>> good evening. on "the newshour" tonight, the invasion intensifies. russia claims victory in mariupol despite pockets of resistance from ukrainian forces, and stalled evacuations leave civilians caught in the crossfire. then covid confusion. the department of justice appeals a judge's ruling to strike down a mask mandate. and culture wars. florida's republican-led legislature revokes disney'tax status after the company opposes its lgbtq law.

all that and more on "the 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-sensitive investing strategies, planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that's the planning effect from fidelity. >> 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 i had to future ones -- ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know no bdo -- people who know know bdo.

>> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice through investments in leaders and advancement of ideas. carnegie corporation of new york -- supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and thadvancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. >> more american weapons will soon be on the wayo ukraine. president biden made that announcement today as cranium forces brace for a tough fight with russia's military across eastern ukraine -- as ukrainian forces brace for a tough fight with russia's military across eastern ukraine. the russian siege of mariupol continueand new evidence emerged of mass graves outside the nearly flattened city. >> after weeks of brutal battles in the besieged city of mariupol, today, moscow claimed victory. in a televised meeting of the kremlin, russia's defense minister formally declared the long cj success. >> the armed forces of the russian federation and the people's commission of the

people's donetsk republic have liberated the people. >> putin had an ultimatum -- surrender or die. >> i invite all those who have not yet laid down their arms to do so. >> mariupol's mayor, no longer in the city, responded to russia 's assertion of control. >> they a cnd iwaits,s, remains ukrainian today. so it does not matter what statements are made in russia. >> for the residents left behind -- for the 100,000 residents now behind russian lines, they say the world no longer welcomes the living, but the morgue except the dead. a senior u.s. official has

confirmed mariupol is still not under full russian control, but moscow's forces continue to move south into the donbass region with others expected to head north from crimea. today, the u.s. pledged another $800 million in arms for the fight in dundas, including howitzers, unmanned drones, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. as mr. biden announced a new package, he seed to address letter he put in. >> he is betting on the west to crack, but once again, we are going to prove him wrong. >> the international monetary fund says ukraine's economy requires five billion dollars a month just to function. in the areas once more under ukrainian control, reconstruction costs could be much higher and rebuilding shattered lives will require more than just money.

who wants to show us the 100 acres of land where he grows sunflowers as his team tries to repair their attractors after weeks of conflict. does it make you angry that you had russian tanks on your land? >> of course. of course. this is our land, and they came here to help us and tell us what to do. >> in the days, locals have continued to encounter unwelcome reminders of their presence. this is one of 10 in this single field. as farming communities like this one race to get crops into the soil, they are encountered problems they have never faced before -- they have encountered problems they have never faced before. this time, the crate is the only

collateral damage in the otherwise deadly conflict. do you blame the ukrainians over the russians for the damage to your field? >> the damage has been done by russians. if they had not come here, we would have been minding our own business and would not have had any problems. >> for the local economy to survive, planting season needs to start now, so the craters must be filled witfresh earth fast. in a nearby village, the recovery for many residents may not be nearly so rapid. the scars of this new war marking a memorial to the last world war. amid the rubble and destruction, signs of springtime renewal -- repaired powerlines lines and rising shoots. for 67-year-old olga, the road

to repair may be long. >> you can see the bullet holes everywhere, smashing up glass. >> he tells me to look at the fridge. it has been shot at. >> how long do you think it will take to build everything back? >> to rebuild everything, that is about 10 years of saving money to rebuild all of this. the roof has been broken. the fence is down, the car is gone. >> much of this destruction was wanton. the local school and church were burned to the ground. even local beehives smashed, but together, as a community, with money and materials, olga says the russian damage can be

restored. can you ever rebuild the village that has been here before? >> we will rebuild. we will be billed. i just wish they were gone and never come back here. our people will survive and rebuild. >> in the days other news, wind expected to intensify as firefighters battled a growing wildfire outside of flagstaff, arizona. it has forced more than 200 residents to evacuate their homes. the blaze has burned over 2000 acres. the world health organization said today that global covid-19 cases dropped by nearly a quarter last week. infections have declining around

the world since the end of march. we will talk with a white house covert response coordinator. the labor department reported the number of new jobless claims inched down last week to 184,000. that is down 2000 from the previous week. those weekly applications for unemployment aid have remained below pre-pandemic levels. the u.s. supreme court today upheld a law that allows congress to deny disability benefits to residents of puerto rico. the court said those supplemental income security payments for the disabled and elderly can be denied because residents of the u.s. territory don't all pay federal taxes. justice sonia sotomayor was the sole dissenting vote.

the case was sent back to a los angeles court to decide the matter based on california law. a federal judge has temporarily blocked kentucky's new abortion law that halted the procedure at the state's two remaining clinics. the measure passed by the state's controlled legislature banned abortion after 15 weeks of presidency. the federal aviation administration is reviewing a communication breakdown after a parachute stunt caused panic at the u.s. capitol last night. the failure to notify capitol police about an airplane carrying golden knights to the washington nationals baseball stadium prompted warnings of big possible that embry evacuation -- of a possible threat and a brief evacuation.

they she had in a muslim mosque has killed 11 people and wounded 40 others. the islamic state or isis claimed responsibility for the attack, which cos during the holy month of robin. -- of ramadan. >> the incident that occurred at the mosque was heartbreaking. i was at the market and arrived as fast as i could. >> the mosque explosion was one of a series of attacks across islamabad today. a second last lead to at least 11 more casualties. violence escalated as palestinians fired rockets into israel overnight while israeli aircraft -- palestinians threw rocks and molotov cocktails. tensions boiled over as muslim

and jewish visitors visited the holy site for ramadan and passover. cnn's new streaming service is shutting down just a month after it launched. its new parent company said it will cease operations on april 30. the network invested millions into the venture to compete with other subscription-based streaming services and attract big -- a younger generation of news consumers. in economic news, long-term mortgage rates in the u.s. have soared to their highest levels in more than a decade. freddie mac reported the average

rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to five on percent this week from 5% last week and stocks fell sharply on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average lost 368 points to close at 34,793. the naaq fell 278 points. the s&p 500 dropped 66. still t come, democratic and republican pollsters discuss what to expect from the upcoming election season. the white house releases a new national strategy to combat the ongoing opioid addiction crisis, and activists -- and an activist gives her brief spectacular take on asian american representation in media. plus, much more. >> this is "the pbs newshour" wn and in the west from walter cronkite school of journalism at

arizona state university. >> the cdc says it still recommends masking. the department of justice yesterday appealed a judge's decision. the judge that struck down the mandate said the cdc was exceeding its authority. as we mentioned, the doj is appealing, but if the government loses that appeal, doesn't that shut down the cdc's public health authority and options in the future? in your view, is that a risk worth taking? >> i think there are a couple of points worth mentioning. first, decisions like how we protect the american people should be decided by public health scientists and not public health agencies -- and by public health agencies and not by judges. their lawyers felt very clearly that the cdc had acted within its powers, and that's why they

appealed. the administration and legal experts around the country are confident that the cdc was acting lawfully and that eventually, the cdc will win this case. >> from a public health perspective, if you don't win, doesn't that limit the cdc's authority in the future? >> there's no question it is absolutely essential the cdc have this ability, if for this crisis or for future health autr decades, and it is essential that we continue that. that's one of the reasons why the department of justice filed this appeal -- to preserve that authority. >> i want to clarify a couple of points because i think people are unclear about wherehey could still be required to wear a mask. in philadelphia reemcould businr example?

>> my understanding is private businesses can require it. certainly, we are seeing certain cities require it on mass transit. cdc recommends that on all public transportation, people should continue masking up, but we are seeing different cities, different communities implement that differently in terms of requirements. >> about the increase of cases and hospitalizations we have seen in new york, they are rising quickly. hospitalizations are up 35% over a two-week period. we have seen new york before be sort of a leading indicator. do you see that -- do you worry what could come other places? >> this is one of the reasons cdc scientists thought it was important to wait a few more days before they made a more durable decision about what to dohta wteare itseeing increases

in infection. we are starting to see increases in hospitalization. good news -- nothing like the omicron wave of january, but it clearly bears watching and close analysis. >> it does feel like a matter oe saying before you get it. i hear a lot of questions about long covid and how much we do not know. if you go to the cdc website, there is a very long and unhelpfully exhaustive list of symptoms, things like fatigue and headache and joint pain. the big question is -- two years in, why don't we know more about lung covid? >> that is a very important question about long covid. we just are the president authorize a new set of work the white house will be doing. we think this is an important area. there's important questions we don't know the answers for. to what extent do vaccines protect against long covid? to what extent can we use therapies? and you are right, there are a

broad set of symptoms. some people have some of them, some have all of them, so we have to learn more. nih has gotten involved and started to create cohorts of people they are going to track. i suspect we will learn more in the months and years ahead. there's no time like now to get going on studying this condition . >> another concern being raised by a number of doctors is about the racial disparities that have played out throughout the pandemic carrying over into long covid. we already know black americans have suffered higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. there's doctors raising concerns that black americans do not have the same access to treatment that are available. what is the administration doing about that? >> one of the things this pandemic has taught us is when you have a health crisis like this, long-standing systemic inequities in our society are exacerbated. they are identified, they are exacerbated.

we've got to work on long-standing systemic in equities and make real progress, but we also have to really track these things carefully, so one of the things we are doing on vaccinations, on therapies, we are looking at who is getting them, who is not, what are the barriers, and how do we break down those barriers? it is absolutely essential that we are making sure that every american is getting them and that these things are being used equitably across the country. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> well, the walt disney company is more than a giant corporation. to many, it has long been synonymous with family entertainment. it is now caught up in a much larger battle in florida, tied

to the country's cultural and political divide, prompted by the governor's stance on lgbtq issues. the state's republican-led legislature struck back today. >> all is not well in the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth. florida's republican-controlled house gave final legislative approval to measure revoking the special tax district that has allowed disney to self govern its land. governor ron desantis has led the push against the california-based entertainment giant. >> this state is governed by the interest of the people of the state of florida. it is not based on the demands of california corporate executives. >> i pledge allegiance -- >> democrats in the legislature call it a lyrical theater, part of the culture war surrounding the state's recent lgbtq --

anti-lgbtq laws. >> this is an action in a political stunt whichs shortsighted and not well thought out. >> the special disney self-governing area was created in 1967 just before construction began. it exempts disney from certain taxes, fees, and regations, minimizing state oversht. the move to revoke the district was triggered by disney's opposition to a law. the company said it would cease political donations in loader, pledging, "our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts." desantis, a possible presidential 2020 candidate, has slammed disney and is expected to quickly sign the bill.

the walt disney company has not yet commented on today's legislation. we are joined by the author of "the gospel according to disney: faith, trust, and pixie dust." thank you for being with us. you cover both orlando, which is the home to disney world, and orange county which is the home of disneyland, two places where the disney company have a lot of influence, and a lot of interest. how big a battle does disney find itself in now with the governor of florida? >> i think the battle is much greater than they thought at the outset. i think the disney chairman try to finesse the issue when it happened and had to vote among employees and changed course. the governor's -- but governor desantis is not used are being opposed, so he snapped back in a greater and quicker reaction than anyone expected. >> disney is no stranger to controversy. your book is about a fight they

had in the 1990's when they were challenged by christian conservatives when they announced that employees would get same-sex benefits. how does this compare? >> it is the same issue, the same dispute, the same rupture between corporate culture in her bank and the political atmosphere in orlando and much of the sunbelt. at the beginning, it looked like the southern baptist boycott in the 1990's -- it looked like they had a really strong hand. they represented 16 million worshipers, mostly in thesu but when it played out, it turned out that the southern baptists and other evangelicals could not deliver their constituency to support the boycott, so it slowly fizzled. in that case, from the beginning, disney executives in burbank would not give one inch. they did not buckle under and would not even give them an olive branch when the boycott

failed. >> in the 1960's and 1970's, disney was criticized for being too conservative, being slow to embrace diversity. now they are accused of being woke by conservatives in florida. talk about how disney has navigated the political shoals over the years. >> disney has never been a cultural leader, but they have been sensitive to changes within the culture. foer since walt died and his hes sort of left leadership of the company, when michael eisner and jeffrey katzenberg took over, there has been a steady elevation of the portrayal of american values in disney content -- books, movies, corporate policy. they have been raised -- they have embraced diversity. they have embraced various things, and i think that is an irrevocable change disney has made. >> how big a deal is losing this

or would losing this special district be for the disney company? >> no one is exactly sure. i think disney can accommodate itself to whatever is there, but i think the resistance is more likely to come from central florida, from business leaders who are afraid of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. i think they would like a more gradual change if there is any change at all, but my suspicion is getting rid of these special privileges is going to be a lot more difficult in practice it -- in practice than it is in the rhetoric of the governor. it seems uneven, that the governor seems to have all the power. he has the legislature under his control. he has a certain constituency, a trump based he is reaching out to, but i have to say, governors may come and governors may go. presidents may come and presidents may go, but in this

economy, corporations tend to endure and in the end, pvail. >> thank youery much. >> thank you for having me. >> we are just 201 days away from the midterm election that will determine which party controls the u.s. congress for the next two years. the process of deciding who will be on the ballot kicks into high gear in just a matter of weeks with primary battles in several key states. for a look at what is ahead, we turn now to two party insiders. the campaign manager for bernie sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, and a republican strategist and cofounder of public opinion strategies, a pollster for many republican candidates. welcome to you both. thanks for being here.

something that has been making headlines recently, where president biden's approval ratings are. i want to ask you what they mean for other candidates. when you look at some of these approval ratings among key groups, since biden took office toarch 2022, we have seen some big drops. he is down 10 points overall, among people of color, 12 points. among young americans, down 17 points. down 10 points with independents . how does he get those numbers back up, and if he cannot, how concerned should democratic candidates be? click has been dealt a series of tough cards, and the legislative agenda has been stalemated, and he has some policy crises to deal with. the struggle for him is that for some of these young people who have gotten involved in politics, they had some high ambitions of what could get done, and obviously, some of those things are not going to

happen, but they still want to see a president who is fighting for them, who is animating the fight and as aggressive as possible, and i think that is where in some ways people are getting depressed in that is the president going to that for the middle class, taking on corporate power where they stand in his way. they have not wanted to engage in the heated battles that sometimes are required. sometimes you do have to pick a fight and show you really are animated fighting for working-class people. cliff the white house says there's time before the midterms to show people we are doing the work, especially on the economy, which we know is a top issue for democrats and republicans. if people feel better about the economy, is that a tougher argument for republicans? >> that's a very unlikely

scenario. the last time a sitting president did not get spanked in the dterm election was 2002, and that was largely because of 9/11 in 2001. it is too late for the white house to turn things around in time for the midterm election. every time, we hear the same thing -- we've got time, we can turn it around. but it never gets turned around. what happens in 2022 is not a predictor of 2024. barack obama was reelected in 2012 after getting spanked in 2020 -- 2010 and that's a pretty good indicator. independents are who decide elections, especially wave

elections. when there was a wave election voting against donald trump, independents went double digits. i understand what my counterpart is saying about disaffected democratic base progressives, but the real problem democrats have is they have lost the trust of independent voters, and they are not going to get it back between now and november. >> let me ask you about november. if history is a guide, it will likely be good for republicans. they need a net gain of five seats to win back control of the house, but let's listen to what tom emmer said about predictions back in january. >> we are going to make sure that we work hard over the next nine to 10 months and make that a reality. if we do our job, i believe we will have a republican majority in the senate again as well. >> do you agree with that --

both chambers are up for grabs? >> i think the house is all but a done deal. people still have to vote, but that is highly likely. i think the senate is likely, but there is certainly an easier path for democrats to retain control of the senate than there is for them to retain control of the house. even though the senate is 50/50, the landscape is not as promising for republicans as it will be, for example, in 2024. i think it is more likely than not that republicans take control of the senate, but i'm not quite as wildly optimistic as i am about the house. >> do you agree? >> the question is just how much turnout the democrats get. if we can increase turnout, we can mitigate some of the things glenn was talking about. my view would be right now, elections are about choices, and you have to make clear, what is

the choice? what is on the republican agenda? right now, most republicans are running on no agenda. rick scott wants tcut social security, cut medicare, increased taxes on working americans. it is one that is completely not responsive to what we see in america. those arguments would have resonance with independent voters, with young voters, but we do have to crystallize those choices. otherwise, it just becomes a referendum on biden, as he was talking about. >> we have already seen some candidates making some difference -- distance between

themselves and the president, particularly when it comes to immigration. are we going to see more of that? >> it is natural that in each of these races that each of the candidates can try to distinguish themselves, and part of the way is sometimes to say, here is where i'm different from the head of the party. in my mind, that is appropriate. the things that have failed, the democrats have not yet gotten across the finish line, are incredibly popular and others stood in the way, and that would have been cutting prescription drug prices. talking about raising the minimum wage to a living wage -- those are popular items, and i think it makes the case that that agenda still can move forward. the president would say basically he had 95% plus of the

democratic party but not 100%, so let's give him more support. i think those issues still play very well for us and should be talked about. >> you are giving a couple of months of advice to a republican candidate out there who is in a crowded primary. what do you tell them? >> crowded primaries are pretty much a crapshoot. it is a roll of the dice. you have to get your favorables up, and you have to create a little bit of space between yourself and your opponents because -- and by the way, one of the reasons that republican primaries are so crowded this year is people see and a lot of opportunities. when things are bad like in 2018 , you don't get that many candidates running, but now they look and see this is a very good year to win. candidates are not stupid.

even if you disagree with some of the things they say and a lot of the things they say, they know what a good year looks like and what a bad year looks like. >> just over 200 days to go until those midterm elections. a lot of primaries before then. thank you so much for your time. returning to our lead story tonight, russian forces have killed civilians across ukraine, sparking mobile outrage and accusations that russia is committing war crimes, even genocide. the barbarity is evident in the key suburb of bucha, which was liberated three weeks ago. just a warning, some images in

this report are disturbing. >> the cemetery in bucha. bodies are brought here one after the other. some dug out of a mass grave to be buried a second time. others collected from the street found where they lay after russian forces retreated from this area at the end of march. so far, 350 eight bodies, mostly civilian, have recovered in this small suburb of the capital kyiv, which has been -- become synonymous with the russian campaign. >> damn the occupants. may every single one of them die. make their disgusting country cease to exist. animals. >> he had only one day left

until his 57th birthday and the liberation of bucha. >> the last time she saw him, he dug tito's out of his garden and took them to his neighbors, a final act of kindness that would result in his brutal murder. >> they question him about something. then they led him away to an unknown location. no one saw him aftertth smasheda heavy, blunt object. >> just about a mile away, next to a cathedral, ukrainian investigators continue to painstakingly exhume the mass burial site that was created by locals who did what they could to collect bodies from the streets whilehe russians were still here. each one is backed before being taken to a morgue for identification to establish cause of death. close to 120 work temporarily interred here. the mayor said one of five citizens who remained in the city died during the russian occupation of the town.

the city's chief prosecutor told us investigators want to establish the names of specific soldiers who were behind the killings and find out who gave the orders to target civilians. >> the evidence shows that people were simply shot for being local residents and ukrainians. the russian military did not care if they spoke in russian or ukrainian. russian troops and their armored personnel carrier shot up a vehicle with a mother and two children while they were trying to escape. the car caught on fire, and the mother and two children were burned. we are gathering evidence that points to genocide, but for the moment, i can say confidently that the russian troops specifically located in bucha

were specifically killing local residents. >> as far as i'm aware, what they want to achieve is to make sure that the links, if they exist, are drawn right up to the top. leadership and political leadership of russia, i.e. putin , so what is needed to -- what is needed is to investigate what is happening on the ground but also to show the links upwards. >> that's because genocide, which is often though of a a crime of mass killing, is actually defined by proving the intent to destroy a group such as a nation or ethnicity. >> i have seen massive attacks on civilians, which, according to witnesses, is also matched by massive attacks on civilians in

the 1970's. much of that does not seem to be connected to military targets. i have seen basements which appear to show signs of people being detained and tortured there. i have seen mass graves, which seem to suggest that scores, if not hundreds of civilians have been killed and buried, again without any of the us military connection. these speak to me as patterns which he ordinarily would see in crimes against humanity. i think in bucha, what we sees even a movement from crimes against humanity to perhaps genocide. >> a car, and armored vehicle, and to the people out of the brush, civilians. >> unverified radio intercepts

of russian troops could be an early indicator that orders were given to target civilians. >> [beep] lay waste to them all, for [beep] sake. >> if there areilia, e th adid you get that? >> copy. >> various law enforcement agencies are working to collect evidence, telephone communications confirming everything. all the taft calls using other investigative methods like evidence the orders were given. what kind of things were they saying? >> regarding the killing of civilians, everyone should everything. kill everyone you see. many of the shot up cars have

signs that say "children" on them. this did not seem to stop the russian soldiers. >> investigators have also started to piece together a picture of which russian units were occupation -- were operating in the area. they are the 64th motorized rifles from russia's far east. the 155th marines brigade and a yet unidentified unit of russia's national guard. aside from the widespread and seemingly random killings of civilians in bucha, "newshour" has also witnessed the targeting of military -- men of military age for questioning and execution. volunteers backed bodies of a group of eight men at an apparent kill site behind an office building. >> we have come back here because we were quite rushed when we arrived on the first day, and we want to see if there are any clues as to who the

russians were who were using this building as their base to see if we can try to link them to these killings. >> two of the bodies have their hands tied behind their backs, indicating they were restrained prior to their deaths. all of the men were shot directly in the head or chest, suggesting execution. other journalists discovered similar sites in other parts of the city. we spoke with a resident who lives in a house across the street. he did not want us to use his last name. >> i saw two bodies. >> he told us russian soldiers rounded up over 100 residents from around the neighborhood and forced them to stand for hours in front of the building before ordering them into a bomb shelter below. some were separated. >> there were three people dressed down to their pants in front of the front door, closer to the road. their torsos work bear and they were on their knees.

i was told they were shot to death on march 6. >> it seems only a matter of time before suspects in the war crimes investigation are named, but if justice is ultimately served to the hundreds of victims and their families will depend on the course of the war in ukraine, which is far from over. >> "the newshour's" coverage of the war in ukraine is supported in partnership with the policy center. while the country is still wrestling with the cid-19 pandemic, deaths from drug overdoses have been spiking and are expected to top 100,000 for 2021. the white house wrist -- today the whituse released its plan to address the crisis.

>> the administration is promoting what is known as harm reduction, which is a suite of practices to make drug use safer and less deadly. it wants to expand access to needle exchanges, the overdose reversal drug naloxone, and to fentanyl test strips so people know what they are actually consuming. the plan also calls for expanded drug treatment and cracking down on drug trafficking. will this make an actual dent in the crisis? to help explain that, i'm joined by a doctor who studies opioid policy at the heller school at brandeis university. great to have you back. the administration is now very publicly saying, we are getting behind harm reduction as a strategy. do those practices work, and does this plan do enough to implement those strategies? >> harm reduction approaches do work, and making clean syringes

available is a proven use to reduce injection-related infectious diseases. it is a positive, important public health intervention. making naloxone for reversing an opioid overdose more available when opioid overdose has become the leading cause accidental death in the united states is also something that makes sense. it is really a no-brainer. we should make sure that naloxone i available just about anywhere that people can potentially overdose from an opioid, but will these approaches make a significant dent in the dramatic increase they have seen in overdose deaths? i don't think so. i think they will help. d hoult,onalox butll toe wi really see deaths start to come down, there are other approaches we should be moving further on. >> such as? >> such as making treatment much

more easily available. the vast majority of deaths are occurring in people who are opioid addicted. not all of the deaths. we have seen a sharp increase in young, recreational drug users because the supply is so dangerous. young people who might not be addicted are dying of overdoses, and those deaths are significant and increasing, but the vast majority of deaths occurred in people with opioid addiction, which is a preventable, treatable condition, and we need to be doing more to both prevent and treat it. if we want to see deaths start to come down significantly in the short run, people who are opioid addicted need access to active treatment, and that treatment has to be easy to obtain and essentially free. it has to be easier to get treatment, particularly with a particular medicine, than it is to find a bag of heroin or

fentanyl. >> do we have enough practitioners to stem this crisis? the administration says they wanted double treat -- they want to double treatment admissions in just a few years. even if that was possible, do we ha enough to man those beds and treat all those people? >> we may have enough beds. there ara lot of reh beds in the united states, but rehab is not really what we need. we need outpatient treatment programs where somebody can walk right in and that same day get started with effective treatment. we really need to build a system that does not exist yet. >> i want to ask about the criticism. conservatives often say they think about this as enabling drug use. what do you make of those arguments? >> it is not an either/or, and i think conservatives, if they

take a close look at the harm reduction interventions that are being put forward, like making naloxone more available to prevent and overdose, making clean syringes available to prevent injection-related infectious diseases, i think most conservatives will read these are important interventions. we should, though, also be thinking about trying to keep fentanyl from coming into the country. intervention efforts do make sense. there is a role for law enforcement, but the law enforcement efforts only really work if you are also making treatment much easier for people to get. what you need to do is everything we can so that roin and fentanyl is made more expensive on the black market, harder to obtain, and treatment is essentially free and easy to get, and if you can do that, if you can make it harder for people to keep using and easier for people to access effective treatment, more people will seek treatment. i think there are many who are

under the impression that heroin users are choosing an alternative lifestyle or maybe enjoying their drug use. they are not. their quality of life is very poor. these are individuals who are suffering and genuinely want treatment. it is just that the treatment has been too difficult t access. >> always good to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the executive director at the coalition of asian-pacific stunts entertainment has long been a champion for asian representation both on and off the screen. tonight, as part of our arts and culture series, she shares her brief but spectacular take on changing the world through stories. >> i think what is so powerful

about media is that it touches everybody, and it is one of the most pervasive and quickest ways to change perception, which in turn changes reality. growing up as a japanese-american in honolulu, hawaii, i really did not think very much about race at all, to be honest. it really was not until i came to california for college that i started to learn more about it. 80% of media consumed worldwide is produced and created in america, so that means hollywood has a profound responsibility. one of the problems with the stereotypes is at people eventually become flattened. they are only seen as that stereotype. if it's the stereotype of the

model minority, which is the stereotype of asian americans being smart, hard-working, nerdy, the other stereotype we face is that of the perpetual foreigner. the problem with the stereotype is when it is used to make the character the but of the joke. the more we have those types of characters, it becomes easier to harm people. it dehumanizes people so that it is easier to hurt them because you do not see them as fully human. it is really important to be conscious about the media you are consuming, and also, it is about celebrating and pushing the envelope for more stories, different stories. i would love to see more stories about asian joy and stories about asian love and hot asian american men. like, there are so many other stories that have yet to be told that are starting to get told

now. i believe that narrative and stories can change the world. we started with writers because representation starts on the page. five yeawe looked at the other end of the, go a spectrumh is executives because inclusion starts with gatekeepers. the final piece is to promote and celebrate the gains we have made. everything we do is very strategic. we look at where we can push the levers the most. it is really important for asian americans to be in the rooms where the decisions are made because we need to be telling our own stories, stories about our communities, stories for everyone by s -- by us. this is my brief but spectacular take on changing the world through stories. >> for lots more brief

spectacular videos online, reach us online. also online, we look at the new medicaid extension that guarantees access to postpartum health care for residents of some states, giving new parents a lifeline to care during that vulnerable period after a baby is born. you can see that online at pbs.org/newshour join us online and again here tomorrow evening for all of us at "the pbs newshour." thank you for joining us. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed for people to get more of what they like. our customer service team can help find a plan that it's you. -- that fits you. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front

lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- and friends of "the newshour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contribution to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

hello everyone and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. as clashes flare in jerusalem my exclusive interview with prime minister naftali bennett as the government hangs by a thread. then -- >> will you provide more utility to ukraine. >> yes. >> will it get there in time. >> plus, while the west campaigns to isolate russia we look at why many countries in the global south and beyon are staying on the sidelines. and