judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. tonight, a punishing stalemate. ukrainian civilians endure russia's onslaught as president biden visits u.s. troops in poland. and leaders discuss reducing their dependence on russian energy. then, the heat beneath our feet. an increasing number of scientist and executives look at geo thermal energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuel. >> we are get ago lot more, i think innovative idea in the geo thermal sector than we have for decades. >> and it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the president's handling of the ongoing war in ukraine and the

con tinajas -- contentious confirmation hearing. all that and more on "the pbs newshour." announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provide by -- >> the landscape has changed. but not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented for the more flexible workforce by embracing innovation by look not only at current opportunities but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know b.d.o. ♪ >> consumer cellular.

b.d.o., accountants and advise ors. >> the john s. all-knight foundation more at kf.org. >> 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. judy: president biden is in poland meeting with a key nato ally that shares borders with both ukraine and russia. mr. biden ends his night in warsaw ahead of what the white house calls a major address

tomorrow in the polish capital. meantime, in ukraine, the horrific toll of a russian air strike on a theater in the south came to sharper and terrible focus. but we begin our coverage with the president president's visit near the front. >> hey, folks. i just came by to say thanks. >> visiting troops in poland, the president thanked them for defending the borders but said their mission was bigger. >> we're going to prevail. democracy is going to prevail and the value wes share. autocracy is going to prevail. that's what's going to be at stake. what you're doing is consequential. really consequential. anchor: mr. biden welcomed his host for welcoming 1.2 million refugees the most of any country bordering ukraine. >> you're the ones that are risk ing in some cases your lives and risking all you know to try

to help. >> the president announced more natural gas exports to europe. that's 15 billion cubic meters. the u.s. buys nearly a quarter of its oil from russia. >> putin has coerced and manipulated his neighbors that's how he's used it. he's used the profits to drive his war machine. >> to punish the west, president putin asked that russian gas exports be paid in ruble sending european gas prices soaring. the e.u. called it blackmail. but member nations remain divided over a russian oil, gas embargo. nearly 2,000 miles away in the southern city of mariupol civilians stabber sieged, bombarded and now starving to death as food runs out. for the first time video emerged from inside a landmark theater showing survive ors in shock

after a deliberate russian air strike follow ago week spent searching the wreckage, local officials said 300 victims died. for the first time in days, russia agreed to two humanitarian corridors including one from mariupol. but inside the cities thousands remain trapped in this open air prison, they dig graves by the roadside. victoria's stepfather was killed two week ago. until now, the cold weather made the soil too hard to bury him. >> when the doctor was taking our stepfather to the hospital, the sky -- this guy took a seat instead of me and they blew him up. it could have been me. >> ukraine said russia is distributing aid in parts of the city it seized but for many, it's not enough to stay alive. [speaking foreign language] >> my husband didn't make it to receive humanitarian aid. he had diabetes. the scarce diet of the last day

days led him to a coma. and he died. >> a senior defense official said russia is focusing its military objectives in the eastern donbas region. they are taking defensive positions. a russian official suggested that was always the plan. [speaking foreign language] >> the main objectives have generally been accomplished the potential has been considerably reduced which makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of donbas. anchor: but for now there are cross-country attacks. in kakkiv there were distribution sights. they lost their main road bridge in an air strike this week. a day after president vladimir zelensky called for global

demonstrations european capitals overflowed with ukrainian flags and many ukraini people. >> ukraine can is our home and we want to come back to our home. judy: and jane jones us now from poland. jane, so tell us more about this announcement from the russian military. is this a climbdown on their part? jane: judy, there's potential in that. we've seen them coming at it with all of these statements today talking about how first of all, the first phase of this military operation that a special military operations they call it -- they refuse to call it a war has been quote, unquote successful or completed by them. they said they've decimated or massively reduced the capabilities of the ukrainian military. we know that's not true. but they will be moving on to phase two which will be shoring up and supporting the donbas

region the separate part of the country. now, there is -- there's hope that this could be an indicator that putin is trying to find some sort of off-ramp to save face. he has to answer to the russian people for the potentially 15,000 soldiers -- russian soldiers that are believed to have been killed in this fighting. and the fact they couldn't take kyiv. we know from intelligence reports that the initial plan was to try to decapitate the government in kyiv and replace wit a more russian-friendly one. they had much broader plans and ambitions. they invaded this country with much different angles and positions. so this -- there's a possibility that this could be an attempt to start a narrative which saves face. you know, but don't forget, this is coming from the russian military. we've heard no such words from putin himself yet. judy: so it might be too

optimistic to think it is a -- a climbdown. so jane, what then are ought to to be putin's other operations here? jane: you're right. it could be too optimistic. we've seen words saying, you know, that this -- that they're changing tackett. but we're also seeing a tax on cities. those could continue. putin still has -- he may not be able to send our troops there. but he still has missiles and air strikes that he can continue to continue bombard cities with. president biden has also raised again several times now the possibility that putin could use biological or chemical weapons. and russia is a nuclear power so for now, although these words might be encouraging for some, there's still -- there's still the other options, deadlier option that is biden could choose in the coming weeks and month.

judy: so grim think what vladimir putin can do. jane joining us tonight from poe land. thank you, jane. and the newshour's coverage is supported in partnership with the pulitzer center. president biden visit to poland spotlights that country's importance to the military and humanitarian effort in ukraine. for more on that, we turn to nick shiffrin. nick: poland has long considered itself fro line state against russia. and since russia launch its war on ukraine, no country has become more important to to repel russia's invasion and to help millions of ukrainian refugees. to talk about this, i'm joined by steven mole the former ambassador during russia's first war with ukraine. how important have they become to respond to russia's invasion?

steven: good evening, nick. it's good to be with you. poland has been the most strategically important country on nato's eastern flanks since it joined in 1999. but during the current invasion of ukraine, it's become central to the whole crisis. first of all because of the long border it shares with ukraine. it has a very uncomfortable front row seat for the invasion going on, and it makes our polish alis very nervous. they share a 330-mile board we are poland. and not only that, but that polish borderer the principal conduit for the increasing numbers of weapon that is this united states is sending to the ukrainian armed forces and going the other way. it's the main conduit for more than two million refugees that have fled the fighting in ukraine so as the conflict moves closer to the west of ukraine which it seems likely to do, it's going to be increasingly in a critical spot that we need to pay close attention to.

>> let's first consider those weapon shipments that as you say many of which are going through poland into ukraine. russia vows to hit to target that weapons supply line that goes through poland. why is poland willing to take the risk? >> well, sit a big risk for our polish allies. but they're willing to take it because they think it's probably the lesser of two evils. the other evil being next in line to be attacked by the russians. so it is an existential security interest for poland to make sure that the russians are stopped and ideally removed from ukraine is -- and they're willing to risk everything to stop the russian advance towards its own borders r. the other part are the refugees flowing into poland. human rights organizations criticizeed pole poland for not allowing enough middle east refugees. but poland has opened its arms

to these ukrainians who are coming into the country. why? steven: well, i think there are a couple of key differences between the refugee crisis that happened with belarus last summer and fall and what's going right now. the polish government believed that those refugee that is were coming through belarus primarily to the polish border were being sent as a means of destabilize ing poland and being weaponized by the belarus government with ukrainian support. ukrainians are fleeing. and they have a century's long history of occupying and dominating poland. further more, the ukrainian community has been quite large poland over the past few years between a million and two million ukrainians have become a central part of the polish

economy even before this invasion started. that's a community that's assimilated very well into polish society. they're essential to the polish economy's operations particularly in the service sector. and finally pols feel a real moral obligation to help their ukrainian neighborhoods because they have that common adversaries say. and they believe that they need to help them to make sure that when they are in trouble others will help them too. nick: the european union has accused poland's party of reroading judicial independence. they have been criticized for eroding media freedom and lgbtq rights. is warsaw's democratic backsliding being papered over because of poland's importance to the war? >> those are concerns that the biden administration has had about the human rights situation in poland. there have been some democratic

black sighting in poland. but now that this crisis has happened, it's almost as if the house next door to poland has suddenly caught fire. and while poland certainly needs to maybe correct the dry rot that's going on in its own house put ought the fire next door has suddenly become a much more dangerous threat to democracy not only in poland but really throughout allf europe. so concentrating on the most important emergency that's on poe land's doorstep doesn't mean we're less concerned about the other problems that you mentioned. >> finally, poland is pushing for a permanent presence of polish troops who have been rotating into poland back-to-back. that permanent resident will go against promises that nato made to russia in the late 1990's. why is poland pushing for a more enduring guaranteed u.s. deployment? >> they believe since the end of the cold war and since poland's

succession to the nato alliance that they in effect have become the front line of the nato alliance and the key to security for the entire alliance. so they believe that that requires moving the u.s. military presence that had existed in germany and other places to the west required moving those troops farther to the east where the threat most likely will originate and, in fact, we've seen their right. that is where the primary threat to nato is originating. in fact, i think it's likely to increase numbers of u.s. troops we've seen in poland are there for the foreseeable future. nick: ambassador steven mole, thank you very much. steven: thank you. ♪ vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz for steph night sy. u.s. supreme court nominee

ketanji brown jackson has picked up crucial support. west virginia democratic senator joe manchin said he will vote to confirm jackson. he called her supremely qualified. his vote for jackson could be vital. if all 50 senate republicans oppose her. and supreme court justice clarence thomas was released from a washington hospital today after a week long stay. the court had said thomas was treated for flu-like symptoms but did not have covid. his release came amid report that is his wife virginia thomas repeatedly texted former president trump's chief of staff in an effort to overturn the the 2020lection. we'll focus on that after the news summary. teachers in minneapolis have reached a tentative deal to end a strike that began on march 8th. about 29,000 students have been out of school since then. superintendent ed graph said he's looking forward to getting everyone back to class on monday. >> i know this has been a huge

challenge for our students, huge challenge for our families, for staff as well, you know? you go into this profession because you care about kids and you want to see them reach their full potential and be a part of the successes. >> teachers demand better pay, protection for minority educators and smaller class sizes among other things. they're set to vote on ratifying the new agreement this weekend. the utah state legislature voted today to override their governor's veto of a ban on transgender athletes taking parts in girl's sports. the state's ban will take effect july 1st. utah joins 11 other states that have enacted similar laws. and a federal jury has awarded $14 million to a dozen activists who sued the denver police claiming excessive force during the protests of police brutality following the death of george floyd in 2020. the jury concluded that the city

failed to properly train its officers leading to police violating the constitutional rights of the 12th plaintiffs. and in ethiopia, rebel forces in tigr re agreed to a humanitarian seize fire the central government offered a truce with the renegade province on thursday saying it would allow aid to flow into tigre. it has left thousands of people dead and forced millions their homes. and in antarctica, scientists are raising alarms after an ice shelf the size of new york city collapsed in the eastern part of the continent last week. this satellite image shows the ice shelf in february. and here it is after last week's collapse, the first of its kind ever recorded in the region. scientists said that prior to now, climate change had not had much impact on that area. and also climate activists stage new protests worldwide with many also calling for piece in

ukraine. there were demonstrations across europe. thousands march through the streets of rome and mostly teenagers chanted their way across paris. in berlin, clouds waved ukraine 's come who is some linking climate to the conflict. [speaking foreign language] >> we are strike today to show our great solidarity with ukraine. we see that we are in a war that's being financed by fossil fuels. there's no such thing as an isolated crisis if we want to isolate ourselves from the auto cats and live in peace and freedom and safety then we need to move away from fossil fuel. >> european union negotiate ors have greed on landmark restriction tech companies including threats of big fines and break-ups. the rules aim to bar google, metta and others from dominating digital markets. they include new restrictions on using personal data. the agreent still needs approval from the european

counsel and parliament. back in this country, nebraska congressman jeff fortenberry is under pressure to resign after a criminal conviction. leaders of both parties in the u.s. house of representatives have urged the nine-term republican to step down today. fortenberry was found guilty thursday of lying about accepting campaign funds from a foreign donor. still to come on the newshour, david brooks and jonathan capeheart weigh in on the ketanji brown jackson hearing. plus, much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta is studios in washington and from the west from the walter cnkite school of journalism from arizona state university. >> a trove of text message that is form other president trump's top aide handed over to the january 6th select committee have revealed an unexpected player in the effort to overturn

the 2020 election results. reporter: the house select committee is looking at 2,000 text messages from mark meadows. at issue here 29 reported text from ginni meadows. the messages reviewed by cnn and "the washington post" showed she pushed the trump white house to fight the results of the 2020 election after it was called. she tested meadows. help this great president stand firm. she sayshey're attempting the greatest heist in history. at the same time trump was appealing directly to the supreme court to intervene on his behalf. he tweeted on november 6th. i easily win the presidency of the united states with legal votes cast. u.s. supreme court should

decide. and now, i feel right at the top, we know that the presidential election was settled law. it was legally held and joe biden was the winner. looking at these texts that three outlets have confirmed with us, jane. overall what is the wife of the justice saying in these texts to the chief of staff to t president? >> well, she's -- she's arguing that the 2020 election was what she calls the greatest heist in american history. and that the results that were certified were a fud. and that it had to be stopped. and that the chief of staff mark meadows to trump had to step in and do something to try to keep trump in office. >> these texts don't mention justice thomas by name. and both justice thomas and

ginnie thomas have said they keep their work separate. but i do want to raise one text people are looking at. first, mark meadows wrote, this is a fight of good vs. evil. ginnie thomas respond. thank you. needed that. this plus, a conversation with my best friend just now. we do not know who that best friend was. we know that she and her husband have referred to each other as best friend in the past. i want to ask you, first of all, broadly to get our hands around this. are there legal and ethical issues here for supreme court justice? what are the rules for supreme court justice in this area of phonetial conflict of interest? >> so i've been reporting this and interviewing several of the country's foremost experts on judicial ethics and what is fascinating about this new material is that several of these ethics experts on the law

said that clarence thomas and ginnie thomas in these particular situations have crossed the red lines. and what are the red lines? well, the supreme court as we know is not found by the judicial code of ethics that applies to all federal judges in the lore courts this. supreme court self enforces its own ethics code. but it is found by u.s. law -- there is u.s. statue that says that any judge and any justice has to step aside from any case in which their spouse has an interest in the outcome of the proceedings? and what these -- these ethics experts have sd to me is that you look at these e-mails and you can't but see that ginnie thomas had a -- an interest in -- in the proceeding that was in

front of clarence thomas which was about whether this kind of material and more material from president trump would ever surface and see the light of day. and that's what was the issue argued in front of the court that clarence thomas saturday on in january. he didn't recues himself even though it seems now in looking over this material that his -- his wife's involvement in the plot to overturn the 2020 election stood in a good chance of coming out depending on how the court ruled inhat proceeding. >> mark meadows' attorney did put out a statement saying there's nothing illegal in these texts. the biggest question at this moment for now, we'll see where this goes, this is just the beginning of this story is whether justice thomas should recues himself going forward especially on january 6th related cases. just to wrap this up where we are now. jane that choice is entirely up to him is that right? >> well, there in the past -- in

our history, chief justices have sometimes pressured justices to -- to step aside. that has happened before. and in this case, we have these judicial ethics experts such as steven gellers a profess or at n.y.u. saying that clarence thomas must step aside that would have to do with the january 6th yup risings and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. it's up to clarence thomas, of course, at the end of the day. but there's sort of a rise in pressure i would say on him to recuse in these cases. >> well, we hope to hear from justice nom the days ahead. and thank you for talking to us tonight. jane mayer of "the new yorker." >> great to be with you. ♪ judy: the white house was juggle

major foreign and domestic priority this is week as president biden met with allies in europe. while in washington, his supreme court nominee was in the hot seat to discuss another busy week. we turn to brooks and capehart. that's david brooks and jonathan capehart columnists to ""the washington post." so good to see you here on this friday night. a lot to talk about, jonathan. but let's start with ukraine. the ukrainians more than holding their own on a number of fronts. but the russians just keep pounding away. in general, how do you think the west is doing in standing up to what's going on? >> well, i think the west is doing a good job. i mean, they've been make it very clear -- excuse me -- they've been making it very clear that if putin hits a nato nation that nato will hit back. the alliance has been continuing to funnel weapons and things to the ukrainians to aid in their fight. then with the president in

brussels and also in poland but especially in brussels with those back-to-back to back meetings, nato, e.u. and other meetings, the signal being sent by the president and by the west to vladimir putin is, we are united, we are strong, and you -- you will have to contend not just with the ukrainians but with us collectively if you go even further farther than that. it's symbolic, but symbols matter in a conflict like this. judy: is it -- is it an effective response to what's going on, david? david: i think so. if you take from where we were last week sitting here, we're worse off. more people have been killed and more buildings destroyed. the second reality is that russia is worse off economically but particularly in the battlefield. there was an article talking to the people who were fight. they made three key points. first, we may be living the tank era.

the anti-tank weapons are very powerful at destroying tanks in the way it didn't used to be and russia is a tanks military. the russian tactics are not a learning organization the way we thought they were. they're so topdown that the commanders on the ground and even the soldiers on the ground don't have the choice to make choices to adapt to circumstances. so they go from a to b and it's very easy for the ukrainians to raid them. and then finally, mow, there's e is to the physical 3-1. and the ukrainians have pretty high morale. like i said last week, it's time to trust the policy we've been ramping it up. but you look at what the russians said today, who know where is that will lead, but it's certainly applausable plan to me. do what they used to say in vietnam is declare victory and go home. judy: i do want to ask you both about how president biden

himself doing? jonathan, there was a poll out today the grenell poll. dis disapproval. 48%. compared 37% approve. but when you ask people what about the specifics of the administration's policy, namely, should we be sending armed forces? 70% say no. that's the president's policy. should we provide weapons, 72% say yes. that's the president policy. enforced a no fly zone. a small majority. so there is a a contradiction. what do we make of all this? >> so this is what drives me crazy about -- about public opinion polls which go beyond just tell me what you think about the president's overall job approval rating. when you get into specific things, how's he doing with the war? folks aren't following the war and specific policy things like we are. i discount how you're handling the war. what is more important are the

specifics that you just pointed out asking specific questions, troops, weapons, and other things. and it show that is the american people are with the president and the president has his finger eon the pulse of where the american people want to be on the war with ukraine. and all of this will change if putin does this unthinkable. chemical weapons or use a chemical device. judy: all bets are off if that happens. >> if the -- you ask of beautiful sun sets? 87% will say i disagree with beautiful sunsets. we live in a partisan era. you touch the name of biden or trump and you get instant opposition. it's nothing more than a measure of partisan. the question is, if we were really in trouble as jonathan mentioned, we goat another step in this war, could we unify?

after 9/11, george w. bush's approval rating was like 92%. it was something insanely high. could wever imagine that again? it's very hard to imagine that. and that means we're just not as resilient a country as we were when you could get beyond party labels. judy: but it is -- it is -- it is notable that -- that there's agreement with the policy just as you say not when you attach president biden's name to it. the supreme court confirmation hearing is this week. it was almost a tale of two -- it was as if two nominees were sitting there. judge ketanji brown jackson to listen to the democratic senators. you would think this was a supremely qualified woman who had served for almost a decade in the federal courts to listen to republicans. she's soft on crime. she tends to give lenient sentences to people who have engaged in child abuse. what did you make of the

senators of the process of the nominee? >> how much time do we have? [laughter] i know we don't have -- we don't have a lot of time. it was as if we were watching -- yes, the supreme court nomination hearings of ketanji brown jackson but also a relitigation of the supreme court confirmation hearings for justice kavanaugh on one level. democrats doing their level best to remind people just how qualified judge jackson -- judge brown jackson is. how qualified beyond qualified she is to serve on the high court and the republicans did everything they could to tear her down, welittle her but a child of god, telling a mother that she is -- not just soft on crime but is fine with -- with -- with people peddling in child pornography. it was just appalling.

and i think that what senator booker who is even more loquacious than i am, his oration that made her cry, i would have cried if my in-laws and my mother weren't also sitting in the living room as we watched this. when i saw her wiping away the tears, i felt that in my bones because i understood where that emotion was coming from. you know, in the black community we call everyone brother and sister. that brother over there, that sister over there. and it really wasn't until watching that that i really understood what that meant. i'm about three years older than judge ketanji brown jackson. i'm an only child. i've never met her. but watching her sit there as we're looking that the picture right now, i felt as if i was watch ago relative go through hell. and to have senator booker

remind her but remind the country of why she's there, how hard she worked, how qualified she is, and to not let anyone rob her of her joy how important that was. she loves her country. she's interviewing for a job she's always wanted. and yet, we have people there just trashing her in ways -- we work so hard as african-americans to get to these spots ando stay in these spots, and -- and to have to jump through these hoops and be questioned by people who aren't even at our level, but yet, that's what we have to do to get the tent, get a seat at the table and then to keep that seat. judy: what did you make of it? >> yeah, well -- moved by that. you know, we have a group of republican senators who are not really senators. they're cable tv hosts. and they use these hearings as

an occasion to drag up whatever issue is popular with tucker. and so whether what is a woman or whatever it's going to b they're going to ask her about that. they're not going to ask her about judicial philosophy. they're not going to ask her about temperament. they're going to ask her about whatever the issue of the moment is it reached the apogy with ted cruz who i spoke about nicely last week who goes back to being a schmuck. he checks out how he's doing on twitter. it's like the perfect cycle of narcissists. these are not hearings. the child pornography issue. mccarthy who happened to ba -- be a prosecute or says her position that it's absolutely the right position. and this is standard position because some people are stupid and they do something terrible

but they shouldn't get a five-year minimum. josh halley treats her like she supports child abuse. judy: we let that sink in as we turn finally to the -- the interview that lisa desjardins had with jane mire and that is connect to the supreme court, the wife of clarence thomas, new information texts that she shared with the white house chief of staff mark he dose urging the white house to overturn the election. >> overturn a free and fair election. and this revelation comes after she granted that interview where she said that she was at the january 6th rally. she was at the rally. i think that the january 6th committee needs to call her in. have her come in and testify

about these things. and i say that because, yes, she's married to justice thomas. it's not justice thomas who is sending these text messages. it's not justice thomas is at the january 6th rally. so we need to remember that the spouse is not the -- is not the principle. but the spouse should be called in, ginnie thomas should be all in to exain what are these text messages? what's this about? jane mayer is the expert on this. when she said she talked to folks that said justice thomas crossed the line, i want to see how far over that line they've gotten. >> there are codes of decorum. in the trump era we've seen the codes be trashed. and i would say ginnie thomas crashed that. just how a justice's wife should

behave. did it go over over the line? i want to ask jane, when your spouse has an interest, you've got to recues. but does that financial interest or psychological interest? because in this case it seems to me thomas has a psychological interests. but we all do have on right to life interest on civil interests. so i want to ask jane that question about whether it really went over over the line. judy: and that's a question we can' ask. [laughter] but we'll try to -- we'll try to figure it out in the next few days. david brooks, john than capehart, so much to think about this week. thank you both. thank you. ♪ judy: as we reported president biden and the european you onannounced plans to enable

europe to become less dependent on russian oil and gas. but that will take a lot more money and time to execute. for now, the russian invasion has raised much larger questions over our dependence on fossil fuels and the need to develop cleaner, renewable energy. science correspondent miles o'brien reports on why geo thermal energy is attracting new interest. reporter: there's a lot of heat beneath our heat and that's pretty obvious here near the sal tna sea near california's emperial valley >> these are mud pots that occur naturally. >> hot water and carbon dioxide create mini volcano at the davis shrimp mud spots. >> they come up in different areas. they all go doe dormant and come somewhere else >> they sit right in the middle of one of the largest geo fields in the world. it's renewable and carbon-free.

and exploring new ways to tap into this resource is now a very hot field. >> what do we see in here? >> so here, we're looking at some of our production wells for the region one facility. >> billy thomas is a researcher at that time cal energy project. he showed me some of the 25 wells and 10 power plants which together generate 345 mega watts enough to power more than 300,000 homes. but he says they're only scratching the sub surface. >> this feels as a perfect example that has a lot of potential. there's about 5,000 gallons per minute flowing through her. >> geo thermal heat comes from the moll ten core of our planet which is as hot as the surface of the sun. as heat radiates up, it gradually cools. here, they drilled wells between 2,000 feet and it's two miles

deep where the temperature is only 600 degrees fahrenheit. very salty, very hot water called brine along with steam race yup ward the steam burns turbine and the brine is injected back into the ground where it is reheated by the earth, replenishing the reservoir. >> is this kind of managed well more or less infinite nitly sustainable? >> we've had the benefit of operating for some of these fields up to 40 years. and we really have a very robust reservoir where we don't see much of the decline. so we have a good system set in place to really make this a sustainable renewable base load energy. >> base load meaning 24/7, 365 steady production that wind and solar cannot provide. geo thermal is an emerging dark horse in a race to a stable zero carbon electrical grid.

>> they've seen about a 25% growth worldwide. >> this getologist is program manager for geo thermal technologies that national laboratory in golden, colorado. >> the technology hasn't changed substantially. there have been incremental optimization improvements. it's an exciting time because we are get ago lot more innovative ideas in the geo thermal sector than we have for decades. >> so this area is highly fractured underneath r. one of the surprising innovation, geo thermal wells can also be a great source of minerals. >> we just drilled two wells. >> jim turner is chief operating officer of the u.s. division of australia based control thermal resources. he walked me through the 50 mega watt geo thermal mega watt the salty brine from the wells con danes almost the entire

periodic table of elements. and the rocketing demand for electric cars has made it profitable to extract and sell lithium. >> do you have any idea how much lithium you will produce? >> about 20,000 lithium product. >> that would be four times more than the u.s. provides today. >> that's a nice bo nix isn't it? >> it is. it is a very good bonus in the past, it just didn't have enough value to warrant the cost of money to develops develop, build a plant and operate it to be able to sell the lithium compounds >> the rockaby beneath nash naturally fracture and per meanable. this -- the rock beneath is naturally fractured and per meanable. >> at this stage, it's not economic to produce steam from extremely deep wells. >> but that could be changing at the forge project in utah.

here the department of energy is piloting of technique called enhanced geo thermal systems. or e.g.s. the plan is to build two deep wells into low per meanable hot rock. fracture the rock between wells to create a reservoir and pump water into the cracks. it returns to the surface piping hot. the notion is making for some strange bedfellows. oil and gas industry veterans drilling for hot rock rock instead of black gold. >> what we want to have a single well petroleum system. >> cindy task is a 35-year veteran of the oil business. [enter] now, she is chief operating officer of houston-based sage geo systems the company is hoping to reduce the cost of e.g.s. near mcallen, texas, they're test ago single well alternative for harvesting heat from hot, dry rock.

they drill down and then horizontally from here fracturing the sedimentary rock in between. cold water is pumped down through the cracks. now, hot enough to generate power, the water heads up to the turbine in a concentric pipe in the very same well. >> the oil and gas industry has fracked set men tear rock for years. we know how to mitigate and quite frankly, the rock is so soft you usually don't get into seismicity. >> still, it is monitored. geo thermal fracking has triggered earthquakes in the past. this one in south korea made news causing 135 injuries. >> we don't need stimulation for most geo thermal. where we do do stimulation, i thinke request, you know, be smart about avoiding zone to seismic risk. with shell fracking boom has a

lot of innovation. in houston, a small company called particle drilling is partnering with a big player, n.o.v. to help push drilling technology into a geo thermal era. the bit they're developing fires 12 million ball bearings a minute out of four nozzles. jim shiller is c.e.o. of particle. >> it obliterates the rock. what you get out is a fine cutting and every once in a while a bigger piece. what we envisioned a three to five-time improvement as we combine our bits in particle and we're seeing that. >> tony pink is chief operating officer of n.o.v. he says it cost $1,00000,000 to run the rig. if we can take the particle drilling technology or drill bit technology and make that jump from 60 foot an hour to 80 to 100. then we've moved that economic needle that you need anywhere.

>> geo thermal anywhere. it's an spicing prospect. the path to zero carbon may well take us to the journey toward the center of the earth. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in houston. judy: since russia invaded one month ago russia invaded ukraine and people are seeking innovative ways to support the ukrainian people as they face the horrors of war. pbs wisconsin erisa -- reports on how one artisans fundraising effort has garnered much more traffic than she thought possible. >> i remember i was sitting watching the news and i was so mad. i was hurt and i was upset. i felt helpless. >> reporter: -- wanted to take action she saw images of russian forces brutally

attacked ukraine and its people. >> i thought i needed to do something with my anger. >> reporter: is a second- generation ukrainian her message was personal. to raise money for ukrainians on the front lines. >> i wanted to help. so i thought i know how to make candles. let's do this. >> reporter: owner of a small artisan shop in northeast wisconsin call to door county candle company she began making candles with blue and yellow wax. the colors of the ukrainian flag. >> i just did a little preview on facebook that i was doing a fundraiser. i had thousands of people response. >> reporter: in two weeks the orders reached 20,000. >> that is what we would typically sell in a year. >> reporter: 20,000 candles to be made in the small shop by hand. >> i think i cry every day just hearing the stories. it means so much.

i means somebody people want to help and some people were feeling helpless. and they did not know how to help. >> reporter: moved by the news in her energy, volunteers in the community have turned out in support. including -- father. >> i have to be here and help. >> reporter: when he is not doing 12 hour shifts as an e.r. physician he is doing 12 hour shifts helping his daughter. >> i am first generation ukrainian. my parents immigrated right after world war ii. i was raised ukrainian. i spoke ukrainian until first grade. >> reporter: he and christiana's mother passed the language onto their children. >> it was my first language. that's how i spoke with my grandparents. it has clipped me close to my culture and heritage. >> reporter: when she heard the news of the russian invasion her maternal grandmother flashed back to life in world

war ii. >> we were sitting with her and she just started to cry and shake and relive the war when she was a kid. i never thought something like that could happen in 2022. >> it's heartbreaking. it is an absolutecatastrophe what is going on. is world war ii all over again. my wife's mother has memories of things that happened during the war and when she was there as a child. it has brought tears to her eyes. she is in total disbelief. she is a home here right now. she's 82 years old and she is helping out with this as well. all hands on deck. >> reporter: all of the profits made from selling the candle are being donated to a ukrainian nonprofit. >> it is helping provide bandages and tourniquets and medical supplies to those that are in ukraine and needed the

most. our first donation was $125,000. that is the first of many donation installments that we will make. i really do not think we would some more than 100. >> if i could sell 300 candles, i would be happy. >> well that ship has sailed. we are so proud of her. we never expected this kind of response. >> reporter: the outpouring of support eclipsed any expectation they could've imagined. >> a lot of good comes out of evil in many ways. >> we are standing with ukraine in providing light in the darkness. so heartening to see this.

tune in to pbs this weekend for a conversation about democracy and the legacy of benjamin franklin. i spoke with filmmaker ken burns, former secretary of state condoleezza rice, and the ambassador to china, nicholas burns. check your local pbs listings for times. that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy ward drip. join us again on monday evening and join us online. from all of us at the pbs news hour, thank you, we stay safe, and have a great weekend. ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years.

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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.visit ncicap.org] >> 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. ♪

tonight on kqed newsroom . at a shift response to the sanctions against russia. lawmakers want california to accept cryptocurrency for tax payments and more. we speak with state senator sidney -- who is pressing for that change. who is for and against governor newsom's new gas relief package? our panel of reporters analyze this week's big stories.