♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] judy: good eveng. conviction. former president trump's company found guilty of tax fraud. then, georgia votes. the runoff comes to an end after a contentious campaign. and, fighting a drug, prompting a response. >> they are not what they look like. if you're getting it off the street, you do not know what you are getting. judy: all that and more on

tonight's newshour. ♪ major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. ♪ >> consumer cellular, offering plans to help people do more. our customer service team can find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumer cellular. ♪ >> and with the support of these individuals, institutions, and friends of the newshour. >> the rules of business are being reinvented, by embracing innovation, looking at current opportunities and future opportunities. >> people who know no bdo. -- know bdo.

♪ >> 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: a new york jury has found the trump organization guilty of 17 counts of criminal tax fraud for a scheme top executives used

to dodge personal income taxes. as johyang reports, it comes as a separate investigation into the former president illegitimate attempts to remain in power appears to be entering a new phase. >> officials say ty have received subpoenas fromhe justice department seeking potential communications they may have had with trump, his campaign, and aids as they try to reverse the resultsf the 2020 election. the subpoenas as part of the investigation headed by jack smith were first reported by the washington post which said michigan officials were also subpoenaed. in another development today, the chairman of the house committee investigating the january 6 attack on the u.s. said the panel will make criminal referrals to the based on its findings. andrea bernstein is part of the pro-public a team covering it and covering the trump trial for

npr. andrea, the guilty verdict today, what was it exactly the trump organization was accused of doing? andrea: the two corporate trump entities were charged with and tried for schemes to defraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business records, whereby top executives would be compensated with luxury apartments, mercedes-benzs, electronics, furniture, private school tuition, all of which they did not eclair on personal taxes and allowed them in the company to save money, and the jury found that the trump corporation in the payroll corporation were iminally liable, where someone who was president and was to be president again has his company convicted of crimes.

correspondent: his former president trump affected by this personally? andrea: he is not personally charge. his company could suffer some business consequences, but it is more sort of atmospheric or psychic consequence for the presidet, here is somebody who claims he has done nothing wrong whose company was found guilty by manhattan jury of 17 counts of cheating the government that he headed, included while he was the head of it. correspondent: it also comes down to learning about concrete actions by the justice department. what is the significance of the subpoenas from the special counsel? andrea: the justice department is looking into criminality

involving attempts to avoid the peaceful transfer of power, and where the january 6 committee says yes, they may have found some criminal elements, some schemes they want the justice department to look on, so it's not a month since former president trump declared his intention to run for a third time, and he is facing criminal consequences for his business and potentially for his presidency as well. correspondent: there was some speculation that was jack smith was named special counsel that it would take some time, but he seems to ha done this very quickly. andrea: the justice department said he would take over and continue with the existing investigation. that does seem to be happing. the overall picture is a former president whose company has been convicted of a crime facing more charges, potentially personally,

from the justice department of the government he once headed. that is an extraordinary and unprecedented situation in american history. correspondent: the january 6 committee has not the tided on the details of referral, but what might they be referring to the doj? andrea: they referred several times to a find by a federal court judge that the president was more likely than not, the president at the time, trump, to have violated various statutes in regards to his attempt to hold on the power when it was clear he had no further recourse. they have said that over and over again, the vice president of the committee, liz cheney, said it, but we will not know until the report comes out later this month and they have made a final decision on where to refer it. the justice department has its

own investigation and can look at its material, so it may not have a big effect, but it is the accumulation of charges of fraud all around the trump is now facing. correspondent: andrea bernstein, thank you very much. andrea: thank you. ♪ judy: -- stephanie: i am stephanie sy with newshour rows. the latest headlines. the last u.s. senate contest of the 2022 midterm elections is finally coming to an end. today's runoff in georgia pits the incumbent democratic senator raphael warnock against republican challenger herschel walker. the outcome would decide if democrats control a 50-50 senate or have a 51-seat majority. we will examine this after the new summary. congress pause to honor the police who defended the u.s. capitol against the january attack.

>> ♪ o beautiful for spacious skies ♪ >> in the rotunda were capitol police battled a violent mob, today, echoing recognition. >> january 6 was a day of horror and heartbreak. it is also a moment of extraordinary heroism. >> i cannot thank our officers enough for their courage, for their resolve. >> the u.s. capitol police for to not just defend this institution, but our system, self-government. >> a rare ceremony for those usually in the background, as officers today received the highest award from congress, the congressional gold medal. >> for those who courageously defended this cathedral of freedom. >> for many, the high honor mixed with deep memories of

being outnumbered by thousands of january 6 with wave upon wave of violence for hours. the metropolitan police chief. >> the there still thick with bear spray, making it difficult for our officers to see and breathe. >> a sergeant now close to retirement. >> unless you were here that day, you would not understand what we went through. and at that acknowledgment means a lot, because this is for the first time they hear that for some other officers. >> mitch mcconnell reached out to the family of anfficer who died a stroke after the attack, but pointedly did not shake hands with him or house republican leader kevin mccarthy. for the capital, solemn recognition of the sacrifices of january 6, and its presence in many live still today.

stephanie: the suspect in last month's nightclub shootings in colorado springs w charged today with murder and hate crimes. the attack on lgbtq patrons left five dead and 17 wounded. today, anderson aldrich appeared in court to phase 305 criminal counts. the district attorney said including hate crime's crges -- crimes charges was important. >> we will not tolerate actions against community meers based on their sexual identity, those types of things. members of that community have been harassed, intimidated, and abuse for too long, and that will not occur in this judicial district. stephanie: the state murder charges carry the tuples -- toughest penalties, likely life in prison. chinese hackers have been reported by the u.s. secret service to have stolen $20 million inchoate ally fun since 2020. it says the hackers belongs to a group with ties to the chinese

government that allegedly stole pandemic funds from unemployment and small-business funds in more than a dozen states. the parliament of indonesia unanimously approved aweeping revision of its criminal code today banning sex outside marriage and insults to the president among other things. in jakarta, opponents of the new code gathered outside parliament to protest changes they calder kony and and over -- call your kony and. >> theovernment's focus on fulfilling the civil rights, econy, culture, job vacancies, health care. instead, they pass a law that is not democraticnd controls are private lives. it is a setback for our country. stephanie: the laws would take three years to fully rollout. a united nations report has reported workplace abuse is pervasive, especially young people, migrants, and women, the first attempt to engage harassment around the world. 75,000 workers were surveyed.

20% reported facing abuse at work. an oversight board says facebook's content moderation system needs a major overhaul. the company appointed board today to criticize the exemptions given the high-profile users. it said the result has been unequal treatment and lengthy delays in taking down improper content. still to come on the "pbs newshour" a ukrainian nobel peace prize winner holding russian forces accountable for invading her country. a newly elected republican reflects on the gop performance in the midterms. the largest ever strike by higher education workers disrupts classes at the university of california. plus, much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington. --this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: today marks the end of a

bitter runoff race between raphael warnock and herschel walker. these days, one of the most closely watch swing states in the country. and to clarify, the outcome of the race who decided democrats control ant a 50 -- a 50-50 senate or majority. we dcuss what to watch in the next hour. lower, this is what happened -- laura, this is what happens with the democrats. they will have the majority regardless. you were in georgia and watch the campaigns in both candidates. tell about the final messages. correspondent: one of the biggest thing looming over this race is herschel walker scandals , competency, and character. both candidates were asked about character and competency today in georgia. >> georgia voters, right now i

put my character against raphael warnock any day. >> right now, georgia is looking for senator who will speak for georgia. >> raphael warnock does not speak for georgia. >> georgia is better than herschel walker. >> amen. [applause] >> i'm not talking about his humanity. i'm talking about his fitness to serve. georgia is better than that. correspondent: warnock has questioned herschel walker's fitness to serve due to the scandals, allegations of domestic abuse and allegatio that walker paid for abortions for x partners but separately, their speeches are different. walker has been focused on cultural issues and has talked a lot about, his message has been anti-transgender athletes, and he asks regularly on the stump, what are pronouns? i don't know what pronouns are. clearly referring to gender identity and democrats saying

correct pronouns be used for people who want to use them in gender identity. by contrast, raphael warnock is focused on health care, focused and saying he thinks georgia should expand medicaid, and has also talked a lot about access to abortion, again making that a big issue in the final days. judy: you were telling us that both of these candidates have relied on high-profile figures to be out on the trail campaigning. what effect does that have? correspondent: the differences is that this time around, herschel walker had the support of brian kemp. brian kemp did not give him a full throated endorsement and the general election. there were 81,000 libertarians who voted for a libertarian candidate in the general election.

now, raphael warnock had former president barack obama come out in the final days, trying to boost democratic turnout is much as possible, things like black voters, young voters, asian americans, trying to say that raphael warnock has said i ask you this will be the fourth time to vote for me into years, but i will ask you to do it again and was notably president trump did not go physically to george at this time arou the way he did during the general electio he held a rally last night. president biden did not go to georgia. he long said he would do whatever was necessary, even if that included staying away. judy: we know the length of this runoff election is 28 days, less than half of what we saw in the last election in georgia a couple of years ago. what affected that shorten timeframe have? correspondent: ultimately was the runoff, it was shorter this time around, cut in half.

last time in the 2021 runoff, candidates registered more new voters. this time, they were not able to register any new voters for the runoff. they had only one week of early voting instead of three weeks, and reduce the number of drop boxes. the secretary of state's office today with saying they feel as though the law did not restrict the ability of voters to cast their ballots and that the long lines were not as much today, ultimate so the long lines where reflection of fact that there was not voter suppression. the other big thing out of the secretary of state's office today was them saying they are trying to tell counties do not send us all your vote totals at the end of the night all at once . when you count the votes, send them income to because are trying to dispel any conspiracy theories about the election. judy: even though we know democrats will control the senate either way, that one vote

can make a big difference. thank you. correspondent: thank you. judy: you can find up-to-the-minute election results for george is runoff online at pbs.org/newshour. watch for it tonight. ♪ republicans are less than one month away from taking over control of the u.s. house of representatives, with a slim majority. we have that. correspondent: house republicans are stepping into power because in part from wins candidates of color and hard-fought swing districts. they now have a seat at the table over the future of their party. one is congressman elect john james comer the first black republican elected to congress from the state. congressman elect, congratulations. >> thank you. correspondent: what do youant

to do, and specifically, what bill should republicans pass in the house next year? >> frankly, recognizing the only colors that met red, white, and blue for my district and all over the country addressing bills that lower prices acre community safer and bring back our jobs are things that folks in my district and forecastle around the country are desperate for making it more as an area to innovate and create jobs, and i'm excited to get my supply chain in military background to help secure our country and also make our economy stronger as well. correspondent: that sounds like the regulation, am right, taxes? >> great point. we need reform. we have to do it in a commonsense matter. again, i am not antigovernment, but i'm pro-limited government, and there are certain things that individuals, families, and local community's are better from the federal government and empowerment of the people giving

money back to where it is made in putting money back in the hands of the people and make it easier for people to grow businesses and to keep businesses right in my district and state and bring folks jobs back from around the country, suggest, commonsense regulatory reform, make sure our environment is safe and our environment is sustainable, but also our economy can grow as well. i think there is a way to walk and chew gum at the same time and i plan to do both in washington. correspondent: you also have a divided house republican congress and some members are still talking about the 2020 election, still talking about lies come at that it was fraudulent, and some say they will not support mr. mccarthy as potential house speaker. you are on and our nc audit committee to talk about the 2022 election, so my question to you is, how do make sure the infighting in your party does not get in the way of what you want to do? correspondent: i have very

little tolerance for that. the folks that sent me here, is here to do a job. in order to be worthy of trust and support, we need to work through differences recognize and start and build where we are all the same voice. i actually believe 90% to 95% of the issues every day americans face are not ptisan issues. i want to bring my skills at the bear represent my constituency, country to the best of my ability and cutting through and working through both sides of the aisle to help make life better for americans. correspondent: you said red, white, blue are the only colors that matter, but it is notable, is it not, the republicans had their most diverse slate of candidates ever this year for congress. now, not all of them won, as you did, including no black women nominees were able to win their

election. i know you have been stumping for herschel walker in georgia, is the republican party doing enough to make sure it is speaking to everyone in recruiting candidates of color? correspondent: what a great question. i have said we cannot expect a return where we have not made an investment. republicans need to continue to address issues in colleges and cities all over the country. we have a lot of work to do, a lot of work to do, but were not prioritizing identity. where prioritizing ability, and by getting the right message to every corner of the nation we will win our ideas and walk the talk right here in washington and in our districts because there are a lot of people regardless of color who need help and need it now. correspondent: you have raised about the 2020 election and regulators -- irregularities in michigan, but all the concerns we thrown out. do you believe that president

biden is duly elected? correspondent: i will check you on that. within three weeks of the legal process in michigan, once according to the legal process in ourtate i congratulated my opponent within three weeks. that is how the law has then run in michigan so you have to be fair. moving forward, joe biden is our president. correspondent: joe biden is our president but was he duly elected. >> of course. that is how the process works. i want to ask you about president trump statement, he said on his account that essentially there was enough fraud that in his words it allowed for the termination of rules, regulations, articles, including the constitution. what do think of those words from the former president? >>, swore an oath to the u.s. constitution. i did not quit that both when i

took my uniform officer combat veteran for the united states of america. anybody who would destroy the constitution cannot be trusted to defend it. i have said i can agree or disagree with the president without worshiping him. my focus is not what's going on outside anywhere outside my district. i focuses my district. their play people talking about trump. frankly, i think there are people obsessed with trump. i'm obsessed with my district and doing what it takes to bring jo back lower prices and make it safe. correspondent: does a statement like that disqualify him from being president? >> that is a decision for the voters make in 2024. it's not even 2022 yet. i haven't been sworn in. i look forward to getting back to my district and making a to list on everything i can do to make their lives better and you talk about the policy intriguing 2024 and i have a lot of work to do and better things to do. correspondent: john james, thank you for your time. >> tha you.

i appreciate it. ♪ judy: today for the third time in 24 hours, a military base inside pressure was attacked. moscow blamed ukraine for what appears to be the deepest strikes inside russia since the war began. meantime, the drive for accountability for russian war crimes in ukraine continues. in a moment, we will speak with the leading ukrainian human rights activists here at first, he joins me here at the desk. hello. what do we know about these targets struck inside of russia and what about the weapons used in these attacks? >> the target today was an oil field in southern russia. the governor said multiples drones struck it. you can see the fire. the location is 50 miles from

the ukraine/russian border. what is significant is the pattern and location of the attacks yesterday, russian base 372 miles from the ukrainian border. that base hosts nuclear capable long-range bombers that have bound ukraine, and the base in another city is 350 miles from the border. ukraine has not taken public credit, but has given hence. the defense minister earlier today on ukrainian tv joked that may be soldiers were smoking near flammable objects. >> [speaking in foreign language] translator: the enemy often keeps violating safety rules, smoking in different dangerous places, and often we hear a word that is sweet to every ukrainians year, cotton, meaning they have had it, and a symbol of our victory. >> he says it reminds him of the smoke that appears above the bases attacked inside of russia,

so a little bit of a taunt, neither confirm or denying. officials i talked to said ukraine did conduct these attacks with drones that they essentially create with technology they have patched together, not with any u.s. weapon, and in fact, the biden refused ukraine's request to send longest range best weapons they have for fear of escalation , for fear of these kinds of tax frankly that could escalate the war. today, secretary of state antony blinken was clear and said these attacks inside russia needed to be seen in context. >> we have neither encouraged or enabled ukrainians to strike inside of russia, but the important thing is to understand what ukrainians are living through every day with the ongoing russia aggression against the country. >> to give you a sense of how importantly strikes are, british intelligence in the u.k. said they are the most strategically significant failures of force

protection since the war began. judy: how are the russians responding? nick: they launch dozens, maybe a hundred strikes on civilian homes, on the power and heating infrastructure, as they have been. half of kyiv had no electricity earlier today. edessa had to rely fully on generators. a criminal and spokesperson said there are no prospects for peace. today, ukraine, the president volodymyr zelenskyy was visiting the frontline, giving ukrainian soldiers awards. he said the country deserve to gain victory and deserved to gain justice. and one of the organizations helping ukraine achieve justice is the center for civil liberties in kyiv. saturday, it will receive the nobel peace prize in oslo, norway.

its head, i spoke with her sometime ago and asked her why a human rights lawyer, a nobel peace prize recipient is calling for more weapons. >> i have been applying the law to defend people for many years, but now, and other ukrainian human rights defenders are doing our job and the circumstances when the law does not work in the whole united nations system is enabled to stop russian atrocities. we have no legal instrument to release one single person from captivity, so the truth is if we want totop torture in the occupied territories and we need weapons to liberate them. >> iso russian torture chambers in ukraine. russians had left behind the wire they used to strangle ukrainians, the electricity through the used to torch ukrainians.

have these crimes occurred nearly everywhere russia has been? >> yes, for all of these eight years. >> since 2014, the initial invasion? >> yes, when the war started. i interviewed more than 100 people who survive captivity, they told me how they were bitten -- beaten, raped, fingers were cut, the nails were drilled , tortured with electricity, compelled to write something with their own blood. a woman told me how her, wasug out with a spoon. >> you have been documenting these horrors for many years. now you have created an initiative that has documented more than 24,000 alleged war crimes. howhocking is that today? >> it is an enormous amount of crimes in an enormous amount of pain not just violations of

geneva protocol. human pain by russian troops, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, attacking evacuation corridors, forcible deportations , commit murder, rape, torture, abductions and other crimes against people. >> you and senior ukrainian officials have talked about consistently creating special tribunal in order to achieve justice. why is the international criminal court not enough? >> it has no jisdiction over crimes as aggression. >> crimes of aggression? >> yes, you need an additional mechanism to prosecute for such crimes, but we need more, we need to cover the crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, because now we face an accountability gap in

ukraine. what do i mean? the national system is overloaded with an extreme amount of crimes, and international criminal court will limit its investigation only to several select cases, so the question is who will provide the chance for justice for the hundreds of thousands of victims who will not be lucky to be selected by and international criminal court. >> is the goal and a special tribunal and specifically the crime of aggression which it does not have jurisdiction over, is it to hold senior officials to account, including vladimir putin himself? >> yes, vladimir putin and with senior leadehip, and high military command. >> the european commission has endorsed h call for special tribunal, but the u.s. has not endorsed a special tribunal, and officials i speak to hear our worried it could take a long time to create a special tribunal from scratch and that it could dilute the work of the

icc. what do you say to those worries? >> we live in a connected, complex, quick world. ok, if before it takes too much time, we have lessons learned. why can't we do it faster? >> meaning you want justice to be achieved during the war itself? >> yes, because why are we looking at the world thrgh the prism of the nuremberg trials, when they were tried after the regime collapse. justice has to be independent on putin's in power. >> do you think the west has failed to call put into account in the west, long before 2014, syria, chechnya, etc.? >> i'm sure all that we now face in ukraine is total impunity which russian troops have been chechnya, mondovi, libya, georgia, and in other countries of the world.

they have never been punished. the russians believe they can do whatever they want. >> last weekend, we heard something from french president macron. he said the war would require russian security guarantees. are you concerned the international community is more concerned in peace than injustice? >> the international community has to take the truth and to understand that they will not be a sustainable peace in our region without justice, because we speak about culture of impunity, situation where russia predicates it as a tool how to achieve geopolitical interests and where crimes are the methods on how to win the war. >> his adjuster region, or is is a global fight? how important is this for the fight overall against authoritarianism? >> it is a glal fight. this war has a dimension, and putin tried to convince

ukrainians in the world that democracy and freedom are fake values, because why are they not protected during t war, and other authoritarian leaders in the world can be inspired by this example. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. ♪ judy: overdose deaths are on the rise across the country, and it is especially grim for young people. 75% of adolescent overdose deaths involved fentanyl. schools and cities from baltimore to tucson art stocking up on narcan, the medication used to reverse overdoses. stephanie sy reports from sacramento, where narcan is avail but all k-12 schools. stephanie: we met this mom in a park and sacrament out.

she did not want to be identified, because h 15-year-old son is still battling drug addiction. he was taking counterfeit percocet. >> they cursed the pills and inhalehe smoke, and that's how they get high. stephanie: she caught it early and intervene. he is one of the lucky ones. >> there are a number of prominent stories of teenagers doing what my son was doing, except they are not alive anymore. >> [indiscernible] stepnie: pictures of those teenagers were put up in this high school gymnasium in sacramento california as a handful oparents listen to an information session about fentanyl, a synthetic opioid more potent than morphine. crystal, a criminal is for the county has run tests on street drugs recently seized. >> everything we have seen, 90%,

99% are not what they look like. they are fentanyl. that's what we tell the kids, you do not know what you're getting off the street, because it is showing up in everything. you think you're getting an oxycone tablet. it is fentan. >> organize between a group and law-enforcement officials, the presentation was about the dangers of fentanyl and a pitch for narcan, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses. >> california schools have started talking about putting narcan in them. >>e was one of the concerned parents. >> they have the powder and you can put the kids on it that way and get them addicted, and they should stress that more. it is on everything. >> he took a dose of the narcan made available for parents with

him as he left. fatal drug overdoses among teenagers nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 492 deaths to 954 deaths. last year, there were 1146 adolescents who died. the alarming rise, largely due to illicit sentinel --fentanyl the dea says the influx of multicolored pills that looks like candy has been a deliberate attempt by drug traffickers to drive addiction in kids and young adults. in september, a 15-year-old girl, melanie ramos, was found dead in the bathroom of the southern california high school of an overdose. her death set off alarms in schools across the state, and many like one in sacramento, are now putting narcan on campus. students we talked to had mixed reactions to making narcan more available. eli is the student body president. >> if they are doing drugs like

that, they need to help them. i do understand they can help do that. >> there is no evidence that making narcan available for schools would increase it. one senior things having rcan around is a good idea, adding that while many students may not know what they're really getting when they buy pills. >> i would say it's not easy to get him a bit easy to mistake, because let's say a student, i want to get this this weekend and they don't understand it could be placed with fentanyl and they take it with tir friends and someone could od. that would be more common. >> we were at the school as a school nurse prepared the campus for narcan. >> so this is one of the signs. >> exactly. we put these up to notify anybody in the hallways that we have the narcan here readily

available. we picked a wellness center and the student center because this is where we have a lot of trafc, a lot of kids come through and know it and it is a general area. >> she is a former icu nurse and says street fentanyl is unpredictable and having narcan is as important for saving lives as epipen spirit -- epipens. >> it's happening with the ones taking windows and dying. >> these states have amended laws to make it easier for schools to carry narcan, and school staff who have to administer it are generally protected from liability by existing laws. having narcan readily available in american schools reflects the severity of the continuing opioid crisis, and many told us the continuing fallout from the pandemic. >> the ability to cope when away. the anxiety, the depression

spikes, and i do think we are in the mental health crisis because the average person experiences anxiety more than they did three years ago. >> erin perry often deals directly with students who have been caught with substances. since the pandemic, he has noticed more kids self diagnosing and self-medicating. >> someone on social media will say hey, this is what i have. you might have it too. the student will pick up on and say i exhibit the same characteristics and say well, how do ireat this? and that is when they would start. >> have you had overdoses here? >> not yet. we have had close calls. >> teenagers have not started using more drugs during the pandemic, resear shows less frequency, but fentanyl is

powerful. the dea says the danger is growing because of social media networks like facebook, instagram, snapchat, twitter, and youtube. online dealers put up drug themed social media posts that may contain coded emojis to let someone know they are selling prescription pills or other drugs, and to get past community guidelines. the teens can directly message dealers through the chap function. back at the park, the mom whose son fell into substance addiction says that is how her son obtained pills. >> this is one of the drug dealers showing his product on social media. she says that >> narcan is only a band-aid and that more needs to be done. >> it is not the answer. we are in a crisis point getting to the root of this problem, whether it is cartel pills getting across the border or

education for children and parents, more law enforcement. it would take a village. >> her son is currently attending an intensive outpatient treatment program for teenagers struggling with mental health and substance abuse problems. >> it is also something that doesn't just happen overnight. it is a long journey, a long road that will continue. >> a long road that any parents, teenagers, and schools are facing with no clear destination inside. ♪ judy: the largest strike of the year in the u.s. and the largest strike in higher education ever is in its fourth week. this battle is playing out at the university of california, and it is a fight over for

graduate students, teaching assistants, and postdoctoral workers who do the teaching and work on campus. we look at the stakes of the show down. two more than 48,000 correspondent: more than 48,000 academic workers have left the classroom, taken to the streets, airwaves, advocating for higher wages, housing, and more generously for parents and caregivers. it does not include tenured professors. the university system reached a tentative agreement with some workers last week, but the strike continues as most of the workers are saying they will stay out for as long as it takes until their demands are met. tim kaine is watching this closely. he is an associate professor of higher education at the university of georgia, as well as associate editor of the review of higher education. tim kaine, nice to have you on the newshour.

could u lay out the stakes here? who is striking and what are they demanding? >> sure. it is nice to be here. there are four groups of workers at the university of california who are on strike currently. two groups have reached tentative agreements that are being voted on now. four the groups are graduate student researchers, graduate student teachers, postdoctoral students, and workers. they do not include tenured faculty members. it is over salaries, which the unions argue are woefully low considering the cost of living in california and the cost of housing near campus. the majority of graduate students are paying more than a third of their salary on housing per month. many pay more than half. beyond salaries, the unions are

negotiating for a significant increase in child care benefits and parental leave for longer appointments to provide stability, for eco-friendly transit, and a respectful work environment. >> for people not familr with higher education, how it is structured and work isivided, who were these workers in that ecosystem? >> that is a really important question. we have these pictures of tenured faculty members doing teaching and research in higher education, but in the modern era , that is a small percentage, about 25% on the tenure track. they do the academic work, research, and the teaching of undergraduate students. 75% are not tenure-track members , but graduate students, short-term contracts on postdoctoral researchers. they are among the most precarious workers in higher education, many times hired on a

semester or yearly basis, so one of the things for example the postdoctoral workers have negotiated for in the tentative agreement is a two-year appointment at the beginning rather than one year to provide stability's of work can be improved, so also they can have a understanding of what their link giving conditions will be. >> was these workers say to the university, book, we are an enormous and enter core part of your educational mission and we are the workers in this big structure of the university system, and we need better pay, wages, and conditions, what has the university been saying in response? >> that the conditions are good relative to other institutions. they said the current offer would put the graduate students for example on par with graduate students at some of the most elite private institutions, and

that they are quite good conditions for public institutions. th university recognizes the real challenges around housing, and they argue that the housing they provide is subsidize, 25% or so below with what the market would bear, so they argue that they are working to do everything they can to meet students and the needs of other academic workers. >> this is a huge strike in california. do you have a sense this will resonate outside of the state? >> i think so. it is resonating in higher education specifically. other institutions are looking to california to see what will happen. they are watching to see how this will play out in what the options e moving forward, whether to unionize or if they have an inclination to do so. i don't believe this is part of the larger labor movement, labor

unrest in the past year plus coming out of the worst of covid. we have seen people discontent with working conditions and have seen a number of people discontent with the great disparities in salaries and compensation and working conditions between those who own and manage businesses and those who do a lot of work in business. right now, we are in an important labor moment in the country's history and this will have an impact in higher education writ large and in the economy writ large. correspondent: thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. ♪ judy: bill mckibben as an environmentalist and founder of third act, an organization encourages people over 60 to take action on climate change.

tonight, he shares his brief but spectacular take on working together on climate action. ♪ wanted to take the young poet from the marshall islands. i wanted to recite one of her poems on the ice shelf that if it melts to a the company she country she was born in. while we were hovering in the helicopter, a 20 story high chunk of this ice shelf broke off and fell into the ocean. i was dangling outside the helicopter with my cell phone just trying to capture some sense of what this was like. >> on the one hand, it is dreadful, because it means the sea has risen a fraction of a millimeter in somebody's life is that much harder, but it is also

a wonder, and insanely beautiful planet we were born on. even as you look on in horror, you look on in awe. ♪ we are used to thinking that change taking a long time, for glaciers to move or oceans to shift. right now, it is happening in real time. everybody has seen those pictures that came back from the first apollo missions in space in the 1960's. those pictures are as out of date as my high school picture. we have melted half of the arctic in my lifetime. in 1970, there were 70% more wild animals wandering around this earth and there are now. kids are doing extraordinary work organizing around climate change but there is something a little undignified about taking

the bigges problem the world has ever gotten into an asking junior high school students to solve it for you. third act is a new organization designed to get people over the age of 60 working to defend our climate and to defend our democracy. we started organizing third act because we started to understand how much power those of us over the age of 60 possess. a, there are a lot of us, 70 million people over 60. b, we punch way above our numbers because we vote. c, fair or not, we ended up with most of thmoney. baby boomers and the silent generation have 70% of financial assets. it helps to have some people with headlines like mine engaged in this work. if you're in your 60's, 70's, 80's, your first act was in that

time of rapid social, cultural, political transformation of the 1960's and 70's. our second act was more about consumerism than citizenship. that is water under the bridge. now people emerge in their third act with skills, resources and with time, which they may not have had before, and with kids or grandkids. your legacy is the planet you live on and leave behind for the people you love the most. the planet and democracy we will leave behind at the moment seems likely to be much shabbier than the ones we were born into. most of the people who realize that say that there iseal meaning in continuing to try the project of building a better society. my name is bill mckibben and this is my brief but spectacular take on working together. judy: and you can watch more

brief but spectacular videos onne at pbs.org/newshour/brief. that is the newshour tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online in here tomorrow evening. for all of us, thank you. stay safe. we will see soon. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life, life well planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the target foundation, racial

equity in creating change to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is pbs newshouwest, from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪

>> (choir singing) >> "the angel gabriel was sent from god to a city of galilee named..." >> narrator: every sunday, in every corner of the world... >> "...the virgin, betrothed to a man whose name..." >> narrator: ...people gather to hear a story. >> "...and the virgin's name was mary." >>arrator: for more than 2,000 years, that story has been told and retold. >> "...and to bear a son." >> narrator: along the way, each generation has found in its telling its own meaning and interpretation. >> "'...u shall call his name