

that may be able to mitigate risk and identify those at risk earlier as well. >> reporter: astrazeneca is going to be distributed all over the world, especially low and middle income countries. what's the impact of today's news on fighting covid globally. >> i'm hoping not a lot because i think the benefits do outweigh the risk but it does raise an important question of if there are these rare siesks -- again, pretty rare, but if they end up existing, why do we in a strapped healthcare system ensure these are rare incidences and find people who have the side effect and bring them to care early. it would be interesting to see if other countries take the same stance the u.k. did which is they decrease the eligibility to those above 30. also will be interesting to see how the u.s.'s f.d.a. will respond, both the e.m.a. data and take by the u.k. regulators. >> reporter: the u.s. f.d.a. astrazeneca has not been

approved by the f.d.a. where do things stand with that approval? >> as far as we know and what we heard from astrazeneca they are on target in submitting approvals for f.d.a. in the u.s. trials of astrazeneca, about 30,000 people, these were not seen, again, because these are such rare side effects, if they exist, that in that group, in that trial, blood clots at least from the top line shared so far, there did not seem to be a difference between those vaccinated or not. that means is the u.s.a. going to reach out from the at that timeday from the european medical agency in making share decisions, that's unclear. if i were to bet, just as an opinion, i think it's likely that they will end up approving the vaccine. the question is will we have widespread distribution to have the vaccines given we have some candidates under production and in distribution in the u.s.

>> reporter: dotor, thank you very much. >> thank you. off >> woodruff: more and more children are returning to class in person, in schools around the country. teachers are getting vaccinated, too. roughly 80% of teachers and staff are now at least partially vaccinated. but stress remains high for some. in chicago, the teachers union announced today it wants to delay further reopenings, in hopes of allowing more time for others to get vaccinated. jeffrey brown reports on the latest challenges teachers face as they try to balance in-person and virtual learning. >> brown: outside douglas macarthur elementary school in alexandria, virginia recently, students arrived for an unusual >> it feels really, really nice.

>> brown: complete with choreographed carpool drop off, temperature checks upon entry, socially distanced hallways with signs to remind students to mask up. >> to see all my friends, to go on the bus, to see the teachers, to see everyone smile, that's the best part. >> brown: happy children, and very high stakes for first year principal penny hairston. >> i'm so hard on myself i don't want to make a mistake so it's my own, my own anxieties. >> brown: in the midst of the pandemic, she's tasked with creating and maintaining a safe, phased reopening plan for students and staff. >> i love my teachers. i feel for them, they are family, and they have families, and i want my families to understand they are doing a lot right now. they're working hard then they're going home and some of them have to do that second job.

>> brown: douglas macarthur is using a hybrid model: dividing its 550 students into two groups which alternate attending classes in-person, each for two days a week. but families can still choose to remain 100% virtual, making it all the more challenging for teachers to keep a steady work- life balance. >> we had to get to know what their tablets looked like compared to what we see. >> brown: ashley hojnowski teaches first grade at douglas macarthur. >> everything that we would do normally in a classroom as far as setting up routines or even having projects for the kids to do, we had to switch it now for everything on the computer. i come here early in the morning and i get my computer set up, and i do have a family at home with two little ones. so when they go to bed, i am up on my computer working after hours just to make sure my lessons are accurate and engaging for my students for the next day. >> brown: longer hours are just one way the pandemic has taken a

toll on america's teachers. from the beginning, without much federal guidance, the country's 13,000 school districts have largely determined their own standards in deciding when and how to reopen. tonya grimmke teaches special education at a high school in cobb county, georgia. >> there are five times a day where you've got over 50 kids in the same cafeteria with noasks on eating and talking. >> brown: while she has worried about safety protocols inside, her biggest frustration has been the lack of training with new technology, which she uses to keep her students outside connected. >> i had to figure out how to give my virtual kids control over the remote so they could also interact with the smart board or interact with whatever lesson we were doing. my kids in the room couldn't hear my kids on zoom and my zoom kids couldn't hear my kids in the room. so i had to get microphones and ust different things.

i think that's what we're seeing all over the country, is, you know, teachers have no idea how to do this and we had zero training. >> brown: with demands constantly shifting, gaps in access to school resources have been magnified by the pandemic. teachers, particularly those in low income communities, have struggled to manage technology, engage students and provide basic instruction. some families, who can afford it, are leaving public school systems. accordg to a december analysis by chalkbeat and the associated press, this fall, public k through 12 enrollment dropped by two percent compared to the year before. teachers are also leaving public schools. >> i wanted to try out in-person teaching. i was excited, but i was also nervous. >> brown: khalil suaray left baltimore city public schools last year. he now teaches fourth grade at arundel christian, a private school in maryland, where students have been learning fully in-person since september.

this school year, suaray had just one student continue to study remotely. >> i'm still a little anxious, but i'm also feeling better. like i'm like, ok, we can do this, this is possible because we have small class sizes. they have a whole three tier system where if somebody says positive, you know, the whole class of quarantine and things of that nature. so, you know, the school really did a great job of making me feel that everything will be taken care of. >> brown: private schools, often with smaller class sizes and newer buildings with better ventilation systems, have greater flexibility in reopening and implementing costly safety protocols. some small successes, but in the wider picture, especially for public schools: multiple stresses and overall hardship, suggesting a potential crisis for the teaching profession. >> what we found is that teachers cited stress as a reason for leaving the profession more often than they cited pay. >> brown: melissa diliberti is an assistant policy researcher at the rand corporation, focusing on education.

there's always burnout and there are always teachers who are, feel forced to leave the profession. but you're seeing this exacerbated now? >> we did see this increase in between spring and fall. so about three in 10 teachers were burned out back in the spring and now that level is up to about six and 10. we also see that teachers say that they have just more negative feelings toward the profession now this school year than they did before the pandemic started. >> brown: a national teacher shortage before the pandemic, now potentially even worse. some have opted for early retirement while others weigh leaving the profession altogether. how serious has the morale problem been this year? >> back in october, a quarter of teachers, a quarter of the teachers we surveyed said that they were likely to leave the profession by the end of the school year, the bulk of whom said that they were unlikely to leave the profession before the pandemic started. >> brown: back at douglas

macarthur in virginia, ashley hojnowski told us she's seen the strains and stresses on fellow teachers. but right now, especially as students are finally returning to class, she's doing what she loves. no thoughts of leaving teaching? >> i plan to be a teacher until i am 78 years old. no, this is the career i have chosen, and that's where i would like to stay. >> brown: and if she needed it, there was plenty of encouragement. >> what i like about my teachers is that they help me all the time. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: now, two looks at >> woodruff: now, two looks at the brutal conflict in northern ethiopia's tigray region. allegations of ethnic cleansing began last fall amid a military

crackdown, and teaten to engulf the surrounding region and permanently tarnish the reputation of the country's nobel prize-winning prime minister. thousands are dead; tens of thousands have been displaced. the ethiopian government is on the defensive, but it has also decided to slightly open the door to outside observers. special correspondent coletta wanjohi is one of a handful of correspondents who has been allowed in to tigray, and its capital mekelle. this report is based on what she saw, and what the government of ethiopia wanted the outside world to see. and a caution to viewers: images and accounts in these reports may disturb some viewers. >> reporter: scars of war aren't hard to find in the heart of mekelle, the capital of tigray. this is one of the schools here, converted into temporary shelter for the internally displaced. kindhafi abay, who is tigrayan,

walked for more than four days with her children to get here, hopping onto any truck willing to take them away. for four months now, this classroom, which they share with five other families, is what they've been forced to call home. >> ( translated ): i fled here with five of my children, others fled to sudan. this is troubling me a lot. since we arrived here, we have had so many problems. >> reporter: people like kindhafi are trying to outrun a conflict spreading through ethiopia's north. the region's powerful political party, representing the tigray ethnic group, used to lead the ethiopian government. but they clashed with current prime minister abiy ahmed. the tigray party retrenched in their home region, defying abiy by holding regional elections. in response, ethiopian government troops arrived in the north, aided by neighboring eritrea. fighting here has led to accusations that the government and eritrean troops are committing human rights abuses

against civilians. after months of denials, ethiopia's prime minister has admitted troops from neighboring eritrea have entered tigray. >> ( translated ): the reason the eritreans show their presence is because they have a national security concern. we also informed the eritrean government they are being accused of wrongdoings, looting and other things. the eritrean government strongly denounced these allegations and said it will take strong measures on any of its soldiers who are found guilty of these accusations. >> reporter: the decision by the ethiopian government to allow us and other foreign journalists cover the conflict in tigray follows months of international pressure. aid agencies were blocked from delivering humanitarian aid by the government for four months to nearly three million people still on the brink of starvation. humanitarian worker abadi tesfaye says many in the camps are in desperate need of more support. >> besides the support that we

get on food, nutrition or hygiene the most important need for these people is to get psychosocial support, because they are really in deep sadness. >> reporter: the toll on the people of tigray is a heavy one. nevertheless, the government is keen to stress that its soldiers have paid a heavy price too. at its northern headquarters, government military officers tell of the attack last november fourth that started the war: soldiers loyal to the tigray political party attacked the barracks where much of the country's equipment and other military assets are kept. >> ( translated ): when they attacked us we fought back with what we had, but they had already taken the weapons and they had control of the armory. we didn't have enough weapons. many died from our side; there were many women soldiers who died, our friends. they didn't even bury those who died respectfully, it was tragic.

>> reporter: in another part of the city, we were taken to meet wounded soldiers. shambel basha claims he was attacked by some of his colleagues who turned against the government, four months ago. >> ( tranated ): some of us had no affiliation to any political party. they chopped off my arm with an axe, i'm lucky to be alive. >> reporter: this mekelle military hospital is yet to return to full operations. the government says it was looted. the united nations human rights body says it has received reports of sexual and gender based violence, rape, extrajudicial killings, among other crimes allegedly committed in the period of fighting. prime minister abiy ahmed told parliament any soldier found guilty of raping women and looting communities in the tigray region will be held accountable. his government has insisted though, that its own state appointed ethiopia human rights commission conducts investigations jointly with the u.n.

the government here says it has given u.n. agencies and international organizations full access to all parts of the region, to offer much needed humanitarian assistance, but they should move around at their own risk. aid agencies say movement around the region is still tough partly because of insecurity and many security checks by government soldiers along the way. there is evidence of more humanitarian aid arriving here. >> this is now our third cargo plane of supplies coming from the united states. those planes have delivered nutritional supplementary food for children and that is what is on this plane behind me. >> reporter: but distribution of much needed assistance to some areas remains a challenge mainly because of insecurity. the government says there is sporadic fighting in the region. hundreds of thousands more have been unable to flee to the safety of such camps, and altogether, millions of people in this part of ethiopia are facing the very real threat of starvation.

and although being in these camps may feel safer, they don't feel like home for many here like kindhafi. >> ( translated ): i'm just alive because of the assistance from the residents of this city, but above all i want my own home, peace and my own home. >> reporter: the faith that one day the guns will go silent in this region and she will be reunited with her children who fled to sudan, keeps kindhafi's hopes alive. for the pbs newshour, i'm coletta wanjohi in mekelle, northern ethiopia. >> woodruff: now, as coletta reported, the ethiopian government allowed journalists into tigray in part because of international pressure, following reports of atrocities committed by the government and its allies. nick schifrin is back, and begins with the anatomy of an event that amnesty international calls a possible crime against humanity. (gunfire) >> schifrin: in axum, ethiopia, gunshots broke the morning

quiet, and didn't stop until the shooters committed a massacre. axum is in northern ethiopia, inside tigray, a town of 70,000 residents in 10 square miles. and the soldiers who arrived in november were from neighboring eritrea-- allies of the ethiopian government. they began by taking the high ground at mai ku-ho hill. a resident filmed black and white video of the local tigrayan militia, fighting back. >> the young people of axum, they were given a gun. i don't know by who, but they're fighting very amazing. >> the person describes fighting around the hill of mai koho. it's only a few hundred meters away from from the main hotels and the main churches of the city. a crisis response unit was able to geolocate the video and find that it was shot around mai koho. >> schifrin: jean batiste gallopin is a co-author of an amnesty international investigation that verified social media videos, scanned satellite images, and

interviewed survivors. the report reveals what happened next: eritrean soldiers opened fire and killed hundreds of civilians. this man, a bank teller, killed outside the arbeatu ensessa church. that holy house, became an epicenter of death. >> eritrean soldiers called reinforcement and then proceeded to shoot wantonly at civilians running in the streets, rounding up men and shooting them. also carrying out house to house searches, looking for teenage and adult men to kill. >> schifrin: the clues of their crimes, buried outside churches. next to arbeatu ensessa church, and across town next to arbeatu ensessa aregawe church, amnesty found “sturbed earth"-- evidence of mass graves. >> witnesses describe the victims of the massacre being buried in mass graves in these

churches, you know, three to 10 bodies at a time. >> schifrin: according to witnesses, hundreds of people were buried in arbeatu ensessa alone. in the middle of town, the brena hotel was one of axum's hotspots. but amnesty found debris outside. and a video obtained by human rights watch, shows heavy damage and looting in the eritrean >> the massacre was a deliberate intent to attempt to terrorize the population into submission. the indiscriminate shelling and wanton shooting carried out by the eritrean and ethiopian military during the initial offensive on axum could represent war crimes. >> schifrin: fisseha tekele was the report's co-author. >> what we have published is just the tip of the iceberg. >> schifrin: since amnesty's report, journalists and researchers have documented similar attacks in nearby mahi'bere dego, and mekelle. and in late march, doctors without borders said its staffers witnessed ethiopian soldiers dragging four men off a

public bus outside mekelle, and executing them. >> generally it's a horrible situation in tigray. i just couldn't tolerate it. >> schifrin: berhane kidanemariam was ethiopia's former deputy ambassador to the u.n. he's a tigrayan diplomat who's represented ethiopia for decades. but last month he resigned and said his concerns go beyond his ethnicity. he rejects prime minister abiy ahmed's claims the ethiopian military is fighting terrorism and separatists, and accuses ahmed of a campaign of genocide against tigray, and a campaign of persecution, of his political opponents. >> the war is targeting the young, and the general public. he want to maintain his power. he just want to be a king. they are highly corrupted. >> commit acts of ethnic cleansing,hich we've seen in western tigray, has to stop. >> schifrin: publicly, u.s. officials have confirmed few details of ethiopian and allies' actions. but a senior administration official told pbs newshour the u.s. has concluded “with a great

deal of certainty, there have been mass killings, the use of rape as a tool of war, forced displacement, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.” abiy recently admitted eritrean soldiers were in ethiopia. but he hasn't admitted what they did, and he rejected recent u.s. requests for a cease-fire, and political dialogue. meanwhile, tigrayan survivors, are trying to recover from trauma. many of them are in sudan-- these are the people whom amnesty interviewed, to discover what happened in axum. they need help, and humanitarians can't reach them. >> despite the improvement in terms of processing permissions for humanitarian staff, there is still limited access due to insecurity. >> schifrin: limited access and limited visibility, but what appears to be evidence, of atrocities. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: jimmy carter lost his white house re-election bid over 40 years ago and his presidency is often remembered for hard economic times and the iran hostage crisis. but author and historian jonathan alter argues in his latest book, "his very best" that carter is perhaps the most misunderstood president in american history. jonathan alter, thank you very much for joining us to talk about your book. you call jimmy carter perhaps the most misunderstood president in american history. i've known, have covered him for a long time, i even covered him before he came to washington to be to be president. what made you so interested in him? >> well, what happened, judy, is i learned some of the details of his achievements at camp david, and this was a virtuoso

performance. it's the most enduring and significant peace treaty in the world since world war ii. and i started to think, you know, if he could pull that off, maybe there's more to jimmy carter to than this kind of easy shorthand, inept president, great former president. and it just got me curious to get beyond that cliche. and when i started to do the research five years ago, i found that he had actually achieved much more as president than i or i think a lot of other people understood, and that he was a political failure, but a substantive and far sighted success. >> woodruff: we'll talk about that for a minute, what was it that made him the consequential president that he was? you write about how he had he was ahead of his time in many regards. >> he signed 14 major pieces of environmental legislation.

and he was also the first leader anywhere in the world to think about climate change, which at that time was just in the scientific community. but it really goes across the board, judy. there were accomplishments all the way throughout. so, for instance, donald trump would not have been impeached if it were not for jimmy carter, who introduced and got passed the ethics in government act that first protected whistleblowers, inspector generals act, setting up those offices, fisa courts, established ma did some of the first emergency planning. i think people know that he created the departments of education and energy, but the list goes on and on. and on the foreign policy area, despite the failures in terms of getting the hostages out of iran before the election, which hurt him badly, not only camp david, but establishing full diplomatic relations with china, which created the bilateral relationship that our world economy is now based on. that was jimmy carter.

the panama canal treaties prevented a major war in central america. the human rights policy was historic, helped kick off the democratic revolution around the world, helped end the cold war when the cold war, as a lot of conservatives admitted later on. but much of this was hard to understand at the time. so his political mistakes kind of overwhelm these achievements. >> woodruff: it's a remarkable list. but despite all this, jon alter, there were a lot of mistakes. there were embarrassments, mistakes of his own doing, and then a lot of bad luck along with all that. >> yeah, absolutely. so jimmy carter has led this almost novelistic life. it's a real american epic. you know, he was born on a farm where they had no running water, no electricity, essentially in the 19th century. so carter is coming this great

distance and he runs this campaign from zero percent in the polls, gets to the presidency, has a lot of good luck as well as good timing because he was running after watergate as an ethical moral candidate. but he has good luck. then when he gets to the presidency, especially in the second half of his term, 1979 and '80, he's essentially swamped by events, including economic problems that were very serious and contributed in a major way to his not getting reelected. he did, though, appoint paul volcker, who raised interest rates way above 15%, which hurt carter when he was running for reelection. but eventually that harsh medicine ended inflation. so reagan got the credit and arguably got reelected in '84 for that. but it was carter's appointee who accomplished it, paul volcker. but just to go to the political problems, he could not unify the

democratic party. and that challenge by ted kennedy from the left in the 1980 primaries, that was very hurtful to jimmy carter. >> woodruff: it was almost everywhere you look between the iran hostage crisis, as you mentioned internationally, the spike in oil prices, the long gas lines, and then, as you mentioned, the political problems, did you ever figure out jon alter, what drives him? and we should say the man is still alive well into his 90s. >> right, he's 96. so his faith definitely drives him. i devote a fair amount of attention to that. i think even that is very misunderstood. it was a strong believer in the separation of church and state and would not allow any religious tinged events at the white house. but i also think a sense of atonement drives him. but his father dies. he comes back to georgia and to take over his father's business, farm supply business, get going in politics.

and he's ducking the civil rights movement right through that 1970 campaign, even using some code words in that 1970 campaign. and then, judy, you were there for one of the most important events of his political career when he took the oath and gave his inaugural address as governor of georgia. and he said the time for racial discrimination is over. and you could tell, you said later that you could feel the electricity going through the crowd. it doesn't sound like anything, but it was a huge decision. and then he went on to integrate georgia. but then i think he spent the second half of his life from that moment on, essentially making up for what he did not do in the first half of his life on civil rights. and that can be an inspiration for us. so this faith and this sense of wanting to do as much as he can

for as many people as he can in whatever time he has left. >> woodruff: it certainly seems to be driving him. so does he finally, jon alter become like hay truman, a president o is appreciated but decades after he's president? or not? what do you think? >> so harry truman was his favorite president. he put the sign "the buck stops here" right on the desk. and i'm hoping that i and other authors can contribute to a real reassessment of his presidency. he's not going to be in our first rank of presidents. he made plenty of mistakes, but i do think that historians are now starting to recognize that he got slimed in some ways after he left office and that there was much more that he achieved than people recognize. and of course, we haven't even spoken about his achievements as a as a former president. after he left office, he revolutionized the role of former president.

after he left office, he revolutionized the role of former president. but i'm just trying to kind of correct but i'm just trying to kind of correct the balance here and this notion that he was a lousy president, which is just not true. >> woodruff: jon alter, the book is "his very best", of course, a play on jimmy carter saying when he was running for president, why not the best? it's his very best. jimmy carter, a life. a big contribution to our study of this presidency. thank you, jon. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: i covered his presidency in washington and the book is very much worth reading. online, the u.s. spends billions of and online, the u.s. spends billions of dollars every year

putting people behind bars, but not nearly enough to help those who are released, activists say. we look at the challenges state and local programs face to raise enough money to support people after incarceration. all that and more at: pbs.org/newshour and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

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