judy good evening. i am judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, escalation. russia claims ukrainian air forces struck a fuel depot inside russia as peace talks make little progress, and desperate humanitarian evacuations continue by fits and starts. then, lockdown. china orders the 26 million residents of shanghai to shelter in place, testing the country's zero-covid policy. >> i just woke up and my compound was surrounded with the fence, and that's it. there was no announcement, there was no warning, no information, nothing. judy: and it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the biden administration's changing

immigration policy, and the ongoing investigation into the capitol insurrection. all that and more on tonight's pbs "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- >> the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented wita more flexible workforce vanessa:, by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but had to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know bdo. ♪ >> consumer cellular.

bdo, accountants and advisors. ♪ >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation (website is . more at kaf.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 contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: for the first time today, russia has reported a ukrainian incursion onto its territory. moscow says the target was a fuel facility near the border. ukrainian officials have not confirmed the attack.

meantime, fierce battles continue in major population centers. and in mariupol, now a symbol of ukraine's suffering, new attempts at mass evacuations of civilians failed again. ukraine said 3000 residents were able to escape today, but a red cross team planning to deliver aid and evacte residents was blocked from reaching the city. with support from the pulitzer center, special correspondent jack hewson begins our coverage. jack: a massive early-morning explosion, but this time, inside russia. an oil depot in the city of belgorod went up in a fireball, near the ukrainian border. video emerged on social media of ukrainian helicopter gunships allegedly used in the attack. ukraine's foreign minister wouldn'tomment. >> i can neither confirm nor reject the claim that ukraine was involved in this simply .

jack: but kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov said it could stall progress for a tentative peace plan. >> of course, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions to continue peace talks. jack: regardless, both sides resumed talks by phone today, following up on in-person negotiations in turkey earlier in the week. but so far, no signs of a breakthrough. meanwhile, the chernobyl nuclear power plant is now under ukrainian control after the last remaining russian occupiers left the facility early this morning. yesterday, ukraine's nuclear regulator said the russian troops were exposed to significant levels of radiation from digging trenches around the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. but today in vienna, the head of the international atomic energy agency rafael grossi said he had no confirmation of that, and that radiation levels were under control. >> the general radiation situation around the plant is quite normal.

there was a relatively higher level of localized radiation because of the movement of heavy vehicles at the time of the occupation of the plant, and apparently this might have been the case again on the way out. jack: on the battlefield ukrainians continue to put up strong resistance. >> how to explain what war is? this is not normal. we did not go to another's territory. i am obliged to protect my children, my land, my home. jack: today, ukraine retook two villages in the north, near chernihiv, along main supply routes to kyiv. u.s. defense officials tell pbs "newshour" 20% to 25% of russian forces outside kyiv have repositioned away from the capital. but ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy warned that was always part of moscow's plan. >> we know that they are pulling away from directions where we

hit them to concentrate on other very important directions where it will be very difficult for us. jack: president zelenskyy said the russians are preparing to carry out more strikes in the southeast donbas region, and in the northeast, in the direction of kharkiv. the once bustling metropolis known for its landmark sovie architecture is now unrecognizable, largely deserted. the general sense of people in kharkiv is one of defiance, one of pride at the territorial gains that have been made in and a general stoicism. but at the same time, ere is anxiety about how long this war is going to last for, if the russians are going to dig in, and what's going to happen next. farther south, in mariupol, residents waited for relief. today, a perilous operation got underway to rush desperately-needed humanitarian aid into the besieged city, and evacuate residents trapped for weeks by the bombardment. some residents managed to get out, but a large-scale red cross evacuation failed.

their effort has been made even more difficult by the relentless urban warfare as russian soldiers keep fighting for control of the city. earlier this week, local residents filmed the chaos following yet another brutal strike. as the desperation mounts, so too do the casualties of this 37-day-long war. in the northwestern city of lutsk, mourners grieved for a ukrainian serviceman killed by shelling near mykolaiv. >> there can not be any peace with russians. i will never forgive them for the death of my father. jack: his dad, one of many who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in this battle to preserve ukraine's democracy. for the pbs "newshour," i'm jack hewson in kharkiv, ukraine. ♪

vanessa: i am vanessa roadies in for newshour west. we will return after the latest headlines. the u.s. unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since the pandemic began. the labor department today reported employers added a net 431,000 jobs in march. that pushed the unemployment rate to 3.6%, down from 3.8% in february. wages rose 5.6% from a year earlier, but that still wasn't enough to keep up with inflation. we'll take a closer look after the news summary. the cdc confirms it will end a pandemic policy that turned away most asylum-seeking migrants at the u.s. southern border. the rule took effect two years ago under president trump. today's announcement said it will end on may 23. the biden administration is making plans to try to accomodate an expected influx of migrants. pope francis apologized today to indigenous peoples in canada for abuses in catholic-run redential schools.

more than 150,000 native children attended from the 1800's to the 1970's in a campaign of forced assimilation. members of indigenous communities attended today's vatican audience. the pope called the church's behavior “deplorable” and begged forgiveness. >> i feel shame, sorrow and shame, for the role that different catholics, in particular those with educational responsibilities, had in all that hurt you with abuses and lack of respect toward your identity, your culture, and even your spiritual values. vanessa: canadian officials have admitted rampant physical and sexual abuse at the schools. and last year, hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered. the pope said today he hopes to visit canada in july to apologize in person to survivors. sri lanka was rocked overnight by mass protests ad its worst economic crisis in memory. hundreds stormed past barricades near the president's home and set fire to a bus.

police fired tear gas and a water cannon. dozens of people were hurt, and dozens more arrested the indian ocean nation has staggered under huge debt and fuel shortages. and the taliban have released two detainees, an american and a u.s. green card holder, in afghanistan. the u.s. state departmt said today they are in qatar, awaiting travel home. the release came as the taliban have been pressing for outside humanitarian and economic aid. and back in this country, there's word that white house press secretary jen psaki will leave this spring to work for msnbc cable news. psaki declined to confirm reports of her plans today, but she faced questions about representing the white house while negotiatg a job in journalism. >> there are a range of stringent ethical and legal requirements that are imposed on everybody in this administration and many administrations past about any conversation you're

having with future employers. that is true of any industry you're working in and i have abided by those and tried to take steps to go beyond that as well. vanessa: psaki took the job in january of 2021 and said then that she wanted to stay just a year. an alabama man who brought molotov cocktails in a cachet of weapons to washington dc on the day of the assault on the u.s. capitol was sentenced today. monte kaufman drove to washington in a truck loaded with homemade explosives and ammunition. the judge sentenced him to three years and 10 months in prison. the u.s. transportation department is re-imposing tougher fuel economy standards for new vehicles. they'll have to average at least 40 miles per gallon by 2026, up from 24 miles per gallon now. the change reverses president trump's rollback of higher standards. meanwhile, ford and general motors say they will recall some 1.4 million vehicles. gm says 2014 and 2015 chevrolet

equinox and gmc terrains may have faulty windshield wipers. ford's recall covers possible oil leaks in the 20 to 2022 escape and bronco sport. it also includes pickup and suv models with trailer brakes that may fail. for the first time, workers at an amazon site have ted to unionize. pro-union forces at an amazon warehouse in staten island, new york, won 55% of the vote. at the same time, amazon workers in bessemer, alabama, appeared to reject a union. but that outcome is subject to a review of more than 400 disputed ballots. also, actor will smith has resigned from the academy r motion pictures. smith slapped comedian chris rock after rock made a joke about smith's wife at sunday's oscar ceremony. in a statement released this evening, smith apologized to

rock and added, "i betrayed the trust of the academy. i deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work." still to come on the "newshour," another strong jobs report shows the american economy gaining steam. also, the biden administration decides to end a controversial trump-era immigration rule. and a british singer-songwriter's blend of many genres turns heads in nashville. plus, much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs "newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: it's -- as we reported, unemployment numbers are now back to pre-pandemic levels. but the economic recovery is not being felt by all. with me here is geoff bennett. geoff: thanks, judy. the jobs numbers today were a bit of good news for a white house that is simultaneously trying to manage rising

inflation. the country's labor market is bouncing back, adding another 431,000 jobs in march and bringing the unemployment rate to a new pandemic-era low of 3.6%, according to the latest jobs report from the labor department. even though the job gains were lower than what many economists had expected, they still made for a strong first quarter for the u.s. labor market, with an average monthly gain of more than half a million jobs. joining us now is deputy director of the white house national economic council bharat ramamurti. welcome to the "newshour." we should say, this jobs report is one any white house would welcome. march was the 14th straight month of major job gains. the economy is now just 1.6 million jobs short of where it was in february 2020, before the pandemic hit. what do you see as the bright spots and where do you see areas of improvement? bharat: there is a lot of good news coming out of the jobs report. another very strong month for

job games, over 400,000 new jobs, the unemployment rate dropping, which by historical standards is one of the lowest on record. other good news under the hood. for example, labor force participation, the percentage of workers who are looking for work or who have a job, has gone up significantly among prime aged folks, between the ages of 25 and 54, which means people are being attracted back into the labor market. labor force participati for women went up significantly as well. the black and hispanic unemployment rate continue to follow. lot of good news in today's report, both on the report level and under the hood. geoff: the white house is grappling with this disconnect. you have this undoubtedly positive jobs report, but there is this perception about the way many americans experience the strength of the economy, given everyday concerns about the cost of gas, the cost of groceries. how was the white house trying

to close that gap, between the jobs report on paper and the way it is being felt across the country? bharat: the president has been clear that he grew up in a family where the cost of gas went up, when the cost of the grocery bill went up, he felt it. he understands that families are feeling that pinch. for months, he has been focused on doing what he can to bring those down. at a starting level, we should note that inflation is a global phenomenon. counies across the world are dealing with record high levels of inflation. on top of that, we have the inflationary impact of putin's war in ukraine. but just this week, we have seen a lot of progress. the senate passed a bill just this week that uld reduce the cost of goods that come from abroad will go down. we saw the senate passed a bill that would produce more semiconductors, more chips, for

cars and electronic items. and we have seen progress in agriculture to bring down the cost of meat and other goods in the grocery store. we are bringing down the costs surely and steadily, and it is the president's number one focus. geoff: i want to ask you about wage growth, because looking at this latest report, it looks like the wage growth has been experienced for the most part among white-collar workers, people who have office jobs, people for the most part who were able to save money during the pandemic because they did not have to cmute as far or as much. but it is people at the lower end of the economic spectrum who are still struggling. president biden, he laid out a host, a whole domestic agenda aimed at a man he says, working class americans. but that agenda has stalled on capital hill. what is the plan b that the biden administration will pursue to help working-class americans? bharat: first, the data suggests that folks on the lower end of the spectrum have seen by far

the largest wage gains so far. folks who worked in leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, working out warehouses, and so on, they have seen the largest wage gains since the pandemic began and since this president took office, and we are glad to see that. those are folks who are long overdue for a raise. second of all, the economic plan has focused on delivering relief to tho in the middle of the income spectrum. the checks he provided, the tax cuts he provided for families with young children, all of that was targeted at folks with middle ince and low income. if you look at the net effect of all that, folks in the middle class families of the united states have more income than they did going into the pandemic, and we are glad to see that. geoff: that said, the president's pushes for congress to act on a number of areas where costs are squeezing families. prescription dgs. the united states is one of the few countries where we do not negotiate the cost of

prescription drugs, and that is raising costs for families. childcare is a huge cost for many families. the cost of college, the cost of housing, those are all issues the president is trying to tackle, and he is urging congress to act. geoff: i want to ask you about what has many folks on wall street concerned. some analysts say there are flashing signs of a recession. they are pointing to the yield curve inversions. we don't have to go into that. but do you share those concerns of a potential recession on the horizon? bharat: the data shows that the economy right now is stored nearly strong, 3.6% unemployment. we are coming off a year with the highest economic growth we have had in 40 years, and the signs for the first quarter of this year are also very strong. of course, we are looking at every data point very carefully and making sure there are no warning signs that we are getting out ahead of any problems. and of course, the war in ukraine is creating additional headwinds for the economy across

the globe and we are carefully monitoring that. the bottom line is the economy is in a very strong position and it is a credit to the president's bottom up recovery plan. geoff: we appreciate your time. judy: thank you for that report. you are about to launch pbs "news weekend" from here in washington. the whole team hard at work. tell us about that. geoff: we have been hard at work for weeks. it is a great team. i am excited to be part of this team retooling and relaunching this weekend broadcast. it will be a mix of hard news coverage, feature interviews. we will hear from the star of "abbot elementary " on sunday. judy: we are so excited. the news conties on the weekends. we look forward to it. ♪

judy: as we have reported, the city of shanghai is under lockdown today, as covid cases continue to surge in china's financial capital. as william brangham reports, it is the most severe measure by the chinese government to isolate and track infections since it shut down the city of wuhan after the virus broke out in 2020. william: one of the busiest cities in the world has gone quiet. today begins the second ase in a two-part lockdown across shanghai, after a wave of new infections erupted, likely driven by the highly contagious subvariant of omicron known as ba-2. summer wen is an interpreter who lives in west shanghai. >> we are not allowed to get out, and i have to get my test today, this afternoon. and so far, for me, of course,

it is inconvenient, but still i feel it is doable. william: the first phase of the shutdown began sunday, centering on the financial district and surrounding areas. in the past week, many communities have seen these yellow and blue plastic barriers go up around housing complexes. residents are required to submit to multiple covid tests, and workers in hazmat suits man various checkpoints. almosto one is allowed to leave their designated zone, not for work, not for medical care, nothing. police in shanghai flew drones outfitted with speakers, delivering airborne warnings to those below to wear masks and maintain social distancing. in anticipation of the lockdown, last weekend there was panic buying at grocery stores. but some residents said they were hopeful the lockdowns wouldn't go on too long.

>> with one adjective, i think we should be calm and face this with a positive attitude, and then allow this epidemic to pass over as soon as possible. >> i still have some cereal left. willia others like phd student marek narozniak, who's from poland, said the measures were chaotic and launched with little notice. >> i just woke up and my compound was surrounded with the fence, and that's it. there was no announcement, there was no warning, information, nothing. i think this who operation is causing a lot of harm to many people and a lot of suffering, and i don't really believe it is necessary or appropriate. william: shanghai reported 4,500 new infections today, which is still relatively low compared to the surges in other countries. these tight restrictions stem from president xi jinping and the chinese communist party's zero-covid strategy, which aims to not just manage the virus,

but to eliminate it with lockdown massive testing, and forced quarantines. across china, these official shutdowns have been picking up in recent months, especially in factory cities like shenzhen. but the clampdown in shanghai is by far the biggest since the pandemic first began, when the government locked down the city of wuhan, home to 11 million people, for 76 days. with 26 million residents, shanghai is china's largest city, and analysts worry these closures will deliver an economic blow to china's, and the world's, financial engine. yanzhong huang is a senior fellow for global health at the council on foreign relations. >> china was very successful by using the zero covid strategy in containing the spread of the virus, shielding the chinese population from the virus. but it was precisely the success of that strategy, only a very small percentage of the

population actually exposed to the virus. but now, when you have a variant that is so highly transmissible , that makes it almost impossible to not just detect all the cases, but also to track and trace those contacts. william: starting today in phase two, residents west of the huangpu river will not be able to leave home for five days, and deliveries will be left at checkpoints. nonessential business and public transportation will also be shut down. earlier in the week, the government converted snghai's convention center into a makeshift hospital to house patients, with 6000 available beds. nationwide, china's uptick in cases had been driven by an outbreak in jilin province. local officials there have also instituted travel bans and partial lockdowns in several cities. back in shanghai, empty streets. people locked away in their

homes as china's war against the coronavirus continues. for the pbs "newshour," i'm william brangham. ♪ judy: the biden administration has decided to end a controversial immigration policy implemented by the trump administration. amna nawaz has the details. amna: the biden administration announcetoday it will be phasing out what's known as title 42, a policy that prevented migrants from seeking asylum in the u.s. due to public health concerns amid the covid-19 pandemic. the administration has been under mounting pressure from democrats and immigrant advocates to end title 42. the policy will officially come to an end on may 23, but there are concerns this could overwhelm a southern border already seeing record high crossings. i'm joined by "washington post" immigration reporter nick

miroff. welcome back. you have been following this story. the president has been under a lot of pressure to end that program that began under the trump administration. what do we know about why they decided on may 23? nick: it is the convergence of a couple factors. as you point out, the white house has been under a lot of pressure. on top of that, they have been paring back other pandemic related restrictions, therefore making it increasingly difficult to justify these types of restrictions on asylum at the southern border. by setting may 23 the date, which is all most two months from now, it is nearly the same as another 60 day extension. it gives them time to get extra capacity in place, if those numbers go much higher, to get extra personnel to the border in anticipation of more pressures down there. and then, it also buys them time

to see what happens with the ba.2 variant. a lot can happen in the next seven weeks. i would add one more factor, which is we are likely to see this in federal court as states like texas try to block this and force the government to change my calendar. amna: we should remind people, this is a cdc decision to end title 42. the administration stresses that over and over. as it remains inlace, there have been exceptions. all unaccompanied chdren have been let in. many families, adults with young children. it is single adults they have been immediately expelling at the border under title 42. when it is lifted, what changes? what are authorities preparing for? nick: they are preparing for numbers to go significantly higher in place additional strains on what is already a very text border enforcement infrastructure -- very taxed

border enforcement infrastructure. they have see people taken into custody last year and this year. we are on pace to exceed last year's totals. you asked about single adults. you are right, the title 42 expulsion policy has only been applied in recent months to about a quarter of the family groups crossing, but it still has been applied to the majority of the single adults that they taken the custody. i think they will phase out the policy as their ability to process people ramps up, by adding more agents, more infrastructure, and more immigration judges to hear asylum claims. amna: you mentioned they are expecting significantly higher numbers. at are they expecting, and can the system handle it? nick: dhs officials held a briefing for reporters this week and told us they are anticipating as many as 18,000 people crossing per day.

that is their worst-case scenario. that would be more than double the roughly 7000 they are taking into custody now. at that level, the current existing levels, they are already overwhmed in several border patrol sectors. if they were to go to some of those projections, they would once more be in a position where they would be forced to quickly releasmany of the people that are coming across the border, simply because they do not,, have anywhere to hold them, they can't process them fast enough, and they certainly cannot return them to their home countries quickly enough. amna: what about the politics of all this? we know immigration is a hot button political issue. we have already seen republicans come out and speak about this. we expect to hear more about this, especially leading up to the midterms. nick: you can definitely expect we will. hear more about this this will be the subject of many campaign ads heading into the midterms. there is a good deal of

potential peril and liability for the democratic party as well as the president. that is one of the reasons we saw some of the border state democrats and centrist democrats come out fairly strongly, warning the white house not to do this, asking to keep the title 42 restrictions in place and keep on ion arizona in particular, where senator mark kelly is likely to face a tough race. he has been one of the voices out there telling biden not to make this move. amna: that is nick miroff ining us tonight. thanks so much. nick: my pleasure. ♪ judy: what you were just hearing about, that return to pre-pandemic border policies. president biden attempts to reduce pain at the pump. and the january 6th investigation heats up. to discuss another busy week, we turn to the analysis of brooks

and capehart. that is "new york times" columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for "the washington post." new position. congratulations. so good to see both of you and there is a lot to talk about. let's start with the report, the biden administration resending this rule that was handed down under president trump, the argument being that covid, we are in a different place with covid, this is the humane thing to do. is it the right thing to do? david: intellectually, yeah. there seems to be a bipartisan agreement, saying that it was put in place for covid reasons and does not pertain anymore. it is not a health matter anymore. it is convenience to simple five what happens at the border. the question is what plan they have in place. the rate whe there are 2 million encounters at the borders a year, 2 million times the u.s. of four shows are

encountering -- u.s. officials are encountering people. there's a lot of skepticism that there is a system in place that ife do not get rid of 42 they may be able to have the hearings and do t stuff we normally do with asylum-seekers. as we just heard, it is a gigantic political iue. in the bumper, that little quote, 31% say it immigration is the highest. if you think of the dominant issues, inflation number one, immigration isrobably number two. education or crime are probably three or four. these are all nightmare issues. they put out a long fact sheet. it is a partisan fact sheet, but you canee the ads writing themselves. chaos at the border, drugs coming in, record opioid deaths. republicans are going to go to town on this one. judy: republicans are against it. even some democrats saying it is the wrong thing. jonathan: i think what it points to is the lack of a

comprehensive immigration overhaul. and this is something that has vexed republican presidents. i remember when prident george w. bush wanted to do something. it has vexed democratic presidents. presidt obama wanted to work with congress and cgress gave him the stiff-arm, and that is what pushed him to do daca after saying over and over again he had no power to do anything about immigration. this is a political problem for the president come up for democrats. in a normal, functioning congress, the white house and the house and the senate would be able to get together and come up with a solution, but there is no political wl on the part of republicans. it is great that they put out what you call a fact sheet, but a fact sheet with no policy prescriptions. a functioning party would say, mr. president, you are in trouble, the country is in danger, here is our proposal.

i have yet to hear with the republican proposal is, other than fear mongering. david: build a wall. [laughter] jonathan: oh yeah, there is that. judy: we seem to be stuck on this. david: it is a complicated moral problem. people are coming here because their lives are not great back home. they are coming here because situations in a lot of latin american countries are deteriorating, and a lot of them are in horrific circumstances, and one's heart leaps out to them. yet they are coming in such large numbers, it is probably beyond our capacity to absorb all the people who wanto come. and a lot of them are coming for economic opportunity. i don't blame them. my ancestors came through economic opportunity. it takes a morally complicated government or policy or collective mind to say, we are going to help the people we are capable of helping. how many people are we capable of helping and how do we help

them humanely? and fothose who we cannot, how do we say, sorry but do it humanely? that kind of nuance is not something we have seen a lot of in american policymaking. jonathan: it is made more complicated because the party opposite the president, instead of lending a hand, is hurling brickbats and not being part of the solution. the only way we get to this nirvana you are talking about is if the republican party wanted to be a true negotiating partner, wanting to get something done. judy: another hot issue, i think it is fair to say, that surfaced this week. it is something the president announced yesterday, and that is he said the jobs numbers are looking good and we had more proof of that today, but the administration is still worried about inflation, still worried about the price of gas. the president announced he will release 180 million barrels from

the strategic petroleum reserve, just to try to get gas prices down a little bit. is this a good move at this moment? david: no. presidents alwayso this. they always release from the reserve and it never works. bin, to his credit, this release is way bigger than any other president has done. they are trying to dump stuff on the market, and they are saying it may produce 10%, 20% gain at the market. that may have some effect. that is far from certain because when we release from the reserve, the markets thing, they are releasing now buthey have to put back into the reserve, so the markets can think long term and think, that is not going to reduce demand. second, we are not the only people producing oil in this country. opec could say, we want to keep pricing up. if they are releasing, we will limit supply for a while. there are plenty of actors who have the chance to mess with our

plans. i remain guardedly skeptical. [laughter] that this is going to do much for the people who are paying $60, 70 dollars to fill up their tank. jonathan: the key thing is that markets think long term, but presidents think short. they tried to think long term, but when presidents go to the strategic reserve, this is short-term thinking. there is a short-term pain the president has to deal with. the reports i saw showed that this release could lead to $.10 per gallon, up to $.35 per gallon for consumers. when you are a consumer and you are saving $.10, that adds up. $.35, that is huge. gas prices, they are the one thing that consumers feel immediately. if you are a white house looking at tough economic news and

people are right about inflation and everything, if you can give them something where they are saving in the short-term term, you will go with it. but david is right, the market does think long term, and they think, they are releasing it but they have to buy it back. administrations always do this, but i think it is the right thing to do for their political calculus. judy: they are saying it is for six months. i looked at the calendar. that is right about november, david. [laughter] do you think this is going to matter in the elections this year? david: yes, absolutely. like jonathan said, you drive down the street, you see the gas prices. in california, it is like, whoa. it is definitely going to matter. in 2015, barack obama and paul ryan, the republican house speaker, did the deal with a increased production, which the republicans wanted, but

exchanged money for green energy. joe manchin is saying, let's do that all over again. that probably will not help joe between now and november. judy: do you think it helps democrats at all? between now and mid terms. jonathan: what david was just talking about? what david was just talking about. in the short-term, no, it is not going to help them. the spr, that will help. judy: the janua 6 committee, two delopments this week. one of them, there is this 7.5 hour gap in the phone records from the white house on january 6. there appears to be a gap. the committee figuring out what that is all about, whether it was deliberate, an accident, we will see. the other is the members of the committee, they ended up lking to two of them this week, who are just more openly critically of the justice department for not picking this up and running with it.

and moving towards some kind of prosecution of people like mark meadows, the former white house chief of staff. zoe lofgren said, what he did was completely lawless, she said. david: it sparked a bunch of conspiracies to remind us of watergate. is he using a burner phone secretly? i think cnn seems to have the most plausible explanation, which is when the record keeping and the trump administration is not always meticulous, which i know is a shocker for everybody, but apparently when he went into the oval office he did not use the white house phone system and it was not recording. that could be it. they have record keepers. it is weird it happened to be at the crucial moment of january 6. i assume we will find out. to be honest, i trust merrick garland. the political players on capitol hill are political players. they have no incentiveo be balanced.

but the justice department have incentives to be like prosecutor my overall approach to this whole deal, there have been a lot of extreme like questionable things that have been done, but the trump administration does us a favor by doing most of their questionable things out in the open. i have not seen much that would make me think there is some hidden scandal, some phone call somewhere where donald trump is saying, storm the capital. if that phone call or email or tweet exists, we a in a whole new ballgame. but it is easy for people who want to delegitimize donald trump to get excited that they have something and get over politicized about it. my trust would be in the justice department. judy: how do you read all this? jonathan: when it comes to the attorney general, i think what chairman schoff and congresswoman lofgren, they are upset over the contempt charges. they are valid. they have passed out of the house, they are sitting at doj and nobody knows what is happening with them in terms of

prosecution. where i agree with david in terms of trust merrick garland is the call on democrats and folks on the left for the doj to investigate donald trump. i think these are two separate things. when it mes to investigating the former president, it would be -- i was about to say insane if merrick garland terribly telegraphed this was happen before he has all the i's dotted and t's crossed. there have been prosecutors on television who keep saying the same thing you are sayg, they trust merrick garland, that at some point that trust is going to erode. butight now, when it comes to the contempt charges, i say come on mr. attorney general, what are you doing? but when it comes to the overall issue of should donald trump be investigated, i am willing to wait because i want the attorney

general to be as careful as possible to make his case as bulletproof as possible, if there is one, so that it does not make things worse by falling apart. judy: their focus right now seems to be mark meadows, but we will see. we will see. jonathan kay, david brooks, thank you both. ♪ judy: the grammys will be handed out sunday night, and one artist, yola, who has been nominated sitimes overall, is vying this year in two categories -- best american roots song and best americana album. jeffrey brown went to see why the musician has chosen nashville as her home base to shake things up with her fusion of many genres. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ it was easier to see ♪

jeffrey: there she was, headlining nashville's histoc ryman auditorium, singing the title song from her new album, “stand for myself,” a kind of musical autobiography that looks back to an earlier, less confident version of yola. ♪ >> i sing “a coward in the shadows, no view froabove,” and my song, which sounds kind of hard core on myself, but i was kind of chicken. jeffrey: it's hard to imagine, actually, sitting here with you now. >> i know. i was a very different person. i've done a lot of work. like, a lot of work. [laughter] i've come a very, very long way. jeffrey: all the way from bristol, england. ♪ all the way from fronting other bands and doing the bidding of others. now yola quartey, who goes by

first name only, is making a big name for herself, on her own terms. ♪ with a powerful voice, a sense of personal mission, and a mix of musical sounds, including r&b, country, soul, and rock, that she calls genre-fluid. >> it sounds like where i grew up. so many things from caribbean people based in the uk, african people based in the uk, the stuff we import from america, the stuff we impt from everywhere else. all smooshed to see where the connective tissue of humanity is . jeffrey: most important, she's the one doing the smooshing. >> it's why i speak the way i speak, as plainly as i do, because people need to see a person of my hue, of my brand of chocolate, with agency and with a sense of joy and creating things. jeffrey: she traces the start of her rise to a 2016 attention-getting appearance a

the basement. this is a tiny place. >> it's not massive. [laughter] it's, what, 100 cap, right? oh, look at her. jeffrey: a famed nashville club where musicians come to perform and be seen. in her case, seen as yola, showcasing for the first time. >> this is the real “i'm here” moment, you know? and when you make a transition from being in service to someone else's dream to daring to ask people to come and supporyour own dream, that's a very big psychological transition. jeffrey: soon after, she was working with dan auerbach, guitarist for the rock band the black keys, and a nashville-based producer. ♪ together, they recordethe 2019 album, “walk through fire,” which got yola four grammy nominations, including best new artist. “stand for myself,” their latest collaboration, received two more

nominations. finally, she says, overcoming in-your-face biases along the way, serious business which she, characteristically, describes with humor. >> sometimes people would speak on some imaginary producer that they had in their mind. and i go, i'm sorry, that's me. and they'd be like, oh, oh, oh. [fake crying] [laughter] why? but you're a woman and you're black. why? you know. jeffrey: but bigames in a wide range of music started noticing her and including her with them on stage -- dolly parton to gary clark jr., brandi caile, willie nelson and chris stapleton. nashlle is now her adopted home, and she began her recent tour on its most historic stage, the 130-year-old ryman auditorium, the original home of the grand ole opry.

and for yola to headline here from soundcheck to preparing t go on -- ♪ -- to belting out her songs was a statement in itself. nashville's music scene has received plenty of criticism for its lack of embrace of women and artists of color. ♪ yola is just one sign of change, both in the diversity of musicians and sounds. >> it becomes a really important thing for me to feel as though i am surrounded by people who understand, who have spent maybe a moment in their life being other, having an understanding of what that might feel like. jeffrey: she's also soon to reach wider audiences through her acting debut, playing the rock 'n roll progenitor sister rosetta tharpe, popular in the 1930's and 1940's, in director baz luhrmann's upcoming film on elvis presley. ♪ >> here's a heads up.

you're going to be moving your bums. africa is coming. jeffrey: she's eager, she says, to help change music's story of the past and present. and that includes the audience. you're talking about changing who's on stage, right? but do you have to change the audience? >> you inevitably start doing so, but you only start doing so when you're able to make the change up here. black people don't just magically appear in a space like this. it is only works by us telling them this is happening right now. ♪ jeffrey: yola is touring across the u.s. into the fall. for the pbs "newshour," i'm jeffrey brown at the ryman auditorium in nashville. ♪ judy: some great music. and on the newshour online now, you can see our recent profiles of two other artists vying for

grammys on sunday. they are brandi carlile and arooj aftab. that's on our website, pbs.org/newshour. ♪ and before we go, we'd like to say farewell to e of the "newshour"'s great producers, who is retiring after a long career at the program. you haven't seen lee koromvokis on the air, but she has worked on hundreds of our stories over the years and produced many of the best pieces. and the correspondent she has worked with the most is paul solman. he pays tribute tonight to a friend and colleag. paul: tv correspondents are often almost wholly reliant on a person you never see, the producer, who assembles cool footage, rounds of the unusual suspects -- most recently, lumber yard owner larry berckerle. >> what's your best lumber joke?

>> if i told you, you would get board. [laughter] paul: new york-basedee koromvokis joined the ewshour" in the 1980's. her very fir feature -- >> i have become an instrument of my son's own tragedy. paul: -- on admiral elmo zumwalt and his son's agent orange-related cancer, won an emmy. she's added five more and two peabody awards. lee: thank you to the university of georgia and the peabody awards. it's a very great honor. paul: the only time you could have seen lee on the newshour was in 1994, when she was indignant trying to buy a power ranger for her son. >> look around. there are none of the cool toys here. paul: you have seen plenty of her quirky visuals, though. and she can do it all. i fronted for her poignant report on utica, self-dubbed “refugee city," though lee was there herself. >> congratulations. your new flag. paul: she also produced her correspondent-free day amidst the foreclosures in fort myers, florida. >> if you come back to this property, it's considered

trespassing. paul: her family from sparta, she led us through greece during its 2010 financial collapse. a would-be doctor, she engineered stories on the dangers of antibiotics resistance and the joys of kidney transplants. a woman of culture, she orchestrated a story on emily dickinson's garden. ♪ an erstwhile musician, she produced our stories on franz schubert and bach's st. john's passion. throughout the years, lee has been our bach. or maybe more aptly, o emily dickinson. brilliant, eagle-eye observant, always original, and always word perfect. will she be missed after 38 years of hyperexcellence? it's a banality even to ask. for the pbs "newshour," and mainly for lee, paul solman.

judy: thank you, paul. lee is a treasure. we cannot believe she is leaving us. we will miss you so much. we want all of you to tune in to "washington week" tonight as yamiche alcindor and her panel discuss this busy week in news. that's tonight on pbs and streaming. and as you heard earlier, tomorrow's edition of pbs "news weekend" looks at one of the stars of abc's "abbott elementary," who reflects on the challenges facing public schools. that's saturday on pbs "news weekend" with geoff bennett. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs "newour," thank you. please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been proved by -- ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> consumer cellular. bnsf railway. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most essing problems. skoll foundation.org. >> and with the ongoing suppo of these institutions.

and friends of the newshour. this proam was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs newshour west from w eta studios in washington anat the cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

tonight on "kqed newsroom", we talked to congress member to get assaults on the russian invasion of ukraine in the u.s. is responsive are. his recent trip to the ukrainian border where he met with refugees. and san francisco voters decide who will feel a vacant assembly seat, we will talk with the two candidates . plus, did you know fortune cookies have californian roots? the golden gates fortune cookie factory is this week's edition of some the beautiful. coming to you from tranter headquarters this friday, ri