♪ >> good evening, i am judy woodruff. on the news tonight, guns in america. the bidencurb violence and affee communities that are most affected by a. getting the vaccine. many evangelical leaders overcome reluctance to receive inoculations among their followers. and under told story. the jewish women's resistance movements within nazi run ghettos. >> now, i cannot look at the story of the holocaust without seeing one of a constant battle of resistance and

resilience. judy: i day with gabby giffords. gritz, joy, music, and a drive to end gun violence. all of that and more on tonight pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what's new? >> audrey's expecting. >> twins. >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always a part of the plan. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. the candida fund committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through

investments and transformative leaders and ideas. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic information, at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: recent mass shootings in

georgia and colorado have once again put gun reform in the national spotlight. nearly 20,000 people died of gun violence last year. another 24 thousand from suicide. today, president biden unveiled steps he is taking to curb what he calls an epidemic and international embarrassment. pres. biden: the idea that we have so many people dying every single day from gun violence in america is a blemish on our character as a nation. whether congress acts or not, i will use all of the resources at my disposal to keep the american people safe from gun violence. there is much more that congress can do to help that effort. judy: some of the actions the president announced include curbing so-called "ghost gun's" which are home assembled firearms that often lacks serial numbers and do not require background checks.

tightening -- on braces. will create a model for states to enact what are allows judges to firearms from people who are deemed dangerous. the department will also release a report on firearms trafficking. president biden nominated david chipman, an advisor at the gun control group giffords to head the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and explosives. we turn to alan winkler, expert on gun policy. thank you for being here and as we are saying, gun deaths are off the charts. mass shootings happening every day, one in south carolina yesterday and another one today in the state of texas. how much difference can the steps that president biden is

announcing make? allan: the steps are modest step they do not tackle all of the major issues in america's gun violence problem. they are not insignificant. take the rule regulating ghost gun's. these are homemade gun kits that have become increasingly popular and with the advance of technology, increasingly easy to use. anyone can buy one of these kits, even if they are prohibited from buying a firearm and make their own gun. these are being used more frequently and in crime. in california, one in three guns recovered from crime scenes are do guns without serial numbers. judy: we mentioned making it easier for states to enact a red flag laws, and you are telling us that investing in communities, trying to discourage gun violence can make a difference, too. allan: that's right. these red flag laws have become

popular and there is bipartisan support. they enable family members or law enforcement to temporarily take away someone's firearms when they are going through a crisis that poses a threat to themselves or others. what the biden administration is proposing to do is to come up with some model, some guidelines for how to do this right. that could be an effective tool that some family members who see another familmember in crisis can use to prevent the next mass shooting. judy: we know that this all reminds us that president biden is not pushing legislation through congress. it is a reminder how difficult that is. how much influence does the gun rights lobby have, organizations like the nra right now with american lawmakers versus the influence of groups that want to see gun reform? adam: ironically, we are seeing both very strong.

no doubt, the nra is suffering from a major financial setback. they are in bankruptcy and they are being investigated and prosecuted, they have major lawsuits on their hands. the power of the nra has always been about the power to influence the single gun voters out there, and they are still out there, regardless of what happens to the nra. the gun control movement in the last 10 years has been reinvigorated. we have seen new organations risen, more money being spent on gun safety reform, and it has become an issue that is at the top of the democratic party agenda, someplace it was not 10 years ago. judy: but still, a pill to get meaningful legislation passed. adam: meaningful legislation in the senate to require 60 votes and it is hard to imagine 60 votes were almost hardly any controversial issue the the -- these days. judy: what about the views of

the american people, what do we know about that? adam: there is a huge difference of the views of congress and the views of american people. we see things like universal background checks having over 80% support. the restriction on ghost guns, we see about 75 percent support, and yet, these laws cannot to get adopted through congress itself because, the republican caucus is 100% opposed to gun control, and there is probably even some swing state democrats who would vote against significant gun reform, too. judy: we heard president biden say today that if he had one thing he could get gun, it would be the ability to sue gun manufacturers over deaths. would that make a big difference? adam: it could make a big difference in the long run. the gun makers were able to get a lot past by congress in the second bush administration to restrict the ability of people

to sue gun makers when their guns are used in crime. a gun maker is not going to be liable if a criminal misuses their firearms as a general matter. but we have seen in other industries, these types of lawsuits can open the door and window to see how these gun makers are operating, how they are marketing their weapons, and it may be that they are marketing them in ways to design and appeal to people who have violent desires to use them offensively. it would be tough, but it is possible. judy: adam winkler, thank you. adam: thank you. ♪ judy: i -- >> we will return to judy woodruff and the full program after the latest headlines. president biden's announcement

comes on the heels of more deadly shootings. and bryan, texas, a shooting at an office complex left one person dead and five injured. a state trooper was injured but is in serious but stable condition. the suspect worked in the complex and is now in custody. local police officials say a motive is unclear. yesterday, a man in south carolina killed five people before taking his own life. authorities confirmed the shooter was 33-year-old phillip adams, a former professional football player with a history of concussions. the victims in rock hill were a prominent local doctor, his wife, two of their grandchildren, and a worker at the house. police are searching for a motive. >> we don't have anything right now. there is nothing about this right now that make sense to any of us, and that is why we are working so hard to try to get more information. >> a six person was hospitalized in critical condition with gunshot wounds.

the number of children arriving at the u.s.-mexico border hit an all-time high last month. u.s. authorities apprehended nearly 19,000 minors in march, and it is well above the previous high of more than 11,000 in may 2019. texas officials are investigating three reports of abuse and neglect at a san antonio facility housing more than 1600 migrant teenagers. u.s. employers are still cutting jobs as more americans get vaccinated. the labor department reported unemployment claims arose unexpectedly to 744,000 last week, but that is down sharply from the start of the pandemic. the u.s. economy is strengthening with 916,000 jobs added in march. today's testimony at the trial of former minneapolis police officer eric children centered on the perspective -- police officer derek chauvin centered

on the perspective of floyd dying from a lack of oxygen, and not from drugs or health issues. our correspondent has a report. >> prosecutors began the ninth day of the derek chauvin trial with the testimony of a chicago-based critical care physician, he testified today that shallow breathing led to floyd's death. >> would you tell the jury what that opinion is? >> mr. floyd died from a low level of oxygen, and this caused damage to his brain that we see and it also caused a pea arrhythmia that causes heart to stop. >> tobin said that several factors led to his shallow breathing.

after showing prepared illustrations and photos of the event, the doctor concluded that chauvin's knee on floyd's neck caused critical death. >> i want to go back to the point in time when mr. chauvin was on the neck of mr. floyd -- did you see him get off by any seconds in the nine minutes and 22 seconds that you saw him on it? >> no, i did not. >> the doctor testified that chauvin's knee remained on his neck another two minutes after floyd took his last breath. >> you see his eyes, he is conscious. that is the moment the life goes out of his body. >> defense argued that floyd died due to drugs in his system,

but prosecution try to cut that today. the analyzing of floyd's autopsy said that the methamphetamine in his system was not a factor in his death. that finding was supported by tobin earlier and dr. smock. >> west virginia democratic senator joe manchin has insisted that in no circumstance would he vote to weaken the filibuster rule. he also voiced opposition to a process called reconciliation, that warren and the filibuster would allow democrats to push legislation without republican support. officials on the island of st. vincent and the eastern caribbean are rushing to evacuate some 16,000 people as a volcano threatens to erupt.

scientists say that recent seismic activity lead them to believe an eruption and be close. a royal caribbean cruise ship will be housing them overnight. in sudan, the death toll from days of tribal violence in darfur for has reached 132. looting continued in the provincial capital of westar for where a shooting on saturday triggered the conflict. tensions between arab and the non-arab tribes have posed a challenge for the country;s transitional government. myanmar's military rulers are limiting internet access and confiscating tv satellites and an effort to crack down on protests. demonstrations continued even after security forces killed 11 protesters overnight. violence is escalating in northern ireland over post brexit trade rules. at least 55 police officers have

been injured this week as tensions increased between protestant and catholic communities in belfast. last night, a bus was hijacked and set on fire. crowds of mainly young adults on both sides attacked each other and police with gasoline bombs and bricks. still to come, the cost of the president's infrastructure plan prompts questions of tax increases. some evangelical leaders were to overcome resistance to covid vaccines amonst -- plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour, from weta studios in washington and in the west, the walter cronkite school of journalism and arizona state university. judy: at least one thing stands out in president biden's

infrastructure plan, the price tag. to pay for the nearly $2 trillion plan, there are calls for revamping how u.s. corporations pay taxes, including what they pay overseas. >> and 2017, republicans and then president trump reduced the u.s. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. president biden wants to raise that to 28%. he is calling for an international minimum tax rate of 21%. that is meant to keep big multinational companies from doing something that many have done, use offshore loopholes to pay fewer taxes. the various tax provisions would raise two point $5 trillion over 15 years. -- $2.5 trillion over 15 years. jesse trucker joins me now. welcome to the newshour. these loopholes, these tax maneuvers, a lot of companies use them, google, amazon, and

facebook, but what does it mean? what does it mean for the actual pay? jesse: they have generally paid somewhere around half for that. google for years was paying taxes at a rate of 2% to 3% on its majority of profits because it was putting them in a mailbox in bermuda. the theory behind the biden plan is to provide a minimum rate for the profits they are pushing offshore. >> what is all of that mean for "lost revenue" for taxes in the u.s. treasury? jesse: there is an economist to is the now top international official and she said the u.s. was losing sewhere around the order of $100 billion a year for companies moving profits off sure. that gets you to around the trillion dollars in a decade. >> what about the 2017 tax cuts, what impacted they have?

did they make it easier or harder? jesse: overall, the tax cuts meant the corporations are paying a lot less in taxes than they did before 2017. the tax burden for u.s. companies is much less than it was three years ago, but, it did introduce the kernel of a concept of doing a minimum tax offshore. that was at a much lower rate than what the biden folks are talking about, but it was the first time the u.s. introduced a concept like that. >> we heard from treasury secretary janet yellen backing this plan and she said it will and the global race to the bottom. she said, competitiveness is about more than how u.s. headquartered companies fair against other companies. it is about making sure that governments have stable tax systems that raise efficient revenue to invest. do they all have to go through

congress? jesse: they are talking about things that the law would have to be changed, so they are relying on the democratic congress. what they are seeking now requires a new law. >> republicans have come out against it. the u.s. chamber of commerce have come out against it. they say it would hurt american businesses and cost american jobs. jesse, is there any data to back that up? jesse: we have a fair amount of data going in the other direction. over the years and 2004 and 2017, the u.s. gave enormous tax breaks to company to bring back money they had stored offshore in places like the cayman islands. but they did not use that money to build new plants, but they used majority of the money to buy back shares from investors, which of course enriches the executives most of all, but at the same time, a lot of those

companies were laying off tons of workers that they were bringing money back. there is a very substantial body of evidence to the contrary, that the tax cuts have not had an impact on investment and hiring. >> you have covered this issue for years and years, these practices have been going on for years and years. is there something in this proposal that strikes you as different, as something that could curb these practices that have been in place? jesse: yeah. having a 21% to my mom tax -- we call them overseas -- 21% minimum tax, we called them overseas profits, but they are tax saving profits. these are the profits that companies push into bermuda and switzerland, and claim are being earned overseas. if all the sudden, companies, instead of having those profits taxed at 2% or 6% with what we have seen with the kind of google's and apple's of the

world, if now there is a minimum tax of 21% on those profits, that is a very big change and difference and probably would raise a lot of money and probably curb a lot of these transactions that move profits into tax savings. >> jesse of the new york times, thank you for your time. jesse: thanks for having me. ♪ judy: as of today, more than 66 million americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. many others are eagerly waiting for their shots. but among white evangelical americans, interest in the vaccine is not as widespread. john yang speaks with one evangelical leader about why that is and what can be done to change it. john: ong religious groups,

white evangelicals are the least likely to say that they plan to get the covid-19 vaccine in the latest survey, 45 percent of white evangelicals say they definitely or probably weighed not to get vaccinated. that compares with 30% of all americans and 33% of black christians -- or black protestants. about 17% of adult americans identify as white evangelicals. russell moore is president of the ethics and religious liberty commission of the southern baptists. thank you for joining us. have you gotten the vaccine? rev. moore: yes, i have had both shots. john: from what you can tell, this skepticism among people who identify as white evangelicals, does this have anything to do with religious beliefs? rev. moore: no, it is instead

about the distrust that is evident in american society and some of it has to do with the fact that we have been isolated from one another and lots of ways for over a year and much of the way that misinformation and disinformation gets combated is with people in conversation with one another. that is why lots of us are doing what we can to save vaccination is not only something that is acceptable for christians, it is something we ought to thank god we have the technology for because it is going to get us back to dointhe things that we need to do quicker. john: we reached out to se evangelicals in our viewership to ask them about their attitudes towards the vaccine and one person we heard from was billy brian, 49 years old, a teacher in tennessee, and he says he is young and healthy and in his view, what he sees as the potential risks outweigh the risks of covid. let's take a listen.

billy: my real hesitancy is i just don't really want to see the government or anybody force people to do something that those people feel like is not in their best interest. again, people are conquer but with it, i think the more the merrier, but it does seem like a logical decision to hold off, at least for me individually at this time. john: how typical is that, is what he just had to say and how do you respond? rev. moore: we have to make very clear, the government is not forcing people to get the vaccine. instead, this is something that is not only in our own best interest, but our neighbors. we have really good scientific data on the vaccines, and i think some of the hesitancy we saw in that clip maybe overcome just as people start to see their neighbors being vaccinated and to see the fact that this is not scary, this is in fact

something that is helpful, and helpful to protect the people who are most vulnerable around us. it is not just about protecting oneself. john: the people we heard from also said, and this is obviously a small sample, but they said that their pastors and their churches are not encouraging them to get the vaccine. they say it is up to them, it is a personal decision. do you think that pastors and churches that should be encouraging it? rev. moore: therere a lot of pastors who are doing vaccination drives in their congregations and they are helping people to under and what can be gained, so for instance, many evangelical churches have vacation bible school every summer, so they will be able to gather together for vacation bible school, to do mission trips and do community outreach. and to minister to the elderly among us who are often the most isolated in assistant living facilities, we want to get those grandmothers and grandfathers

together with their grandchildren, so i think talking about the positive aspects of vaccination is the way to go, rather than seeking to scold people. john: when you got your vaccine, was there any backlash or any negative reaction from friends and other pastors? rev. moore: not from friends and other pastors. there is always going to be some people online and i think a lot of this is driven by social media where people are going to suggest, this is a part of some dark conspiracy, or this is going to get someone sick -- we have data on all of that. that is one of the reasons why it one of the things i did early on what to do a webinar with francis collins just going through every conceivable sort of conspiracy theory and every conceivable fear to counter thos e things.

there are some people that are not anti-vaccine, they just hear some of the rumbles going around on social media and they wonder, is this all right, is this safe? many of them, i think will eventually come around. john: francis collins, a fervent christian himself. rev. moore: yes. john: i take it from what you are saying that a government push to try to reach evangelical christians could actually backfire. rev. moore: well, it could if it is heavy-handed. the emphasis ought to be on what's possible. if we get vaccinated in large numbers, the way that we can actually get back to -- we disagree on so many things in american life right now. we are at each other's throats, but there are some things we can agree on, and part of that is we want to be together again. we want to be able to get as close back to normal as we can, and that is probably especially true for people who are

religious communities, because we believe that we ought to be congregated together. i think emphasizing the positive is the best way to go. >> reverend russell moore, thank you. rev. moore: thank you. ♪ judy: we and many others have spent much time of covering the struggle of health care workers during the pandemic. but there has been far less attention to the deaths of doctors and nurses. a project has been gathering crucial information and looking at the impact of covid on the front line workers. william: throughout the pandemic, the federal government did not track this kind of data, but a joint project by kaiser health news and the guardian called "lost on the front line"

created its database to do so. their teams found that more than 3600 health care workers in the u.s. died during the pandemic's first year. two thirds were people of color, one third was born outside of the u.s., and more than half were younger than 60. but the project was not simply about data. reporters try to capture something about these individual lives and how their loved ones left behind are now coping. christina of kaiser health news was one of the leader reporters and she joins me now. great to have you on, and this is really a terrific piece of journalism you guys have been doing. this is a huge slice of a huge number within this one slice of the work force. who were they in the medical setting, who were these people broadly speaking? christina: what we found was about 17% were doctors, but the

bulk were workers who really spent more time in the room with the patients. to patient care technicians, certified nursing assistants, nurses. when you talk to scientists and they talk about how aerosols commune in a room and who is spending the most time in the room, that is what we really saw was the workers who were close up with the patient, were the ones who lost their lives by and large. william: 3600 people is an enormous number, but are there particular stories that stand out as emblematic of this crisis? christina:: there is a couple. when his wife talk to me -- talked to me, she recounted a love story that started in their native albania, and the classic story of hard work which brought

him to be in dialysis technician at the beaumont health. she knew he was at risk, and he would not hear of that. he took it in the room, he made sure the patients were comfortable. he got them water and he got the virus and he died. this is a man who spent years telling everyone that he had a dad that had passed, and that loss was greatly felt. it is stories like that that really stick with me of incredible sacrifices his family has made. william: there is a man named walter beal. can you tell us about him? christina: walter beale had a grandson who had a devopmental delay and he worked in a facility with people who had dell --

developmental disabilities. he waited barbecue for their birthdays, he would work for them, he was a superhero -- that is what his wife told us. they raised four children. another love story where she recounted the last moments where she saw him pull down his oxygen mask to mouth i love you. he had gloves, no respiratory protection at all. he died and we found that his death were not even reported to workplace safety regulators as were dozens of others. william: in addition to those types of cases, your reporting shows that a lot of the reason these people got infected and then died was in part because of our misunderstanding early on about how the coronavirus was spreading. christina: that's right.

the guidelines were written early on and they were not changed. what we saw was there was this notion that the intubation was considered an aerosol generated procedure, and the staff would get the best ppe if they were exposed, and what we later learned was that this is an airborne virus and that a cough, just a simple cough generated 10 times more aerosols than actual intubation procedure. researchers are looking at that now and there are some saying that the guidelines that are really in place still all over the world is the house of cards that have fallen, and that is still debated within the medical field, whether this virus requires that higher level of airborne protection with an n95

mask or whether it is ok for health-care workers and a surgical mask. william: you and your colleagues are closing out this project, partly because the deaths are declining, which is good news, but also because we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel with these vaccines, which is also great news. i wonder if you worry, if we move to quickly pass this that we will not do too good a reckoning of what went wrong that cost all of the people their lives. christina: that's right. a lot of the research we have seen has come from really elite academic medical institutions, and that is not where we saw people die. i think the question of what happened in the third-best hospital in a midsized metro region, what happened in a nursing him -- why did some people not fall ill, and why did

some lose their lives? really drilling outside of boston and johns hopkins so we are better prepared, better able to protect people if this ever happens again. i think that work still needs to be done. william: christina jewett of kaiser health news, thank you for this term in this piece. christina: thank you for having me. ♪ judy: today is holocaust remembrance they and now 76 years since the end of the second world war in europe. a new book out, "the light of days" by judy battalion retells acts of heroism by jewish women within the death camps, who risked their lives to challenge the nazis. she concentrates on female couriers who handcarried crucial

letters, weapons, and ammunition. here is special correspondent , malcolm. malcolm: 76 years after the auschwitz death camp was liberated, ghosts of the holocaust are coming to life in new uplifting stories. one of the wartime heroines for trained -- portrayed in this book is seen here with her son. he wants the world to know what his mother did in the world to compensate for the torrid reception she received in israel after surviving auschwitz. >> they used to say, you were at the slaughter. and she was treated as such. what did you do that you are not killed -- did you collaborate with the nazis? were you a prostitute? these were the questions that

were put to her. malcolm: how angry does that make you that your mother's first period in israel was so awful? >> extremely angry. this is one of the reasons why i am trying to tell her story. malcolm: this picture testifies to her courage. what makes the photograph extraordinary is that it was taken by a nazi, a gestapo christmas party. bella worked as an interpreter. the job gave her a great cover story which enabled her to travel to cities whether jewish resistance operated. 19 and masquerading as a polish catholic, she became a brilliant spy. her luck ran out at this railway station in poland. despite being arrested, tortured, and sent to auschwitz, she never confessed her true identity. >> she interacted with the gestapo people and what she did

was to steal official papers to put official stamps on these papers, and she delivered official materials together with information that she gathered. she delivered it all to the headquarters of the underground. >> they were walking around with cash in their garter belt and dynamite in their underwear. malcolm: the bravery was buried in an old yiddish book that judy batalion stumbled upon. she spent 14 years researching the women that she believes should be revered. duty: when i first began this project, i too had a subconscious understanding which is why when i first found this material by accident, i was blown away and now, i cannot to look at the story of the holocaust without seeing it as a constant battle of resistance

and resilience. malcolm: her book concentrates on stories of this woman, eulogized by her grandmother. >> you can see in the holocaust, the way she wanted to say people and tell people and help children, and she did just want to survive -- she wanted to do more than that. malcolm: the ability to evade nazi patrols and checkpoints made her a key player in the jewish insurgency. these days, an ultraconservative town in northeast poland renowned for itsostility to gays. 80 years ago under the nazis, it had a ghetto where jews work around before being dispatched to death camps. >> the clear missions was to bring ammunition, and they were fighting in the forests. they needed ammunition. the women were trying to find

places where they could steal ammunition, bring it to the force, or the ghetto sometime. >> these women showed bravery and courage, and cleverness and bravado against all odds. judy: as long as they appeared area and, women could move more freely around occupied poland than men. they exploited a naive german belief that women were incapable of sabotage. judy: the biggest militaries in the world could not defeat the german army, but that did not matter. what mattered was the fight for justice and liberty. >> one woman left poland when germany invaded. she could have stayed outside of the country, bu came back. judy: she was a leader in the warsaw ghetto, she helps get young jews out of slave labor,

she helps them find food, and she fought in ghetto uprisings. >> the 1940 three warsaw ghetto uprising lasted almost a month as heavily outnumbered jewish fighters kept german forces at bay. ultimately, they were overwhelmed and some part of died by suicide. today, only the small portion of the ghetto wall remained, but her deeds lives on. judy: she escaped through sewage water up to her neck, and even after she was in hiding, she helped administer rescue organizations that helped thousands of jews in hiding in warsaw. malcolm: though most of the characters in the book are couriers, she could not resist telling the story of anna, a member of the auschwitz resistance. how on earth do you resist and auschwitz?

judy: this is an incredible story, again, one of those how did i not know about this. malcolm: only one crematorium remains. all but one were destroyed by the nazis as they fled from the serbian red army. the other one was blown up by the co-conspirators of anna. she helped to steal gunpowder from and munitions and smuggled it back. judy: it was an elaborate system where the people who worked in the room where they packed the powder would take little bits and put it in the wastebasket on the side. another round of women would collect that waste, go to the bathroom, take out the gunpowder, and hide it in fabric. malcolm: here is anna and her own words, in canada in 1996. anna: they used the gunpowder

and manufactured little hand grenades made out of metal around boxes of shoe polish, and filled with the gunpowder, and when you let -- lit it, it exploded. malcolm: jews forced by the nazis to dispose of bodies from the gas chambers -- ana: all of the commander people were killed, but the crematorium was destroyed as well. malcolm: in retribution, her sister was executed. >> i heard this collective groan, and i knew what happened. i did not witness it with my eyes, but i was there. >> grateful that light is now being shown on this aspect of the holy -- holocaust. yoell: it is extremely important to because the story of the couriers is almost unknown worldwide. malcolm: the book may help

elevate these women to their rightful place in history, especially as the author is working on a screenplay with steven spielberg, legendary director of "schindler's list." ♪ judy: president biden reached out to an elbow bomb to with former arizona congresswoman gabby giffords at the rose garden today. a moment to push a curve to gun violence. giffords was shot in the head outside of tucson, and 18 others were also shot, six died. giffords has become a fierce advocate for and being gun violence, and is on her own quest to rewire her brain. jeffrey brown shows how her great brings joy as music and

science open new doors. it is a part of our art and culture series, canvas. ♪ jeffrey: a recent lesson on the french horn. it is known as a difficult instrument to play and master, and for this amateur musician, it represents a kind of miracle. sen. giffords: applause, applause. jeffrey: when did you start playing the french horn? sen. giffords: i was 13. jeffrey: why did you choose the french horn? sen. giffords: it is so difficult. i love the challenge, the music filled me up in side. jeffrey: 10 years ago, gabby giffords was shot at close range when meeting outside of a grocery market. the bullet passed and exited through the skull.

she survived and was transferred to the institute for rehabilitation and research, at memorial hermann medical center in houston. chief medical officer dr. gerard francisco oversaw her care. dr. francisco: the important thing to remember are that the impairments from a gunshot wound to the head is a function of the location that has been damaged. jeffrey: in gabby giffords case, that was the left side of her brain which controls language and speech ability. in addition to paralysis, she suffered an impairment seen in stroke victims. dr. francisco: it is a very complex disorder of speech. jeffrey: giffords is much more blunt. >> it really sucks. the words are in my brain -- i

just can't get them out. i love to talk -- i'm gabby. yeah, yeah. jeffrey: fun-loving, quickwitted, sma as they come. she understands everything, but the words themselves don't come. the neuro-neural connectors that translate thoughts and ideas into speech and language were damaged, and that has meant a decade of near constant therapy and exercises to retrain her body and brain. her partner throughout, her husband, astronaut mark kelly, the newly elected u.s. senator fr arizona. she has made remarkable strides, but a challenges remain. >> we have spent a lot of time trying to build the things she wants to say into things are more fluent and easy for her to achieve. it takes a lot of work. sen. giffords: let me her --

jeffrey: a speech pathologist and expert has worked with giffords since the shooting. to get a sense of just how difficult speaking is, we were asked to provide questions well ahead of time, and then supposed them in a precise order. >> we worked for several weeks preparing the questions and the responses so that gabby was able to express herself as best she could. her ability to take information in is very strong, she has difficulties with aphasia. >> one thing that helps giffords, her love of singing and music. she gave a speech, just 90

seconds longer, they say it took months of preparation to help giffords with the delivery. one line in particular gave giffords trouble. >> i put one foot in front of the other, which was a really difficult line to master. and i just remember hearing that in a song when i was younger, so i found lyrics and music, and we incorporated that into our sessions, and she used the music to help her get to the words. sen. giffords: i put one foot in front of t other. i found one word and then i found another. jeffrey: giffords also played america on the french horn. she picked up the instrument again after the shooting and incorporated it into her regular regime of therapy and rebuilding.

how often do you practice? sen. giffords: five days a week. jeffrey: a lot. sen. giffords: a lot. jeffrey: did you have to relearn? sen. giffords: not really. it is all still there and my brain. reading the music is hard. >> second finger. ♪ jeffrey: and not just reading music, but holding the instrument again and getting the fingers right. but played she does. >> for parties, she loves to play. she plays for recital. she never gets nervous. jeffrey: carolyn, i retired french horn player and teacher heard about giffords love of the instrument and volunteered to work with her. >> most of the progress has been reading the music, but it has been incredibly slow. she has a beautiful sound, but

it is the technical side of things and the logistics, all of that. ♪ without you ♪ jeffrey: music may be doing more for giffords motor functions. early on during her time at the rehabilitation center in houston, her caregiver is used what's called neurologic music therapy. >> we also use neurologic music therapy because we are firm believers that the language center is connected to other parts of the brain that can help recover not only speech. it can also help recover cognition and movement as well. jeffrey: the music function, the ability to understand pitch, intonation, it is spread through various parts of the brain. is the idea of the therapy to somehow reconnect all of these connectors that have been broken? >> our premise is that

neurologic music therapy works because it can help induce brain plasticity. very simply, the healing of the different connections between brain cells. jeffrey: just how it works remains unclear. the therapy and research, though around for decades, are in early stages. >> it is one of the most popular therapies we have here. sometimes i will hear a boom, boom, boom. i used to be concerned wt that is. jeffrey: in 2015, giffords a visit at the hospital and dr. francisco offering emotional proofs of her progress. sen. giffords: americans are counting on you. jeffrey: gabby giffords continues her longtime pitical and legal advocacy to stop gun violence. >> he had left the gun, a tactical death through her work of the national nonprofit, giffords.

sen. giffords: enough is enough. enough is enough. background checks, now. jeffrey: what do you tell yourself when things are difficult? sen. giffords: move ahead. jeffrey: and keep playing. for the pbs newshour, i am jeffrey brennan. judy: just wonderful, i am speechless. thank you and thank you gabby giffords. online as coronavirus case numbers rise, william brangham spoke with three public media reporters from georgia, mississippi, and tennessee about the challenges their estates are facing to distribute to vaccines and what can be done to improve the process. you can watch their conversation on our website, at pbs.org/ newshour. that is the newshour for tonight, i am judy woodruff. again here tomorrow evening with all of us at the pbs newshour,

thank you, please stay safe. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract plans. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that works for you. visit consumer cellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. ♪ >> the alfred police -- alfred p sloan foundation. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is pbs newshour west from w dta studios in washington and from our bureau at arizona state university. ♪

in the south, all corn is not created equal. sweet corn is definitely king but people have very serious ideas about which variety is the best. i don't know that i can tell the difference but i know i love just about all of it. i'm vivian and i'm a chef. my husband ben and i were working for some of the best chefs in new york city when my parents offered to help us open our own restaurant. of course, there was a catch. we had to open this restaurant in eastern north carolina, where i grew up and said i would never return.