♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. geoff: tonight on "pbs news weekend"... welcome news for parents and kids -- the cdc approves covid-19 vaccinations for children under 5. then... 20 percent of the world's reptiles face extinction. what's driving this loss and why are experts concerned about the larger impact? and... our weekend spotlight -- my conversation with legendary singer-songwriter bonnie raitt about her latest album, and her storied career. bonnie: there's not that many people that last 50 years in the business. and because of my activism and my role model as a bandleader and a lead guitar player, i think it's wonderful to be recognized for who i am in the world, not just the way that i sing. geoff: all that and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbs news

weekend." ♪ >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we of a variety of our no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can find that fits you. one to learn more, visit nsumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪ and friends of the "newshour." ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. we begin tonight with the day's headlines, and the news many parents have been waiting for -- the authorization for covid-19 vaccinations for children as young as six months. the cdc gave its final signoff today for children under five, clearing the way for vaccinations to begin next week. infants, toddlers and preschoolers were the only remaining group without approval to take the shots. yesterday, the fda authorized the vaccinations as safe. in ukraine, presidt volodymyr zelenskyy has paid a rare visit to troops on the front lines in the southern port city of mykolaiv.

he surveyed damage and toured a hospital. ukrainian forces there are trying to hold off russian advances westward toward odesa. but, much of the ground combat remains concentrated in the east. ukrainian officials warn that russia is sending a large number of reserves to severodonetsk in order to gain full control. neighboring gions remain under relentless assault. next week, the european union will meet to consider whether ukraine should be admitted. at least 18 people have died in massive floods in india and bangladesh. rains left millions of homes underwater and cut off critical roadways and evacuation routes. water levels in all major rivers across bangladesh are rising and the flood situation is likely to deteriorate in the worst-hit regions, according to authorities. northern bangladesh had just started to recover from a devastating flash flood last month. and a passing of note -- family has died.

mark shields, a syndicated columnist and commentator, was a fixture on "the newshour" for more than three decades, providing insights into our nation's politics each and every friday night, in a style all his own -- charismatic and witty; unsparing but civil. mark's knowledge was encyclopedic. his debates, though sometimes heated, were always fair-minded. his clever and irreverent sense of humor smoothed over disagreements about the nation's thorny politics. mark shields was 85-years-old. he will be dearly missed. we will have more on mark's legacy on monday's "newshour." still to come on "pbs news weekend"... the reptile extinction crisis, and the warning signs for the rest of our ecosystem. and, our weekendtlight -- musician bonnie raitt talks about her new album and enduring career. ♪ >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington, home of the "pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs.

geoff: tampons are the latest addition to the growing list of out-of-stock items in states all across the country. supply chain problems have left many shelves sparse, and the products have become more expensive, making it equally hard to find affordable alternatives. lisa desjardins looks into what's behind this latest shortage. lisa: overlapping with the ongoing baby formula shortage, scarcity of some tampon products across the country is driving more consumer frustration. to explain what's happening here, i'm joined by sharon terlep of "the wall street journal." sharon, americans know by now we've had supply chain issues up and down the product line for consumers. but why in particular with tampons? what's going on? sharon: sure. it's a case of there's problems all over, and it's, you know, just some of them happened to hit tampons. but, part of this is because it's an industry that's dominated by one very large

player, proctor and gamble. they ran into some bumps. and then the number two player, edgewell, had a very specific kind of tampon-related supply chain issue. and so, all of a sudden, there are a lot of brands that just aren't available, which, you know, as any woman who's used a tampon knows, you want your brand and what you're comfortable with. lisa: does this have to do with supply coming from outside the united states? of what goes into making tampons? sharon: re, i mean tampons -- they seem simple, but they're acally pretty complicated and regulated. they're regulated as a medical device by the fda, so not anyone can make them. they're made out of what we would call a non-woven, which are kind of fused together. so, they're a complicated and pretty high tech product, so they're the kind of thing that, when there are supply chain issues, they're more likely to be affected. lisa: now walgreens told us in a statement that their pharmacies are "experiencing some temporary brand-specific shortages in certain geographies."

so, have prices going up everywhere? where exactly are there shortages right now? sharon: sure, prices have gone up everywhere. so, every company that makes tampa palms -- tampons, all the big companies have raised prices, just as part of inflation, and supply chain issues. but, what we saw in the data is there's regional shortages that are, you know, more severe than others. a lot of it just has to do with, you know, it can be as specific as to the store, or it may be a brand. so it's not widespread, but it's widespread enough that it seems fairly severe. lisa: this is the second major product that we've seen used by women, and by anyone who can get pregnant, including transgender and non-binary people. is it just coincidental, this kind of shortage, and baby formula? or, is there some sort of lack of priority on these items? , shmaaror: ybyeahju.ste oo t i mean, certainly there is, uh there's the issue of too few companies making these products. earlier thisear, there was an issue of diapers. so, i think that even added,

particularly to parents, of course, you know, not only women, but to parents. part of it is the nature of the item. it's an essential item, but unlike medication, it doesn't have the same kind of urgent, emergency status that you might see for some others -- face masks, vaccines. you know, u have diaper banks, and at diaper banks, you can sometimes get tampons, but it's t -- it doesn't have the same kind of urgency that some other essential items might have. lisa: i know many people want to know -- how long is this going to last? how long are people going to have to juggle, and sort of, make do, and perhaps not get the products that they need? sharon: sure, and you know, the companies have said they feel like they're getting closer. the -- you know, the supply is improving. i think we saw last year a lot,e to shinortage, and they were wrong. so, nobody's going to predict that. but, in the last couple of months, supply has improved. and so, i think you'll see improvement in the next couple of months, barring something unforeseen, which, of course is you know, no one can bet on that

right now. lisa: sharon terlep of he wall street journal," we appreciate your time. sharon: thank you. take care. ♪ geoff: globally, one in five reptile species is facing the threat of extinction. that's according to a recent study in the scientific journal "nature." we take a deeper look now at what's driving this extinction crisis and what it could mean for the rest of the world. matthew: this is onyx, a two year old male komodo dragon. geoff: on a recent day at smithsonian's national zoo in washington, we met onyx, a juvenile komoddragon. they are the world's largest lizard, often growing up to 10 et long, with some weighing more than 300 pounds. native to a few islands in indonesi these incredible

reptiles date back one million yes. but because of habitat loss, komodo dragons are now facing an uncertain future, says matthew evans, an assistant curator at the smithsonian's reptile discovery center. matthew: komodo dragons are -- they are endangered. and these guys are part of a species survival plan. geoff: that plan is part of a larger effort here at the national zoo to highlight why reptiles are vital to our entire ecosystem. matthew: komodo dragons are that what we call a kind of a keystone species. so if you remove them as a top predator in the environment, the rest of that ecosystem doesn't function, right? they actually need that top predator for all the roles that it plays with creating habitat , for keeping population densities down allows other , species to breed and flourish while if they disappear, it is a domino effect that affects everything. geoff: the plight of the komodo dragon is not unique, says zoologist bruce young, who recently co-authored the largest global reptile study of its kind.

bruce: our goal was to assess every single species known at the time. we worked with over 900 scientists from around the world that did know these species. geoff: young says the research took 17 years to complete and found that at least 21 percent of the world's reptiles, more than 1800 species in all, face extinction. why are so many reptiles in danger of extinction? bruce: there's a few reasons why most reptiles that are endangered are, in fact, endangered. loss of habitat, especially forest habitat from logging. also, the expansion of the agricultural frontier has caused many habitats for reptiles to become destroyed and they have nowhere left to live. geoff: the study also found that if all threatened reptiles were to disappear, the world would lose a combined 15 billion years of evolutionary history. bruce: it'll take a big contrition by governments to to kind of change the trajectory we're on. geoff: one of the reptiles most at risk -- turtles, with nearly 60 percent of the species facing

extinction and in need of targeted conservation efforts. scott: we are surveying both the land and t s find some turtles. geoff: scott smith is a wildlife ecologist for the maryland department of natural resources. he's been studying these slow-moving reptiles for 30 years. scott: okay everybody ready. geoff: we tagged along as he and a team of scientists surveyed wood turtles in western maryland. scott: wood turtles' main threats are habitat loss, road kill, road mortality, collecting for the pet trade, climate change. and we would not know that basic stuff without having come out and done these surveys. >> 71 for shell height. geoff: these scientis mark and measure each turtle they find. scott: one problem we're having here is wi reproduction. we have not found any youngsters at all. geoff: and smith says nearly all of the turtles they are finding are females. >> it's a female. scott: what do you got there? >> another female.

scott: we're seeing skewed sex ratios towards females because of higher incubation temperatures due to climate change. and of course, in nature, you want a 50/50 sex ratio. geoff: another major issue -- human development in areas turtles have long called home, leading to an increase in predators, like racoons. scott: there's a lot more in the landscape now than there were historically, because they can feed off our garbage. they can feed off cat food, dog food we leave out. and so we have these absurdly elevated populations of predators which feed on turtle nests. geoff: and while these reptiles face a host of threats, smith says turtles around the globe are faring even worse. scott: certain species are reallyn their last legs before they go extinct. so we ceainly have a lot of problems, but comparatively to most of the rest of the world, our turtle populations are doing relatively well. noah: turtles actually survived the meteor that killed the

dinosaurs. and so, you know, they survived a giant asteroid hitting the planet, but they might not survive us. geoff: noah greenwald is the endangered species director at the center for biological diversity. noah: many reptiles control small mammal populations that control insects, which then has has impacts elsewhere in the ecosystem. you know, those insects then don't eat plants and don't otherwise affect things. one of the concerns about losing biodiversity is that, you know, nearly all of our medicines, all of our foods come from species. so as we lose these species, you know, we potentially lose a cure to cancer. geoff: so what's the solution then to the extinction crisis? noah: a lot of the solution to the extinction crisis is actually also a solution to climate change, that these these two problems are quite interrelated. and in particular, we just have to protect more of the natural world so species have space to

live. geoff: while threats to reptiles have become increasingly urgent, wildlife ecologist scott smith says there's still time to act. scott: it's not all bad news, and we as humans can certainly change our behavrs and act to reverse this trend. but we have to do it now. ♪ geoff: and now to our weekend spotlight with music legend bonnie raitt. the rock and roll hall of famer is out with her 21st album, called "just like that". it's her first new release in more than six years, and h landed at number one on six different billboard charts since its release. i sat down with her before a recent concert outside of washington, d.c. i asked about her dynamic 50-year career and what's she's learned about herself along the way. bonnie rate, -- raitt, thanks so much for speaking with us.

i appreciate it. bonnie: thank you for having me here and coming all the way out to a gig. geoff: what's what's it like to be doing gigs again to be on the road? i mean, the last two years, you and your band, you've been sidelined because of the pandemic. you're back in front of live audiences again. bonnie: we knew eventually, we hoped that it would end up that people would do the right thing or we could get safe. and they figured out a vaccine. so the horizon was clearing. and i just was frustrated, as we all were, that we couldn't play in front of live audiences. but i did a lot of recording in my home for democratic candidates, various causes that i support, and i was able to partipate, but just by myself, which was nowhere near as much fun as pying with the guys and playing for an audience. geoff: let's talk about this new album. it's doing incredibly well. congratulations. bonnie: thank you, thank you. geoff: most of the album are covers. how you do that how do you , take somebody else's songwriting, their arrangement, and then put your own spin on it? bonnie: it's just something i've

always done. i mean, i grew up loving aretha franklin and ray charles and frank sinatra and my dad, and they always put their own spin on the songs that they picked. i love taking an older song like del shannon's "runaway." i did kind of a al green thing on it and i did a jerry rafferty hiand turned it into a reggae song, and i did it in excess -- i did an inxs song and a talking head song over the years. nd it's really fun for me to a a tt ofit's absolutely different. geoff: i want to talk about one of the songs that you wrote called down the hall. ♪ it was inspired by a true story of a prisoner who was at a prisoner hospice. it's told through his point of view. what drew you to that story that first appeared, i guess, in the new york times? bonnie: i read it in the new york times magazine, and i saw his photo essay with it in the article interviewing these guys. and for no benefit, they don't get their sentencertened and they don't make money. they just, you know, been in

there for whatever they felt about what they did in their prevus life, why they were there. i put myself in the place of a guy thahad compassion for the guys. at the end of their life, don't have anybody to hang out with him at the last moments. and the fact that there's these 75 programs i found out all over the country where prisoners can volunteer anget trained to help care ande their pal and be there at the end. and i was so incredibly moved. i thought it would make a great story. geoff: what is it about that sort of the folk tradition of writing a song in the third person finding an entry point , through somebody else's life? bonnie: i mean, gat literature is that way, too. i love short stories and i love d o. henry when i was a kid i , was very influenced by the great early songs of bob dylan and, you know, the whole tradition of celtic ballads telling, you know, from the point of view of the person that they're either about to murder somebody or get murdered. [laughter]

there's just a whole crawling inside somebody's persona. john prine was a real inspiration for me, who we lost is fst y album, donald and lydia being one, and then angel from montgomery, which is a cornerstone of my sets since the early seventies. you know, he really showed me what it is like, tht you don't have to live that person's life to write about it. you just have to empathize. geoff: and "livin' for the one”" i gather, it was a song about personal loss that you've experienced. when i fir heard it, i thought this is about the , pandemic. bonnie: well,t kind of is. it's about everybody we lost. ♪ on the record, in the liner notes, i started listing people that had just been passed since from the pandemic and then some drug overdoses and cancer and

accidents and suicides. and it was 14 people. and i had to stop just because we were going to run out of artwork. what i started doing when my brother passed from brain cancer in 2009 was i'm living every day for the life he didn't get to have. and that is literally in the lyrics of living for the ones, it's how do you get through? i'm living for the ones who didn't make it. i am going to face the sun and look out the window and take a walk and think, take a deep breath. and that's the life they didn't get to have. geoff: what is your songwriting ocess like? do you write on the piano? do you write on the guitar? bonnie: a little bit of both. i wrote nick of time on the keyboard. i took piano lessons when i was a kid, but my mom was an incredible piano player and my dad musical director. i gravitated to the guitar and taught myself to play. you know, for different types of songs i play, i write on the guitar and then kind of more personal ballads i write on the keyboards. geoff: so many of your songs, especially on this latest album, focus on grace and redemption.

how is that manifested in your life, that that's something that you're focused on? bonnie: oh gosh. it's hard to say why those stories move me. i hear, in 35 years recovery, i've heard some incredible stories in the meetings of people who just lost everything and never thout they could reconcile with their family or their parents or get a job or their health. people find a way to reach out to each other and bring that redemption and grace and forgiveness. and that's a story that is universal and timeless, but especially i had no idea the pandemic was going to happen when i wrote the songs, but it's really resonating for me and the audience. i think that's why the album is striking a chord. geoff: you also write a lot about relationships. my favorite song ever is i can't make you love me. bonnie: oh thank you. geoff: i think it's the best song in the american songbook. it's so evocative just from the opening tap on the snare. ♪ >> ♪ turned down the lights

turned down the bed ♪ geoff: how many seconds did it take for you to hear that song and say, i have to sing it, i have to record it? geoff: mike reed and allan sherman wrote the tune, and i think they wrote it as an uptempo song. and mike just slowed it down because i had already cut a song of his on nick of time and they sent it to me. and i was gobsmacked, as they say in england. i just i knew right away what a gift that was. they said, i think you could do a good job with this. so many other people have covered it, but i'm really grateful they sent it to me first. it moves me every night when i sing it. >> ♪ i can't make you love me if you don't you can't make your heart feel something it won't ♪ geoff: i was going to ask you, you get tired of singing some of these songs that have been so enduring?

bonnie: no, i look out, i can see people's faces. i've said this before in interviews, but i one of my most touching parts of my life is receiving letters from women who have said, i've never seen my husband in tears before. and when you sing that song, i looked over and for the first time in our 30 year marriage, you know, either angel from montgomery or i can't make you love me. it's something that's touching us all. it's just a heartbreaking song. geoff: it really is. bonnie: i love that, don't patronize me. >> ♪ don't patronize me ♪ bonnie: it is deep. geoff: you are in a really interesting point in your career in that you've been getting all of these accolades, lifetime achievement awards, and yet you're still very much in your prime. bonnie: thank you! geoff: what does that feel like? on the one hand, to be so prolific and to still be prucing music and on the other hand being heralded as the

legend that you are? bonnie: it was a big surprise to be getti these awards now, but i'm so grateful that people feel that way about me. and, you know, i was joking and i said, what do you guys know? am i sick and i don't know it? [laughter] i just think that, you know, there's not that many people that last years in the business. and because of my activism and my role model as a bandleader and a lead guitar player and, you know, i do a lot of different kinds music. and i think it's wonderful to be recognized for who i am in the world, not just the way that i sing. i was surprised and pleasantly surprised, as i am with the reception to this record. i just was putting out another record and i didn't expect it to get all this attention. but it feels really -- on top of coming back on the pandemic, it feels fantastic. geoff: i can't imagine the patience and the persistence that is required to navigate 50 plus years in this business. what have you learned about yourself along the way?

bonnie: i've learned that i really love doing this and i will make whatever sacrifice i need to to make sure that my voice is at its peak. my health is good. i keep my band and crew and salaries and my causes supported. and i have a bigger cause than just, you know, having a blast out on stage. you know there's a higher , purpose. and then there's the fun of being able to play and mix all these songs together. i start with, i got to do it. you know, i look at willie and b.b. king and tony bennett and mick jagger and keith richards and all the other people that have lasted forever. and why would we retire? this is just too much fun. geoff: bonnie raitt, the be of the best. and that's "pbs news weekend" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us "pbs news we" thks for spending part of your saturday with us. >> major funding for "pbs news

weekend" has been provided by -- ♪ 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsibleor its caption content and accuracy.]

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