♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, ida's wrath -- deadly floods stun the northeast, as the storm's path of destruction extends well beyond the gulf coast. how climate change has us living at the extremes. then, abortion battle -- the supreme court refuses to stay texas' restrictive new law. what it means for women's reproductive health. and, helping afghanistan -- the leaders of two united nations aid agencies discuss the many plights of the country's population. >> 39 million afghans are left in afghanistan and we estimate that at least half of them are

in need of humanitarian assistance. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs "newshour." >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> before we talk about your investments. >> what's new? >> audrey is expecting. >> twins. >> we would be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. financial services firm raymond james. the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, 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 by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: cities on the east coast are grappling with the devastating impact of ida

tonight. the storm system inundated communities with historic flooding, tornadoes, andhut down transportation. at least 40 deat have been linked to the storm system since it struck with new fury yesterday, a dozen of them in new york city. in louisiana, state officials say there were four more deaths of nursing home residents who were evacuated before hurricane ida first hit. state officials were turned away from inspecting the facility where they were re-located. hundreds of thousands of people remained without power four days after ida first landed as a hurricane. ro chavez, the newshour's communities correspondent in new orleans, has our report. >> oh my god, this is terrible. roby: remnants from hurricane ida brought historic and catastrophic flooding across the northeast. the national weather service office in new york issued its first-ever set of flash flood emergencies in the region late yesterday.

inundated buses in new york city had passengers standing on their seats. rainfall poured into apartment complexes. others had floodwaters waiting to burst through their doors. people in brooklyn waded through knee-deep waters. and some were trapped by bursting floodwaters in the city's subway stations. all services were suspended due to flooding in the stations and tracks. the destruction became more apparent as daylight broke. cars were left stranded in streets now transformed into swollen rivers. >> you interfere with the rivers, this is what happens, all the time, and they've spent millions to fix them and you can't. mother nature has its own way of handling it. roby: new york governor kathy hochul spoke about the devastating rainfall, which surpassed records set during tropical storm henri just 11

days ago. >> because of climate change, unfortunately this is something we are going to have to deal with with great regularity. roby: new york city mayor bill de blasio described it as a wake-up call. >> from now on what i think we do is tell new yorkers to expect the very, very worst. it may sound alarmist at times, but unfortunately it is being proven by nature. roby: harsh winds and flash floods also pummeled new jersey late yesterday. newark airport was evacuated and all flights were canceled. the storm also triggered tornadoes in the mid-atlantic, destroying multiple homes. earlier today, new jersey governor phil murphy toured a neighborhood in mullica hill that was badly damaged. >> an extraordinary, sadly tragic, historic 24 hours in new jersey, there's not other way to put it. roby: the record-breaking rainfall also severely hit pennsylvania. including significant flooding in philadelphia. wilmington, delaware.

and areas across maryland. in louisiana, some positive news. power was restored in the french quarter today. as well as for some neighborhoods in eastern new orleans. >> when the power went back on, it felt so good. the ac, you know because we were suffering without no ac. and we just enjoyed it. roby: but more than 800,000 people in louisiana are still without power, making fuel a neccesity for survival. new orleans mayor latoya cantrell. >> we just have not received adequate fueling services to the general public, but we are continuing to push out that need and when we get more, we will share more. roby: long lines formed at gas stations. some waited over seven hours in their cars to get to the pump. >> every storm is always going be tough, you know?

but we are strong black people. we survive, we survive stuff like this. katrina didn't stop us. this one isn't going to stop us. roby: at the white house, president biden said the strategic petroleum reserve will be used in order to reduce gas shortages. >> the region hit by ida is a key center of our nation's oil production and refining infrastructure. we are moving already quickly to increase the availability of gas and easing the pressure on gas prices around the country. roby: the president will travel to louisiana tomorrow. meanwhile, high temperatures in the region are adding to an already tumultuous situation. >> it's just miserable and the older you get, the harder it is to deal with the heat. roby: buses are used as cooling centers. the food is passed out to thos who've had to throw out food from their fridge. for hard hit communities in louisiana and mississippi, more work lies ahead. for the pbs newshour, i'm roby chavez. judy: as we just saw, flooding

remains particularly bad in parts of the northeast and the mid-atlantic tonight, including in the philadelphia area. let's turn to the city's fire commissioner adam thiel. commissioner, thank you so much for talking with us. it sounds like you are not expecting anything like this to happen yesterday or last night. adam: well, we had inkling. the weather service talked about the forecast and the potential for major flooding. we did not think we would become close to breaking a record set in 1869, and that is what happened. welmost hit that 17 foot record. the normal stage for the schuylkill river is around 5.7 feet. pretty significant flooding. judy: so what are you coping with? what have you had to do with? adam: we made a lot of water rescues overnight. ou very dedicated firefighters and medics, a lot of people pitching in. all told we have rescued more

than 100 people. we had national guard soldiers here with high water vehicles. people, that's, that was the overnight. a lot of people driving into flooded roads. we had some buildings we had to evacuate last night from rising waters. today we are still doing water rescues despite the fact it is sunny. but we are also evacuating buildings that have their infrastructure somewhat compromised by the floodwaters. judy: what do you mean by compromised? adam: we have buildings that are losing power. a lot of high-rise buildings have their generators and other things in the basement, all of their electrical gear. when the water gets in there, it tends to shorthem out. so we are starting to have to evacuate some large buildings. we still have two reception centers open across the city and we are probably going to turn one of those into an overnight shelter for folks who don't have any worlds to go tonight. judy: in retrospect, is there

more that could have been done to get philadelphia ready for this? adam: i am really thankful we did lean forward. we put extra water rescue teams on standby. our task force got back just in time from a federal deployment in alabama to be able to help us here. thankfully we never ran out of resources, even during the peak last night when we had rescues all around the city. had we not lned forward in that web would have run out of resources. that said, we are really seeing this historic flooding. we have seen tornadoes in the city already this year. it seemed apparent to us that the weather is changing. we are having more and more severe weather events. that is something we all need to be thinking about as we resource going forward. judy: no question about it. what about in terms of infrastructure? i was reading about aging sewer systems.

what is that saying to you adam: if you put 17 feet of water into a system designed for five, you are always going to have problems. seeing this amount of water in the schuylkill river, a lot of other places around the city flooded as well. it is not something that is supposed to happen. seeing tornadoes in pennsylvania is not supposed to happen. so i think we need to be considering our infrastructure and our resources because the weather patterns, whether it is wildfires in california, we are here doing floods, it is affecting all of us. judy: are there steps that you think you should be taking now just to be prepared in case there is another storm like this in the coming weeks and months? adam: we are very fortunate we are well resourced. we are large fire department when more than 3000 very dedicated women and men. so we did not run out of resources. we had folks here at work and all the tools and equipment we needed.

that is not true r every fire department. i do ink we need to be considering our response until the time we can get all of our infrastructure where it needs to be and we are more prepared as a society for these severe weather events. judy: adam, the commissioner for the fire department for the city of philadelphia. thank you very much. adam: thank you so much. stay safe. judy: as we have been reporting, the loss of life and the enormous damage ida has left in its wake are renewing bigger conversations around climate change, not only about how to slow it, but also about how to better prepare our communities for these consequences, making them more resilient. amna nawaz explores some of those questions tonight. amna: judy, the past few days alone have seen one biblical-like problem after another. flooding, a total loss of power, and breakdown of the electrical grid, wind destruction, and fires out of control in the west. alice hill has long worked on

these issues, including at the national security council during the obama administration. she is the david m. rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the council on foreign relations, and author of the new book "the fight for climate after covid-19." welcome. thank you for making the time. i want to ask you about resiliency. we have heard it from president biden so much, earlier today. billions of dollars went into fortifying new orleans after hurricane katrina, and yet we have all still seeing the devastation. what should have been done that was not done? alice: there is so much to do when it comes to preparing for climate. it's an endless list. there has been great progress made but these impacts are coming harder and faster and causing more destruction. so we need to do more to get ready. amna: let's talk about specifics. the power grid in particular in louisiana. more than one million, it could be weeks before it is restored.

the local utility is facing criticism for not being better prepared. is part of this problem we talk about resiliency, that we do not address the problems until after they have failed? alice: that is pretty typical. i call it a no more moment. when a community suffers a terrible tragedy, as new orleans and new york have experienced, they vow to rebuild better and that happens. but we need to change that paradigm and prepare in advance because we know these events will occur and we cannot wait for disaster to happen. otherwise we will have the loss of damage we are seeing now. amna: the bigger issue we see again and again is outdated infrastructure. you look at those who lost power in the california wildfire, texans who lost power during the ep freeze. how are we going to address that? do you see money coming from the federal government? alice: the infrastructure with

-- bill will help. the challenge we have is all of our infrastructure. it is not just our energy grid, although that is critical. but it is our wastewater treatment, our communications system. they all rest on a fundamental assumption that the past is a safe guide for the future. climate change upends that. we no longer have the climate of the past. we have a very new climate that we are not ready for yet. amna: if that is the case, all this money seems to be going towards infrastructure, new projects, construction. is enough being done to address the root causes of climate change? alice: we need to cut our emissions and that is a very important task because otherwise we will encounter and experience virtually unmanageable heating in the more distant future but right now we arelready experiencing heating that is extremely damaging and we need to prepare for the impacts that come with that heating. amna: what about this idea we

have heard about called managed to retre. when you look at these extreme weather events and you see the consequences come oftentimes some of those communities are supported or encouraged to go back and rebuild in those same vulnerable locations. should this idea of working below -- to relocate people be part of the conversation? alice: we have to have this very difficult conversation about whether these places are safe to live in. more americans have moved into areas at risk than areas not at risk. areas that could flood, he burned. we need to have a dialogue about how that can continue and be able to continue people safe as well as safe the buildings. we are at the beginning of that and unfortunately managed metric is already -- retreat is already a dirty phrase. so we have to figure out new terminology to engage americans. amna: resiliency is heard a lot

now. i want to bring to you one of the criticisms of that, which is some people say it is used as a concept basically to avoid tough questions. if you focus on resilience and infrastructure and the building and fixing the problem, what you are not focusing on is there are some vulnerable populations that will continue to be disproportionately impacted and why are they so vulnerable in the first place? largely communitie of color and poorer americans. alice: certainly resilience is a moshi word and that is why we have seen many politicians and others grab onto it because it means a variety of things to people. when we get to resilience to climate change it means we need to look to the future and it also means we need to think about the most vulnerable. because they are hit the hardest. by a drought, by wildfire, by flooding. and we need to help those people be able to endure these impacts as well as all other americans. climate change is going to affect every corner of not only

the u.s. but the globe and the time to act is now. amna: over time to has been political divide over even the phrase climate change. i'm wondering as time goes by and this becomes more of the status quo, do you see that changing? alice: i believe so because it is undeniable. americans know and the polling shows they know climate change is occurring. we need late -- we need greater climate literacy to understand these changes are irreversible and we can take action now to have better outcomes tomorrow if we cut our emissions and prepare. but those discussions need to be very robust and they are still not happening at the level in need to be yet. amna: alice, thank you so much for your time. alice: thank you. stephanie: i am stephanie sy at newshour west.

we will return to judy woodruff and the rest of the show after the latest headlines. the u.s. supreme court let stand a texas law that bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. in a 5-4 vote before midnight wednesday, the court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers to block enforcement of the law. today in a statement, president biden called the decision a, quote, unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights. we'll have more on this after the news summary. calmer winds in northern california are giving firefighters the break they need to step up their efforts against the sprawling caldor fire. the flames are creeping closer to lake tahoe and neighboring nevada, and are only 25% contained. but fire officials say they hope to gain more ground as weather conditions improve. >> getting into friday, the winds get even lighter. friday is a very, very light wind day across the entire fire. so, the issues and conditions

that weather was causing, especially for the last couple of days, are going to be mitigated by much lighter winds across the fire. stephanie: the fire has destroyed more than 800 structures and threatens 33,000 more. late yesterday, president biden declared a state of emergency in california, and ordered federal assistance to help with the disaster relief efforts. the biden administration today pledged a $3 billion investment in the nation's covid-19 vaccine supply chain. it will focus on manufacturers of items like syringes, and companies that fill and package vaccine vials. white house covid adviser jeffrey zients said the funding will start going out within weeks. >> this $3 billion investment in our vaccine supply chain will create thousands of good-paying american jobs, help us deliver on the president's commitment to be the arsenal of vaccines for the world, and strengthen our long-term capabilities to respond to future threats.

stephanie: also today, infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci acknowledged that it's possible americans who received the pfizer or moderna vaccines will need a third shot to be considered fully vaccinated. but he said a final decision would have to be made by the food and drug administration and the cdc. in afghanistan, the taliban said they intend to re-open kabul's civilian airport within days, with help from turkey and qatar. armed taliban fighters are now guarding the gates at hamid karzai international airport, conducting vehicle checks, and patrolling the area. the qatari foreign minister said they're preparing to resume flights soon. >> there is no clear indication when it going to be fully operational yet, but we are workinvery hard and also engaging with taliban to identify what are the gaps and the risks for having the airport back up and running.

stephanie: an airport in a northern city there is open, and flights carrying humanitarian aid have resumed in afghanistan. the united nations says three flights have already landed, allowing 160 aid organizations to continue working in the country. this evening, president biden traveled to walter reed national medical center to visit the 15 marines who were wounded in last week's suicide bomb attack at the kabul airport. a marine corps spokesperson told "newshour" that among the wounded, one marine remains in critical condition and three in serious condition. a british citizen pleaded guilty in u.s. federal court today to helping the isis organization abduct and murder hostages. he pleaded guilty to all charges including involvement in the kidnappings of american journalist james foley and three other u.s. citizens in syria. he and alleged conspirators were dubbed the isis beatles because

of their british origins. he faces a sentence of up to life in prison. virginia's supreme court unanimously ruled today that the state can take down a towering statue of confederate neral robert e. lee in its capital richmond. two lawsuits had been filed by virginia residents trying to block its removal. governor ralph northam announced his intent to remove the statue last year, days after the police killing of george floyd. prosecutors in minnesota have filed a more serious charge against a former police officer for the fatal shooting of daunte wright during a traffic stop in april. officer kim potter is now facing a first-degree manslaughter charge. and in georgia, a grand jury indicted a former prosecutor in the ahmaud arbery case for misconduct. she's accused of preventing the men who killed arbery from being charged with the crimes right after his shooting. first-time claims for

unemployment benefits have fallen to a new low. during the pandemic, the labor department reported 340,000 americans filed for jobless claims last week, down 14,000 from the previous week. millions of out-of-work americans will lose their federal unemployment aid when it expires on monday. still to come on the "newshour," the leaders of two u.n. aid agencies discuss the plight of many afghans. a football kickoff where college players can now get more than a degree. plus, art on wheels. why the car inspires design and innovation. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: in the state of texas, abortions have all but ended

after a case from the supreme court that kept as state law banning the procedure more than six weeks into a pregnancy. reporter: many of texas' abortion providers say they are obeying the new law while abortion rights advocates try to figure out their next legal step. at the health clinic in fort worth, the last procedure ended at 11:56 tuesday night with more than two dozen women in the waiting room. meanwhile, antiabortion activists are preparing for their role as enforcers of the new law. ashleigh lopez is a reporter in austin. thank you for being with us. what are you hearing fm the antiabortion activists in texas? they have succeeded in essentially stopping abortion in their state. what are they saying? >> they are obviously celebrating. this is a big victory for them.

the long term plan here was to get a law into effect. so many times when the state puts an abortion ban into place it is blocked by the courts. in this case they were able to pretty much avoid and invade one of those court blocks. for them this is a pretty monumental achievement. our lieutenant governor sent out a statement today that he says he hopes oth states follow this model. this could be a framework for other states to copy if they want to have a restrictive abortion ban in place and in full effect. reporter: of course the reason they were able to is the put the enforcement in the hands of private citizens. bands public officials from getting involved. -- it bans public officials from getting involved. how are antiabortion activists preparing for that? ashley: i am thinking specifically of texas right to life.

they already have the manpower even before this law went into effect. they put up a website weeks ago with a tip line for people to send tips when they think someone has violated the ban. they say they have a vast network in the state, volunteers and professionals and lawyers, people ready to take on these cases. they say they are ready if they hear someone has broken the law that they are ready to step in and they have had the resources to do it. for a long time antiabortion activists in the state have kind of viewed themselves as an entity to hold abortion clini accountable. they see this as just an extension of their work, just now codified into law. reporter: i know today you went around to several abortion providers. what did you see and what did you hear? ashley: there is a lot of frustration and sadness among

people who work in abortion clinics. their job is to help people in need of an abortion. this is what they do. so they feel like they cannot help the people that want help. i visited one clinic and as of that morning, they had seen 11 people and were only able to schedule three people for an actual procedure. so the other eight had to be turned away. they tell me those conversations are tough. a lot of people do not really pay attention to this as closely as you and i do, so they probably woke up wednesday morning not knowing they had fewer abortion rights than the day before. so coming into a clinic was probably a big surprise for them and finding out they were out of time. an abortion provider told me he was pretty stunned at how few people knew this was coming. it is a lot of frustration and sadness. even despite all this, i have

heard staff members say they plan to wait ts out as long as they can. they are committed to this work. there's also resolved. john: are there efforts to get women who are seeking abortions, to get them out of state to get procedures done elsewhere? ashley: that is something that has been widely reported, which is that there are abortion clinics in new mexico, for example, ready and willing to take these patients. what is important to remember is that also could be a very small amount of women who are able to drive out of state to get those services. texas is bordered by largely conservative states, for the exception of new mexico. louisiana is not a place where it is easy to get an abortion. depending on where you drive, this could be nine hours for some people. texas is a big state. depending on where you live, it could be an almost insurmountable barrier. but that is an option at woman

has if they find their sums -- find their selves in a situation. john: ashley lopez, ank you very much. ashley: thank you. judy: even before the u.s. finally left afghanistan, many of the nearly 40 million people who live there were in dire need. sanitation, clean water, food, all in short or quickly disappearing supply. now, with the taliban in charge, the job of aid groups is that much harder. add to that, tens of thousands who have fled the country in the past few weeks, who will house and care for them? i spoke earlier today with the leaders of two vital united nations agencies. filipo grandi is the u.n. high commissioner for human rights. and henrietta fore is executive director of unicef, the un's children's agency.

thank you both so much for joining us today. you have said the crisis may be over at the kabul airport. and you are thankful for everybody who was able to get out. he said the humanitarian crisis is just beginning for those afghans were left in the country. what did you mean by that? filipo: i mean that 39 billion afghans are left in afghanistan and we estimate that at least half of them are in need of humanitarian assistance. more than 4 million are displaced by recent and less recent conflict. and the already started collapse of services and the economy is exposing many more to terrible hardships. so that is the humanitarian crisis that is beginning just now. judy: and your focus at unicef is on children, it is on women.

specifically what do you see that they have lying ahead for them in afghanistan? henrietta: there's an enormous amount of concern, worry, and anxiety, because they really do not know what lies ahead. but women are coming back to work and they are determined to contue to help their country. at the children's hospital come up women and doctors and nurses and alth care workers are back at work to look after the children and the young mothers who are giving birth and needing hospital care. so it is a time of anxiety for girls and women. judy: you are describing three different levels of concern that you have for people who want to leave the country, people who were displaced internally i'm and those who are staying. what is the difference in what they face trying to survive?

filipo: i think everybody inside of afghanistan faces today a very steep humanitarian challenge. of course those displaced are also away from their homes. they have shelter and protection needs that are specific. so we need to pay attention. i think the inside afghanistan focus is very important right now. the u.n. will issue in a few days a funding appeal and i really hope it will be strongly supported by donors. then of course there are people that may try and leave the country. they will not have planes anymore waiting for them or taking them out from kabul airport so they will try to go to borders and i hope neighboring countries will keep the borders open. but in that case it will be so important to support those neighboring countries. and to give them financial and other assistance in order for them to host in a dignified way refugees. judy: is it your understanding that people who want to leave,

that they are still able to leave? we hear such mixed stories. some are able to get out, some are not. what is your understanding? henrietta: it is uneven, and for many, it has been a real trial the last few days and weeks. but there are many children who have made it out and many families who have made it out. the number of unaccompanied minors who work at the kabul airport, we managed to get all of them out, 167 of them. but there were 17 that stayed behind and we have reunited them with their families. judy: we're hearing the taliban say they want to work with humanitarian agencies. are they doing that? how difficult is it for your agency to do the work that it wants to do? filipo: united nations in recent years is losing -- is using a

slogan to describe its humanitarian work. we say, we stay, and we deliver. but in order to do that we need to engage with the taliban because they are in control of the country and in control of security, which is so important for us. in control of cess to the population. we need to engage. the messages we have heard, it is still a very fluid situation. relatively benign, relatively positive. we will all have to judge the taliban on their action more than on their words. and we hope the promises we get now that women would be able to continue to work, that girls will be able to continue to go to school, those promises will be maintained. judy: and what are you hearing at unicef about that? is the taliban letting women go about their work? to what degree are they sticking with some of the promises they have made? henrietta: it is very uneven and

it is an area of great concern. but our people are working hard on the ground. unicef has been in these districts for 65 years. and each district and each village and each area has their own leadership. and we are working with them to try and encourage that all girls and boys to school. right now some of the schools are open and in some of the areas, girls and boys are heading to primary school. we are very much talking about secondary school and ability for girls to return to secondary school. we are concerned about it. we are talking to everyone locally as well nationally. without teachers the schools really cannot operate. your earlier point about women going back to work they are important in the schools and hospitals. women are a real back bone of

the services for communities within afghanistan. judy: it not just the taliban of course, it is these terrorist groups, isis, al qaeda, and so many others we are told that are still active across the country. how safety your people feel and the people you are trying to help, how safe do they feel? filipo: afghanistan has been in recent years a pretty unsafe place to work. and there were attacks including by the taliban and by others. so our people unfortunately are accustomed to living in a precarious situation. the great uncertainty now is that the only entity to go to for protection in terms of security is the taliban. it is this very fragmented leadership. but we must engage. judy: picking up on that, what

about your staff? our most of them staying there? -- are most of them staying there? do they feel they can continue th work? henrietta: it is the most important part for us, both for our staff and our ngo partners. 85% of our staff stayed on the ground. they very much want to stay. they believe in this. they know the history of being there for six to five years. they do not want to leave the programs or the people behind. so it is both international as well as national staff that have stayed in that want to. they are very committed. judy: as we think about this larger fud picture, the world has been hearing about refugees for years. some would say there is a weariness. not only that, here in the u.s. we have politicians, some prominent republicans, former president trump, saying the u.s. should not be taking in

refugees, that there is a danger, a terrorist threat among them. filipo: i do not know about politicians. that is their opinion. but i think the whole world has washed scenes of people trying to get on those planes at kabul airport in recent days and those are people who were afraid and out of fear were so desperate and ready for anything , mothers were ready to give their children to be put in safety. i think that when we think of refugees we have to think of that situation, of that frame of mind. judy: if people are watching this, reading this, and they want to help, what is the best way they can help? how do you encourage people to want to give when the needs, as you know well, are so enormous in so many parts of the world?

henrietta: there are times when a certain country, a certain people really need our help and our attention. and this is that time for afghanistan. so if you do want to help, giving to a nonprofit organization or a u.n. agency that is working in afghanistan now, that will make a difference. if there is funding, it means that many of these programs can exist. we have 10 million children who are in desperate need of help. we have more than one million who are subject to severe malnourishment and could die this year in 2021;. and more than half of the children under the age of five have a malnourished situation. it is a real social economic collapse of afghanistan. so the people that are there, the value of their money is not going to buy much. they are in much greater need

than many of us in the developed world realize. and it is a time for afghanistan. judy: i am sure a lot of people are listening to this. hoping they are listening and hearing the needhat the two of you are describing so eloquently. henrietta fore, executive director of unicef. and filipo grandi. u.n. high commissioner for human rights. thank you both very much. judy: the college football season is getting underway this week. players are returning to the field for what they hope will be a more normal year, after a covid-plagued 2020 season. but there's another difference for studt athletes this year. as john yang reports, it has to do with their financial opportunities off the field.

john: on the football field, d'eriq king has a high profile and a big name. >> it's a big responsibility being the starting quarterback at the university of miami, right? so just me trying to do everything right. john: but until this year, king, a potential heisman trophy candidate, couldn't earn a penny om his fame. >> we couldn't make money off anything. i couldn't go to a local restaurant and get a free meal, but a regular student, they can go you know make a tiktok and get famous off of it and make a lot of money. we couldn't do that. john: that all changed this summer, when the ncaa, under pressure from new laws and court rulings, rewrote its policies to allow college athletes to sign paid endorsement deals. now, king is a leader in the new field of college athletes profiting from their names, images, and likenesses, what's called n.i.l. >> i think it was a long time coming. honestly, when i first got in college, i never thought i would see this day. i know people talked about it a lot and this and that, but i never thought i'd actually come

to come true. john: the day the new rule went into effect, king signed a $20,000 deal with a moving company and a car dealership. he's partnered with a sports memorabilia company, and became the first college athlete to sign a sponsorship deal with a pro sports team, the nhl's florida panthers. he'll appear at games and have a concession stand meal named for him. he has also co-founded dreamfield, to help athletes connect with n.i.l. opportunities and navigate this new landscape. >> college football is, college athletics in general, it's so much money going through it. and i know people want to say, like, you guys get free education and you get full ride scholarship. and we understand that but for us to make money, i think just makes sense. it's no other industry in the world where you don't make money for what you do. john: being an athlete in a major sport at a major university is more than just a few months of competition. it's a full-time, year-round job. training, conditioning, practicing. all on top of being a full time college student. the pressure on the ncaa has

been building for years. in 2014, a federal judge ruled that ncaa policies against name, image, and likeness violated antitrust laws. in 2019, california enacted the first legislation giving athletes n.i.l. rights. ncaa president mark emmert called it an existential threat to the collegiate model. but more than 20 states followed california's lead, forcing the ncaa's hand. the rule change took effect july 1. >> this year, money spent on n.i.l. deals could be above $ billion. john: dan matheson directs the university of iowa's sports and recreation management program. he's a former ncaa associate director of enforcement. >> so many of these student athletes are not going to go on to lucrative professional playing careers. they're at the height of their fame and capitalizing on their

n.i.l. rights gives them a ance to pay for current expenses, but also potentily build themselves a nest egg for when they get out of school and are starting out as young professionals. john: and more than just big-name football and basketball players are poised to benefit. >> any student athlete who is able to develop a following, a brand on social media, has the potential to generate revenue for themselves. john: university of nebraska volleyball player lexi sun's more than 75,000 instagram followers put her in a good position to take advantage of n.i.l. she partnered with a volleyball apparel company to launch a clothing brand. her sunny crew sweatshirt sold out in days. sun, who also signed a deal with a nebraska-based jewelry company, is in a master's program for advertising.

she says n.i.l. is about more than just money. >> i'm just able to have these hands-on and real-life experiences and conversations with companies about negotiating deals and just having these business opportunities and getting this experience, because as athletes, we're super busy and don't always get the opportunity to have a job before we end our sport. and so i think just being able to get this experience is going to be something that i'm going to take away from it and continue to learn from. john: the limits of the new rules are already being tested. a utah-based protein bar maker offered deals to all 123 brigham young university football players. for those not on scholarship, the payment would be the equivalent of a year's tuition. the ncaa says it's up to congress to sort it all out. >> we are urging congress to

pass legislation creating a single national n.i.l. standard. that the proposal includes guardrails that would ensure that nil payments are not a proxy for pay for play, that a national recruiting environment focollege sports is maintained, and that students are not employees of the universities or their colleges. >> the ncaa is at a crossroads right now. john: dan matheson of the university of iowa points to other challenges ahead for college sports. >> there are questions about what is the ncaa needed for, and how does it need to look different for the next generation? the amateurism issues that are the center of discussion now have opened up a much broader evaluation of exactly what shape is the ncaa going to take going forward. john: lexi sun and d'eriq king say they're used to balancing busy schedules, so the new opportunities of n.i.l. won't distract them from either the classroom or competition.

for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. judy: finally tonight, get your motor running. 70 years of automotive design and innovation are on display in the city that made them, detroit. jeffrey brown reports for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: from wispy swirls of pencil, a hint of what might one day hit the road, to more detailed, vibrant drawings. this is the art of the car, and the people behind them. for detroit institute of arts curator ben colman, it offered a unique challenge. >> the biggest artworks i've ever worked with and moving them around the museum was no small task. jeffrey: all right. now, you just called them artworks. >> that is true. there's quite a bit of artistry in car design. jeffrey: these are not the

family minivan. the exhibition, "detroit style: car design in the motor city, 1950 to 2020," features 12 american designed autos, some that became icons of an era and sold in the many millions. others, so-called concept cars, one-off ideas with plenty of "wow" factor, like this 1958 firebird iii from general motors. i mean, this one, of course, certainly looks like a jet or a rocket. >> absolutely. so the prompt to the design studio for this car was to design the car an astronaut would drive to the launch pad before flying to the moon. it looks like if you really gave it some gas, it would just take off. jeffrey: that was really the idea? >> yes. there isn't a steering wheel and there's no brake pedal. there's no gas pedal. this is a car that you navigated entirely with a joystick. so it truly was what what they called at the time, a laboratory on wheels. they were testing out really radical ideas to see what sticks, what was possible, what

was feasible. >> this then is firebird iii, as expressed in the ideas of the men who designed experiment for tomorrow. jeffrey: the design and testing of these cars was and still is a careful and coordinated dance. >> these three legs of the stool, the engineer, the sculptor, and the designer. jeffrey: designer ed welburn's passion began early, as a small child. >> one day there was no paper around and i went to my mother's bookshelves. i knew the front page was blank. i went through all her books with purple crayon and drew cars in every one. jeffrey: welburn studied art in college before entering the auto industry and rising through the ranks at general motors to become head of global design, the highest ranking african-american in the history of the auto industry. >> designers are doing sketches, sculptors are actually shaping

the car in clay, the actual size of the car is a large piece of sculpture, and there are other digital sculptors who are developing the design in the computer. i mean, they are shaping, they're developing this piece of sculpture that meets all the engineering criteria. it's a challenge, but it's so much fun. i just absolutely love it. jeffrey: welburn served on an advisory boardor the dia exhibition, pulled together by curator colman. >> this is a m of working and retired car designers and design educators and historians. knowing that we're here in detroit, we're at the epicenter for all things automotive. and there's such incredible knowledge. jeffrey: that local knowledge was on display around every corner in the exhibition when we visited.

many fondly remembered the barracuda. >> why marvin? why? why couldn't you get a big car like your brother the doctor? or even a funny little car like your sister the soldier? no, you had to get a bananacuda? >> barracuda, mom. barracuda. >> this is a very quick, informal sketch made by a chrysler designer named milton antonik as the final form for what becomes the 1970 plymouth barracuda. the designers are sketching in the studio, you can see when you en come over to look at that part of the car, that geometry, that angle, the crease on the rear end, are so closely related to that really informal sketch on paper. then we see it as sheet metal on the road. jeffrey: a very famous bit of sheet metal with 'cuda. the 'cuda sits alongside its jor competitor of the day, the 1968 ford mustang g.t., a juxtaposition by design.

another juxtaposition, examples of a more literal art of the car and car culture, jean-michel basquiat's painting "rusting red car." "the unfair advantage about motor racing" by kristin baker. and ed ruscha's standard "station, amarillo, texas." next to a 1959 corvette stingray racer. it might have pulled up to this station. >> that's the idea. yeah, that the the energy, the attitude of freedom on the open road that this design coures, it's just the kind of experience that ruscha took as this point of inspiration for this painting that grew out of a road trip across the american west. jeffre the exhibition flicks atome of the impact, good and bad, cars have had on american life. but the focus here remains on the artistry. >> to see automobiles displayed the same way tt other art treares are displayed really felt good. jeffrey: auto's as works of art

in this case? >> well, i think they are. i think they are. they're rolling sculptures. they areolling pieces of artwork that people connect with on a very emotional level. jeffrey: these rolling sculptures are on display through early january 2022. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the detroit instite of arts. judy: a piece of art in the family garage. for some paralympians, the journey to this year's games was more taxing than most. in addition to rigorous training, the athles have also had to navigate the global pandemic and other barriers to the support they need. you can read more about it on our website, 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 that the pbs "newshour," thank you. please stay safe, and see you soon.

>> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well-planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. 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.] >> this is "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

[music] okay, so, turnips... turn it up! sorry, no, do not use that. (laughs) it's been in my mind all morning (laughs). [music] 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. [music] [music]