judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, at the extreme -- a blistering heat wave hangs over california, straining the power grid and raising alarm about the efcts of climate change. then, vote 2022 -- we examine the closest senate races ahead of the november election as republicans and democrats battle for control of congress. and, the invasion's impact -- ukrainian holocaust survivors are forced to flee war once again as russian attacks grind on. >> if you had asked us a year ago if we thought that there

would be an evacuation of holocaust survivors from the ukraine to germany, we would have laughed. no one would have imagined it. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs nshour." >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> cfo. caregiver.

eclipse chaser. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well-planned. >> the walton family foundation. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to buding a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

judy: this has been another scorching day across much of the american west. utility operators in california issued a new statewide alert, urging consumers to conserve electricity. the state avoided blackouts on tuesday, despite energy demands hitting an all-time high. we'll take a closer look, right after the news summary. police in saskatchewan, canada have taken a man suspected of stabbing 10 people to death into custody. myles sanderson disappeared after sunday's attacks at the cree nation reserve and the village of weldon, in saskatchewan. his younger brother was found dead earlier this week at the reserve. russia's president vladimir putin is defying pressure to halt the war in ukraine, and insisting moscow will forge ahead. he spoke today at a forum in vladivostok and mocked western sanctions. instead, he said russia's economy has weathered the worst.

pres. putin: i am sure that we have not lost anything and will not lose anything. when it comes to the gains, i can say that the main one is the strengthening of our sovereignty. everything that keeps us from moving forward will be abandoned. we will gain momentum, as will the pace of development. judy: putin also threatened to cut off energy supplies to europe if the european union imposes a price cap on russian natural gas. meanwhile, in ukraine, shelling resumed near the russian-controlled zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. the u.n. nuclear agency called tuesday for a protection zone around the site. on the pandemic, the world health organization reports new covid infections fell 12% worldwide last week. but in china, 65 million people are now under lockdowns as the government enforces its zero-covid policy. that includes 21 million in chengdu, where authorities kept people in their apartments, even

during an earthquake on monday. back in this country, the governor's race is set in massachusetts after another primary win by a trump-endorsed candidate. geoff deel defeated a more moderate republican on tuesday, and will face democrat moira healey in november. healey is favored to flip the seat in favor of democrats and become the state's first openly gay governor and the first woman elected to the office. we'll take a closer look later in the program. the obamas were back in the white house today to unveil their official portraits. the former president and first lady pulled back coverings to show their likenesses. and michelle obama appeared to tie the ceremony to former president trump's rejection of the 2020 election results. michelle obama: traditions like this matter. not just for those of us who hold these positions but for everyone participating in and watching our democracy.

you see, the people, they make their voices heard they vote, we hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power. judy: former president obama's portrait is by robert mccurdy. mrs. obama's was painted by sharon sprung. public schools in seattle canceled their first day of school today in the face of a teachers strike. the walkout centers on demands for higher pay, mental health support, and better teacher-pupil staffing ratios for special education. contract negotiations are continuing. on wall street, stocks showed some life, as tech shares rose and oil prices fell. the dow jones industrial average gained 436 points, more than 1%, to close at 31,581. the nasdaq rose 247 points, 2%. the s&p 500 added 1.8%. and former npr foreign

correspondent anne garrels has died, after fighting lung cancer. she joined npr in 1988 after working for abc and nbc news. over the years, she covered conflicts in chechnya, bosnia, afghanistan, and the middle east. and she was one of a handful of western journalists who reported live from baghdad during the 2003 iraq war. anne garrels was 71 years old. still to come on the "newshour," tennis legend chris evert reflects on her career and her battle with ovarian cancer. holocaust survivors fleeing russia's invasion of ukraine find safe harbor in an unexpected place. the smithsonian institution and the u.s. army join forces to save art around the world. plus, much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta udios in washington and in the west from the walter

cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: the record-setting heat wave of the past few days has pushed california to the brink. the state is facing its highest chance of rolling blackouts this year. stephanie sy has the latest. stephanie: another searing day, baking california. the state's power grid operator urged residents to conserve energy for an eighth day straight. demand for electricity last night broke a golden state record, threatening widespread power losses and rolling blackouts that were narrowly avoided. residents found shade wherever they could get it. >> i think a lot of people are using the air conditioner, like, and using fans, you know, everything to try to keep, you know, cool. >> we seem to always just make it through. we have our little tricks to keep cool. everybody does. stephanie: at the orange county zoo, zookeepers gave animals blocks of ice to stay cool.

temperatures surpassed 110 degrees in many parts of the state this week. sacramento reached a 97 year high, at 116. earlier this month, california's death valley set a new record at 127 degrees. it was the planet's hottest recorded september day. scientists say climate change has fueled these more intense, longer summers, and led to more frequent, raging wildfires. the sprawling fairview fire outside los angeles broke out this week and is only 5% contained. >> the risk for outages is real and it's immediate. stephanie: last night, governor gavin newsom urged people to save power and spoke of a brutal month to come. >> this heat wave is on track to be both the hottest and the longest on record for thstate and many parts of the west for the month of september. stephanie: indeed, other parts of the west are under the heat dome, including salt lake city,

utah, which recorded its hottest september day since the late 19th century this week, and alarmingly low water levels at the great salt lake. temperatures may not moderate in many places until friday. let's focus on the concern over potential outages in california, the energy grid, and what's being done to deal with the demands of the moment. for that, i'm joined by katherine blunt, who covers renewable energy and utilities at the wall street journal. she's also the author of the new book "california burning: the fall of pacific gas and electric and what it means for america's power grid." katherine blunt, thank you so much for joining the "newshour." i was reading, you know, that last night california's office of emergency services actually sent out an urgent text message telling electricity customers they needed to conserve energy now or risk outages. are those kinds of alerts working to manage demand, and are they enough to prevent the power grid from faltering?

katherine: well, i think that's it. that's the million-dollar question. there was a lot of voluntary conservation last night which certainly helped the situation from going over the edge. it was very close. the grid operator caed a certain level of an emergency that was just, you know, hairs with rolling blackouts. it was tight and that that conservation helps. but of course we are i'm watching the rest of the week. stephanie: yeah, it countless california seems to have an energy crisis every summer. why ishat. katherine? haven't there been improvements made to make the grid more reliable and resilient? there were numerous rolling blackouts that we saw in 2020. have things improved? katherine: yeah, so there's been a convergence of a number of different things that have influenced these circumstances. for one, we are seeing more severe heat waves across the higher region across california and throughout the west, exacerbated by climate change. and that makes it so that electricity demand during these periods of time is really very

high. and this is ultimately a question of keeping levels of demand and supply in balance because if there is an imbalance, you risk wider system breakdown. so that's why sometimes there's been the need for rolling blackouts to keep those levels in balance. of course, california has been consumed by a severe drought, hydroelectric power generation has been constrained, and during these heat waves, it becomes harder for california to import power on an emergency basi and of course, you know, there's been a rapid shift to wind and solar power over the last several years, which makes managing supply levels at the time when solar production began to ramp down especially challenging. so that's why you see some of these in the summers. stephanie: could any of this have been avoided? mean, you go through a lot of the complex factors that lead to the strain on energy all day again for the eighth day in a row, we have been hearing the grid operator warn of these rolling outages that are extremely disruptive to hundreds

of thousands of californians every year. katherine: the grid operators have had to take increasingly drastic measures to help manage these supply challenges in recent summers. that's meant relying on more gas fired power generators. just recently, the state legislature moved to keep the state's last nuclear power plant online. it had been set to retire in the coming years and now it just looks like it'll run for quite some time longer. and so it's been -- the grid operators have been looking for more and more places for additional power. stephanie: california has been very aggressive in embracing renewable, more green energy sources, and yet every summer again we see these energy shortages. you have reported, katherine, on how other states are also looking at potential energy crises as climate change means hotter summers, more people needing more air conditioning. what can be learned from observing california's

transition to renewables, and how that can impact energy supply during times of great demand? katherine: yeah, absolutely. so i mean, i think at its core, this is a timing challenge. it has become challenging to navigate the neaterm transition because, of course, you know, wind and solar power, the production fluctuates, fluctuates with weather and fluctuates with time of day, which makes it a bit more challenging for grid operators to make sure that there's always adequate supplies, and in california, you see that most acutely, you know, after 4:00 p.m. when solar production begins to decline. this, you know, proponents of the transition which of course, is well underway, believe that there's the appropriate technology to be able to deal with this in the future as we add more battery storage to store wind and solar power for use when production declines. but one additional challenge that we're seeing here in the near term is that there's been supply chain issues, inflationary pressures and other things that have made it more difficult to bring these projects online and in a timely fashion. so it looks like the next

several years are going to be difficult across a number of different regions that are in the middle of this transition. but there's there's reason to believe that longer term we'll be able to sort through some of these many challenges. stephanie: one of your focuses has been the focus on wildfires in california and how that is further straining the energy grid every summer, and the role that companies like pg&e play. how much are those issues playing into the strain on the grid we're seeing this week? katherine: sure. so when you think about wildfires, and how it affects the balance of supply and demand, big fires can constrain transmission capacity, which makes it harder to move power from point a to point b, adding an additional challenge for the grid operator and making sure that there's adequate supply everywhere. there was a transmission emergency yesterday in the day before up in northern california, likely associated with some of pg&e's powerlines. you know, details are aren't exactly clear as to what exactly the problem was, but emergency generation was needed to offset some of the constraints on those

lines. so i don't think it was fire related, but it may have been heat related. so there's all kinds of things that can go wrong in the transport of power that make this more difficult. stephanie: every year, such a confluence of crises we're seeing there in california. katherine blunt, author of the new book "california burning," and wall street journal reporter, thank you for joining the "newshour." katherine: thank you very much for having me. i appreciate it. judy: the midterm election season is now in full swing and both parties are vying for control over what is currently an evenly divided senate. currently democrats hold 48 seats, plus the two independent senators who caucus with the democratic party, while republicans hold 50 seats. this year's 35 senate midterm

contests could change that balance of power. following this all closely is jessica taylor of the cook political report, with amy walter. jessica, welcome back to the newshour. yesterday we looked at the house, now we are going to look at the senate. what does it look like? jessica: it looks much better for democrats than many democrats i talked to ever thought. historically, the incumbent president, their party lsoe ss -- loses an average of two seats per cycle. republicans only need one seat. i would have put it at a 60% to 65% chance the spring when you had rising gas, biden's will ratings were in the mid 30's. all of us felt it was going to be a tsunami perhaps. the question was how high could republicans go. but now, what we have seen is a

tightening overall of the national landscape that is reflected in the house but especially the senate. again, gas prices have gotten better, the biden white house and congressional democrats pass to the inflation reduction act, semiconductor bill. and also that key decision that came down at the end of june that sent roe v. wade back to the states. that has animated a lot of women voters who are registering right now. we are seeing this enthusiasm gap that republicans had been able to capitalize on earlier, but democrats are closing it. and in the senate, candidates matter more. i was skeptical at the beginning of the cycle because we have seen senate races come so parliamentary almost, where voters are voting for a party, not necessarily a candidate. again, that is how, all things considered, when we look at historical midterms,hat is what i would have expected to ppen. but you have republicans who have nominated some very problematic candidates.

judy: so, the abortion decision by the supreme court has energized democrats you are saying. , these candidates, specifically the ones endorsed by president trump, you are saying that that is having an impact? jessica: republicans who have been working for years are so worried because they were like, we are going to snatch defeat from the vase a victory. had we nominated more traditional candidates and not at the trump-endorsed candidates that he got in and meddled with, off and throwing his weight behind the more controversial candidate, these races could have looked a lot different. so will republicans on election night bethinking woulda coulda shoulda? judy: your are talking states like pennsylvania, ohio, arizona? jessica: pennsylvania is one where we had a tossup, and we moved it a few weeks ago to two

democrats. republicans are having to play defense right now. that is the number one seat we could see possibly flip. judy: looking at men met oz. jessica: he came out of a brutal primary. but his approval ratings in the state are underwater and he is pretty well known. you have john fetterman, who faces real questions about his health. judy: the democrat. jessica: the lieutenant governor after he sucker -- suffered a stroke on the eve of the election. i have even heard republicans say he seems more authentic because dr. oz had been living in new jersey and moved to pennsylvania just for this race. judy: there are four states you singled out to us thatou are particularly paying close attention to, closely contested. arizona, georgia, nevada, and wisconsin. jessica: three of those are

democratic held and the should be the top targets for republicans. these are all states that biden won by under three points in all of them. arizona, mark kelly is outpacing where biden's numbers were in the state. you see typically a good run would be three to five points of ahead of where your party's president is, what he is overrunning by seven points, john fetterman by nine point. masters is a very controversial candidate. he worked for the former paypal billionaire peter teal. and he has a lot of baggage, things he wrote in college sympathizing with the unabomber and favorably quoting a nazi leader. we're also seeing mcconnell's super pac cut money from this race. so this is a race -- judy: then georgia with herschel walker. jessica: also like mark kelly, herschel walker just won in a

special election. he is raising a tone of money -- trump really got him into this race. he won the primary for many reasons, not trump being among them. but he is lagging behind. we could actually see in the governors race the, brian kemp is running ahead. could he help herschel walker over the goal line? judy: we should clarify, raphael warnock won in that special election. very quickly, you have nevada with another trump endorsement. jessica: adam laxalt is more of a generic republican. was former attorney general. and in wisconsin, ron johnson is the most endangered senate republican. he is behind in polling with the lieutenant governor there, barnes.

johnson'spproval ratings are very low for an incumbent. he has managed to hang on before, so could we see this one be tight. these could all go either way. we still see the senate overall as a tossup but it is a much better environment for democra with two months to go than many of them had anticipated. judy: fascinating. one really interesting race closely fought in state after state. jessica taylor, thank you very much. jessica: thanks, judy. judy: millions of people have fled the war in ukraine. among them, hundreds of elderly holocaust survivors. they are becoming refugees once again as they near the end of their lives. more than 80 have been rescued in special evacuations sponsored by a collaboration of international organizations.

and as nick schifrin discovered, some are finding refuge in a most unlikely place. this story is done in partnership with retro report, the wnet group's exploring hate initiative, and the pulitzer center. nick: in the early days of the russian invasion with bombs and uncertainty raining, millions scrambled for safety. they fled their homes hoping to escape to neighborincountries and along the way, many stopped in this synagogue. this 92-year-old worried about her nephew and grandson who stayed behind. >> we don't know what will happen to them. these russians, please tell me. how can they have no shame? how can they have no shame? nick: one person who managed to escape with her, her daughter. >> it was scary when we were

traveling through ukraine. i had only seen these sort of things in movies. i felt anxiety and fear that we were in danger. nick: they secured a coveted spot on an evacuation bus to moldova with other ukrainian families. and for the second time, she was forced to leave ukraine and become a refugee. in 1941, her family fled the nazi army. >> me, my mother, grandmother, and my twin sister. we left on a train but no one told us anything about where we were going. there were people left there. nick: this rivian here in kyiv. in september 1941, nazis seized this city in 36 hours. nazi soldiers marched tens of thousands of ukrainian jews, killed them with machine-gun fire, and dumped them in a mass grave. that was one of the first large-scale massacres of jews in world war ii. during the war, german troops

and local collaborators killed 1.5 ukrainian jews, gunning them down in fields and ravines in what is known as the holocaust by bullets. this year, many holocaust survivors feared for their safety. their lives became book ended by war. >> these jews were abandoned by the world as children. as the nazis were coming for them, to murder them, and they had to flee, and so we had to rescue them. nick: greg heads the claims conference which provides financial assistance to holocaust survivors. they partnered with the jew is a -- jewish aid agency to call thousands of survivors. they arranged medical evacuations for survivors who were unable to get out on their own. >> how can you explain to a person who is maybe frightened at 80 years old or 90 years old that they need to leave their homes?

nick: it requires a small army of supplies and people. >> we had to evacuate them with an ambulance because they were so fragile. where do you get an ambulance in a country of war where 90% of the ambulances are confiscated by the army? nick: among the holocaust survivors who needed medical attention. early in the war he insisted on staying but in june during a moment of calm, he decided he needed to escape. he brought only himself and his sense of humor. the driver asks, how do you feel? >> age-appropriate. 85 and then some. nick: he faced a host of medical conditions and traveled by ambulance across ukraine with the doctor. >> we will take two stops, possibly three. then the next crew will take him to dusseldorf. nick: dusseldorf, germany might

seem that the last place to evacuate a survivor of hitler's genocide, but nursing homes across the country opened their doors with the support of german president steinmeyer. >> if you had asked us a year ago if we thought that there would be an evacuation of holocaust survivors from ukraine to germany, we would have left. -- left. no -- we would have laughed. >> how do you explain tohe survivors evacuated to a country that over 70 years ago was persecuting you and wanted you to be dead? it was not an easy sell. >> i somehow believed it would be ok. i was scared of what was going on around me. i was shaking on the way. nick: they were evacuated from kyiv in march. after 26 hours of travel they finally arrived in frankfurt

they now live in this nursing home and share a room and memories of escape from the nazis. >> my mother was jewish and my father was a journalist. he said that the germans do not love the jews, so you all need to go away. he sent us to was becca stand. >> i was two years old when the war started. i said to my mother, let's get in the hole. i already knew they were some kind of bomb shelters you needed to hide in. >> one out of every four victims of the holocaust who died, died on ukraine today. nick: this history it has been studying the ukrainian holocaust or three decades. >> the holocaust in ukraine occurred in a way that was incredibly rapid. a direct assault perpetrated in a military style so-called security operations, which were mass shootings and mobil gas

fans. we discovered at least 1000 mass murder sites. >> in 1941, we fled from the germans. now we faced war once more and now we have come to the germans so they will protect us. this is the paradox. so maybe there is no such thing as permanent friends or permanent mnes -- enemies. nick: she is now living near frankfurt without her mother. it week after they arrived safely in germany, she died of covid-19. >> every day i think, i must call mom. it is difficult. very difficult. nick: these two time refugees who were hesitant to leave their homes have been surprised by the commity they found in the birthplace of the nazi party.

despite her grief, she says she is grateful for the warm welcome sheet received in germany. >> everyone received us so warmly and paid a lot of attention to us from the first day. i do not feel like i am in germany as a guest of the germans but rather i am here among my own people. nick: yet many still want to return to ukraine just as they did after world war ii. >> as soon as the situation improves there, i want to go back home. my motherland is there, you know? that's all. nick: i am nick schifrin. judy: as the u.s. open tennis tournament continues this week in new york, we turn to a conversation amna nawaz had there with tennis legend chris evert.

evert's win-loss record in singles matches is the best of any pro player, male or female, in history. but perhaps her toughest match is taking on ovarian cancer, often known as "the silent killer." amna: this is where you must have so many memories. chris: yes, i won six times. amna: chris evert dominated women's tennis in the 1970's and 1980's. her career stats are staggering. she won a record six u.s. open titles, tied only by serena williams. seven french open titles. 18 major championships in all. became the first player, male or female, to win 1000 singles matches. and to this day, holds the record for the second-most career wins, behind martina navratilova. evert grew up in a tennis family in florida. her dad taught all the kids to play on public courts.

now 67, and herself the mother of three sons, evert spent most of her life in the white-hot spotlight. she became known for her tough, seemingly unemotional outer shell. but nothing, she says, could have prepared her for the loss of her sister, jeanne evert dubin, who played on the tour with chris for a while. jeanne's ovarian cancer was detected late. she lived for two more years and died in 2020. jeanne had tested negative for the harmful variant of the bcra1 gene, but her blood was stored in a lab, in case knowledge or data of new variants became available and as genetic testing evolved. two years after her death, jeanne's blood tested brca positive. a warning bell for possible ovarian or breast cancer predisposition in the family. a call from her doctor took chris evert's life down an unexpected path, ovarian cancer, but caught early, stage 1c. today, evert is back courtside as a commentator for espn,

coaching and mentoring the next generation. we talked about her journey, her health, and what's ahead. it's been three months since you finished your chemotherapy. how are you feeling today? chris: i'm feeling a lot better than three months ago. let's put it that way. i mean, you know, as time goes on and i'm able to get a little more energy, exercise a little bit more, i'm feeling better and better. amna: i think a lot of people know chemotherapy is brutal. how did you get through it? chris: andy, my former husband, took me to all six chemos and we just you know, he was really supportive. i had that for like five days, and then i would have two weeks of feeling okay. and i could go to my tennis academy and coach and, and i could do pretty much normal things. so i feel very lucky. amna: lucky not only because they caught her cancer early but because they caught it at all. chris: the geneticist called and

said, we retested jeannie's blood and another variant has come up and now she's brca positive. so you're going to have to take the brca test. and so all of our siblings took it. i went the next day and took the brca test and 10 days later discovered that i was positive. i went to the doctor, he said, okay, you have to have a hysterectomy. you don't need the reproductive organs. so the best thing, the safest thing is just to get everything out. i encourage anybody, any woman not to be afraid of having a hysterectomy. but what happened was surprising, after that, my doctor called me three days later and said, we are really shocked about this, but our findings are that you had ovarian cancer and you had cancer in your fallopian tubes. and i was like, whoa, but i didn't feel anything. and that's why this is an insidious, ugly cancer, because you don't feel any effects whatsoever. and many times when women are diagnosed, they're already in stage four. amna: you have just gone through a full hysterectomy.

chris: yeah. amna: what are you thinking? chris: i think i just called on my sister's strength. four or five days later my doctors calling, i have good news. and so, i mean, i was so relieved and but i got a second opinion. so right now they're looking at 90% to 95% chance that that cancer will not come back. amna: what's it like for you to say that number? chris: i wish it was 100%, but i feel very grateful. because of my sister's death, i'm alive. amna: your sister was diagnosed so late. and she lived for another two years, i believe, after that? ris: yes. amna: do you feel like you got to say everything to her you needed to say? chris: no. i don't think you ever feel that way. she was like the wind beneath my wings, you know, that song? and she was so proud of me and

supportive of me, and never envious or jealous. she was just a wonderful sister and i wish i could i could have told her more. but, you know, sometimes when somebody is really sick, you know, that's not the time to tell them, because then they start to feel worse. they know it's the end. but i think she knows. i mean, i talk to her every day and i think she knows that now. amna: what's one thing you wish you could tell her today? chris: that i would tell her oh god. you just know i asked these questions. oh, my god, i'm sorry. how strong she was and that she never complained. and she had ports and she had incisions all over her body and she was down to 80 pounds. and i saw her go through this and she would either be quiet or she tried to muster up a smile. amna: you are making me cry too. chris: no, it's good. i want to be emotional.

amna: this vulnerability is something evert spent decades shielding from public view. i went back and i read some of the earlier coverage of your career, the way the mostly male press corps, i think would talk about you and write about you. and there were photographers saying, oh, she's impossible to take a good picture of because she never smilesand they gave you labels like ice princess. chris: look, i grew up when i grew up and started playing on the tour. i was 15 years old. and the more i read that, the more i got to be that way. i never had the freedom, i think, to develop on my own terms because i alys had the press saying i was somebody else. when i look at the young women today on the court, i see they've come a long way. they're fearless, they're emotional, they have a lot of por, they feel the power, they have a lot of respect. amna: you look at the way serena has navigated her career, you look at naomi osaka having conversations around mental health, protecting their own privacy, all these kinds of things. do you ever look at that and say, i wish i'd had that?

chris: i grew up in the 1960's and played in the 1970's. there are taboo subjects. you didn't talk about it. you didn't talk about, you know, being gay and you didn't talk about controversial subjects at all. that was the way the society was. the culture was here in america, maybe here in the world. but now women are just owning themselves and they're and they're empowering themselves and we' reaching, you know, more and more equality with the men. amna: how would you describe the place that the game holds today in your life. chris: i have so many ways of being involved in the game. i mean, i love telling people, informing them of the wisdom of me being on center court in the finals, wh it feels like, what the pressure feels like. i love that. i think what i love even more is the mentoring part. i'm very involved with the usta foundation, which is all about under-resourced kids, you know, combining tennis and education and giving them a safe place to go to after school, talking to them, mentoring them, seeing the joy on their face.

an extension further, i have my own tennis academy with my brother. but still, the same applies. the mentoring. i try to explain to them to embrace the pressure, to go with it and not to try to fight it. i've gotten a lot of wonderful things out of tennis. and now i'm feeling probably better by giving and sharing my experiences and knowing i'm helping kids. to me, that's the most important thing at this last third of my life. amna: analyzing tennis matches, and mentoring the next generation, at some 250 programs for the u.s. tennis association foundation around the country. evert remains in the game. let's take a larger look now at ovarian cancer in this country. in the united states this year, nearly 20,000 women will receive a new diagnosis of ovari cancer and more than 12,000 women will die from the disease.

dr. carol brown is a gynologic cancer surgeon and chief health equity officer at memorial sloan kettering's cancer center. she joins me now. welcome to the newshour and thank you for joining us. you just heard the story there, learning only of her own risk because of her sister's diagnosis. what should the rest of us -- who should consider themselves at the greatest risk of ovarian cancer? dr. brown: thank you so much for having me on and for focusing on this really important topic. chris everet's story is really typical and highlights the greatest risk for women who have ovarian cancer. it is actually family history, as you heard in her story. the women who are at highest risk of getting ovarian cancer in the united states and around the world are women who have a first degree relative, which means either a mother or a sister with ovarian cancer. or, relatives, first-degree or

second-degree relatives with ovarian cancer or breast cancer. this ties into chris evert's story in that her having a sister with ovarian cancer. those are the women who are highest risk and it shows the importance of knowing your family history. it is really critical. amna: we know early detection is key. the american cancer society says only 20% of ovarian ncers are found in what you consider an early stage. because there are nonspecific symptoms per se, how can it be detected early? dr. brown: everyone should know is it really ties back to knowing what are your risks and what you can do to reduce your risks. knowing your family history really ties into what we have learned in the last decade or so about a very cancer and the highest risk being related to family history. it is because the answer is in your genes. we know there are mutations you

could have inherited from your parents. it is not just the rca one and brca 2 but there are four or five major genes that increase the risk for a variant cancer. so the best way to diagnose it early is what happened in chris evert's situation, where she had what we call a risk reducing surgery to prevent her from getting ovarian cancer. and it was found that early on there was a very beginning, the earliest stages. so knowing your family history and getting that really critical genetic testing is the most important way you can find it early. amna: what about disparities when it comes to access to that kind of testing, having, being able to early detect ovarian cancer? do we see that play out in our health system? dr. brown: we definitely see differences in outcomes in a variant cancer, as we do with many other cancers. and it is really true, one of the really important things to know is knowing about family

history, but getting access to genetic testing and counseling about your genetic risk, such as chris evert had. and we have done some studies that show that women of color are less likely to have access to genetic testing, less likely to be counseled to get genetic testing. so we really want women and all people to know that if you have a family history of cancer, ask your clinician about getting to nested -- getting genetic testing for cancer. amna: what about men? if they have a blood relative for the brca 1 or 2 gene, does that carry a risk for men as well? dr. brown: bcra 1 and brca 2, as with some othe rgenes associated with cancer, the risk is not limited to just ovarian cancer. there's also an increased risk for pancreatic cancer, prostat cancer. for some other genes like lynch

syndrome, this is an increased risk for colon cancer, bladder cancer. for men as well as women, for all who have family histories of these cancers, it is so critical to take advantage of the new technology, to get genetic testing and counseling done. then you know there are things you can do to reduce your risk. amna: what are some of those things? dr. brown: there are some very simple things, particularly for young women. itight be surprising for the audience to know but oral contraceptives, taking birth control pills for just five years, cut your risk of getting ovarian cancer in half. one of the things we counsel children who have children, they want to know what can i do, how can i reduce my daughter's risk. taking birth control pills cut the risk in half. another thing is healthy diet, exercise, and maintaining the ideal body weight. this is also something that can really reduce your risk.

the most important thing is what chris evert did, which is to get risk reducing surgery when you are found to be carrying an inherited mutation that increases your risk for ovarian cancer. amna: such important and necessary, useful information. we hope that helps a lot of people out there. dr. carol brown joining us tonight. thank you so much for your time. dr. brown: thank you. judy: they're known as "monuments officers," and a new collaboration between the u.s. army and the smithsonian institution is expanding their numbers and capabilities in time of war. their mission -- advise military commanders on how to minimize damage to art and other key sites during conflict, and aid foreign allies whose cultural heritage is at risk.

jeffrey brown reports for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the national museum of pinelandia faces imminent attack. and its precious artifacts must be documented, photographed, packed, and moved to a new location within two hours, amid quickly changing circumstances. on the scene to help, the u.s. army's corps of monuments officers. colonel scott dejesse. >> you have to be able to speak both languages. you have to be able to speak the language of protecting cultural property, and must have your military language and understand the processes. jeffrey: people have one or the other. >> have one or the other. and the main piece here, we're bringing those worlds together in a way that has not been done before. jeffrey: pinelandia, of course,

is a fictional country. and this was a simulated training exercise in a large hall at the national museum of the u.s. army in fort belvoir, virginia. the precious art? gathered from garage sales, flea markets, even dumpster diving, nothing worth more than a few dollars. but the military officers were threal thing. 21 specialists in art history, archeology, curation, and other cultural heritage areas. six of them, international officers here to train and network. the rest, the first cohort of a joint initiative of the u.s. army and the smithsonian institution. some were reserve officers moving to this new unit, including captain sonia dixon, who's also a doctoral candidate in art history. >> i'm passionate about learning about so many different people and their cultures. and i am passionate about the military. and to get the opportunity to do both of them at the same time, and to show people that even if you come from an endemic background, you can still have practical ways to help people in the real world.

jeffrey: there were also six civilian cultural experts, new to the military, having completed physical and other requirements. among that group, hayden basset, an archeologist and curator at the virginiauseum of natural history, where he's been using satellite imagery to document destruction in ukraine and elsewhere. now, he's also captain bassett in the u.s. army civil affairs and psychological operations command. >> this is our opportunity to engage with cultural heritage on another level. i've always had a respect for the military. i never thought i would have the opportunity to take my particular skill set and apply it in a military context and serve in that capacity. jeffrey: this was not the career path you were on. >> certainly not. jeffrey: it's a new take on an idea that goes back to world war ii, popularized in books and

film, and a group then called the monuments, fine arts and archives task force, often referred to as monuments men, scholar-soldiers rescuing art works and other cultural treasures seized by the nazis throughout europe. in more recent wars, however, the story has at times been less heroic, most notably in 2003 with the looting of the iraq museum in baghdad, when the military was criticized for failing to heed warnings about the value of the collection and the need to protect it. >> that was a moment in time that really galvanized public opinion even more about the u.s. invasion of iraq, and it really impacted our mission as well. jeffrey: cori wegener, a museum curator, was then an army reserve officer, deployed to the baghdad museum to assess the damage and salvage what was possible. >> walking into those galleries and seeing smashed objec on the floor, even though i was an

art museum curator, i didn't really know how to go about evaluating or salvaging objects. and i felt a little bit lost. i wanted to make sure nobody was placed in that position again. jeffrey: today, wegener heads the smithsonian's cultural rescue initiative. and it was she and colonel dejesse who designed the intensive 10-day traing program, that included courses in forensic documentation and practical problems like drying out damaged artifacts. and briefingfrom international partners such as a ukrainian museum director, working to secure objects there. there was a symbolic moment at arlington national cemetery, with a wreath laying at the tomb of the unknown soldier, including the nephew of a monuments officer killed in action in world war ii. and the simulated museum evacuation, which included a jolting moment after one of the role players, acting as a security guard, accidentally on purpose put his foot through a painting.

that was just one moment of chaos amid constantly chging circumstances. >> it is not just we are looking at the art projects. cultural heritage is so diverse, so dynamic, and depending on the culture, it changes. it can be an object, it can also be an intangible thing. jeffrey: for his part, newly commissioned captain bassett was suddenly officer of the day, in charge of this operation. and found himself facing a commanding officer who arrived on the scene to ask some tough questions. >> ultra artifacts, they are important, but they are number two to human life. that's the priority for our combat forces. so if you need me to divert combat forces to protect the site then i need to know that. is it a company, is it a platoon, what is it? jeffrey: were you surprised by

his questions? >> absolutely. part of my job during that was to be able to effectively communicate why cultural heritage is important. why, in this case, the army or the coalition forces were expending resources to invesin cultural heritage protection. jeffrey: and tt, of course, remains a question. why, and how much, should the u.s. care about preserving culture, in situations when lives are at stake? colonel scott dejesse who, by the way, is also a painter in civilian life, is a veteran of cultural protection in a military context. and he puts the issue in military terms. you're not suggesting that sending art historians out into the battlefield will win victories. >> i would say it's a strategic imperative. the part that we're moving into is, not only a justification for doing it, but a validation for doing it, to validate the success for the mission. if the commander says, our lines of effort are to build partnerships, strengthen our

partnerships with the host nation, well, we're the experts that know, hey, this is how you build a partnership, by working, by protecting each other's -- what our societies mean. jeffrey: cori wegener frames it from the civilian side, as a responsibility for museum and other professionals. >> how can you ask the military to perform their duties for a treaty about protecting cultural heritage, if we don't tell them what cultural heritage is? we're teaching them how to do it, not just why they have to do it. jeffrey: the training program's end was marked by a pinning ceremony for these official newly-minted monuments officers, now ready to deploy as needed around the world. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown. judy: redefining the u.s. military. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you, please

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♪ hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour & company," here's what's coming up. meet the new british prime minister, will she save the day amid economic crisis and war in europe or drive the special relationship with america into a brick wall? join me. plus. we believe it's extremely complex and challenging. >> fighting continues around europe's largest nuclear plant in ukraine, i asked u.n. nuclear watchdog chief about the risks. then -- >> i know how threatened