♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, guns in america. families and friends of victims testify before congress, pleading with lawmakers to act in the wake of multiple mass shootings. >> my son, zaire, has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg. now, i want you to picture that scenario for one of your children. judy: then, the voters speak. we take a look at the outcomes of crucial primaries in california and six other states. what the results may mean for the general election in november. and, fifty years later. bob woodward and carl bernstein reflect on the parallels between the watergate scandal and the capitol insurrection, and the two presidents involved.

all that and more, on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> cfr. caregiver. eclipse chaser.

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broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like y. thank you. judy: decrats in the house of representatives are passing a series of measures tonight to toughen gun laws. that would include raising the minimum age to 21 to buy most semiautomatic rifles, and banning high capacity magazines. but the house bill is not expected to pass in the senate, where lawmakers are working on a narrower bill. before those votes this evening, much of this day's focus was on personal testimonies given on capitol hill. william brangham reports. >> i don't know what to do. >> as negotiations on gun legislation continued on capitol hill, lawmakers on the house oversight committee heard wrenching testimony from those affected by recent mass shootings. miah cerillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting at robb elementary in uvalde, recalled the horror she witnessed via recorded video.

>> he shot some of my classmates and i thought he was going to come back to the room. so i grabbed the blood and put it all over me. >> do you feel safe at school? why not? >> 'cause i don't want it to happen again. >> do you think it's going to happen again? >> emotional testimony also came from other families and community members in other communities who have lost loved ones, all with one common theme, ending the violence. her son survived being shot during last months racially motivated massacre in buffalo, new york. >> to the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you. my son, zaire, has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back, and another on his left leg, caused by an exploding bullet from an ar-15. as i clean his wounds, i can

feel pieces of that bullet in his back. shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the left -- for the rest of his life. now, i want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children. this should not be your story or mine. as an elected official, it is your duty to draft legislation that protects zaire, and all of the children and citizens in this country. >> uvalde parents kimberly and felix rubio remembered their final morning with their daughter, lexi. they, too, pleaded for a change in gun laws. >> today, we stand for lexi. as her voice, we demand action. we seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. we understand that for some reason, to some people, to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children.

so at this moment, we ask for progress. we seek to raise the age to purchase these weapons from 18 to 21 years of age. we seek red flag laws, stronger background checks. we also want to repeal gun manufacturers' liability immunity. >> though all family members today echoed similar pain and anger, n all wanted congress to restrict access to guns. lucretia hughes, whose son was killed in a shooting, was a witness brought by republicans. >> a convicted felon killed my son with an illegally obtained gun. our gun-control lobbyists and politicians claim their policies will save lives and reduce violence. those policies did not save my son. 10, 20 more laws, 1000 more won't make whatever is already illegally more -- you are

delusional if you think you are going to keep us safe. thoughts and prayers and calls for more gun control isn't enough. how about letting me defend myself from people? >> republicans caution against laws that would impact law-abiding gun owners >> while every loss of life is a tragedy, no one should weaponize or politicize the abhorrent acts to punish law-abiding citizens. if we allow emotion to drive our actions, actions that have constitutional-altering consequences, we will destroy the very foundation of our country and break faith with those that gave everything that we would be free. >> and congressman richard hudson of north carolina lashed out at democrats for even holding today's hearing. >> they want to do something to change the political narrative in this election this fall. they're exploiting the pain of these people, these children, these parents to advance their radical interests. i say shame

on them. i say to nancy pelo, stop this cynical, disgusting charade. >> back inside the hearing room came an ominous warning from the mother of one ofhe uvalde shooting victims. >> somewhere out there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking, i can't even imagine their pain, not knowing that our reality will one day be hers unless we act now. >> for now, the nation awaits an answer to when, or if, america's gun laws will change in any meaningful way. this isn't the first time survivors of a school shooting have testified before congress, or made similar pleas for changing our gun laws. but sadly, the number of schools that've experienced these traumas keeps growing. and because of that, there's now a group of principals, known as the principal recovery network. they've dealt with these tragedies themselves, and they help other schools when needed.

my next guest is one of them. back in 2012, at perry hall high school in baltimore county, a 15-year-old student brought a shotgun to school and opened fire in the cafeteria, shooting another student. george roberts was the principal back then. he's now the community superintendent for baltimore county public schools. george roberts, thank you so much for being here. i wonder, could you help us understand? how did this network first come about? was this just a function of a bunch of principles realize all these tragedies keep happening, and we've gotta help each other out? >> yeah, that's exactly how it camebout. but first, thank you for having me on and allowing us to share the work of the principal recovery network. yes, it really just began as an informal network. it was, we had gone through school shootings, certainly since early 2000 and well before that. but after my shooting, i was contacted by mr. bill bond, who was the principal in paducah, kentuckyat heath high school,

and he simply left a voicemail message for me. of the hundreds of calls the school was receiving, he was one of those who simply said, when you're ready, i've been through this. give me a call. and from there, really, the rest is history. i reached out to him. we formed a relationship over the phone. he was gracious enough, as he was working with the national association of secondary school principals at the time, he was able to fly out to baltimore, and he was able to spend a few days with me and my staff, and really talking us through the emotions we were having, and some othe things we can anticipate and really, from there, it was just connections that we made. i was able to meet frank deangelis, and several other principals who had gone through school shootings through that time in 2012, and then that informal network really consolidated into the formal principal recoveryetwork in 2018. >> i mean, i know a principal has so many hats to wear and so many jobs to do. when this shooting happened at your own school, did you know what to do? did you know how to respond, or how was that for you? >> yeah, no, i didn't know how

to respond. and as educators, though, now it's pretty standard practice to receive training. we had our standard drills for fire drills and for certain emergency drills, but at that time, active shooter drills in 2012 were not the norm, were not the integrated drill practices that had. so after that shooter in my school, i didn't know. i didn't have a guide, didn't have a playbook, if you will, as to what to do and who to call and who to rely on. i certainly had a lot of support from my school system and from the school system leadership in 2012. and then from there, circling out to the greater community and then certainly with nassp, but no, i did not know. i learned it as i went along. >> i don't know if if your network your colleagues have been in touch with the principal at robb elementary, and you've already, can you give us a sense of what those conversations are like? what kind of counsel are you offering to that poor principal ght now?

>> yes. so certainly, the principal recovering, our mission is to support principals and help them lead through these tragic events so really that that process really begins with a message left on the machine of the school similar to us as it was for me. once that connection is made, the first thing we try to do is really just make sure is the principal ok? we ask, how are you feeling? what is your support network? talk to me a little bit about who is supporting you at home and who is supporting you within the school district or within your school community, because really a principal will only be as effective leading through the recovery as they are feeling and as they're working through their own trauma, so we really support that principal, asking questions around how their feeling, getting them together with certain resources within the community or offering suggestions and then from there, as you continue to have more conversations, it goes into, here are the things we might expect over the next couple weeks, the next couple months. and then really, we start

talking about what's going to happen over the next six months. 12 months, 18 months. because as the media go about their business, and as the world continues to move on, the principal is left leading the recovery within their school community, not just working with the families of the victims if there are victims, but also those of the survivors and the students who survived and have to live through this moving forward. >> as you well know, there is a an ongoing debate right now about how to protect schools and some people are arguing, we have to harden schools. we have to limit the number of entrances and exits. and we need to train more people to carry weapons and to give them weapons inside the school to protect students. what do you make of that idea? >> you know, my personal belief on that is educators -- we are educators first. we are not trained law enforcement officials. we are trained to educate children and love

children and to help them grow and mature as young adults. so arming teachers is not something that i believe will help the situation at all. >> what kinds of people are inviduals you want in the school to protect kids? >> i think a strong partnership with the local police department through a school resource officer program through a formal school resource officer program is a wonderful way to to tie together law enforcement and education in a productive in a safe way to build positive relationships with kids. >> it's a wonderful thing you're doing for principals. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. judy: in the day's other news, a california man was charged with attempted murder after being arrested near the maryland home of u.s. supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. a criminal complaint said nicholas rosskee had a gun and a knife, and threatened to kill kavanaugh, partly over an impending abortion decision. u.s. attorney general merrick garland vowed a tough response.

>> this kind of behavior, obviously, is behavior that we will not tolerate. threats of violence and actual violence against the justices of course strike at the heart of our democracy. we will do everything to can to prevent them and hold people who do them accountable. judy: the justices have increased round-the-clock security since a draft abortion rights opinion leaked. it indicated the court could reverse the landmark roe versus wade decision. olympic champion simone biles and dozens of other gymnasts are suing the fbi for more than $1 billion. they say they were sexually assaulted by larry nassar, a former u.s.a. gymnastics team doctor. the suit alleges the fbi knew about him in 2015, but did nothing for another year. nassar is now serving decades in prison for child pornography and sex crimes. former hollywood producer harvey weinstein will face indecent assault charges in britain.

police say it happened in london in 1996, and involved a woman who's now in her 50's. weinstein is 70 and is already serving a 23-year sentence in the u.s. for sex crime convictions in new york. in ukraine, government forces retreated today in a key eastern city, driven back by a russian onslaught. ukrainian officials said heavy shelling forced their fighters in severo-donestk to pull back to the city outskirts. meanwhile, russia's foreign minister visited turkey, and promised safe passage for ukrainian grain shipments through the black sea. ukraine's ambassador to ankara dismissed the pledge. >> the russian side, as usual, is playing its stupid games. they are trying to get involved in the process of checking vessels. they are trying to keep blocking them. i am very certain they will not succeed. russians must push back and unblock the ports. judy: ukrainian grain exports

have fallen to around a sixth of what they were before russia's invasion. back in this country, maternal reported it has developed an experimental covid vaccine that works better against the omicron variant. it combines the original shot with new protection that increases antibodies specific to omicron. today's announcement follows a cdc estimate that 2 new variants now make up 13 percent of u.s. cases. that's nearly double last week's estimate. and on wall street major stock indexes fell as much as 1 percent as fresh data showed inflation is hurting retailers. the dow jones industrial average lost 269 points to close at 32,910. the nasdaq fell 89 points. the s&p 500 dropped 45. still to come on the newshour, low public uptake causes a glut of unused covid vaccines in india. bob woodward and carl bernstein reflect on the parallels between

the watergate scandal and the capitol insurrection. plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: there were intense and expensive contests up and down the ballot and across the country, in yesterday's primary elections. voters hit the polls in seven states, with congression races testing the influence of donald trump. but the race drawing the most attention today was local. in san francisco, voters recalled progressive district attorney chesa boudin in a contest where crime and public safety were key issues. president biden,efore boarding air force one, said he saw a lesson in the results. >> i think the voters sent a clear message last night. both parties have to step up and do something about crime as well

as gun violence. judy: for more on the lessons and takeaways for both parties ahead of november, we turn to amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter, and marisa lagos with kqed in san francisco. welcome to both of you. amy, you were telling us earlier you didn't see one overriding headline, but you saw a similarity among the republican winners. >> for democrats, the goal they see from these primaries on the republican side, what they would like to see is the less than ideal candidate on the republican side come out of those primaries. we have seen a couple examples. most notably in pennsylvania, where the candidate considered probab the most out of step with that swing state one the primary.

in other races across the country yesterday, what we saw were the candidates that fit those districts. the candidates that republican strategists think are the best fit for those districts win ther e. this was a pretty good night for republicans in terms of putting up the stronger of the candidates to face democrats. judy: we are in early june. that is what it looks like. in your state of california, it is the results of the local races drawing the most attention, the san francisco da race and the los angeles mayor's race. >> in san francisco come of the recall has dominated headlines for months. this was a progressive da, a former public defender. his parents spent decades in jail as members of the radical underground for a robbery that included two police officers who were killed. in some ways, chesa boudin was

never like by law enforcement but he made missteps and the reality of the past two years, the pandemic, the george floyd protests, the strange crime rate changes over the pandemic. that is playing in los angeles where billionaire developer rick caruso spent $40 million to boost his name id and it worked. he is in a runoff with karen bass, the more traditional democratic candidate. caruso is a republican, then a no party voter then he re-registered as a democrat a few months ago. judy: it is interesting, listening to what she isaying. there is always a desire at the national level to say we see a trend, but she says it has to do with the individual circumstances, with the candidates and what was going on in that race. >> we have seen the nationalization of politics for

some time. there is also a truth to all politics being local. i think what marisa pointed out, while the issue of covid is no longer a top issue like it was in 2020, the impact is still being felt. it has the downstream effects on crime and mental health and our children and their schooling. so we are still seeing the aftershocks of this pandemic, and in some ways it is playing out on local races. people feel frustrated with the way the city has or hasn't come back since the pandemic. it is playing a part in federal races as well. 75% of americans believe the country is often the wrong direction. a lot of that is the economy. the pandemic may be officially over. but its impact is still here.

judy: how did you see that in california in terms of voter interest in these races and turnout, and how animated voters were by what they were watching and listening to? >> unfortunately, voter turnout was low. in san francisco it was higher than statewide, but people had a lot of time to sit at home during the pandemic and think about what they didn't like. we have seen recalls in california. there were always -- will always be individual issues and local races but there is anger with what is not happening in the world, whether it is homeless folks or increases in crimes. in a city like san francisco we saw less of an increase in violent crime than most major cities, republican or democratic lead. people vote with their hearts. there is a sense at the local

level that incumbents are not getting the job done. we saw the governor, the attorney general coast into the runoffs, so maybe not as angry at state level officials. >> on crime, is there some sort of national message from this? >> we are seeing it play out not just in los angeles and san francisco, but in the new york mayors race. these are really local issues but democrats are feeling somewhat wary of the fact that democrats had been labeled for the last couple years as being for defunding the police, not as strong on pushing back on criminals, electing more progressive da's. democrats have been trying for theast two years to shed that image in support policies and canada's -- candidates that are

stronger on these issues. judy: president biden said we are not for defunding. i want to come back to you, amy. a number of house republicans voted for an independent commission to look into what happenedn january 6. some of them have been pushed or have left politics, but we looked at, there are a number in primaries yesterday and what do we see? >> overall, we know that in the next congress, there are going to be fewer members either because they retired or resigned, or they lost in a primary, fewer republican members who voted to impeach the president, voted for the january 6 commission, even some who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. supporting donald trump is still a major issue, or showing fealty to donald trump is a major issue in these primaries. what we have in mississippi, one

of the republicans, representative guest, is likely in a runoff with the republican who ran to his right in the primary, saying he is not a real republican, he is a so-called rino in part because of his support for the january 6 commission itself. nothing else but for that. when we talk about trump's hold on the party, he may not have the same influence that he would like to have but in terms of the kinds of people who are coming back to washington in 2023, very few of them will have stood up to donald trump. judy: and that is telling when you put it together. amy, marissa, thank you. we appreciate it. ♪ judy: india has long been called the world's pharmacy. it is the world's largest producer of

generic drugs, as well as vaccines. much of that capacity was re-purposed and increased to produce covid vaccines, intended particularly f low income countries. but as fred de sam lazaro reports from india, demand has dwindled, creating a glut even as many parts of the world remain largely unvaccinated. >> it's mostly adolescents who trickle in these days for covid shots, which were recently approved for those 12 and older. and it's a far cry from conditions during and soon after last year's catastrophic delta surge that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. pushpa nirala was among parents bringing their children in on this day. >> we saw so much illness the last time. everybody's vaccinating their children, so i thought mine should be protected, too. >> just a few months ago, this public health center outside of new delhi would have been overwhelmed with people desperately trying to get a covid shot. today, there's no

weight. anyone who needs a shot can get one. >> i came to get a booster shot. i was satisfied with my first two shots and it's been two months now. if some people don't take it, it endangers everyone. >> today, india's vaccination rates are roughly comparable to the u.s. two thirds of adults over 18 have received two doses. almost all have been made in india, indigenously developed or under license to global pharmaceutical companies. >> we have vaccinated close to a billion people with two vaccinations. and that's a humongous achievement for a country of our size. >> kiran mazumdar-shaw founded a diversified pharmaceutical company in bangalore called biocon. she says for indian companies, long dominant in vaccines, it was an easy pivot to covid shots. >> india was supplying the

vaccines that are required for, you know, children's vaccination programs, whether it is mmr, polio. india has always done it at scale because of the size of our own population. and that has benefited the world. >> but the success of india's covid vaccination campaign came, at least in part, at the expense of deliveries to other, particularly low income countries. the u.n-backed vaccine-sharing initiative covax had counted heavily on indian suppliers. but amid the surge last year, india's government suspended exports for several months, allocating all production for domestic use. >> we produced our first batch of vaccine in this building. >> vikram paradkar is with biological-e near the southern city of hyderabad, which pivoted and expanded capacity to meet what was expected to be soaring global demand. >> we are producing 2 million doses a da >> his company makes the johnson and johnson covid vaccine under license and helped develop

another, corbevax, with the baylor college of medicine in houston. >> we supply the government of india at about $2 a dose, which is probably, i think, the lowest price globally anywhere in the world. >> biological-e spent about $195 million to double its capacity during the pandemic. but with global vaccine demand dropping sharply this year, production lines are being idled across india, at least in the short term. and yet across africa today, fewer than one in five adults are fully vaccinated. about 40% of vaccine already delivered hasn't gotten into arms, something attributed to a lack of funds, inadequate distribution systems and an overall relaxed attitude amid lower hospitalization and mortality rates in the pandemic's omicron phase. >> i don't think we learnt the lesson of health equity as yet. >> kiran mazumdar shaw blames the low vaccination rates in

part on western countries' reluctance to share vaccines or license them to indian manufacturers early on, when people were desperate to get the shots. >> they could have shared some of those stockpiles with the developing world. initially they said we will only use the western manufacturing sites for vaccinating the western populations, because they are not very comfortable with the other manufacturers in the developing world countries. >> for reasons of quality? >> i hate to say it, but there is a bit of racism in that. and now it is very ironic that most of the vaccines that are now being deployed in the world are actually being made in india and korea and other parts of the world. >> she'd like to see some of the excess vaccine-making capacity repurposed for other disease campaigns, like pneumococcal pneumonia, malaria or dengue. but biological e's paradkar says the covid pandemic is not over,

and he says vaccinations and new vaccines must remain april -- a top priority. >> we need to be two steps ahead of the virus. i'm not sure that we could actually update our vaccine fast enough. i would, i would rather jump maybe a few more variants ahead of it. >> and those new variants are more likely because of the overall low vaccination rate, says dr. srinath reddy. >> the logic of evolutionary biology that seems to drive the survival of the virus, unfortunately, does not seem to prevail among human beings. >> he heads the public health foundation of india. >> western countries who have three shots or four shots of vaccines in their arms must realize that variants will emerge in countries where the vaccination rates are very low, where you have high levels of hiv and are otherwise immunosuppressed, and these will find their way back to the rest of the world.

>> a lesson in global solidarity, he says, that the world has been slow to learn. for the "pbs newshour," i'm fred de sam lazaro in new delhi. judy: and a note that fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. ♪ judy: next week marks the 50th anniversary of the break-in at democratic national party headquarters here in washington. that event in 1972 would eventually trigger congressional hearings and bring down a u.s. president. the 2 reporters at the heart of uncovering what came to be known as the watergate scandal have re-issued their book "all the president's men" this week, with a new foreword drawing parallels to the actions of former president trump. on the eve of the first public hearings on january 6th, bob woodward and carl bernstein join

us now. we welcome both ofou back to the newshour. bob, i want to start with you. over the years, there have been many narratives about what watergate was about. it has been called a third-rate burglary, that the cover-up was worse than the crime. you have had plenty of time to reflect on it. what was it about? >> it was really an effort to destroy the process of nominating candidates for the democratic party. it was extraordinary. nixon said, i would like to run against this person, george mcgovern, and he launched a covert campaign of espionage and sabotage and cover-up. and it worked. in the end, he got a weaker candidate, govern -- george

mcgovern, and he won 49 states. it was one of the great crimes of not just politics, but never seen anything like this until recently. judy: and that is what i want to ask about. as we think back to president nixon, carl, one of the enduring memories was from the senate hearings. the late senator sam ervin. one of the hearings, the famous moment where we heard the actual audio recording from inside the white house, would richard nixon have been brought down if that hadn't happened? >> it was the so-called smoking gun tape. it is very possible he would not have been brought down. we don't know. but it is important to understand the progression from richard nixon's criminality to donald trump's criminality.

they are both criminal presidents of the united states. but trump went further. he used -- he is the first seditious president in our history. how did that happen? he decided he would not abide by the election, the duly constituted free election of joe den, the president of the united states, and set -- and staged a coup to keep biden from taking office. the law calls for the election of the president of the united states to take place at 1:00 p.m. on january 6. there was a great effort, a conspiracy extending to the m. antme from happening.1:00 the object of all of this, including the demonstrations and breaking into the capitol by the insurrectionists, was to keep this selection of the president from happening so trump could stay in office and biden couldn't. but the idea of the president

trying to stage a coup such as this is extraordinary, insidious and we have never seen anything like it in our history. judy: and yet the two of you write about the parallels between the two. you write they were both insecure, paranoid. you say each viewed the world as -- through a prism of hate. >> there was so much hate in the politics of nixon and trump. what struck us, when you look at all of this, trump is staking his claim now that the election was stolen. well, he lost. he did not win. carl and i and bob costa who i worked with spent a lot of time looking for evence to suggest, or show, that this was, the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen. the is zero evidence.

it just doesn't pass the common sense test. but i agree, it was really sedition. a seditious action by trump trying to overturn it. and he failed. maybe he will now run again. judy: that word stops us cold. you used it a minute ago, you said seditious. bob said sedition. that is the son -- that is something the two of you didn't accuse nixon of. this is a different level. >> it certainly is. richard nixon resigned. he got on the helicopter and went into private life. donald trump was trying to attempt to not leave the white house, to continue. illegally, as the president of the united states. i think there is another important thing to look at and consider. what made nixon go? courageous republicans. judy: when it comes to

repu to stand up to a president, there were a numberblliicinngs beilg o president nixon. it is different today. >> in the end, all of the republicans stood up ainst nixon and goal what -- ldwater carried the message. what will happen tomorrow night in these primetime hearings is i think a minal moment political moment, a teaching moment for the country, and even people who support trump really ought to look at it, because they have, they are making a case, and people may accept it or not, but they ought to listen. they may not like it, but it is critical that what i know about what is going to happetomorrow night, a lot of it is going to be visual. a lot of it is going to be seeing the anger and the ugliness of breaking into the capitol.

an unheard of action, not by 10 people or 100, but 1000 people. astonishing moment, and people ought to be pondering it. they should look at this data and look at the violence. i couldn't believe that, what was happening that day. it was so out of the normal civility of american politics, the nonviolent tradition. judy: we will see how many are watching. the country is much more divided politically even then it was back in the day of richard nixon. i think you have already answered this question but i'm going to ask the two of you, which of these two presidents posed a greater threat to our democracy? carl bernstein? >> trump, because he is willing to push things to the point

where there can be no peaceful transfer of power. such as happens in the most authoritarian countries in the world. that goes farther than richard nixon. >> i think the answer is trump because he is thinking of running. i actually think he is going to run. i think he is going to be recruited by lots of moneyed republicans and he is going to say, look, the people are calling, i've got to run, and he is running again. in the four years he held office, he learned in a somewhat haphazard way, but he learned where the levers of power are, and if he gets that power, the power of the presidency, the extraordinary concenation of power again, this country will never be the same. judy: bob woodward and carl bernstein, who broke the story

of watergate 50 years ago and who are he to watch what we are witnessing in 2022. thank you both. >> thanks, judy. ♪ judy: we will be back shortly with some of the messages commencement speakers shared with graduates. take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it is a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. ♪ for those stations staying with us, a study from the university of california san diego shows environmental regulations have systemic, systematically protected california's white residents over people of color.

on the nevada visited a community grappling with the path forward and has this report. amna: emily has lived around san diego most of her life. she loves this area. neighbors look out for each other. it has a booming arts and restaurant scene. but there is a persistent problem here. the air. >> i can always tell when i go hiking outside of this neighborhood, my breathing improves. amna: as a kid, she said she would get frequent bronchial infections and headaches. she now has sinus pressure and a consistent itchy nose. her mother and aunt have health issues. they have never received an official diagnosis, but she believes it comes back to pollutants in the air. >> i do question whether or not to have a child because i would mostly -- most likely raise it here and i would be coerned about their health, knowing they

impacts the environment would have on their health. >> this neighborhood sits next to the port of san diego, a hub for heavy trucks, cargo equipment and ships. decades ago, the neighborhood was sliced by the coronado bridge and interstate five. the combination has left the area with higher levels of diesel pollution than almost everywhere in california. that is evident in the asthma rate, seven times higher than the wealthy, mostly white community of la jolla. who calls barrio logan home? more than 70% of residents are hispanic and 40% live below the poverty line. >> it feels like environmental racism. amna: millions across the country live in communities like this, where the confluence of emissions from industrial activity and major roadways means significantly higher levels of air pollution and

greater health risks. and people of color are over three times more likely than white people to be breathing the nation's most polluted air. >> we have done a lot to move, to reduce some of the emissions, but we need to do a lot more. amna: diane is the executive director of the environmental health coalition. it is a nonprofit that has worked on environmental justice issues in san diego for years. she applauds the clean air plans and forth by the biden administration and the state of california. i give and a half ago, governor newsom signed an executive order requiring trucks like those going in and out of the port to be 100% zero admission by 2035. but she says that is not enough. >> kids will grow up in that period of time, so they will be stuck for that ente period with significant diesel pollution.

we have to look at this in the face and say this is not ok. amna: ehc pushed local leaders for policy shifts. they notched a victory when the port of san diego board of commissioners signed a sweeping plan to curb air pollution. it calls for trucks and cargo equipment at the port of san diego to switch to zero omissions by 2030, 5 years fasters -- faster than the state mandate, and sets a goal of or the percent of yearly truck trips to be zero omissions by 2026. many residents and activists cheered the mov but some were less of astec. sharon is the president of the san diego port tenants association, a group of 200 businesses and industries working up and down the bay. businesses also want cleaner air, she says, but they worry about the technology, infrastructure and money as the port moves to meet the goals.

>> our concerns are if we put restrictions on just our port, the truckers are going thave to deliver the material. they will just go up the street to the neighbor. we don't want to lose them because you don't want to lose jobs. it is complicated. we are showing the are some complications and things that are hard to get to. doesn't mean we are oppos to it, it means we need these extra things. >> dan is the chair of the port board of commissioners. he opposed the 2026 interim benchmark for zero emission trucks but supported the overall 2030 goals. >> i understand industry can be nervous. there is uncertainty. we don't know what technologies will be available. we don't know economically what it will cost to implement the technology. but you have to start with a goal. as chairman of the port i would rather set the goal very aspirational he, that shows the people of the community that we care about their health. amna: for some in this area, the

port strategy signals a larger shift in the politics around environmental justice. in 2020, nora became the first woman of color elected to the san diego county board of supervisors. born across the border in tijuana, she grew up in san diego's south bay, the area she represents. she has made health equity a priority. >> i say to folks, how is it possible your zip code determines whether you can have access to clean air? for the first time, we see a true change in this area. amna: she points to other developments, like a community plan for barrio logan that could add green space freeway lids over the interstate and create a buffer zone between houses in the working waterfront. with money from the county in the port, ehc is distributing air monito and purifiers to homes, likemily's. she says cleaner air can't come

soon enough. >> i don't know how much more time we can give. people are suffering. their health is heavily impacted. we get promised a lot of things and they say we are going to do it, or this or that. then it is like 20 years later and it still hasn't happened. amna: this time around, she end of the residents of barrio logan are hoping it is different. i'm on the nevada -- i'm amna nawaz in san diego. judy: kid's graduation season, and that means politicians, actors, athletes, and even some of us from here at the newshour have been giving commencement speeches, hoping to impart some encouragement and advice to college grads as they head into their next chapter. >> your class is the toughest class to have ever graduated college in recent history. you started out your sophomore

year when the pandemic again. you survived covid, hurricanes, lockdown, online classes. you have gone through vaccines, omicron, you have been through so much and have come out stronger for the experience. now, you are here. you are graduing and more than ready to face the real world because you already have. >> i heard a saying that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. i'm sure you have heard that. i want to challenge that because if you do what you love, you will work harder than you ever have worked and harder than you can ever imagine. ur dreams will call for that kind of commitment. >> never be ashamed of trying. effortlessness is a myth. the people who wanted it the least were the ones i wanted to be friends with and date in high school. the people who want it the most

are the people i now hire to work for my company. >> if you stay in your comfort ne sticking to what you know, you are making a bet. you are betting that your life and the world will stay the same. but let me tell you, you are going to lose that bet every single time. >> as you head out into the big world, forget about the big world. but don't you dare abandon the small worlds, the ones you can see and hear and touch. the on worlds you are obligated to change are the small ones, the office you are income of the relationship you are in, the dinner table you are at, the community where you live. >> god gave you a voice. use it, and know the irony of a nonspeaking autistic encouraging you to lose you -- use your voice is not lost on me. if you can see the worth in me, you can see the worth and everyone you meet.

>> don't let others define me -- define you, but they will try. you define yourself. >> go where you are wanted, where you and your voice and your talents are needed. surround yourself with the people who see you, who really see you, and don't waste your time with the people who can't. welcome into your world the ones who will tell you the hard truths, not because they want to bring you down but because they want to help you get where you are going. >> i hope you will bed see thes wonder in being part of something bigger than yourself and magic to be found in the service of others. i hope you will be good stewards of the planet we inhabit, and participants in the fight to make it better, more equal, more accessible, more just. >> through genuine dialogue, through rebuildingnd o another,

through empathy, let us reclaim the space in between. after all, there are some things in this life that make the world feel small and connected. let kindness be one of them. >> continue to spend time with people who are different from you. seek out people who are not in your circle. they will bring different experiences. maybe they need a friend. i'm confident that each one of you has the ability and the determination to make a difference in the world. we are counting on you. congratulations. [applause] judy: and on our website, some of us were surprised by that but we are glad to share it with you. on our website, join mes o'brien for an in-depth look at

how climate change and over-fishing are threatening the world's oceans. can new technologies and responsible regulations ward off the threat of mass extinctions for ocean life? watch our special,tipping point: fisheries on the brink," that is streaming now. that is at pbs.org/ newshour. and join us tomorrow night here on pbs for live coverage of the congressional hearings on january 6th. the house committee investigating the attack on the capitol plans to hold six hearings over the next few weeks. the first starts tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. check your local listings. 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, and please stay safe and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular school has been to

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