judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight. no breakthroughs -- the u.s. and russia remain in a heated standoff over ukraine after a meeting between the american secretary of state and his russian counterpart. then. cruel winter -- taliban rule, a historic drought and bitter cold exacerbate afghanistan's widespread food scarcity. >> the taliban say we have peace, but what good is peace when our children are sick, and i have debt collectors at my door? judy: and it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart take stock of the president's first year in office and the failed push for voting rights in the senate. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- -- ♪ >> johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. ♪ >> the john s and james all-night foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. >> 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. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy, we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. the top american and russian diplomats have had a high-stakes meeting over ukraine -- and agreed to keep talking. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and russia's foreign minister sat down in geneva today. neither indicated there had been progress. we'llet all of the details, after the news summary. also breaking tonight, two new york city police officers were shot in harlem -- according to the associated press, one has died and the other was gravely injured. a suspect was shot. and killed. a federal judge in texas today blocked enforcement -- nationwide -- of a covid-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers. the u.s. justice department said it will appeal, and the white house said 98 percent of federal employees already have their shots.

that came as the cdc reported booster shots are 90 percent effective against hospitalizations in patients with the omicron variant. anti-abortion forces staged their annual rally in washington dc today -- encouraged by hopes of a sharp rollback of abortion rights. thousands protested the u.s. supreme court's roe versus wade decision that legalized abortion 49 years ago. and, they looked to a mississippi case that could overturn roe. >> today we march to the supreme court which this year has an opportunity to give the american people for the first time in 50 years the ability to recognize that equality begins in the womb. hopefully next year will be a new era of building the culture of life, because roe will be gone. vanessa: afterward, the crowds marched to the supreme court. the justices are expected to issue their much-anticipated

ruling by the end of june. in the middle east, islamic state fighters launched some of their biggest attacks in several years. more than 100 gunmen assaulted a prison in northeastern syria -- where some 3,000 isis militants were being held. at least 23 of the attackers died. and in iraq isis gunmen stormed , an army barracks north of ba-koo'ba -- killing 11 soldiers as they slept. rebels in yemen say a saudi coalition air strike killed at least 70 inmates at a prison today. dozens more were wound in the air raid. it was part of the war's most intensive air campaign since 2018. the assault began after the rebels -- backed by iran -- launched their own air attack on the united arab emirates. vice president kamala harris visited her home state of california today. while there she touted billions in federal funding for wildfire mitigation, rehabilitation and disaster relief.

harris also announced $600 million in disaster relief for the u.s. forest service in california. on wall street today. stocks finished their worst week in many months. the main factors were worry over rising inflation and over how much the federal reserve will raise interest rates to get it under control. for the week, the dow lost 4.6%. the most since october 2020. the nasdaq fell 7.4 -- 7.6%. and the s&p 500 dropped 5.7%. both were the biggest losses since march 2020. and fans across generations are morning rock superstar meat loaf after his death thursday. his 1970 seven debut album bat out of hell sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and remains one of the top selling albums in history. here he is singing the title track in a music video, in 1979.

>> ♪ when the night is over, like a bat out of hell, i'll be gone, gone, gone. like a bat out of hell i'll be gone when the morning comes. but when the day is done and the sun goes down and the moonlight shining. ♪ vanessa: meat loaf was 74 years old. still to come, we examine the biden administration's efforts on education initiatives. we break down the latest political news. and a pandemic inspired online drawing class grows into a push for arts education, plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: u.s. officials agreed today to submit written responses next week to russia's

demands on how to end the crisis over ukraine. the announcement came during a high-level diplomatic meeting in geneva as russia maintains overwhelming military force along the ukrainian border and has now deployed troops to neighboring belarus. here is nick schifrin. >> the u.s. and russia's top diplomat sickly -- agreed to keep the diplomatic path open. >> we anticipate that we will be able to share with russia our concerns and ideas in more detail and in writing next week. and we agreed to further discussions after that. nick: the russian foreign minister called russia's demands legitimate. >> our concerns are not about the imaginary, but about the real threats and facts nobody is really hiding. stuffing ukraine with weapons, sending hundreds of western military trainers. nick: near ukraine's border, it

is russian weapons that are not hiding. the russian defense ministry released video of soldiers training with the tanks they would use to a full-scale invasion. with the russian tanks and troops that arrived this week in belarus, the uss about 100,000 russian troops surround ukraine in a half dozen locations. the troops in belarus are only a few hundred miles north of kiev and could link up to surround kiev. the russian buildup can be seen in satellite photos released this week. blinken warned we have seen plao undertake a variety of destabilizing actions, some of them short of the overuse of force, to destabilize ukraine, to topple the government. ♪ >> in response, the west is accelerating military aid.

the u.s. fast-track tracked more javelin antitank missiles that senior u.s. official say are deployed to key transit points. for the first time, the u.s. authorize the transfer from baltic allies of surface to air stinger missiles to target russian helicopters and low flying jets. it was used famously to help the afghan resistance beat this sylvian military in the 1980's. ukraine has deployed drones from turkey that have targed russian tanks in previous conflicts. in eastern ukraine, ukrainian soldiers said the support supplies some solace. >> it shows that we are not alone, that we have support, and we can count on our forces and our allies' power. >> but the u.s. has rejected the idea of supplementing ukraine's military with its own forces and the russian forces across the border are overwhelming. for more on russia's posture on ukraine's borders and what the u.s. in the west are doing about it, we turn to michael kaufman,

the research program director in the russia studies program at the center for naval analyses. welcome back to the newshour. we have seen the u.s., the u.k. rush weapons to ukraine, including those stinger surface-to-air missiles. what is the significance of that? >> it is a big development that the united states and other countries are willing to rus weapons to ukrai at this stage. it is not going to make a strategic difference. i don't think it is necessarily going to deter russia. you see the united states basically now preparing for the worst. i think there is to some extent almost a resignation that conflict is very likely. nick: stingers can target russian helicopters, russian jets flying below a certain altitude. >> the russian military retains qualitative and quantitative superiority over ukraine's military.

while at the rail -- it will -- the other tactical level capabilities like antitank missiles and the like. nick: even with some of these new weapons being poured into ukraine doesn't make a huge differen in the cculus, how are ukrainians situated on the ground to be able to exert at least some cost on russia? >> the ukrainian military is positioned to deny any kind of smaller incursion, that is why the russian military campaign would have to be much larger than what we have seen before and involve the use of air power. ukraine's military is not in position to defend against the largest country in europe. much of their powers concentrated forward east and is easily cut off. it is likely russian forces would conduct a multiaccess attack across the eastern regions, the south, and the north. the ukrainian military is not in a position to defend all these

fronts relying on a much smarter -- smaller force. nick: what has russia deployed to ukraine's border that gives it that superiority over the ukrainian forces? >> it is safe to say that russia has close to 100,000 troops prepared for an invasion with reserves and auxiliaries. much of this was pre-positioned equipment. quite a few units don't have the personnel already there with them, but that can arrive on short notice. the honest answer is that when you look at russia's military buildup today, they are potentially weeks away from being able to conduct a large-scale military offensive. nick: is that calendar based on russian deployment or the weather or both? >> it is much more based on the forces that are still moving in the capabilities that are still in route to ukraine. there are a host of units moving

from the russian far east and central russia. there are amphibious assault ships that are in transit across europe and the mediterranean. they will take some time to arrive. there are quite a few components for a military operation that are not there yet. nick: this week, we have seen russian troops arrive in belarus , including an area a few hundred miles north of key have -- kiev. >> it is a significant development. the russian military operation is likely to be large. it will very likely involve a movement to encircle kiev from the northeast and the northwest as russia now has a substantial number of forces deployed in belarus and to the south. there is a sizable mility buildup in crimea. nick: the strategic consequence of being able to encircle the capital? >> it suggests one of their main political objectives may be to conduct regime change.

it is one of the more optimistic scenarios. the alternative variant is that they intend to partition ukraine. nick: we have seen other tactics and operations from ukraine in the past, notably cyber operations and more use of special forces. what are the capacities and what are the likelihood that pressure uses those instead of some traditional ground invasion? >> at the end of the day, these conflicts are decided by large-scale conventional military operations. in any initial phase, you would see an air campaign combined with strikes and cyber warfare. that would likely be the initial phase, followed up by an offensive ground force operation. they have already invaded ukraine more than once and annexed ukrainian territory. these efforts have not been successful in achieving russian political aims. it is somewhat incredulous to believe they would seek to attempt again that which is not worked. nick: is there anything that you

see that can forestall war? >> the biggest problem is that it doesn't really look like russia's diplomatic effort is particularly genuine. russia's demands are non-starters and seem almost designed to fail. latest meeting between secretary blinken and lavrov suggests russia is interested in seeing a formal recusal to its demands rather than a diplomatic compromise. thanks for having me. ♪ judy: winter in afghanistan is never easy, but this is the first since the withdrawal of the u.s. and its allies and the taliban takeover. in response, the international community cut often on humanitarian aid, froze afghanistan's assets abroad, and imposed sanctions on the new government.

al of those factors plus crippling drought and already fragile institutions have led to an economic and humanitarian crisis. as john ray of independent television news reports, afghans are going to desperate lengths to keep themselves, and their family members, alive. >> kabul is no place to be young in this bleak midwinter. there is snow on the mountains. a chill in every heart. and only the coldest comfort for a family of six children. the oldest is 14, the youngest just their father is dead. they one. are destitute. and their mother is desperate. we first found her at the local market, her children laid out like goods for sale, begging strangers for help, but help, there is none. so, for a few pennies, they

polished shoes. it does not earn them any kind of living. nor buy them even bread. there's barely a roof over their heads. their stove is stone cold and their baby is sick with fever. >> i'm desperate. we're beaten. there is no more we can do. [crying] god, i have nothing. >> when the taliban arrived, much western funding vanished as quickly as u.s. troops. today's boots on the ground belo to the army of urban poor. the economy has collapsed. there is no work. and little relief. >> in this place we have no money, no doctor, not even a piece of bread says tawoos khan.

most the children you see here are orphans. their fathers have been killed in the war. but now, we will discover, peace brings no respite. a child appears that the door, her father makes us an astonishing offer. he wants to sell? >> if there is anybody to buy. >> it sounds callous but it is more a measure of sahib khan's misery. an educated man, once a schoolteacher, better times now gone. >> the taliban say we have peace, but what good is peace when our children are sick, and i have debt collectors at my door. >> if you sell your daughter, what will happen to her? >> there is nothing else i can do. i am not able to care for her.

>> life has never been easy here. but now it is harder than ever. to the people here, all these children, it doesn't matter that the americans have gone and the taliban have come back. what does matter is that they just don't have enough to eat and that it feels that they are being forced slowly, but inevitably, towards starvation. they work miracles at the children's hospital. they need to for babies like hasibula. whose survival seems against all odds. amina fights for breath. her malnourished body unable to fight off infection. her mother tells us she will stay at her bedside until god decides her daughter's fate. for week after week, staff worked without pay. they still lack medicine and equipment. and sometimes even miracles fall short.

>> we have in the previous months, mortality was about 200. >> 200 children? >> 200 children died here. >> underlying it always is hunger, just hunger. >> yes. >> and women who are pregnant and hungry give birth prematurely. so it is two to an incubator. a baby has stopped breathing. his name is muhammed anwar. for an agonizing moment his life hangs in the balance. but this fht ends in victory. >> he got a new life. after resuscitation. >> yet, sotimes there is as

much grief as joy. this newborn, his twin brother has already died. and his own span in this unhappy land will be measured in days. his mother has been warned. they do not have the drugs to save him. >> whole weekend, it is very bad for us. we are hopeless for them. >> four decades of fighting has ended. but yet another generation seems born tsuffer. judy: there are just no words. very hard to watch. that was john ray, of independent television news. as the president marks one year

in the oval office, we're continuing to check in on some of his key campaign promises. tonight, one, education. from re-opening schools in the pandemic to a plan to offer 2 years of free community college. geoff bennett has this report card. >> is a presidential candidate, joe biden proposed historic investments across the span of an american education from pre-k to college. >> we need emergency support now. >> as president, his top priority providing immediate relief to public school shuttered and stretched to the breaking point by the pandemic. a covid relief plan outlined early on. >> look, we can only do that if congress provides the necessary funding, so we get the schools, districts, communities, and states the resources they need for those so many things that aren't there already in a tight budget. they need funding for testing to help reopen schools,

more funding for transportation so students can maintain social distances on buses, they need it for school building for additional cleaning service, protective equipment, ventilation systems. >> president biden delivered, pouring roughly $122 billion into k-12 education as part of the 1.9 trillion dollars covid relief package he signed into law last spring sending students back into classrooms and making up for learning loss. november signing a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package providing money for schools to remove lead pipe lines and expand broadband access. one of the president's most ambitious education proposals called for universal pre-k. >> there's universal pre-k for every three and four-year-old child in america. it's going to increase academic achievement in all children and give them an even start no matter what -- what home they come from, no matter how little -- little they've been taught to

read or they've been read to. >> the $110 billion pitch for free, hi-quality pre-school aimed at offering early learning that research shows helps kids throughout their lives. but the plan, included in his build back better act, is currently stuck in the senate. the president initially included in that social spending plan tuition free community college which he said would boost the , middle class and help the u.s. compete with other countries. but in october, the white house revealed dropped the proposal in a massive round of cost-cutting aimed at satisfying conservative democratic lawmakers. >> that was really discouraging to hear. >> 22-year-old pam williams attends community college in milwaukee. >> if that would have got past i feel like it would encourage more people to go for higher education. but now people seeing that community college isn't even something that i might be able to pay for just because of how expensive that is. >> for now, the president says the proposal will have to wait. >> i promise you.

i guarantee you. we are going to get free community college in the next several years. >> and for americans struggling with crushing college loan debt, one biden pledge sounded particularly promising. >> i'm prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not $50,000. i don't think i have the authority to do it. >> during his campaign, he ved to cancel in stunt debt for $10,000 every borrow. but for the past year, president biden has chosen not to use his executive power to wipe out the student debt that weighs on some 45 million americans, despite increased pressures from progressives like senator elizabeth warr and establishment types like senator majority leader chuck schumer. instead, the white house has been kicking the issue back and forth with congress. >> if congress sends them a bill, he's happy to sign it. they haven't sent him a bill. >> 23-year-old aidan sova

recently graduated with $13,000 in student loans. >> although i still am a general supporter of president biden, i have to say my frustration grows. i thought that within the last year of his presidency, he would at least ease the burden for me and all of the other americans who are affected, particularly considering the context of the pandemic. >> federal student loan payments are currently on pause because of the pandemic and are set to restart in may. >> all told, president biden proposed the largest federal investment in education in generations. much of it targeted to those who need it most. about proposing policies s been far different from passing them into law. for the pbs newshour, i'm geoff bennett. judy: president biden's first year in office closed out this

week with major challenges -- domestically and abroad. democrats have been unable to garner enough support to pass the white house's legislative priorities, and, as we reported, tensions remain between the u.s. and russia despite high-level diplomatic talks. to break down what these setbacks mean for the biden administration movinforward, we are joined by bros and capehart. that's new rk times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, columnist for the washington post. very good to see both of you on this cold january friday night. let's talk about the president's first year. the critics are letting him have it. some people areing to his defense. how do you see the first year? >> today, i was asked to give him a grade in the great i would give him is a b. he's gotten a lot of good things done. the american rescue plan, the bipartisan infrastructure plan, but there are a lot of other

things that haven't come through. build back better. voting rights. there is the continuing having to deal with the covid pandemic and dealing with people who don't want to get the vaccines to help also get the economy going along. speaking of the economy, inflation. this is the first year of a four year term, may be in year two he can get a lot of these things done, but it goes to show what we have seen is the limits of presidential power especially when the president's party controls one branch of government, but only because of the tie-breaking vote of the vice president. judy: david, how do you size it up? do you want to give him a grade? >> i teach college and our grade inflation is so ridiculous, i don't want to do that. [laughter] more americans give joe biden an f than an a or a b.

only 20% of americans wa joe biden to run again. only 48% of democrats want him to run again. that is pretty bad. here is how i would justify what he tried to do. america has big problems on inequality, race, voting, imate change, all the rest. he tried to swing for the fences. i thought given the sociological crisis we are in it was worth a shot because it could have adjusted the foundations of america. it turned out to be more than our politic system was able to handle. it turns out the trust in government is really so low that people are suspicious of big government action. it turns out that joe manchin and kyrsten sinema actually believe what they say they believe and they were not to be moved. i think it was worth a st, but it is time to prevent and he is pivoting in small ways. he is going to spend less time negotiating with senators and more time out in the country,

that being president is different than being a senator. but he has one job right now and that is to make sure donald trump does not win in 2024. that means he has to win over people who are both sometime democratic voters in sometime trump voters and focusing another 10% to 15% of republicans tired of trump is the number one job of the next three years. judy: if that is his job, first of all, do you agree that is the number one job, jonathan? if it is, is he up to it? >> look, i think the president's number one job is to get this country on track and i don't think focusing all of your attention on 10 to 12% of republicans who might come your way is the way to do it. i think the president and his administration went about governing in a way of saying, you know what, this is what we are supposed to be doing, we are

supposed to be governing for everyone, let's get things done and get things passed past that affect all americans,, as he would say, whether you voted for me or not. the other thing we have to keep in mind, yes, the president swung for the fences, but we can't also forget about the fact that republicans, particularly in the senate, have been unified in their opposition to just about anything he wants to do, with the exception of the bipartisan infrastructure law, and also the bill related to china. they are coming together on electoral count act and trying to do something about that, but if you can't get voting rights passed without a single republican coming forward or you can't even get build back better, any of the popular programs in it can't get past because republicans will not vote for them, then that become also part of the challenge, b

i also think it should become part of the president's message about why things are not getting done. i think he tried to do that in the press conference wednesday. judy: if these are the obstacles, david, how does he work through them in a way that was very difficult to work through this past year? >> the question is whether he wants a message or action. some of the action he can do through executive action, some minimal things. if he wants to pass bills, it strikes me that the infrastructure act is the way to go. he got 19 republican senators to support that. a lot of people liked it. i think there are some parts of the build back better bill that, if broken out, can pass with bipartisan support. if he is going to pass stuff, he has to pass things that joe manchin likes or thinks he can get 60 votes in the senate. it is math. that is it. when i say he needs to focus on the 12%, there are a couple

perceptions about him he needs to address with actions. the first is he has become ineffectual. people think he is not getting stuff done because in the last six months he has not got a lot done. the second perception is that he is not in touch with the desires of people in the center, that he has gone too far off to the left. i think that was the necessity if he was going to try something big. those concerns are things like crime, inflation, things like covid, and they are mostly economic right now. fixating on the issues that are of interest to the senators strike me as the only way to at least get 50 votes, let alone 60. judy: is that the answer, jonathan? favor the center? >> it depends on how you are defining the center. i would argue that going for the child tax credit to get that funded or made permanent, going for id family leave, going for

child care, which if you want to get the economy back up and running and you want to have people get out back into the workforce, provide childcare so you make it possible for peopl to go to work. i don't think that is some far left or progressive thing. that is something that i think a majority of the american people would like to have happen. if build back better suddenly becomes childcare, adult care, and maybe something on climate change or the child tax credit, get that in a package and get that past, i think that will solve maybe most of what david is talking about. it will show the country that the president has the needs of the country in the center of his mind and is doing everything -- did everything possible to get that done to help them. judy: is that doable? >> i'm not sure childcare is

something he could get a lot of republican votes for or even joe manchin's vote for, but the child tax credit is something that versions of it have been supported by people like marco rubio, the republican from florida. i'm advocating for extreme pragmatism. the first question of the first year was what does the country need? i get that that is a good question to ask. i think the question is what can we get done? you go to your legislative affairs office and you say, where can we get the votes? it is not throwing longombs, it is short passes over the middle. the child tax credit is a plausible one. i think there are a bunch of other plausible ones on some of the energy staff and on some of the voting rights, the electoral count act, which has strong bipartisan support. you pick up some wins and then winds down the road. judy: speaking of getting stuff done, was at the right thing to do for the president, for the

democrats to push through voting rights? we saw the outcome, they were not able to get it through. was it the right thing to go ahead with the vote? >> it absolutely was the right thing to do. i think sometimes we make the mistake of viewing these iues from solely a political lens. because we look at them through a political lens, we don't see or hear the moral arguments that are being made. i think the president has been making the moral arguments since that speech last year in philadelphia. chuck schumer, the president made another moral case in atlanta at of weeks ago. and i think when you make this a focal point of what you are trying to do, not just to rally your base, not just to help the democratic party, but because voting and the right to vote and the ability to vote and to have your votes counted fairly and accurately is the underpinning

of our democracy, so if you are not going to fight for that, if you are not going to swing for the fences for that, even knowing that you are not going to get any republican buy-in, that it is not going to pass the senate, and the fact that you've got two members of your own party saying even though we are going to vote for it, we are not going to change the rules to allow it to pass by a subtle majority vote, i think the president and the senate majority leader chuck schumer were absolutely right to if you are going to go down, go down fighting. if you are not going to fight for democracy, why are you there? judy: david, what do you think? >> i more or less agree with jonathan. i think the john lewis act was the right thing to do as a matter of american morality and principal. i think some of the efforts were missed focused as i've argued before. i think our crisis is in the certification of the vote. that could still be fixed and i think there is still republican support for that. the electoral count act is about

how we work the electoral college. it is very leaky. there are lots of ways to screw it up. we need to close those loopholes. that can very much be done. other things can be done. make sure therare paper ballots. there are practical things. susan collins of maine has been advocating for them. the big bills are off the table. i think this is another occasion where there are things republicans are talking up and biden can take them up on it. it can make sure that we can be assured that the right outcome would actually come into effect. judy: which matters a lot. one is the b challenges right now when the president's plate is ukraine. we heard a pretty pessimistic assessment from nick schifrin's guest earlier in the program. how is the president handling that and are the options for him

clear at this point? >> one of the problems of having an marathon to our press conference especially when th president is joe biden is that he likes to take the american people inside the tent and let them know, here is what we are talking about. that is what has caused all the consternation with the alliance and also in ukraine. but the fact of the matter is the administration has been clear for weeks now that if russia does anything, there will be severe consequences. even after the president's press conference and the administration was doing all sorts of cleanup over what the president said, they were back on what they were saying. there will be severe consequences. the challenge now for the president is going to be if/when

russia does something against ukraine, what does it do? no matter what it does, it better be forceful, it better be strong so that it does not send a message to the allies, but also to the chinese that the united states is not willing to back up its words with action. judy: david, how do you size up how the president is doing on this? >> we have had maybe a decade-long slide, maybe a 20-year-old slide in american foreign policy with the errors of the iraq war and probably over learning the lessons of those errors, and i think president obama, president trump in almost a bipartisan manner were for withdrawal and the assumption that american cannot be strong in the world because we are not confident that it. excessive humility in this case leaves the wolves room to prowl. vladimir putin and the chinese have learned to prowl and they have got more confidence. they are more sure we are in

decline and we are weak internally. so, they are testing. what i like about the biden -- the gaffe was the gaffe in the press conference and i think that will be forgotten -- what is important and what seems to be the case is that the entire nato alliance is united and strong about this. i think it is important that russia wants us to basically withdraw troops from places like eastern europe and central europe and we are not going to do that and we have made that very clear, which is right. with the telling case will be is how severe the kinds of sanctions the west can impose on russia, how those are drawn up and how those are impressed upon the russians that it will happen. i just finished a book on catherine the great, the great russian empress, taking over the ukraine is an old national tradition. i'm afraid putin is a russian nationalist through and through and i do not put it past him that he would want to do this.

the report we had on from the military expert is truly horrifying. this would be such a shock to the 21st century if it happened. this is why real strength and real specific threats seem to be the right way to do it and biden is pretty much doing that. judy: i'm leaving this friday night with the image of wolves on the prowl, david. [laughter] thank you for that. >> happy weekend, judy! judy: have a great weekend. [laughter] individual ingenuity has become a hallmark of the pandemic with artists producing an array of creative in-person and virtual innovations. special correspondent cat wise has the story of how one san francisco artist stepped in to help out during the early ys and soon found a new calling. it is part of our arts and

culture series canvas. >> on a recent morning, san francisco illustrator and graphic journalist wendy mcnaughton put the finishing touches on a drawing. she has illustrated, edited, and authored 10 books, including three bestsellers. macnaughton has traveled widely drawing things she sees and people she meets -- from boot makers to hospice patients, security guards, and literary icons like joan didion and susan sontag. in 2019 she spent a week documenting the military court in guantanamo bay cuba for the new york times. >> i taught myself to draw superfast without looking down very much. >> she demonstrated those skills can sketching our cameraman. >> to me, drawing is never about making a good drawing, it is about the process of looking at the world and people in it and connecting with it. that is what i see. >> i like it. >> when the pandemic hit, she

knew the connections would be harder to make. she and her wife wanted to find some way to help. >> we were talking to my mom and my dad and my mom suggested, why don't you teach drawing two kids? she took her mom's advice and on monday, march 16, 2020, she went live on instagram. >> hello, welcome to drawing class. >> i had never done instagram live before. >> so glad everybody could come. >> caroline pointed the phone at me and we taught the kids how to draw a dog. >> were you expecting a few kids to join? >> maybe we will get 100 people and we had over 12,000 on the first day. >> on the first day. >> it was overwhelming. and it was awesome. >> they ended up doing 72 live instagram's over the following months.

she says viewership was highest during the first few weeks with tens of thousands logging on from all over. >> mexico. saskatoon. >> i think we counted over 70 countries or something like that. truly international. all of the kids would take pi i think we counted over 70 countries or something like that. truly international. all of the kids would take pictures of themselves holding up their arts at the end. this incredible community of kids formed and they all got to see each other and got to feel connected. >> mcnaughton's joyful, polished videos, which combined art instruction with dancing and social emotional support. >> does that feel peaceful? >> all stayed behind the camera, but still had a presence. their dog made frequent appearances. >> art, drawing in particular, helps us with our fine motor

skills, it helps us with our decision-making and stuff like that, it helps us academically, for sure. then, there is the socioemotional stuff underneath, recognizing our own emotions and identifying them. it is learning to be curious about other people and connect with them, celebrate differences. >> early last year, by receiving positive feedback from parents and kids, mcnaughton and paul built a studio. mcnaughton funded the project using personal savings and an advance payment from a newsletter service called sub stack. >> oh yeah, it is time to draw. >> there, they recovered recorded several episodes and made them for free on youtube. mcnaughton gave me a tour. >> everything in the draw together studio is made by hand. everything is made of cardboard, or papier-mache. all of the books, these are just pieces of wood. this is our magic portal.

take it away. >> hi, wendy, how are you? >> we visit all types of people so kids really see themselves reflected in the show. >> paul says, there have been a lot of lessons learned along the way. >> push my hands if i am too close. action. >> one of the things someone said, if you're going to be shooting arts, you should have a camera over. we thought, that would be so great weird when we have the opportunity for it, it did not look good. basically, when wendy talks, she's talking to a kid on the other side of the camera. it happens to be me too. but a kid will appear in, a kid will be looking around. the camera represents every kid. >> going forward, mcnaughton hopes to find new ways to produce and distribute draw together shows and she is also expanding her mission, promoting robust arts education in schools across the country.

with a grant from twitter cofounder jack dorsey's dark small village philanthropic fund, she and a team recently launched a pilot project called, draw together classrooms. >> we heard from teachers they had been using draw together in their classrooms. we said, wow, this would be really useful for classrooms that might not have funding for arts in their programs, or might not have fun, smooth integrated socioemotional learning opportunities. >> the project provides curriculum with the help of education experts to 100 mostly high need schools and community programs. >> this is an actual book that wendy mack made. wind one of the educators taking advantage of the program is anna. she chooses to cheat at chavez i.c.e. >> we have 30 minutes a week for 8 weeks out of the year,

pretty minimal. >> if we can't draw, you know what that means, let's dance. >> she says, she has seen an impact sensors has began watching "draw together." >> at the beginning of the year, a lot of the kids wanted everything to work out perfectly. over time, i have seen them learn to say, that is okay, or it is okay to mess up. we all draw differently, you can always turn the page over and start again. the more we can keep the dialogue going, that will really improve their confidence, not just as artists , but people in the world. >> as they finish their drawings in the afternoon, a surprise to guess popped in. it was the first time mcnaughton was able to connect in-person with a group of young fans. >> one, two, three! [ laughter ] look at all of these beautiful butterflies! >> mcnaughton recently raised new funds, mostly from small

donations, to provide art supplies to several thousand students, and she hopes to expand the draw together classrooms projects into 10,000 schools by 2023. for the pbs news hour, i am catalyzed in san francisco. ♪ ♪ judy: since childhood since childhood, jess t. dugan has recognized the power of photography and documenting the world around them. as they grew into their gender identity, they began using photography and portraits to capture not only their own life, but the lives of other queer people. tonight, dugan shares their spectacular take on representation of the power of portraiture , and a note, this essay contains mature content. >> i experience a lot of change as a young child. my parents got divorced. we

moved homes. for me, looking back, it is very clear that photography became my anchor. it became the way that i could hold onto the things that were important to me, even as other things in my life or changing. ♪ ♪ i grew up in little rock, arkansas. it was made very clear to me from an early age that i did not look like what people thought a little girl was supposed to look like, or i did not behave the way a little girl was supposed to behave. from a very early age, i had a heightened awareness around my own gender identity and expression. i moved to cambridge, massachusetts when i was 13 with my mom. that shift was really significant for me. i came out as gay when i was 13 and started thinking about my gender identity shortly there after. it was really wonderful to be in a place that was more progressive and was more accepting. my first experiences with images of queer people, with

images that validated my identity as a queer person and as a non-binary person was with finite photography books. things someone you could relate to, or who validates your identity could be incredibly powerful. it could be a lifeline. it could affirm something about yourself that you are trying to figure out or trying to understand. from a very young age, i felt compelled to make images of queer people, including myself, that were as nuanced and complex and beautiful as i knew these individuals to be. i think portraiture is especially powerful for making people feel seen, both the subject and the viewers. i really interested in people who are living authentically and especially interested in living authentically for them requires actively working against society or the status quo.

i have always used my photography as a way to understand myself and my place in the world. i had chest reconstruction surgery when i was 18 to more closely align my body with my internal gender identity and my mom was very supportive of that . she came with me to texas, where i had my surgery. when we got back to boston, i made a photograph of us standing next to one another shirtless. that was really the beginning of us making pictures together. some of my work is more personal and more subjective. even that word has a political element because of who i am, because of my identity. that is something i have always embraced. i think that a lot of what i do centers around the power of letting yourself be seen and seeing others. my name is jess t. dugan, this is my brief, spectacular take on representation in the power of

literature. and you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/news hour/brief. also online right now, astronomers like to say that telescopes are like time machine's. the new james webb space telescope is no different. on our instagram page, we explain just how far back researchers are hoping to see. you can find that at instagram.com/news hour. don't forget to tune into "washington week." the panel will discuss president biden's challenge in first year and what is next for some of his old priorities, including voting rights. that is tonight on pbs. tomorrow on pbs news hour weekend, mississippi is the only state in the nation that does not have a law requiring equal pay for men and women who do equal work, but that could soon change. what a new legislative effort could mean

for workers who experience discrimination. that is news hour for tonight. join us online and again here on monday evening for all of us at the pbs news hour, thank you, please stay safe, and have a good weekend. major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by. consumer cellular, johnson & johnson, financial services firm, raymond james, the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to support a better world at hewlett.org. supporting social entrepreneurs and their support for the world's most pressing problem. and with the ongoing support of

these institutions. and friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ this is pbs news hour west. from weta new station in washington and arizona state university. ♪ ♪ you are watching pbs.

he was on the verge of death, transplant was his only option. >> is a part of cystic fibrosis, it felt like i was constantly suffocating and drowning in mucus. >> brad's case was as severe and as bad as it gets. he had an infection that is very difficult to treat. >> my doctor called several other transplant centers, none of them wanted to take on my case. she made a last call, university of california, san francisco. >> we have been having better than expected outcomes in the country. word gets around and we get all kinds of challenging cases like brad's case. he came out of the operating room and he did great. >> for my transplant, i did not dare to dream, but after my transplant started thinking, maybe it is okay to dream. >> ucsf health, redefining possible.

♪ tonight on "tran01 newsroom." special judge ladoris cordell talks about her years on the bench and the insight she has gained with problems in our criminal justice system. plus, the omicron surge and its impact in local hospitals. another contentious recall election. the packers play the 49ers on sunday. we analyzed this week's stories with our panelists. >> many of us have played with legos, have you seen what these artists can do with the past two bricks?