♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight, the state of the pandemic. infections tick up in the united states and pfizer seeks approval for its booster shot for children. we speak to the white house covid response coordinator about the latest. then, lockdown. residents struggle to find food as the chinese government orders shanghai shuttered amid the city's highest number of coronavirus infections to date. and an arms race. ukrainian and russian forces build up their munitions ahead of an expected offensive as the u.s. works to proactively aid ukraine's military. >> as the conduct of the war has continued, the biden administration has sort of expanded its willingness to do more. and you're seeing that in terms of the pace and scope of weapons deliveries in ukraine. amna: all that and more on

tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> fidelity dedicated advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan, a plan with tax strategies, focused on tomorrow while you focus otoday. that's the planning effect from fidelity. >> cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. a raymond james financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative work and investments

through transformative leaders and investments. were at ken -- more at kendedafund.org. carnegcarnegie foundation of new york. carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: covid-19 booster shots may soon be available for children

ages five to 11. pfizer said today that an extra dose of its kid-size vaccine has shown a strong immune response. the company said it plans to seek fda authorization soon. we'll talk to the white house covid response coordinator, dr. ashish jha, after the news summary. russia suffered a blow today in its war with ukraine, when the flagship of its naval fleet in the black sea exploded and sank. ukraine said it hit the ship with missiles. the russians said the fire was accidental. the guided missile cruiser moskva had 500 sailors on board, and most were evacuated. in washington, the pentagon assessed the ship's loss. >> it's basically designed for air defense. that's what this ship is designed to do, not unlike our own cruisers. so, it's going to have an impact on their capabilities certainly in the near term. whether it has an impact on their naval capabilities in the long term is just unclear right now. amna: we'll return to the war in ukraine later in the program. a federal judge in new york

ordered the suspect in tuesday's subway shootings held without bail today. frank james appeared in court in brooklyn but said little during the hearing. prosecutors said he had terrified the entire city of new york. james is accused of shooting 10 people. the exact motive remains unclear. in the middle east, palestinians say israeli troops shot and killed two palestinians in the west bank in a new wave of violence. it happened in the city of jenin. israeli officials said soldiers returned fire after palestinians shot at them. at least 24 palestinians and 14 israelis have been killed since the muslim holy month of ramadan began. officials in south africa now say severe rain and flooding in recent days killed at least 340 people. heavy rains and mudslides swept away roads and bridges, destroyed schools, and devastated entire neighborhoods around the eastern city of durban. hundreds of people were left homeless. >> i got nowhere to go, i got no house, i got no nothing.

there's my family, there by my neighbors. they tried giving us place to sleep last night. we never, we never sleep last night. amna: the death toll is expected to rise as scores of people are still missing. and more rainstorms are expected in the coming days. back in this country, social media giant twitter is mulling a takeover bid tonight by billionaire elon musk. the tesla ceo has offered to buy the company and take it private in a deal valued at some $43 billion. musk is already twitter's largest shareholder. he says he wants to make its algorithm and coding openly available. twitter's board met today to evaluate the offer. a former top aide to president trump, stephen miller, answered questions today about the january 6 assault on the u.s. capitol. he is the latest from trump's inner circle to go before a house select committee. the panel's chair says miller spread false information about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election. the republican national committee has withdrawn from the

commission on presidential debates. today's vote was unanimous. rnc members charged the non-profit commission was biased. the change means gop candidates will appear only in debates sanctioned by the rnc. the international monetary fund warned today that the war in ukraine has worsened inflation and endangered global recovery. the agency's head, kristalina georgieva, said already, 143 countries have had their economic outlooks downgraded. she spoke in washington. >> in the past seven weeks, the world has experienced a second major crisis, a waon top of a pandemic. the threat to our collective prosperity from a breakdown in global cooperation cannot be overstated. amna: georgieva also said the war in ukraine is disrupting grain prices and threatening widespread hunger in developing nations. a new white house initiative aims to make government services more easily available for all

racial groups. more than 90 federal agencies offered action plans today. they include improved language access for non-native english speakers, and more aid for low-income households to save on energy bills, among other things. and on wall street, tech stocks took a hit and led the market lower. the dow jones industrial average lost 113 points to close at 34,451. the nasdaq fell 292 points, 2%. the s&p 500 slipped 54, 1%. still to come on the "newshour," protests erupt in michigan after a black man is killed by police during a traffic stop. florida and kentucky become the latest states to pass new laws restricting abortion access. schools struggle to accommodate the religious needs of muslim students during ramadan. 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. amna: with the rise of the ba.2 variant in some parts of the country, many questions remain about how to best navigate daily life. and what russians should or should not be taken. -- and what precautions should or should not be taken. to answer some of those for us, i'm joined by white house covid response coordinator dr. ashish jha. thank you for braving those rains to talk to us tonight. we know the cases have been taking up and the graph we are about to show people shows from october 2021 two today. we are nowhere near the omicron peak, we should point out, but there are a number of new cases, 3300 reported yesterday. what is fueling that uptick? is that the rolling back of the mask mandates? dr. jha: thanks for having me back. i think the major iue driving the increase in cases is ba.2. this subvariant is even more

contagious than the original omicron. we saw it with cases increase in europe and israel and elsewhere. i think that is a major reason we are seeing that happen in the u.s. now. amna: we know that at home testing is bng used more than it used to be, but often people do not use these results -- do not report these results. culd the ces be higher? dr. jha: absolutely. i am a huge fanf at-home tests, but it does lead to some undercounting. there are other ways we are monitoring what is going on, looking at wastewater data, looking at hospitalizations. there are other metrics we can use so we have a sense of how much infection there is in the community. amna: let me ask you about masking because there is some confusion about this. you have said very clearly, as have many officials, masks are an important tool to decrease spread. but the seed only requires -- the cdc only requires masking and high transmission areas. the vast majority of the country is green, low community spread. anyone who looks at t the map

and says, i'm fine not, i don't need to mask, what would you say? dr. jha: historically, we are at low infection levels. it is true they he gone up, but it is still low. hospitalizations are the lowest point in the pandemic. i don't think -- i think choosing not to mask up right now is reasonable. if you are in a high-risk setting, if you are a high-risk person, in those contexts, wearing a mask is always reasonable, and people may make that decision. i think the cdc is laying out a framework for how to lay it out for the broader public. amna: help us understand why the ma mandate is extended. if people where the masks on buses but then take them off, what is the impact that is having? dr. jha: the cbc decision to wait to make a more durable decision ivery reasonable, and here is why. ba.2 just became dominant over the last couple of weeks.

whether it is going to cause a larger increase and whether it is going to cause substantial increases in hospitalizations and deaths, we don't think so, but we don't know for sure. what scientists are saying is 15 more days would give us a lot more data on that. that will allow us to make a more data-driven, informed decision. it feels reasonable to me to take that 15 days and make a better decision. amna: to be clear, you don't know if ba.2 could lead to re hospitalizations, but youhink within the next couple of weeks, you will know that? dr. jha: we will have more information. once something becomes dominant, usually a week or 10 days later, you start getting a good sense of what is happening with hospitalizations. by two weeks, we will have a much clearer picture. amna: let me ask you about vaccines. pfizer is seeking approval for booster shots for younger kids but they have authorized the second shot for those who are

immunocompromised. there seems to be some debate about how necessary and effective that fourth shot really is. what do you say to that? dr. jha: the best data we have on the fourth shot is from israel. the data is quite clear. people over 60 who got a shot has reduced rates of infections, but also hospitalizations and deaths. i feel that based on the data, people over 60 who a for five months out of their third shot should get that second booster. i think that second booster will be protective. 50 to 59, the data is less clear. if your higher risk, it makes sense to me -- if you are higher risk, it makes sense to me. it is clear people really benefit from that second boter. amna: following the data with younger kids in particular, and following what we have seen across the country, there are very few younger children in

america who are fully vaccinated, in the group five to 11. it is still 28% of that population. they are back in school, masks are coming off. we have not seen huge outbreaks. you said you do not see a reason to be concerned. so what is their argument to make to parents that they should get their kids vaccinated in the first place, much less boosted? dr. jha: that is a great question. i have a 10-year-old and i got him vaccinated the first day he was eligible. the question is why, and it is really straightforward. because we know these vaccines are exceedingly safe. while infection numbers are low, they can rise again. they have been higher in the past. rejecting our kids against it with a very safe vaccine to me is a no-brainer. that is why i have been a very strong proponent of getting kids five and above vaccinated because the evidence is the benefit is substantial and the risks are very small. amna: to be clear, you are suggesting and recommending it based on a potential future variant, because we have nothing the uptick in hospitalizations so far, correct? dr. jha: i am saying that if

ki are vaccinated, they should be vaccinated against fires. we have not seen an uptick, but kids continue to get infected by this virus. some proportion of them still get hospitalized. if you have something safe and effective that can prevent that, i strongly recommend to parents that they get it. amna: we know cases are up. we have covered it the last for years. you have said clearly the more the virus moves, the more and greater the potential it could mutate, and we don't know what could happen next. how worried argue about another potentially more dangerous variant? dr. jha: we are two years into this pandemic. we have seen a new variant that has caused substantial disruptions about every six months. i remain worried about that, and the best way to prevent that obviously is to get as many people vaccinated and boosted in the united states, but also to vaccinate people globally. there is no question that if we

let this virus run rampant across the world, it is just risking more variants and those variants end up coming back to the united states. we need a globalstar energy and we need to -- we need a global strategy. amna: you have a huge portfolio now in running the white house covid response. what would you say at this point in the pandemic is the overall goal? is it to try to actually prevent spread or just to keep people out of the hospital? dr. jha: i think it is both. i think we should be doing things that are sensible, reasonable, to keep infection numbers low. should be encouraging people to get a test before they gather in large groups. we should encourage people if they are going into a hh-risk situation, you should think if you have symptoms. you should stay home. that said, we care about hospitalizations and deaths a lot, and that means getting people vaccinated, boosted, getting therapies that are widely available. i don't think we have to trade off between cases.

we can do both with different tools. amna: that is dr. ashish jha joining us from the white house. thank you. dr. jha: thank you. ♪ amna: today shanghai, china's largest city, reported 27,000 new covid cases. that is the highest single-day total reported anywhere in china, at any point during the pandemic. much of the city's 25 million people have been under strict guangzhou, with 15 million residents, is now closed to visitors. nick schifrin reports on china's zero covid policy that has pushed residents in shanghai to frustration and anger. [shouting in mandarin] nick: in one of the world's richest cities, residents scream, "give us food." last week they were so hungry, they ransacked a grocery store.

in this apartment complex, a woman screams, "we are starving to death." but police in hazmat suits enforce the rules by any means necessary. they take a woman who didn't want to test and separate her from her husband. just yesterday, a man tried to hide on his balcony. no match for authorities imposing one of the world's strictest lockdowns. [shouting in mandarin] nick: and after three weeks of containment, residents are willing to confront the communist state. the anger aimed both ways. a ci worker had to be restrained from attacking a resident who criticized him. today, as they do every day, residents lined up for mandatory tests. and some restrictions have been eased.

but much of this metropolis is still locked in silence. everywhere you turn, yellow barricades barricade apartment buildings. other buildings' front doors are taped, warning residents against going in or out. this is home for an american who asked us to keep him anonymous. >> initially it was, where can i buy an egg? and in the cy of shanghai, that's kind of crazy. most of the day is occupied with trying to secure food and water supplies, other essentials. there's a lot of rising frustration. there's also a lot of young people who are willing to step up and help. nick: the way he's helping, organizing bulk food and water purchases, designed to last a week. it's the only way to get around food shortages. >> people just want the basic needs met and they want, i think, basic respect. nick: beijing has worked to improve the access to food. but it rejects calls to ease lockdowns or allow the country to live with covid, which means residents still acutely fear getting sick from neighbors, or being quarantined.

>> we had learned that the infected person had gone through that stairwell. and we said, we can't go down. we don't have, you know, contamination suits. at any time, you could be taken from your place and put into indefinitely one of these quarantine centers. >> so, this is basically how my room looks like. 138 is my number. nick: this is a quarantine center. people who test positive are forced to live here communally. >> now we're going to walk into the bathroom area. nick: this was an exhibition center. now it's home to 4000 people. this was filmed by jane polubotko. she says she's the only foreigner. >> the facilities are not great. we don't actually -- we don't have a shower here, so it's been like 18 days without shower. the lights that you see here in my background, they are on, 24/7. they never turned them off. nick: you have any privacy? >> [lahter] no, no, no.

over there we have the main entrance where people come inside. nick: her past thr tests have been negative, but she still has no idea when she can leave. >> this uncertainty, lack of communication that just adds up on that, you know, collective anxiety, basically, what people are having here. it's not only me who feels frustratedangry, anxious. i really don't understand why we were forced to be here when we are actually not that dangerous for the society. nick: beijing defends its zero covid policy as saving lives. china claims only 13,000 covid deaths, as foreign ministry spokesman zhao lijian argued on tuesday. >> china's dynamic zero-covid policy and anti-epidemic protocols are based on science and expert opinions. they have effectively protected the life and health of chinese and foreign nationals living in china. nick: but it's also about political stability. >> that policy in china, you cannot justify that from a

public health perspective. nick: yanzhong huang is the council on foreign relations' seor fellow for global health. >> when the top leader himself, is personally invested in the policy, that policy u-turn could undermine his personal leadership and even cause him problems for regime legitimacy. nick: beijing is also worried about its health care system being overrun. but covid restrictions limit shanghai hospitals' ability to provide regular health care. and social media is full of videos of patients rejected care. pleas to health care workers ignored. and a desperate family for whom health care was kept out of reach. [shouting] nick: yesterday, a man yelled at visiting officials, there wasn't enough to eat. he was later detained. the restrictions in rich, educated shanghai threaten to create the very political instability officials are trying

to prevent, says university of toronto professor lynette ong. >> once people start questioning that, they would show some sort of resistance either overtly or covertly. and that in itself may actually evolve into another source of social unrest. nickbut authorities appear unmoved and continue heavy handed tactics. >> any sort of positive cases or death rate means that the officials have failed to perform their duties, and that would look very bad on their career. which is why you see all sorts of measures, counter intuitive, sometimes to the extent of being silly, being taken. nick: for polubotko, that means it's time to leave china after eight years, even if home is ukraine. she's from a city in the middle of the war. >> i only want to get out of here. i definitely cannot wait to go to ukraine. nick: for her, a warzone seems better than covid zero, with no

end in sight. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ amna: another unarmed black man has been shot and killed by police, this time in grand rapids, michigan. william brangham has the latest on this case, and the ongoing questions about police use of force. william: 26-year-old patrick lyoya, a congolese immigrant, was killed april 4 by a grand rapids police officer, after lyoya tried to run from a traffic stop. there was a struggle and, as this cell phone video of the incident shows, the officer, on top of lyoya, pulls his gun and shoots him in the head. no other weapons were found. last night, protests erupted in grand rapids after the release of the video. the officer has been put on paid leave, pending an investigation. today, at a press conference,

lyoya's father peter described his emotions. >> my life was patrick, my son. i was thinking that patrick would take my place. and to see that my son has been killed like an animal by this police officer, to see this video they show, i see that i have no life. i see my heart being broken. i am asking for justice. william: joining me now from grand rapids is bryce huffman. he's a reporter for the non-profit news organization bridge-detroit. and he's been covering the grand rapids area for years. bryce, thank you very much for being here. we understand that this officer has been put on paid leave. can you give us a little sense, what else is happening with this

investigation right now? bryce: right now, the michigan state police are investigating the incident. they are investigating whether or not the officer did anything wrong. obviously people who have seen the video will come to their own conclusion on that. but right now, the grand rapids police apartment are deferring a lot of questions to the michigan state police as the investigation is still ongoing. william: can you tell us a little more about patrick and the congolese community he lives in? bryce: grand rapids has a nice congolese community of about 7000 to 8000 people. most of them are refugees, so they came here fleeing violence in the democratic republic of congo, and that is exactly why lyoya's family came here to grand rapids in 2014. there is not a whole lot that is known about his personal life at this point. we know that heas a few brothers and a sister. we know that his family is here

and they a grieving, and we also know that now that he has passed, his family is preparing funeral arrangements as we speak. william: i understand you were at that press conference today. we her little bit from -- we heard a little bit from the father who is in a stunned sense of grief. do you have a sense from today what the family would like to see done? what are they asking for? bryce: they are asking for a couple of things. radley, they want justice. they want the police officer to be released. they want to understand the history of the officer who took their son from them. and they also want the police department to be held accountable for that. at the press conference, there were lots of reporters asking questions. one of the many things that a lot of us wanted to know is what does the family want to see done with the police department going forward? these are things that are still in the early stages, but they

want to see the police department eventually change to the point where nobody else has to lose their life like patrick did. william: you mentioned that the police have not been saying that much, but the video we seem, it does show that lyoya struggled and tried to get away, but there seems to be no edence that he was attacking the police officer in any way. what have the police said about this officer's actions? bryce: so far, they haven't really said much about the actions. they say it is regrettable, they say it was a tragic incident. but they have not come out and said the officer did something undeniably wrong, but they also haven't tried to justify the actions by saying he was defending himself or others. what we do know from the video is there was a bit of a struggle and during that struggle, the officer's body camera was turned off. the police chief here, police chief windstrom, believes it was

turned off because it was just being pushed during the struggle. but we still don't know a lead about the events that occurred on screen in the video. we don't know if the officer will be charged with anything. a lot of these things are still too early to say. william: you have been covering the grand rapids area for a very long time, and i understand this is not the first time the minority community there has felt like the police have treated them badly. bryce: in grand rapids in 2017, there was a traffic study done that found that black motorists are twice as likely to get pulled over than white motorists, even though at the time the black population was only about 14% of the city's population of around 200,000 residents. we also saw in 2017 where unarmed children were held at gunpoint and searched by officers.

there are other instances of unarmed children being mistreated by police. they occurred multiple times in a row and the police department had outside consulting firms come into try to help them remediate that problem, but as we can see by what happened to patrick, those efforts were not enough. william: i understand there is a protest going on. do you get the sense that will continue in the days ahead? bryce: there is a protest happening right now. i imagine much like in 2020 after george floyd was killed, there will be protests throughout the weekend most likely here in grand rapids, potentially well into next week or beyond, because this was an incident that happened here in grand rapids. but like we s -- or unlike we saw in 2020 where the protests got a little violent, the protests so far have been really peaceful, and the lyoya family want it to stay that way. they want their son to bureau numbered as a peaceful person

andot inspiring or inciting violence. wiiam: bryce huffman, thank you so mh for being here. bryce: tnks for having me. ♪ amna: this week, the united states authorized one of its largest arms packages yet for ukraine. the $800 million worth of weapons is designed to help ukraine in what's expected to be a large upcoming battle in eastern ukraine. the question of whether to arm ukraine is one tt has challenged american policy makers for years. ali rogin has a look back at how recent presidents have dealt with that question, and what lessons the biden administration learned from them. ali: as ukraine's eastern donbas region prepares for a renewed russian offensive, the u.s. announced another transfer of weapons to ukraine from its own reserves, this time including heavy weapons. >> they will be facing russian forces that are familiar with the territory in that part of

ukraine. ali: eight years ago, russia first invaded eastern ukraine, and the face of u.s. policy in ukraine was vice president joe biden. during the obama administration, biden made six visits to ukraine. but before the invasion, he was focused on anti-corruption reformdemocracy, and the so-called reset with russia. >> we're working, as you know, mr. president, to reset our relationship with russia. but i assure you and all ukrainian people that it will not come at ukraine's expense. ali: but then in 2014, putin invaded and annexed crimea, and started the brutal war in the donbas. the u.s. imposed targeted sanctions, pushed for a diplomatic solution, and provided nonlethal aid, like helmets, first aid kits, and radars to the ukrainians. but no lethal aid, like weapons and ammunition, despite president petro poroshenko's pleas to congress. >> please understand me correctly. blankets, night vision goggles are also important, but one

cannot win the war with blankets. ali: alina polyakova is the president and ceo of the center for european policy analysis, a washington-based think tank. >> the obama administration wasn't willing to go into the so-called lethal aid category because the fear was that there would be a provocation of russia to do something even more escalatory in ukraine. ali: the pentagon did start training ukrainian soldiers in 2015. in an exit interview with "the atlantic" magazine, mr. obama said ukraine "is going to be vulnerable to military domination by russia no matt what we do," and that "there's always going to be some ambiguity" on u.s. policy there. >> it is an honor to be with you. ali: donald trump brought a different sortf ambiguity. while he embraced putin, his administration arm ukraine, selling kyiv hundreds of javelin anti-tank missiles in 2018. [explosions] ali: the next year, ukraine was set to receive almost $400 million in military aid, including money for more

weapons. but trump blocked it, sparking the events that led to his first impeachment. in a july 2019 call, newly-elected president volodymyr zelensky said ukraine was "almost ready to buy more javelins." trump responded, "i would like you to do us a favor though," asking zelensky to investigate his presumed presidential challenger biden, and his son hunter, who'd had business in ukraine. trump and his aides defended the hold. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. ali: top officials said that was not true, like william taylor, who served as ambassador to ukraine under the previous three presidents. >> i and others sat in astonishment. in an instant, i realized that one of the key pillars of our strong support for ukraine was threatened. ali: the hold was lifted in september 2019, and ukraine received the funding. alina polyakova says policy-wise, ukraine benefited from the trump years. >> the trump administration signed off on these javelin anti-tank systems that the obama administration drew a red line on.

and the responserom russia was really not a peep. ali: the considerable washington fallout was mostly political. to defend trump, his lieutenants and allies made ukraine a scapegoat. >> would that money get to the right place, or would there be corruption in ukraine, and the money wouldn't flow to the mission that it was intended for? ali: once he returned to the white house in the top job, mr. biden continued providing lethal aid, announcing a new $60 million package during zelensky's first visit in september 2021, including more javelins. >> good to see you again. ali: as russia's military massed on ukraine's border, biden tried diplomacy. he held a virtual summitith putin in early december, and reportedly delayed providing another $200 million worth of military aid until the end of the month. dustin walker is a defense expert with the american enterprise institute, a conservative policy organization. >> what we saw in the run-up to the conflict in ukraine is the biden administration operating under the mistaken belief that

military power and diplomacy came at the expense of one another. ali: in month before the invasion, biden was highlighting the weapons already provided, and predicting how he thought war in ukraine would end. >> i've already shipped over $600 million worth of sophisticated equipment, defensive equipment to the ukrainians. the cost of going into ukraine in terms of physical loss of life for the russians, they'll be able to prevail over time, but it's going to be heavy. ali: in early february, the u.s. deployed troops to fortify nato's eastern front, and imposed sanctions in coordination with nato and the e.u. two days after the invasion began, biden approved a third weapons tranche, this time $350 million worth, including more javelins and stinger anti-aircraft systems. in total, biden has made seven -- has provided almost $3 billion in security assistance since the war began. >> ukraine needs weapons supplies. ali: just before wednesday's announcement of new weapons,

zelensky released a video, in english, with specific requests. some of the items, like artillery systems and armored personnel carriers, are now headed to ukine for the first time. others, likeets, are not. pentagon spokesman john kirby acknowledged that the list isn't everything ukraine wants. >> clearly it's curated. but it very much reflects what they need, and it's an outgrowth of actual, no-kidding discussions that we've had with ukraine. ali: the u.s. says the aid will get to ukraine quickly. but ukrainian officials say the decisions to send them are taking too long, as foreign minister dmytro kule told "newshour" special corspondent simon ostrovsky. >> in the end, we get everything. but the time between the initial question that we asked and the moment when we get it is wasted. ali: mr. biden is mindful of that criticism, says dustin walker. >> as the conduct of the war has continued, the biden administration has expanded its

willingness to do more. you are seeing that in terms of the pace and scope of weapons deliveri in ukraine. ali: today's american policy towards ukraine is much different than it was in 2014. its effectiveness is getting tested every day of this war. for the "pbs newshour," i'm ali rogin. ♪ amna: state legislatures across the country continue to pass new restrictive abortion laws. just today, florida's governor signed a 15-week abortion ban into law. that comes right after kentucky's new abortion bill was implemented, one that opponents say effectively shuts down all abortion access inhe state. john yang has more. john: kentucky's law took effect yesterday after the state's republican-controlled legislature overruled them a credit governor andy beshear's veto.

both the ac and planned parenthood asked a federal judge to block the new law, saying it violates the current super important limits on what states may do about abortion. shefali luthra is a health reporter for the 19th, the non-profit, online news organization focusing on the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. thanks so much f being with us. a lot of provisions in this bill. what are the most salient things, what does it do? >> this bill is 60 pages. it is absolutely a mammoth. it has gotten headlines for its 15 week ban on restrictions on medication abortion, new requirements for minors who want to receive abortions. but arguably the most aborted thing it has done is imposed all of these new regulations on how abortion clinics operate, requiring them to publish the names of all the medical providers who perform abortions, requiring them to register different processes with the state under programs that don't

yet exist. the restrictions are under programs that are not enforceable yet that the clinics have no choice but to stop performing abortions because they have no way to comply. john: the outpatient abortion providers in kentucky, they have had to stop. what is this doing to women in kentucky who want to terminate their pregnancies? shefali: there are no clinic-based options for abortions at. this point in kentucky there's planned parenthood and emw. hospitals perform some abortions, but it is a tiny fraction. maybe a dozen out of more than 3000 abortions every year. if you live in kentucky and you wa an abortion, your only option is to travel out of state. the next nearest places are indiana, maybe ohio, maybe tennessee, but those can be long and expensive journeys, and an abortion is already an expensive and unplanned expense. john: we saw the policies go

into effect in florida. governor desantis sied a ban on abortion. how do these things fit into what states are doing as we wait for the supreme word to hand down its abortion ruling before summer? shefali: what we are seeing is in particular republican leaders of states are trying a variety of approaches to try to restrict abortion as much as they think is feasible in their states. governor desantis of florida is particularly interesting because it seems that the appetite maybe is not there for a total ban. they suggest maybe a 15 week ban could be more palatable. a 15 week ban is what is being debated in front of the supreme are right now. both sides have a lot of issues with even that as a restriction right. a 15 week ban -- if you have lesser means or how to travel further to get an abortion, you may not make it in time. john: the kentucky law has no exemptions for rape or incest.

you talk about the palatability of cutoffs for these laws. what has been the reaction or the sense among the people in kentucky during this debate, during the veto, during the override of the veto? shefali: yesterday, it was such a powerful day, and you saw emotions running really high on the sides. many believe it is important and they were talking about it as if it could save lives. that is the argument they are making. then you heard democrats who talked -- one started crying, telling the story of a woman she met who had a pregnancy that she couldn't carry to term, that the fetus didn't have a working heartbeat, and she spoke about the impact it has on cases like these where you know you need an abortion and you can't get one. there were protesters outside the legislature chanting "bans off our bodies," and at one point the lawmakers had to ask each other to speak louder to be heard. john: all of these states trying

to take action ahead of the supreme court. tell us what, in kentucky in particular, what happens if the supreme court, this law is in effect for now, but if the supreme court were to end abortion rates, what happens then? shefali: kentucky like so many states has what is called a trigger lock, and that law is written so it would take effect if and when brophy very -- roe v. wade is overturned. it would ban all abortions in the state. we would go from what is currently a de facto absence of abortion to an actual and complete ban on the procedure. shefali, thank you very much. shefali: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: this month marks the holy month of ramadan, a time of fasting and prayer for muslims around the world.

but here in the united states, it can also bring challenges for students and parents trying to navigate both school and religious observance. "newshour"'s roby chavez has been reporting on this topic from new orleans and joins me now. it is good to see you. you have been talking to students and parents who are seeking some kind of accommodations from those schools. what are they asking for and what is the response they have been getting from school leaders? roby: parents have been involved in an email campaign, trying to get the louisiana department of education to issue some sort of guidance for practicing muslim students to have accommodations during ramadan. some of the things they are looking for, they would like to have some private space for students when they might have a few minutes of prayer or need to be away from other students when other students are eating. they want some flexibility in testing. they also would like some diversity training so that other students understand the cultural differences at the school.

at this point, the louisiana department of education and the superintendent has refused to issue a guidance to the state's schools, except to say that this is up to the districts on the district level. that has left a lot of problems r parents because what we end up seeing is that parents are having to ask for these accommodations at the classroom level. some parents may be getting those accommodations, others may not. when you leave it up in the air without specific guidance and taking a leadership role, alize lim patchwork of policy. in many cases , students are not getting those accommodations. amna: in places where those accommodations are not in place, what are you hearing from students and parents about the impact? tom: it is -- roby: it is tough on the students. when you are fasting, you are not eating or drinking any water from the time the sun comes up in the morning. that is particularly challenging for students in the classroom,

so it is very hard for them to concentrate. they cannot participate in physical activities because they might get exhaust, particularly in the louisiana heat. on the bigger picture, it is taking an emotional toll because these students have to balance their academics with their religion, and in some cases of the students and parents we talked to, students are either hiding that they are fasting or not participating in it at all. when compared to other faiths, it has been a struggle for muslim students and their families to fight her holiday oak -- to fight for holiday accommodations. students have had rosh hashanah, younger poor off since the 60's -- yom kapur off since the 1960's. but the major holiday of eid was just added in the last few years. keep in mind, religion by some statistics shows it is extremely important to young muslim

students. % of muslim parents send their children to public schools. amna: what about the rest of the country? what are some of the rules in place that schools have to abide by to make those kinds of accommodations? roby: we talked to the council for american islamic relations. they are one of the leading organizations that tracks these issues for the muslim community. what they tell us is this is still a problem across the country, although the numbers of students going to public schools is very hard to track. it is very hard to know how many are getting accommodations as well. what they do tell us, it is a problem and they say it is a work in progress and more work needs to be done. what they also say is what is happening here in the louisiana tracks what they see across the country. in areas that you have larger muslim populations, it is much easier for those students to get those accommodations. in rural areas, much like the louisiana where you don't have a large population, those

accommodations are much tougher to get, and that is exact what we are seeing on the ground. amna: that is robbie chavez reporting from new orleans. ♪ amna: how does a musical artist develop a unique style? there's talent, hard work, and also inspiration. at the age of 26, guitarist yasmin williams is combining those key ingredients to create a sound all her own. special correspondent tom casciato has this story for our arts and culture series "canvas." ♪ tom: at first listen, yasmin williams might seem just another great acoustic guitar picker. but keep your ears and eyes open, and you'll find that her approach is all her own.

[playing guitar] from "the new york times" to "rolling stone," from music sites pitchfork to paste, she's been hailed as what "the washington post" called "a new kind of guitar hero." maybe it's the piano-like hammer on the guitar strings. or maybe it's the microphone picking up her tap shoes. maybe it's the video of her riding a train through baltimore during a pandemic. or maybe it is her offhand stage presence. >> so like, okay, did that song sound happy or sad to you guys? happy? yeah? no. i was like, miserable when i wrote it. completely broken. tom: whatever the case, as yasmin williams' musical biography shows, you don't become a new kind of guitar hero by following an ordinary path. >> in my head, if someone were to look at me, they probably wouldn't expect me to make acoustic guitar music. tom: she was born to northern virginia parents who played young yasmin the sounds of r&b,

hip hop, smooth jazz, and the '70s brand of washington d.c. funk called go-go, none of which drove her toward early admiration for the acoustic guitar. >> i thought it was the lamest instrument. i thought it was super corny. i thought singer/songwriters played it, and they played four chords and sang about their dog or whatever. and that was it. [laughter] i didn't really think it could do anything substantial. tom: but beyond that, she had no models for the kind of solo acoustic guitar music she's now known for, a genre so often represented by white, male players. >> i definitely still wish that i had someone to look up to who was doing what i'm doing now, just to kind of be a guiding light. someone i can point to and be like, you know, that's really cool. i can do that. tom: as for guitar music, her first love was heavy metal, first encountered in, well, the video me guitar hero. >> guitar hero is an experience. you have a guitar shaped controller and it has five buttons that are different colors, and you have to push the

corresponding colored button that shows up on the screen. tom: like this fellow does in this youtube demo. >> red, yellow, blue tap. >> you have to tap really quickly. and i got good at that and i beat the game. once i got my real guitar, i wanted to, like, transfer the tapping skills onto a real guitar. and that's obviously a big part of my playing. tom: tapping on the guitar neck is just one of the percussive elements shemploys to create a unique style. >> so for those who don't know, this is called a kalimba. do you all know earth, wind and fire? tom: you've mentioned earth, wind and fire as an influence. >> yes, they are my favorite band. i first heard a kalimba from them. maurice white play a very long colombo solo. and i was a kid. i was maybe four or five. and i remember hearing like the

tone of his kalimba and just wondering, what is that? it is not a saxophone, it is not a guitar, it is not drums. what is that? ♪ tom: the kalimba is a southern african instrument with a wooden soundboard and steel keys. it's an unlikely accessory taped to the body of an acoustic guitar. but it makes sense once she's explained it. others of her inspirations are a bit harder to explain. one is jimi hendrix, you know him. the other is the godfather of go go, chuck brown. what do sounds like this have to do with her music? jimi hendrix and chuck brown. >> yeah. tom: hard to hear that. >> yeah. [laughter] you're not really going to hear much chuck brown. you're not going to hear many gogo beats in my music. but more i'm influenced by how a musician carries themselves or expresses themselves in their music.

for example, chuck brown, a go-go legend, is an influence on me because he basically changed the musical landscape of an entire region, washington, d.c., by himself. the same thing with jimi hendrix. he played the guitar masterfully. no one knew what he was doing. no one knew how he was doing. he didn't really care what critics had to say in terms of him playing "wrong." he played what he wanted to play. [playing guitar] tom: yasmin williams makes music without lyrics, but not without meaning. her latest album is called "urban driftwood." >> urban, meaning me. i come from an urban background. my family comes from an urban background. and that is really important to me. driftwood, i feel like the black community was treated like driftwood as such. like lots of people love our culture and love what we do, but they don't particularly treat us

with the respect that we desve a lot of the time. considering how significant our influence has been for centuries. and driftwood is, a lot of the times, seen as trash or something that's not really needed. even though it houses tons of marine life, it is very beautiful. tom: you say that when you were young, you didn't see somebody who looked like you playing solo acoustic guitar. do you ever think about how somebody now, who's a kid, is going to see yasmin williams and say, she looks like me? >> oh. that's enough to make me cry. i mean, i hope that happens. that'll be incredible. [laughter] that's just like, pffft. tom: you know, people are now watching -- >> give me a second. i'm actually crying. [laughter] [playing guitar] tom: for the "pbs newshour," i'm tom casciato.

amna: on the "newshour online, amid a rise in hate crimes targeting asian americans and pacific islanders, a new generation of activists is raising awareness and calling for more resources to stop the violence. you can read more at pbs.org/newshour. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening with analysis of the week's news with david brooks and jonathan capehart. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you and see you soon. >> 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 with a more flexible workforce by embracing innovation, by looking 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, nknow bodo,. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering plans to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits the. to learn more, visit consumer cellular.tv. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontline of social change worldwide. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ and friends of the "newshour." ♪ this program was made possle

by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

- i find it very rewarding to make bread. you know, it does take time, but it's really not complicated to do. and if you don't have the time toake a classic baguette, you could always make a delicious soda bread. this is the way i do mine. take about a pound of all-purpose flour, which is 3 good cups, and add salt, 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. remember, there is no yeast in there. and slowly add 1 1/2 cup of milk. mix with a thick, heavy, sturdy wooden spoon gently at first, and then quicker until it form into a solid mass. it may not be completely smooth, but don't overwork it. line a baking sheet with a parchment paper and oil it with a little bit of canola oil. now scrape the dough onto the oily sheet.