♪ judy: tensions in ukraine. president biden says he will send u.s. troops to eastern europe. then, balance battle. texas restrictive new voting laws forced election officials to reject hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots. >> telex is the hardest day to vote in the entire country and this turbochargers how hard it will be. judy: it is friday. breyer and what his retirement could mean for the high port -- court. that and more on pbs newshour tonight. ♪

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public broadcasting and by contributions to yr pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: president biden confirmed tonight u.s. troops will be heading to eastern europe and nato countries amid heightened tensions between russia and ukraine. he was asked about any u.s. troop movements this evening. correspondent: have you decided how soon you would move into eastern europe -- troops into eastern europe? pres. biden: i will move u.s. troops to eastern europe and nato countries in the near term. judy: earlier today, ukrainian president vladimir zelensky downplayed fears of an eminent war between ukraine and russia, urging the west not to panic over the escalating situation at the border. meanwhile, russia's foreign minister said moscow does not want a war, but he also warned the west not to trample on his country's security interest after the u.s. delivered its response to pressure on the

ukraine crisis. foreign minister: wgot the answers the day before yesterday written and western style, making things as clear as mud but as i've said before, there are rational kernels regarding peripheral issues. judy: spoke with --president putin spoke with president macron today and spoke about unmet demands. following all of these developments. what president biden said a few minutes ago caught our attention. tell us what is behind these comments. nick: the u.s. has put 8,500 troops on heightened alert, prepared to deploy according to the pentagon. the reason is it is concerned not only about war in ukraine but it's running into eastern europe. it wants to reassure eastern flank allies and nato part of that is getting u.s. troops over to nato command to reinforce the

eastern flight along the russian border. nato countries are trying to do the same, reinforce with french, dutch, jets, soldiers, moving to eastern europe to really try and make message to putin clear that regardless of what happens in ukraine, we are -- the west and nato -- able to deter you and send you a message about how strong we feel about the number of troops that need to be in eastern europe and our commitment to defend our nato allies. judy: we have reported what the ukrainian president says and telling the west not to panic. the pentagon had something to say today. tell us about that. nick: what is interesting is the pentagon, the u.s. and have are not on the same page when it comes to the threat. from the u.s. perspective, they see russian troops and russia materiel rushing to the ukrainian bordervery day, these videos released by the motion -- russian military of defense every day and a more

serious and imminent threat that europe had seen in decades. as we heard today, the chairman of the joint chiefs mark milley in a joint pentagon press conference, and secretary of defense lloyd austin. mr. milley: you have combined arms formation, ground maneuver, artillery rockets, all the parts that go with it. they could launch on little warning. done as possible. this is larger in scale and score -- scope and amassing of forces than anything we have seen in recent memory and you will have to go back a while into the cold war days to see something of this magnitude. nick: just before that, we heard ukraine's president say the talk of eminent war was causing panic in ukraine. he criticized the u.s. for making a decision last weekend for evacuating diplomatic families. as we heard today through zelensky's official interpreter. pres. zelensky: they should be

here. these are the captains. i'm sorry but these are the captains of the diplomatic corps, the representatives of their respective countries. the captains of the last shouldn't be leaving the ship. i don't think we have a titanic here. ukraine is not moving forward. sometimes they are not using diplomatic language. they are saying tomorrow is a war. this is panicking the market in the financial sector. nick: officials tell menick: they believe the u.s. is hiking the threat, leading international investors to refuse to lend to ukraine, reducing its economic growth. they are frustrated their request for more weapons like anti-ship and patriot missiles, being denied via the administration. u.s. officials say they are sending weapons to ukraine and just calling it as they see it on the border with russia. that frank talk continued in the

conversation between president biden and president zelensky last night. biden told zelensky russia has the capacity to seize and hold territory and overthrow the government in kiev. judy: is the diplomatic track still alive here? nick: very much so. earlier this week, the u.s. and nato gave official responses to russia's demands, rejecting the demands that nato never -- ukraine never join nato, and nato rolled back to 1990's levels. instead, the u.s. wants to limit military exercises in europe, restrict missile deployments, and talk about arms control. as we said, vladimir putin said the u.s. hud "failed to take russian security concerns into account". we heard something else from sergey lavrov. he said there is a kernel of rationality in the u.s. proposals and that could be a hint that diplomacy will move

forward. u.s. naval war college told me earlier today. >> what it means is there a point at which lavrov believes he can continue negotiating directly with the u.s. perhaps, understanding the u.s. cannot make certain formal commitments, but you might be able to jerryrigged a solution with the u.s. that moscow might find satisfactory. this is where another diplomatic track will be critical. that is the revival of the normandy format with germany, france, ukraine, and russia. nick: that focuses on the ongoing war in eastern ukraine, requiring moscow to reduce and the key to give areas controlled by russian separatists autonomy. those talks will continue over the next couple weeks. judy: nick schifrin following developments from every front and i thank you, nick nick:

thank you. ♪ jstephanie: an investigation is underway tonight to determine what caused a pittsburgh bridge to collapse into a ravine hours before the president visited the city to promote the new bipartisan infrastructure law. seral vehicles including a bus were on the 50-year-old bridge where they came -- caved in this morning. the mayor said there were a handful of injuries. mayor: they are ok. we are just going to continue to hope for the best, and make sure we get this under --together. we are still assessing the situation and getting information about the good thing at this point is there is no fidelity's -- fatalies. judy: mr. biden stopped by the sight before his speech and then

first responders and surveyed the damage from behind a concrete barrier. he vowed it to fix the nation's aging infrastructure. pres. biden: this is the first time in the country's history we dedicated a national program to repair and upgrade ridges. it is about time to rebuild the bridge, along with thousands of other bridges in pennsylvania and across the country. judy: the infrastructure law has earmarked more than 1.5 billion dollars for repairing bridges in pennsylvania alone. blizzard warnings are in effect along the east coast of the united states as a major winter storm disrupts travel. 4,000 flights have been canceled. conditions are expected to worsen as the store moves across the northeast tomorrow. boston is bracing what --for what could be its worst snowstorm in four years. mayor michelle wu urge people to stay home. mayor wu: this could be a historic storm, a huge one.

that nws issued a blizzard warning for boston. this will be an intense, dangerous storm with heavy snow, high winds, and white out conditions. stephanie: the snow will continue through sunday. in economic news, a key inflationary measure rose 5.8% last year. the steepest increase since 1982. consumer spending felt more than % in december. covid-19 cases have fallen 27% in the u.s. over the past two weeks, while the average number of new desk roads 34% -- deaths rose 34%. 10 million doses have been administered globally but fewer than one in 10 people in low income countries have received one. in russia, the pandemic contributed to the largest population decline since the collapse of the soviet union according to the russian statistics agency. it shows more than double the number of covid deaths and a separate government tally showed the population declined by one

million people last year. critics of the kremlin say russia's pandemic toll has been downplayed by the state. a severe tropical storm in eastern and southern africa killed more than 70 and displaced 300,000 since it maitland for monday. the storm flooded parts of madagascar before hitting mozambique and malawi, where it destroyed homes and washed away bridges. another storm in the indian ocean will strike the same region this weekend. more than one third of the people in ethiopia's war-torn tigre region of suffer from lack of food according to the united nations world food program. tigre has not received aid since december. still to come, a living skier lindsey braun discusses the upcoming winter games and her new book. david brooks and jonathan k partway in on justice breyer's retirement and more.

a new tv series explores the cultural ramifications of bill cosby's downfall, 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: president biden has made tackling climate change a central piece of his agenda. he secured my money for renewable energy and proposed tougher regulations on carbon and methane emissions. it has been a more complicated story when it comes to drilling for oil and gas. william brangham looks at how that plays out. william: early on, president biden halted any new oil and gas leases on public lands, but a federal judge blocked that move. since then, the administration has issued comments, even exceeding what president trump did, including the largest sale of oil and gas leases in history

for joy ling on 80 million acres in the gulf of mexico. yesterday, a judge blocked that, saying the government did not adequately consider what impact the drilling would have on climate change. to help us sort through all of this, i'm joined by lisa friedman of the new york times. great to have you back on the newshour. this judge said to the administration, before you grant the leases, you have to acknowledge and look more closely at what impact that has on climate change. that is the argument environmentalists have made for years, that you have to wait a projects against the pollution that it will create -- weigh the projects against the collusion -- pollution it will create. how was it a judge can make that argument? lisa: is increasingly common. just a backup, this case is nothing if not complicated. the biden administration last year was told by a judge it must

go forward, despite its promises to end leasing, it must go forward with this lease sale in the gulf of mexico that had been set by the trump administration. the administration did. it was the largest lease sale in u.s. history of 80 million makers -- acres. 1.7 million of which were purchased approximately. this judge has said to the administration the analysis you did, which is a trump administration analysis, was not robust enough when it came to climate change. william: as we were saying, this is part of the central dilemma that the biden administration has these grand ambitions but it comes up against the domestic energy needs the leases might help fulfill, plus a very tricky legal realities. what is your sense?

does this ruling change in some fundamental way how we great leases going forward? lisa: you are right. one thing i found today in discussing this with f -- with experts is as you pointed out in the beginning of the segment, we are seeing judges -- we saw a judge in the ninth circuit last year and a case in alaska saying whether it is trump or biden, we really need to see a more robust analysis of the impact on climate change. while will see in the future is no administration will be able to downplay or hide the impact that the burning of the fossil fuels developed in these leases will have. that does not necessarily mean the lease sales will go forward in the future. there will be a more transparent and experts believe detailing of the impacts.

william: what is the environmental movements --what has the environmental movement's reaction been to the ruling and the way the biden administration has somewhat surprisingly granted a lot of these leases? lisa: this was a huge win for environmental groups. you know, there is a mixed attitude toward the biden administration the environmental community. there is no doubt the biden made climate change of front and center issue. on the other hand, you know, there have also been things that have disappointed the environmental community. not long after returning from glasgow last year where the president told the world to reduce fossil fuel in missions, the u.s. went forward with this lease sale. there has been disappointment on the administration's position around pipelines. going forward on the lease sale i think was probably the biggest

concern groups had last year. they have been vindicated by the federal judge. william: lisa friedman of the new york times, thank you very much. good to see you. lisa: thank you very much. ♪ judy: latern the midterm election year, voters in 19 states will head to the polls with new, more restrictive voting laws on the books. one state is texas, where the party primaries are a few weeks away. some voters and election workers say one provision in the lone star state is causing confusion. jeff bennett has the report. jeff: election workers in texas report hundreds of applications for mail in ballots are being rejected. one of the early effects of the state's new republican-backed voting law, requiring either a partial social security number or a driver's license number on

their ballot applications. that number has to match what is on their original voter registration. the problem is most people do not remember what form of id they initially provided, especially older voters who registered decades ago that is not the only thing causing confusion, says jessica, and editorial director. ssica: people are not used to filling out the forms and they fill them out incorrectly and then there is a problem where the voter role in texas is missing some information from voters. if they write down the incorrect number that is missing by accident, or because they don't know which one or it is missing, their registration will be automatically rejected. jeff: the problem that could have been prevented. guest: the pointed this problem out in july of last year, well before this law passed. there was an opportunity for texas lawmakers to dress the issue. jeff: james slattery with the

texas civil rights project warned members of the texas house in testimony last summer. james: is easy to see the chaos and distant pride -- disenfranchisement this will create. ff: he sees it as a barrier to the ballot. james: texas is the hardest state to vote in the country and this just turbocharge is how hard it will be. these new vote by mail requirements will particularly impact certain groups of texans, because only certain groups of texans even have the right to vote by mail. in particular, people who are 65 and older have the right to vote by mail in texas and use it in large numbers. so do people who are disabled. so are people who are temporarily away from home during the voting period. jeff: is this voter suppression by design or is this benign negligence on the part of lawmakers who failed to heed warnings from folks like yourself? james: it is hard not to see this as a feature rather than a bug.

there is, you know, an element of bureaucratic malpractice, just because the state's election infrastructure is so underfunded already that when you put a new 76-page bill on top of it, is going to be bad, regardless. >> election integrity is now law. [applause] ff: in september, texas republican governor greg abbott signed in a slew of voting restrictions into law. one of many efforts in republican-controlled states to enact new limits after former president donald trump pushed the debunked mh of voter fraud in the 2020 election. the u.s. justice department has since sued texas over the law, arguing it disenfranchises voters. texas republican lawmakers say the voting law, sb1, aims at incrsing public trust in state elections. >> it makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat. jeff: we tried to speak with brian hughes and a state rep who

wrote the legislation. >> the intent we talk about-- jeff: both denied our request. >> is not just voters who are frustrated by this new process. election workers who are frustrated. they cannot help voters fix their applications, because the law prohibits them from doing so now. >> absolutely and i think we have seen that pretty open annoyance by the local clerks office with texas secretary of state's office over this issue. jeff: dana is the travis county clark and served in county government for 40 years. dana: in so many ways, we cannot practice free speech with voters. you cannot call them back to cure a problem with their application or rent their ballot, because that is seen as promoting by mail voting. all we want to do is figure out what their new, correct identification number should be. just to be passively helpful with voters. we should not be so hamstrung.

jeff: a violation carries a mandatory minimum of six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000. dana: this is voter suppression. i am very concerned of our democracy and why the legislature wanted to stop all voters, including their own republican voters, from voting by mail. jeff: across the state from houston to san antonio to austin, the law has caused a spike in rejections in mail ballot applications. travis county, home to austin, normally rejects one to 2% of ballot applications. currently, officials say it is six to 7%. in harris county, which includes houston, one third of rejected applications were tossed because of id problems. >> i will never miss the boat. jeff: that includes this 95-year-old world war ii veteran, who says his mail-in ballot application has been denied twice due to the requirements.

dana: there is no point in taking a fully qualified eligible voter and rejecting them, or what we didn't know what the point is and that iso suppress voters. jeff: what should voters do in the meantime? dana: you have asked a great question. i cannot tell voters to reckon what to do to cure it, because that is seen as promoting by mail voting, and i am in danger of a felony. what other people, friends, the media, everybody else can and is saying -- the cure for that problem is to include both numbers on the application. they will ask four digits of your social security number in your drivers license number. you heard that from everyone except me, the election official. jeff: she urges those affected by the new mail ballot application process should not let it stop them from voting. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeff

bennett. ♪ judy: that brings us to the analysis of brooks and capehart, new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, columnist for the washington post. hello to both of you on this friday night. david, i know you were listening and watching jeff bennett's report. what do you make of what is happening in texas in the aftermath of their tightening of election laws? david: it is important to send election to clark's for -- to jail for six months. that strikes me as crazy. the principle of the thing that you should have voter id in person, that strikes me as something that has support in something that happens in countries around the world, certainly in france.

you would like to think it is just confidence that as of last summer, there were 2 million registered voters who did not have the proper numbers on their voter rolls. when they sent in their applications for mail, they came back rejected. that is, just bureaucratic incompetence something i think they are trying to fix. the question is, is this oppression? we just heard that answered twice and given the law about the clerk's, you have to think there is some nefarious motives going on here. judy: jonathan, nefarious motive? jonathan: [laughter] yes, i agree 100% with david. look, one of the people in that great segment from jeff bennett was where he said, you know, it seems this is more of a feature than it is a bug. the right to vote should be something that should be as easy as possible.

the obstacles in the barriers to exercise the franchise should be as few and as low as possible. when you are threatening poll workers who, as ms. debeauvoir said, all she wants to do is help people vote and she is threatened with jail but i love that she gave advice without jeopardizing herself. what is happening in texas and georgia and arizona and other states is happening because the governors and the legislators in those states do not want their citizens to vote and they do not want particular citizens to vote. what else are you supposed to think when in texas, for example, youan use your gun license as id to prove your id but you cannot use your

university or colleged. what does that say to a potential young ver who wants to vote? and so, you know, i think the nation's eyes are focused on the right to vote and the ability to vote. is going to take everyone who is concerned about this to push for remedies to keep these things from happening. that is why it is important the freedom to vote act and john lewis advancement act get out of purgatory and get past and become law. judy: i will watch to see if these things happen in other states. 19 states have passed new restrictive voter legislation. i want to ask you both about one of the big news headlines this week, david. that was the announcement by supreme court justice stephen breyer that he is going to step down from the court, retire, after almost 28 years. he will do so at the end of this term. before we talk about what that

means for the future of the court, what is your sense on what he -- his presents on the bench has meant to the country, to the court, for these last few decades? david: one, as an extraordinary mind, i was on a conference and i was giving some presentation and somewhere, i said here is a problem. i don't know the answer but here's the problem and i can't remember what it was. after the session, he comes up to meet with a piece of paper and says i know the answer to that problem but here is you might think about it. it was a diagram of how you think this and this and this and filled the whole page. i have never seen anything like it in my life. i thought this guy knows how to think. that is the first thing. then, the second thing is just how public spirit he was in the way he did business. there is a controversy over whether he was too naive and should have understood we are

not in a time with compromised. we are in a time of bad faith, and it is just a brutal war. some people have accus him of being naive to that fact and trying to be too reasonable. i would say i don't think he has any choice but to be reasonable and even in the midst of a war, it is important for reasonable people to be reasonable, and to try to seek and compromise and seek consensus and try to seek reason in a prudent way and not a bellicose way. he embodied that throughout his career. judy: he believed in trying to get the justices to come together on some things. most important cases. jonathan: right, and that is what the court is going to lose your when he retires. one of the things about justice breyer -- especially in the profiles i have read -- his

questions could go on and on and on. he would sort of think out loud as he was trying to figure out his theories with the opposing lawyer. with that said to me is here is a thinker who was open. he really wanted to debate and talk about and think through the issues in the way david saw with that diagram that he put out there. the other thing that strikes me about justicbreyer is the pragmatism. he is known for being with the liberal wing of the supreme court. pragmatists are people who compromise. they are about coming to bringing all the sides together and coming to some kind of understanding and usually, compromise is for the greater good. i i is for something bigger than his own beliefs but it is something for the greater good of the court as an institution

or the country as a whole. it is my hope and i really hope that whoever president biden chooses to be the nominee is someone who will be pragmatic. i will just say flat out, since we know it is going to be a black woman who will be the nominee, and hopeful confirmed as justice, i can tell you right now there is no more pragmatic people in the world out of necessity that a black woman. judy: what do you make of the president's pledge? he made it first during the campaign and repeated that this week. he said i will name the most qualified person and it is going to be a black woman judge, the white house said. david: you know, i want the court to look like america. we have known how we have learned and i think we know how important it is to have people from big -- different backgrounds because we are not just machines that think. we come from a certain

background and are filled in by values and experiences that differ so it is important to have that diversity. nonetheless, i am uncomfortable at fronting that identity, putting that identity upfront. i think universities have learned as they seek diversity, they should treat the whole person. naming it that way and putting these identity issues upfront, to me, is a matter of articulation. i would like to emphasize -- think the part of the person that is upfront is their wisdom, their compassion, their care, and they are treated as a whole person. i confess i am uncomfortable with the way joe biden used that pledge during the campaign, though i support the idea of the pledge. judy: jonathan, what it be better for the president to have said the first thing that matters is wisdom? jonathan: that is what he said in his remarks yesterday. , we have to understand something, that for far too long in this country, you know,

alifications and wisdom and everything were never things that were ideas or characteristics that were automatically ascribed to someone who was not white and certainly someone who is not white and male. you know, we have seen on the court that, you know diversity has not been a thing on the court until recently. we he an african-american justice, several women justices, a latina justice, and pretty soon, we will have a black woman justice. it says something. you can focus on the race. but how about we focus on the experience, the person brings to the bench, because of who they are, where they are from, their lived experience? also, the black woman who is going to be on the bench will probably be more impressive,

have more qualifications, the more brilliant, than the folks who have come in before her precisely because she has had to be all these things because people use her race to downgrade and belittle and not think much of her, simply because she is black. judy: what about that, david? david: first of all, i probably agree with that. i have read some of the likely candidates and they do seem extremely impressive. i guess i think the history of america is a history of racial essentialism. it is a history of judging people b the group they are part of and by what skin color. that is an ugly, awful history and i guess the question for me is, how do we best overcome that history? it involves recognizing race is a real thing and racial injustice is a real thing, but also involves trying not to a centralized people, trying not

to reduce them to categories, and to me, sometimes the way it was articulated during the campaign, as i say, it put that level of identity first. i would like to just pick the best person and who would be a black woman but when you put the identity first, you are in danger in a country --culture that is race essential rising and you are in danger of feeding into that. judy: another thought on this? jonathan: i just disagree. i think as someone who is black, the idea that you have a potential president of the united states and now a president of the united states who says he wants to put someone on the blanched -- bench who looks like you says he is recognizing that i and we are a part of this country, integral part othis country, that there have been millions of people who, because of their race, were denied even consideration for

being on the bench, and so i am not going to criticize the president at all for saying he wants to put a black woman on the bench, because it is something that should have been done along time ago and the person he does nominate, we all know from jump that that person is more than qualified, is more than worthy, and is more than able to sit on the bench and hopefully for more than 28 years. judy: so important to hear what both of you think about this. jonathan capehart, david brooks, thank you both. david: thank you, judy. ♪ judy: a week from today, the winter olympics get underway in china. i talked about the upcoming

games and her new book yesterday with lindsay ron. the epic gold-medal winning alpine skier. she holds for overall world cup titles and is one of only six women to have one world cup races in all 5 disciplines about --alpine skiing. she retired in 2019 and has a new memoir "rise: my story", focusing on her trailblazing career. welcome to the newshour. congratulations on t book. so much of your story begins with your family. how they have supported you throughout your career. you write so much about your father, how he encouraged you. . he was a former syria scare himself. in the beginning, you dedicate this book to your mother. you say she was your inspiration . how so?

lindsey: my mother had a stroke while giving birth to me. she has been optimistic. that is where i got it from. whenever i faced injury, i always went to my mom for the love of optimism and positivity and different perspective. my mom had a limp because of her stroke and was never able to run or ski with me. i just think, you know, i come back for my injuries and my mother cannot. it is a privilege for me to be able to work hard and come back. having that perspective changed the way i approached injuries in the way i approach adversity -- that is why dedicated it to her. judy: what comes through in the book is your drive, your determination, to reach your goal.

i know you have been asked so many times, but where does that come from? at seven years old, you said you wanted to ski. when you were nine, you said you were going to the olympics. where do you think it comes from? lindsey: i have always been very driven but i think it also comes from my environment. my family. my parents. my grandparents. my grandfather was a very tough, strong man with an incredible work ethic, as was my grandmother. spending a lot of time as a kid around them and my mother, being extremely tough, and my father really in grading in the work ethic. i think all of those people shaped me put the drive to want to be the best and a comptetior is something i've always had. judy: you also write in detail

about the physical injuries. you have experienced those over your career and how you powered through them and came back. you pushed yourself to the extreme. as you think back on that, do you have any second thoughts? some of these injuries were -- might have been life-threatening. lindsey: unfortunately or fortunately, that is the risk we have taken. i have always known that risk. i have always thought it was worth it. i love ski racing and the adrenaline and drill and going down the mountain at 80 five mph, there is nothing like it. have i paid a heavy price? absolutely. i'm in pain every day. my needs are always hurting beuse my arm hurts and everything -- everything hurts, but i was happy i was able to get as many years as i did out

of it. i feel lucky. judy: in cnection with that, you are also candid in the book about the emotional stresses that you have been under. you talk for some years publicly about dealing with depression. we seem to go through a period where more athletes are being more open to talk about their struggles. do you think we are turning a corner or do you think there is still a lot of stigma associated with it? lindsey: i still think there is a lot of stigma. i start talking about it in 2012 and it is much greater than now. it was not easy for me to talk about of the time and people said it would ruin my career. thankfully, it did not and we continue to have these conversations.

athletes are speaking out about mental health and that can only be positive because it sheds light on a topic that, again, has lots of stigma attached to it and hope we can change that and empower others to seek help and get the support they need. judy: one other thing you write about is how women are treated differently from men in athletics. what needs to happen in your view for there to be a more even playing field? lindsey: it could be and how many people said i got sponsors or i got certain privileges in mike career because of my look good i thought that was absurd. i won 82 hookups and have many metals and that is right i was able to get the things that i did, not because of the way i look. that would never be even a remote point of conversation if i was a man. i think just those

generalizations and that type of conversation just needs to change, period. judy: a lot of work to be done. i want to ask you about the olympics this year. the winter games in china, as you know, a lot of conversation about whether they should even be held there, given china's human rights record. the skier michaela schifrin says she had given it thought to whether she should go. did you think if you were still competing, it would be giving you concern or cause? lindsey: it definitely is something that you think about as an athlete. i think that once the decision is made to have the olympics at the avenue, i think as an athlete, you cannot say no because you have worked your entire life of this moment and there are few people that would turn that opportunity down. going forward, the conversation needs to be on how we select

these venues, what the reason is, and making sure we don't come into situations where there is a lot of controversy. judy: there is a lot of conversation about how different the limits are. there is covid to deal with. there was also the growing conversation about climate change. there having to make this note for competition -- the snow for competition in beijing. you have spoken out about climate change, the effect on

judy: the book is "rise: my story". we thank you and wish you the st. lindsey: thank you so much. take care. ♪ judy: in 2018, comedian, bill cosby was convicted of sexual

assault and given a 3 to 10 year prison sentence. last year that conviction was overturned by the purring court of pennsylvania. they improperly used a rule where he admitted to drugging women. he had done so in a civil lawsuit with an agreement that he would not face criminal úcha a new documentary series looks at cosby, the allegations against him and his role as a major figure in american cultural history. jeffrey brown has the story for arts and culture series. >> we thought we knew cosby. we never knew cosby. >> we need to talk about cosby, the name of a four-part documentary series that premieres on sundance is a premieres this weekend on showtime. the title expresses the urgency and importance of the subject.

>> he was a transformative cultural icon. there are very few people on the planet that got more famous than bill cosby. he was a big figure so we can ask him big questions. >> does it make you uncomfortable i'm black. >> is a standup comedian, he is used to addressing race and other issues in is work. >> he was one of my heroes. i'm a black man, stand up comic and born in the 70s. but this? >> the accusations keep coming in. >> this was complicated. >> in the new series, it's also personal. for 48-year-old who grew up watching fat albert and the cosby kids and the cosby show. >> bill cosby was part of the wallpaper of black america. >> you are a child of cosby. >> how do you describe that relationship? when i watch the

show i felt like i was right there with the family. and as a comedian, inspiration to do good in my career because i saw him doing good in his career. the lamp of the. i was surprised when the stories came out. >> we need to talk about cosby to do just that. game changing place in american culture. comedian, actor, educator, philanthropist and role model. but the horrific acts are detailed here. he introduce people who knew or worked with cosby. sociologist and writers on popular culture and experts on sexual violence. >> never told anybody. >> women who tell their stories of betrayal and violation. with chilling similarity often

being unknowingly drugged. >> i didn't know nearly enough about this. we are trying to show people that you may know this story and even if you support him or supporter of survivors, you think you know the story. i didn't realize they went back so far to the early days. not the beginning but very early in his career. he went back to our. >> some 60 women have come forward. bill cosby only based one criminal trial that led to the 2018 conviction that was overturned. he consistently publicly denied all accusations. this week a spokeswoman announced the documentary. saying let's talk about bill cosby. he has spent more than 50 years standing with the excluded. made it possible for some to be included and standing with the disenfranchised. he denies all allegations against him and he wants our nation to be what it claims to

be, a democracy. >> they are people who believe him. >> you have no doubts. >> i have no doubts and i'm hearing from people on my social media platform. i think i'm talking them through this project. a lot of people will hate this and never watch it. i understand. i think their word and destroying his legacy. his legacy of good works if you have the whole conversation. >> he needs to go to prison, he's a criminal. was i at home cheering? no. i was like this is one of the worst -- it's a sad day in the history of black culture. >> build makes clear this is a fraught conversation in the black community. on the one hand, known as america's dad was beloved. >> not black america's dad but america's dad. he is still hours. for black people. the show is

aspirational. it did in the reflect the average black family but it was aspirational. he was helping you believe the life you might be able to get to. >> cosby also became a divisive the gear beginning in 2004 when he began to speak out critically with irresponsibly behavior. language and clothing and single-parent families in a moralizing tone. all of this, place plus the history of false racist accusations, played into the story. >> it's a conversation for every american who grew up with cosby in their life. for black people week keep adding to the conversation. there's also a thing about not %-ú dirty laundry. and why don't i do this on a

black network or questions where is it appropriate. it's a complicated, divisive conversation eyes best day. >> there's a larger indictment here of a society that bill sees as complacent in violence against women. >> we have to learn something from the situation. bigger than cosby. we need to create a country where survivors of sexual assault and not only feel like they can but they want to speak up. they live in a society that is supportive and will help heal them and help them see justice. >> the question is who is bill cosby now. you are asking others. what is your answer x >> the answer that makes sense is the one that karen gives it the end. she's the x editor-in-chief of ebony magazine. something to the effect that bill cosby could be key in understanding america. for me, that's what we're talking about. bill cosby is

the catalyst to understanding the american experience in many ways. through the lens of racism, sexism, mythology and misogyny. he could be the key to diagnose and solve the problems. >> that's asking a lot. >> for sure. are those problems big enough to ask a lot? >> we need to talk about cosby begins sunday on showtime. i'm jeffrey brown in new york. space exploration rapidly changing our digital anchor. and nicole ellis caught up with former nasa astronaut and physician. how many new aerospace technologies can be used on earth. that's on our website, pbs.org/ news hour. that's news hour per tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us monday evening.

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michael was a late walker. i noticed he was more stiff. >> he couldn't walk up stair without my hand or something to hold onto. >> he was diagnosed with this disease. we took him to a clinic at ucs l. >> he has this problem. the nerves in the spinal cord, there are hundreds of them. we tease them apart individually and stimulate them and see which ones are responsible for this. >> john had taken before and after videos. nine months later and he said look at this. i was speechless. sdr changed his life. who knows what he's going to be doing a year from now.

tonight on kqed newsroom. a crisis is unfolding in the classroom. teachers experience burnout and are considering leaving the profession in record numbers. we speak with this gas guest with teach for america. hundreds of acres of land turns to america. nancy pelosi will seek another term in office. this week's big stories in california.