♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "wshour" tonight... the invasion intensifies -- missiles strike a western ukrainian city that, until now, has been a safe haven, while ukraine's president says russia's major military offensive in the east has begun. then... masking mandate -- a federal judge overturns the national requirement that passengers wear face coverings on airplanes and public transportation. and... a critical shortage -- medical ethics questions arise as foreign-born nurses increasingly fill the staffing gaps in american hospitals. >> the world health organization has been very concerned about poaching from poor countries because you're essentially using taxpayer money from those

countries to fund our health workforce. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour.” ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> it is the little things... th remdef wh is important. it is why fidelity dedicated advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan, a plan with tax sensitive investing strategies, planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that is the planning affected by fidelity. >> the rules of business are being reinvented with more flexible workforce, by embracing

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to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. judy: ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said tonight that the expected new phase russia's war on his nation appears to have begun. eastern ukraine is being targeted with airstrikes and heavy shelling, as moscow moves in more troops to press its campaign in the region. the besieged city of mariupol, in the southeast, continues to hold out against a punishing russian assault that has almost completely leveled the city. meantime, russian missiles claimed their first victims in the far-western city of lviv. that's where john yang begins our coverage. reporter: the people of largely-spared lviv awoke to an unfamiliar sight -- black smoke filling the sky, craters blown in the earth, and roofs smashed. ukrainian officials say several russian missiles struck targets and killed at least seven people, the first known deaths

in lviv of the war. >> i think it is not safe anywhere in ukraine. i hope it will be over soon. when five missiles hit today, i woke up because of the explosions. i was worried for people. reporter: the western city has been a way station for incoming supplies, and for civilians fleeing war to the east. but russia sent a message with this strike, said serhiy bufistov, who had fled from donetsk. >> when there is a war against the enemy, an insidious enemy, going on, unfortunately, there are no safe havens in ukraine. missiles are sent from all over. reporter: in eastern ukraine, kharkiv has been under a deadly and intensifying bombardment. a woman grieved her father, just another victim of moscow's assault. russia said it also launched mass overnight strikes on hundreds of military targets across ukraine. but a senior u.s. defense official said today russian forces continue to reinforce the east and south and are still moving into the donbas region,

as they attempt to close in on the capture of mariupol. after seven weeks of siege, this city is in ruins, facing the risk of full russian control. battered streets are littered with the dead, now a common sight for the more than 100,000 civilians still trapped. >> we came back to get our stuff. we left wearing just winter clothes andon't have anything else. reporter: irina and her nieces are taking anything they can from their home, now smashed and burned. they don't know where to go but are desperately trying to flee. last weekend, moscow claimed its forces were close to seizing the city and asked ukrainian troops to lay down arms. but there were no signs of surrender. this iron and steel works plant, to the east of mariupol, is one of the last pockets of ukrainian defense. >> russian forces are destroying mariupol, they want to wipe off the face of the earth othe places, and other cities in the donetsk and luhansk regions. we are doing everything to

ensure defense. reporter: n/a -- in a nighttime speech, president volodymyr zelenskyy appealed to world leaders for more weapons and new sanctions. but today president vladimir putin said russia's economy was invincible. >> we can now confidently say at such policy of sanctions toward russia has failed. reporter: russia's central bank chief gave a more negative assessment, and said that sanctions "will now begin to increasingly affect the real sectors of the economy." in the north in chernihiv, russian troops left a deadly legacy after their retreat. emgency workers remove explosive devices from the ground to prevent further harm. outside the city, only the skeleton of this community remains. charred military vehicles show evidence of that hasty russian retreat. and those who live there are left to pick up the pieces. for "the pbs newshour," i'm john yang.

judy: for more on the state of the war in ukraine, we tn to retired lieutenant general doug lute. he had a 35 year career in the my and served on the national security council staff during both the george w. bush and obama administrations. he was also u.s. ambassador to nato under president obama. and dmitri alperovitch, is co-founder of the silverado policy accelerator, a washington-based think tank. welcome back to both of you. dmitri, let me begin with you. the statement we are hearing late today that president linsky is saying the battle for the east has begun, that it is underway, what is the significance of that? dmitri: the ukrainians have been expecting this assault for some time now, ever since the russians withdrew from kyiv and northern parts of ukraine. they are expecting forces to be resupplied in the east and that is what we have seen. u.s. intelligence is reporting that 76 battalion groups from

russian military are in the east and south. we are seeing a massive artillery bombardment of the ukrainian positions and donbas. judy: given that is underway, what position are the ukrainians in to fight back? lt. gen. lute: judy, while this 300 mile front of the russian attack is more narrow than the attack two months ago. they have more concentrated forces. a 300 mile front still an enormous lay large and vulnerable front. while the russians have amassed forces there, this is the same russian army that was defeated in and around kyiv. you can't change the quality of the russian army in these last few weeks. you can be sure that president zelenskyy's army is also repositioning, and i think we can expect continued ukrainian attacks against the vulnerable

russian supply lines, a bit of a replay of the concept we saw north of kyiv. judy: dmitri, the russians, are they expecting the ukrainians to put up a fierce fight in the east? dmitri: no doubt. the ukrainians are in an entrenched position there. they've been fighting in the region since 2014. this will not be an easy fight and the russians are expecting at least 70,000 or more ukrainian forces fighting the assault there. judy: doug, let me turn back to what we've been talking about for several days, the city of mariupol, which the russians have all but wiped off the map with attacks on the city. we understand there is just a small holdout of ukrainian troops in the city. what does it look like right now? lt. gen. lute: it looks like the reports are probably correct,

that the russians have seized mariupol. but i draw edited -- a distinction between seizing it and controlling it. i think the russians are in for a continued, protracted fight around mariupol as they try to resupply forces inside the city. the ukrainians have not surrendered. they will shift to a new form of defense, which features attacks on the russian suppllines and sniping from every angle on the russian forces inside the city. judy: how long can they hold out? lt. gen. lute: i think indefinitely. the ukrainians are fighting for their homeland. they have every reason to continue to resist, and with leadership coming from president zelenskyy, i think that is what we should expect. judy: dmitri, why are the russians so determined to do every thing they can to capture mariupol? we've been hearing about the land bridge they want. explain the significance of that. dmitri: mariupol is important

for two reasons. one is the importance of the city to ukraine itself, it is one of the major port cities they have, the other is odessa, critical to the economy, to export goods and services. before the assault, there was a major industrial city and it has mostly been destroyed. to the russians this is imrtant because it stands in the way of the corridor they are trying to create between the don boss -- donbas region down to crimea, which is isolated from russia, connected only through a bridge the russians built the last few years. if the brooches loan up, they cannot supply -- if the bridge is a blown up, they cannot supply the area. judy: doug, what would you add to that? what does it mean to russia's ability to try to make headway, to have that land corridor? lt. gen. lute: i think as dmitri

said, it is very significant because it connects mainland russia to the crimean peninsula, which was seized illegally in 2014. it also gives the russians the potential to move from crimea westward toward the other big port city on the black sea, odessa, and eventually toward moldova, where russia has had troops for some years. there is the potential to regain momentum in the south. judy: to regain momentum, but i hear both of you saying the ukrainians are not ready to give up anytime soon. lt. gen. lute: exactly right. judy: dmitri, let me come back to you on something else you've been talking to our producer about today. that is reports from russia that there is now an open acknowledgment that there troops are exhausted their troops -- their troops are exhausted and they may be looking at a

national military mobilization. dmitri p:blems rusa is facing is while they have a lot of equipment despite the losses they have suffered, they have a lot of armored, planes, ammo they can still bring to the fight, but they don't have a lot of troops left. a lot of troops have been killed and wounded in ukraine. the strength of various tactical units has been degraded. they need a lot more manpower. the ukrainians have the reverse power, they have a lot of manpower because they mobilized everyone between 18 and 60, but they are having to ask the west for weapons and to help. for russia, to continue the fight beyond this region, it is an open question whether they can seize that, but the idea that they can go to odessa or kyiv is not possible without a nationwide mobilizatn, being able to bring hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops they can only get through a nationwide mobilization of

their country and the economy for total war. there are calls on russian television increasingly asking vladimir putin to put the country on a war footing. of course russia isn't even calling it a war yet, they call it a special military operation. that's what would be required for them to go to war on a larger scale. if they did that, it would be a troublesome sign. judy: that wouldake time, woulit not, to have troops called up and train them? not to mention get them into position? dmitri: this would not be a quick operation, you are right. one problem with mobilizing people, if they have never held a weapon before, it will take time before they can be useful to this fight. this is something they are preparing the population on the russian media to tell them this will be a long fight that will not end on may 9 as president putin wishes it would. judy: finally doug, the reports we are hearing and even acknowledgment at the pentagon that there is not an endless

supply of weapons that the u.s. and other nations have been supplying ukraine. how much of an issue is that? lt. gen. lute: it is beginning to be significant. we have sent thousands of javelin antitank systems and stinger anti-air force systems to ukrainians, and the ukrainians are fighting bravely with these, but they are having a big impact on our supply levels. these systems are not easily replenished. it will take years to replenish the stocks back to the prewar state. judy: that is something i know we will continue to be looking at and reporting on. for now, thank you so much to both of you. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines.

a federal judge in florida struck down a covid mask mandate for planes, buses and trains. in response, the biden administration says mask mandates will not be enforced while it decides how to respond to the judge's order. the ruling does allow operators to make their own decisions about mask requirements. several airlines have announced they will drop mandates, while in new york city, riders will have to continue to mask up on public transportation. we'll return to this, after the news summary. in china, shanghai reported seven deaths from covid-19, up from three reported on sunday. shanghai entered its third week of lockdowns, with mandatory citywide testing. meanwhile, chinese officials acknowledged the pandemic is hurting the economy. >> it is worth noting that since march, the world situation has become more complex. domestically the covid-19 epidemic continued to impact the economy. some factors exceeded our expectation, and that is why some major indicators pointed to slower growth.

stephanie: israeli forces intercepted a rocket fired from gaza today, the first in seven months. it marked a new escalation after days of growing violence. hours earlier, israeli troops shot and wounded two more palestinians in a village near jenin, in the occupied west bank. the israelis said the soldiers fired when palestinians threw rocks and explosive devices. back in this country, police in columbia, south carolina arrested a second person today in saturday's shootout that wounded nine people at a shopping mall. a separate incident in sth carolina wounded nine more people ear sunday. and, a manhunt continues in pittsburgh after two people were killed and eight wounded at a house party on saturday. federal authorities announced today they will not criminally charge a former chicago police officer for the 2014 shooting death of black teenager laquan mcdonald. jason van dyke was convicted of second degree murder and aggravated battery in 2018 in

chicago. he has since been released early from a nearly seven-year sentence. the u.s. attorney said the decision was made in consultation with the mcdonald family. migrant crossings along the u.s. southern border have hit the highest level in two decades. immigration officials today reported 221,000 encounters with migrants in march, up 34 percent from february. meanwhile, republicans and some democrats are urging president biden not to lift pandemic-era asylum restrictions. but the white house called today for congress to step up. >> there is no question, we have a broken immigration system. there's more we need to do. we've been saying that from the first day the president took office. and anyone who wants to work on that, democats, republicans, anyone, how we can put smarter security in place, how we can have an asylum processing system that works, we would love to do that. stephanie: for now, the asylum restrictions are due to lapse on may 23.

notice to all those who've been waiting till the last minute -- today is deadline day for filing federal tax returns. the internal revenue service expected tens of millions of last-minute filings. that's on top of the agency's biggest backlog ever. the irs blames insufficiant staffing, in part. its workforce has not increased in size since 1970. today also marked the first spring-time running of the boston marathon since 2019. officials canceled it in 2020, and staged it in the fall last year, due to covid-19. today, olympic champion peres jepchirchir of kenya won the women's title, marking 50 years of women competing. and evans chebet -- also of kenya -- took home first place for the men. and, the white house easter egg roll is back, after a two-year pandemic hiatus. on the cool and rainy south lawn, president and dr. biden welcomed 30,000 children and adults for the day-long festivities. the holiday tradition dates back to 1878.

still to come on the newshour, why the biden administration is reopening federal lands to drilling. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political news. a new poetry anthology addresses how the vaccine has changed lives during the global pandemic. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter kwok unk right -- walter cronkite school at asu university. judy: as we reported, the question of masking on public transportation hit a new snag today. william brangham has more on a federal judge's ruling to overturn the cdc's national mask mandate. william: that's right, judy. for a closer look at what this ruling means for travelers, and for the cdc's authority, we turn to lawrence gostin. he's a professor of global health law at georgtown

university, and has written several books on the topic. great to have you back. the judge in her ruling in this case noted masks can stop the spread of viruses, but she said the cdc's authority in this matter, that it overstepped its authority. what do you make of her argument? lawrence: thank you for having me, william. her argument makes very little sense to me. there are certainly areas where cdc's powers are questionable, like the housing eviction moratorium the supreme court struck down, but it is hard f me to think of a more classic case where the cdc is well within its legal and constitutional powers. at airports, preventing the international transmission of a dangerous infectious disease, i would say cdc is at the height

of its legal powers. if it cannot do this, i'm not sure what it could do to protect the public's health. william: as we reported, the cdc said given the ruling, the tsa and other ageies will not enforce the ruling anymore. people who want to wear masks can still wear masks. but on a public health level, the cdc had been debating whether or not to drop this requirement anyway before this ruling. we know cases are taking back up somewhat. what is your sense as to how much this will matter as far as full safe? lawrence: let's first talk about the current situation we are in. over the next couple of days, tens of thousands ngasoferseswi e there is chaos and confusion. the airlines don't know what to do, the airline staff don't know what to do.

there is likely to be more verbal abuse and physical violence. that is really concerning. i think there is a legitimate conversation about whether or not we should have masks on planes, the cdc said it needed another 15 days -- it is not a lot -- to evaluate whether the current spike in cases would lead to a spike in hospitalizations and deaths, as occurred in the u.k. that is a reasonable and prudent decision to take and i can't imagine why a federal judge would strike it down until the cdc had all of the facts and could make its decision on the basis of science. william: when we were talking earlier, you mentioned you were concerned about the longer-term impact this might have on the cdc's ability to protect the public. can you explain what troubles you hear? lawrence: it does.

throughout the pandemic, virtually every federal order t curb covid-19 has one time or another been blocked or struck down by the federal courts. we have become really partisan and the courts have kind of participated in this covid culture war where we are just sniping at one another rather than letting public health agencies do their work. i know a lot of people think the pandemic is coming to a close -- i don't think it is, but we are certainly coming into a different phase. i worry about the future. do we really want to handcuff the cdc and other public health agencies from protecting the public when the next health emergency hits, and it almost certainly will hit, they be soon. --maybe soon. we need strong and vibrant health action. william: if people are thinking

mask, don't mask, say yes, school say no -- for a concerned citizen, what guidance would you give them? lawrence: the guidance i would give them -- and it is something that saddens me from a public health perspective, because i have always seen a public health as a population-based decision by scientists, but now we are in a situation where individuals will have to prote themselves, particularly if they are vulnerable. if they are elderly, amino compromised, if you are a child and unable to be vaccinated. you may have to wear high-quality n95 or kn95 masks to protect yourself. it is very clear a large swath of american public policy has moved on. covid is still here and it will be here a very long time.

i hope we will come together as a nation, listen to science, trust public health agencies and let them guide us. william: always good to see you, thank you. ♪ judy: the biden administration is forging ahead with its plan to sell new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal land. the move comes as president biden seeks new ways to lower gas prices, but some environmental groups say he is breaking his campaign promise to end the nation's dependence on fossil fuels. stephanie sy has our report. stephanie: judy, these are the first fossil fuel leases to be offered on public land since biden took office. they cover 145,000 acres of government land across nine states. and the interior department will

raise the royalty rate oil and gas companies pay the federal government from 12.5% to 18.75%. joining us to discuss the implications, coral davenport. she covers energy and environmental policy for "the new york times." coral, thank you so much for joining "the newshour." in the grand scheme of nationwide oil and gas extraction, how much is 145,000 acres? could it substantially increase oil and gas production? and could it substantially shift the u.s. away from its goals to lower carbon emissions? cora in the grand scheme of things, 144,000 acres is a small portion of the manhundreds and hundreds of thousands of acres that the u.s. already has open for drilling on public lands. it's a very small portion. and it's t expected to make a difference in overall u.s. gasoline production or the price of gasoline. that said, one thing that

scientists are telling us right now about carbon emissions is that with the amount of carbon emissions now in the atmosphere, and the rate of global warming that we're experiencing globally, global economies really do need to put the brakes right now on any new oil, gas and coal production. if we want to avoid the most severe impacts of climate catastrophe. stephanie: and we know that a joe biden promised not to lease federal land out for oil and gas drilling when he was on the campaign trail in 2020. how is his administration justifying what appears to be a policy reversal, especially for those who voted for him based on his climate change promises? coral: yeah, that was one of candidate biden signature promises on the campaign trail. he said very explicitly, if i'm elected, there will be no new drilling, no new drilling or leasing on public lands.

he said that very clearly in public forums. and so soon after biden came into office, he announced publicly that there would be a pause on all new oil and gas leasing on public lands. soon after that, a federal judge essentially put a halt to that. it called an injunction and said that that pause was not legal. and so essentially, that put the ball back in the what the administration is saying is, look, we are compelled to comply with this federal injunction. this is not in keeping with what we want to do, but we have to go ahead and hold these leases because we've been told to do so by this federal court. on the other hand, climate activists are saying, look, there are plenty of ways that the administration can make a case, could use the environmental impacts of this leasing to go to court and say no, this really isn't in keeping with what we need to do. climate activists are furious. they're saying this is an absolute violation of that promise. and the administration really

doesn't need to go ahead with these leases, despite that legal injunction. stephanie: and you said that this is not likely to have any impact on people, especially working class people and people with lower incomes that are facing extremely high gas prices right now. as gas prices spiked following russia's invasion of ukraine, you know that biden pointed the finger at the industry for sitting on thousands of already approved drilling leases. so now he's opening up more leases but expecting the industry to pay more to the federal government to do that. i wonder how is the industry responding? tral: the industry is unhappyih cision. that went on friday is huge. right now, industry pays 12.5% on theirevenues for drilling on public lands. in opening up these leases, the administration is raising that 50% to 18.75% in total, that's a huge increase that could easily

amount to tens of billions more dollars in revenue. the industry is furious about it, but actually that's the first increase in those royalty rates that the oil industry has had to face in over a century. so they're very unhappy about it. but a lot of taxpayer advocacy groups say look, the oil industry has really been getting a really easy ride. they have been paying these royalty rates that were set in place, you know, over 100 years ago, they han't had an increase in what they've had to pay since the 1920s. so this increase in what they have to pay is really overdue. again, naturally the companies are quite unhappy. stephanie: so many players in this policy change. coral davenport covers energy and environmental policy for "the new york times." thank you so much for joining "the newshour." coral: great to be with you. ♪ judy: demand for nurses has

reached a historic high in the u.s. an already short supply significantly worsened during the pandemic. that's driven the recruitment of foreign-trained nurses to record levels. correspondent fred de sam lazaro traveled to north dakota to see the challenges both hospitals and nurses are facing. reporter: it is a long way to just about anywhere, even your neighbors ranch across the rolling prairies of western north dakota, where cows far outnumber people. the nearest town of elgin has no stoplights or fast food joints for its 543 residents, but to people's immense relief, it has a small hospital. >> our population is mainly older. reporter: we met charlie and enid at a coffee shop. >> when we need to get to the doctor quickly, it is really

good to have this facility here. >> we are 70 miles from bismarck , which is an hour drive. if you had a heart attack, you would not last. >> she is from the philippines and she will be a night charge nurse. reporter: at the jacobsen memorial hospital, the nursing director is a rarity. she was born and raised in this area. most of the 10 to 12 nurses working here come through a revolving door. temporary so-called travel nurses from across the u.s., and foreign ones on longer contracts. >> we've had a group of filipinos in the past, also a group of canyons. -- kenyans. they are here longer and you get to know them very well. >> hi. >> where were you before? >> the philippines. in my country.

>> we will be seeing tens of thousands of filipino nurses coming to the u.s. reporter: tgeor wngto university professor says the u.s. has long recruited nurses from the southeast asian country, or long-standing colonial ties helped create an american model of nursing education. pittman says the u.s. was facing a nursing shortage before the pandemic, due to an aging workforce and, paradoxically, good economic times where many nurses quit if spouses are gainfully employed. covid everything from the first period where there wasn't enough dpe and they felt betrayed by employers, to issues around taking care of their families. to just the exhaustion from witnessing so much death and suffering. reporter: the pandemic also

delayed this woman's arrival here, she was offered the job in 2016, visa processing, already backlogged, was pushed back further. with years of experience, the 35-year-old expects to adapt quickly to the american system, but she did admit to one fear early on. >> this is the first time i will be handling people from this country, and i don't know if they will accept me aced omy sk color. based on my experience, since i came, i don't feel any of that. reporter: during week one of a three year contract, she said she found people welcoming and ke t justntlifeer lpr fulpma, heheing at the mo'a car. when i get that, problem solved. >> until you start driving in

the wintertime. [sighs] reporter: the winter climate is one reason why nurses don't renew their obligation. the isolation is another. in dickinson, about 80 miles west, a nurse and wife arrived from manila with their one-year-old son. exhausted from the travel, unsure about the blast of cold air that greeted him. however, his employer, the 88 bed skilled nursing facility, offered a warm welcome on a busy first full day in dickinson. >> apartment shopping, i hope you are ready for this. reporter: roger had waited four years before -- since being offered the job for his visa to clear. ce played tour guide for the day as he got fingerprinted

at the police station, required for new iigrants. >> a recliner, sectional? reporter: as they browsed the furniture store. and most critically, they got to meet filipino colleagues at st. luke's, six of the seven nurses now on staff. >> if we can have any employee with their family, they are less likely to be lonely, you are more likely to be social and out and about, versus if your family is across the world. just having an adequate sized filipino population in our town is a good asset and resort -- and resource. reporter: counsttr qie osue luring away tt talents of poorer ones, and especially in sub-saharan africa and the caribbean, which don't graduate a lot of nurses and desperately need their services. >> the world health organization

has been very concerned about poaching from poor countries because you're essentially using taxpayer money from those countries to fund our health workforce. i would say at the policy level, however, at least in terms of congress, there has been very little interest in the issue. reporter: did you always want to work in america? >> yes. it is 13 years dream for me. reporter: you've been dreaming about this 13 years? >> yeah, since i passed my exams in the philippines. this has always been my dream. reporter: they say nurses get little respect in the philippines, a complaint echoed among american nursing groups, but back home it is also reflected in pay, which they say is about 1/10 of what they will learn here in north dakota. >> my role is to give my son a better life. i think being here secures him. reporter: you hear people say it

is not ethical for rich countries to take the best brains from poor countries. have you given that any thought? >> i think for me, i have spent 15 years already in the philippines, so the service i gave is enough. maybe it is my time to give to myself for a better life. reporter: how long that will be in north dakota remains to be seen. four more philippinnurses have been offered jobs at st. luke's and are awaiting visa approval. judy: a reminder, fred's reporting is in partnership with the under toldtories project with the university of st. thomas in minnesota. ♪ it is shaping up to be a busy

week in politics, as washington and the nation here up for midterm races. >> republican candidates are garnering key endorsements this prrethsi ay ntime tiel baridenel tout his climate accomplishments this week in honor of earth day, a move some hope could used a slump and poll numbers. i am joined by our politics monday duo to break this down. welcome back, good to see you both. let's dive in. president biden has been talking about what the administration has been doing on the climate front, we know it is a huge priority for them, that he is up against attaining energy market and trying to act on that. on friday they announced they will start resuming oil and gas leases on federal land. he took a lot of criticism from environmental groups. is this the president going back on his pledge? >> the white house would argue they are constrained by court

rulings and other things that are basically out of their hands , that this is not the way the president would like to be moving forward on this issue. but this is not the only way they are running into challenges. they also had a big environmental agenda that was part of the build back better legislation that has completely stalled out. they have faced other court challenges in effts to do this through regulatory means. the white house tried to get out ahead of all of this, it held a call with reporters that insisted there are many paths to meet our goals for climate emissions, and we will get there. >> they say they will still hit them? >> they say they will still hit them, they are insistent, but it almost seems like the insistence is stronger than the path. >> here is the thing, though, if you are a voter who backed biden because you wanted someone who

would act on the climate crisis but you don't like paying more for gas every day because of the war in ukraine and tightening energy market, do you excuse this? >> there is a famous political saying that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. the other way to say it is you campaign in poetry and you govern in reity. the reality is gas is a super expensive and it's not just impacting you fill up your gas tank, that the gas prices -- the prices of everything, anything that needs to be transported. it goes to a broader inflation message. it's not just if you're talking about environmental goals the president would like to hit. it's not just things like leasing he has gone ck on. but he was at an event was at last week in iowa, saying this blended ethanol, which has higher pollution, especially in the summer months, that will be ok, we will get a waiver for that, it should lower prices a

little bit. releasing more gas from the strategic petroleum reserve the reality is back in 2020, being able to do an energy policy that took us away from fossil fuels made a lot more sense. >> here is where we are right now with, in terms of his support. you have a key demographic, in particular younger voters, for whom climate is a very important issue. no group has soured more on president biden than generations he and millennials. it is down to 40% as of march 2022, a 20 point drop. is it just the economy? >> i sit in a lot of focus groups is voters, and one woman sums it up pretty well at the beginning of the month. she said what got me to vote in 2020, everything that was trump i was against. it is hard to get me motivated

when trump is not there. also, there are a lot of other problems i am worried about. almost everybody in the group talked about inflation, talked about their worries, everything from is covid going to come back to ukraine. there is a sense of anxiousness and worry about what is coming next that is impacting them. i think the other thing that is important to appreciate about these group -- this group of voters, comparing to the voters for barack obama, a lot of them were inspired to vote because of obama. they were inspired to vote because of donald trump. that is a very different -- trying to bring the back into the fold is much more difficult. >> he also mentioned, is covid coming back? it is a concern. >> what is the white house saying about this? >> they impart are saying there isn't an alternative right now. there isn't an opponent for the

president and democrats necessarily to compare themselves to. that will change and they argued even if we haven't achieved our goals, their policy aims at least are more aligned with these voters than what the white house sees as republican policy aims. we shall see whether that is enough to motivate midterm voters, because midterm voters are notoriously fickle and unmotivated, except for the ones that are super motivated, which tend to be hard-core partisans and older voters. >> we shall see is the key phrase. speaking of republicans, i want your takes on a new slate of endorsements from former president trump, a lot of people scratching their heads. he is jumping into what i would say are some messy republican primaries, backing folks like david purdue running for governor, dr. oz running for senate in pennsylvania, adam wax

all running for a seat in pennsylvania. what do you make from this list? >> these are candidates that are not clearly wing their primaries by any stretch. in some cases they are candidates that the republican establishment definitely would not get on board with because they don't know that they are necessarily winners. they are also very aligned with trump and trumpism and hislie that he won the election and that has value and currency to him. he likes people to have a certain celebrity field, which is how you get dr. oz, and to a lesser extent, jd vance. he wants -- once opposed trump and now supports him. it's all about trump and loyalty, whatever that loyalty is. >> he would like to be in the conversation and he's not in the conversation.

one thing that is important to appreciate, specially in places like ohio but even pennsylvania, all of the republican candidates ar touting their support for donald trump or how aligned they are with trump. i looked at all of the advertisements run since the beginning of the year until now, 24 million dollars of republican aligned ads, candidates or groups that support republican candidates have mentioned donald trump in advertising in a positive way. candidates saying i am a pro-trump conservative, or we will build the wall, or i will do as donald trump would do. no matter who wins these primaries in these states, they will be supportive of donald trump. we are not talking about anti-trump versus pro-trump. were looking at does his primary give enough juice to put some of the over-the-top? that's what the former president

certainly wants to see. i eorsed you, you went from the bottom of the poles to the top. but it doesn't tell us a lot about how these folks will be aligned ideologically or temperamentally once they get into congress. >> if they don'twin, -- if they don't win, it risks his political currency. >> i think we will be talking a lot more about this in the future. >> nice to see you guys. ♪ judy: living through this pandemic has been a shared experience but also a deeply personal one. it is a paradox highlighted in a newly published collection of poetry from people around the world. jeffrey brown reports from texas, in our arts and culture series. reporter: words of isolation.

>> let me close the distance, let me hold my grandmother's hand, and kiss the wrinkles on her knuckles. reporter: a wonder. >> you break the skin to heal the body, kill an illness to save the world, you are a contradiction and the solution. reporter: of gratitude. >> i watched the nurse and thanked her, and thanked her, and thanked her once more. reporter: poems from a new book, tled "dear vaccine: global voices speak to the pandemic." part of a collaboration of the wick poetry center at kent state university and the university of arizona poetry center. helping shape the project, poet naomi shihab nye. >> i thought of it instantly as, this will be a chorus of community voices, welcoming the next phase. and i think everybody was wistful and lonely for many voices mixed together at that point. d usavaeas,e.ccr in

take us seriously. we had plans, we were going places. reporter: nye created the template with her own poem directly addressing the vaccine itself. >> we liked our lives. maybe we didn't thank them enough. being able to cross streets with people we didn't know. reporter: author and editor of more than 30 books of poetry, she's the current young people's poet laureate, a role created by the poetry foundation. her work through the years as teacher and advocate for poetry has taken her around the world, bringing poetry into all kinds of settings. we met recently at the katherine anne porter literary center in kyle, texas, where nye teaches classes for texas state university. this was the longtime home of porter, a writer who so memorably captured the 1919 flu pandemic, most notably in her novel, “pale horse, pale rider”" nye says she knew the "dear ccine" project would resonate today.

you weren't surprised by the response.een working in community for my entire adult life. and i think >> which means, as a poet >> as a poet working with lots of people who aren't generally identifying as poets. i've seen this hunger for poetry everywhere i've ever gone. and by the way, i've never been to a place where it didn't happen. not one place. and that has always struck me as a miracle. reporter: indeed, people responded, some 2300 poems and counting. some writing as or just after they waited at vaccination centers. >> i just received my booster shot. reporter: all sending their poems to a digital gallery. >> hello, i'm dorothy beavington from british columbia, canada. i'm honored to be part of this global poetry project. this virus has separated us but this project is bringing us together. >> i'm not gonna lie, it's been a pretty depressing pandemic. reporter: a number, like kent,

ohio high school sophomore vivian blatnick, recording their thoughts and words on video. >> dear vaccine, restore us to each other, rescue us from this sea on which we are drowning. reporter: isaiah hunt of cleveland wrote of his close-knit, suddenly separated family. >> for my grandma, who i used to laugh ancry with over a bowl of oatmeal, for my little cousin always asking when the next family get-together would be, for my mom, afraid she might pass out in her kitchen and awake in a hospital. i stood in a long line with others, waiting for your pinch in my arm. reporter: ofelia zepeda of tucson used her native tohono o'odham language. >> [speaking native language] we meet you and shake your hand in greeting. reporter: nisreen yamany wrote

from saudi arabia. >> dear vaccine, we carried ourselves like precious fragile cargo: don't touch, don't come close. we had to erect barriers, become invisible, mask our faces, lose our smiles. reporter: what struck you about the themes that people wrote about? >> i thi the theme of detail, hunger for detail, how people really wanted to acknowledge the little tiny things that they had felt a longing for. that touched me a lot as a poet because i love detail. >> dear vaccine... reporter: some addressed the divisions the pandemic, including the vaccine, brought. >> some people are afraid of you, cannot bring themselves to trust you. reporter: or made a plea for more than physical health. >> vaccine, please, while you're at it, immunize us from our inclination to hurt each other. >> there's this sense of like a

yearbook of our time. to me, “dear vaccine” is a book which acknowledges what we've been through and also expresses profound gratitude. reporter: a hundred years ago, katherine anne porter was one of the few writers to address the pandemic directly. and the trauma of that time largely faded in cultural memory. the creators of “dear vaccine” hope this poetic chorus lives on. >> i do think we live in a time now where people feel, i hope, that sometimes to remember things is an important act of humanity, and hopefully it would guide our behaviors. reporter: with the book now published, people around the world continue to send their poetic responses to the pandemic to be posted to the website. for the pbsewshour, i am jeffrey brown kyle, texas. judy: amidst all of this division, something to bring us together. and that's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here

tomorrow evening. for all of us at "the pbs newshour thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit our website. >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at our website. ♪ supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at their website. and with the ongoing support of

these institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington in in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," julia makes bridget goan pork vindaloo, adam reveals our top pick for rice cookers, lisa reviews electric can openers, and dan makes julia chana masala. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."