judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight. set free. american basketball star brittney griner is released from detention in russia in exchange for an arms dealer held in the united states. then voting on equality. to congress gives final passage to legislation that protects same-sex and interracial marriage. and fighting blackouts, ukraine's electrical workers risk their lives to restore power as russia targets the country's energy grid. >> to have a complete destruction of substations, of equipment, i've never seen anything like this before. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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♪ 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: brittney griner is finally free tonight after a dramatic prisoner swap. the women's professional basketball star had been held by russia for most of this year on a minor drug offense and was starting to serve a sentence of nine years in a prison camp. today, she was exchange for a notorious russian arms dealer doing 25 years any u.s. prison. ni schifrin begins our coverage. nick in a penal colony 6000 miles from home, briney griner walked to freed. >> are you ready to fly?

>> yes. ni: on a tarmac, the wrongfully detained basketball star was traded for a notorious criminal greeted by russian officials with a hug. the deal done, president biden spoke with greiner in the oval office and embraced her wife after britney's 294 days in detention. >> held under intolerable circumstances, she will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones as she should have been all along. >> over the last nine months, y'all have been privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, so i'm standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion i have right now is sincere gratitude. >> griner has been in russian custody since february. she was convicted of drug smuggling and possession after she landed in moscow with two

vape cartridges of cannabis oil. >> [indiscernible] >> she was sentenced to nine years in prison and transferred to a female nal colony known for torture and forced labor. russia's legal system has a 99% conviction rate in the u.s. called her trials and miscarriage of justice. she was traded55-year-old, whens arrested in bangkok, he was one of the world's most wanted men, extradited to the u.s. and found guilty by a u.s.ourt of conspiracy to kill americans and providing aid to terrist organizations. he was so notorious he inspired the 2005 film lord of war. >> your stocks are dangerously depleted. >> senior u.s. officials say they proposed freeing two wrongfully detained americans, g

riner and former marine paul whelan. he was convicted on espionage charges that the u.s. set was this sham. >> they abducted him on holiday. >> today the secretary of state sa the only option was griner. >> this s not a choice of which american, the choice was one or none. >> david is paul's brother. what is your response to brittney griner's release? >> it's great news any time in american comes home from wrongful detention. >> and yet i can imagine it is so difficult to see her released and paul not released. >> it is and we are grateful to the white house for the trust that they showed us yesterday, they let us know in advance this was coming, so that my sister, my brother, and our parents could process this in private essentially and try to come to terms with the bitter side of the bittersweet moment. >> today, some republicans

criticized the swap. one said paul whelan should have been part of the deal. texas republican mike mccall said trading victor boot will only embolden vladimir putin to continue his evil practice of taking innocent americans hostage. >> it seems they had come to an impasse and whoever it was in russia was not going to make a good-faith deal that would include paul. if the biden administration had continued to wait, they would have been prolonging brittney griner's detention for no good reason. it's not great for paul and not what our family would have chosen, but it's the right thing for an american president to do for an american citizen wrongfully detained. if it means exchanging a 50-year-old arms dealer who has been in u.s. custody more than a decade, i think that the harm is not a substantial his people would make it seem. >> do you fear the price america

paid raises the price for what they would have to do to release your brother? >> no, i think for each of these cases, whether russia or iran or syria or china, each of these cases has its own reqrement. i'm not se the requirements have changed at all. i don't think the rsian government would expect it. they have certain things they are hoping to get as a concession from the u.s. government and they haven't gotten it yet. >> u.s. vows to bring we lindholm. >> sadly, russia is treating paul's case differently than brittany's. while we have not succeeded in securing paul, we are not giving up. we will never give up. >> whelan told us they were asking for a spy. we turn to the lead agent in the drug enforcement administration who initiated the investigation

of victor boot and saw it through to his conviction. welcome to the newshour. do you think trading him for brittney griner was in the interest of the united states? >> i don't think it's in the interest of the united states, but i will start by saying what i've said before, i have nothing but well wishes for the family and i'm happy that they are reunited that their loved one. that said, i think there are some very negative national security implications from such an unfair trade. the first of those implications i think is american citizens throughout the world just got made a commodity and have a bull's-eye put on them i truly believe that we just sent a message that it is good business to have an american citizen in your pocket through a false detention or a kidnapping because they may be needed for a trade someday and it's a nice equity to have. the second reason is i think it

greatly tarnishes our rule of law, one of our strongest assets worldwide. i think that by engaging in this type of negotiation, i think that we reduced a judicial jury verdict into a political stunt much in the same way that moscow has treated ms. griner. >> on the first point you made, the administration says it has taken steps to deter other governments from taking americans wrongfully, including new authorities, new possibilities of sanctions, and calling out other governments from taking americans hostage. do you think that is enough? >> i don't. i think those are all nice points to make. i think from years of sanctions in venezuela and now russia

through the ukrainian conflict we can see the effect sanctions have and how they can be controverted and outlived. i think it justifies all common sense and logic. it's right out of the playbook of organizations like hezbollah and others that this is good business. >> on the point you made about degrading the rule of law, senior administration officials said, we try to form all sorts of alternatives, we try t pay as little price as possible. we think there is a moral obligation to bring detained americans home. is there? >> i think there's a moral obligation to do everything in our power to continue to support those americans and make every attempt to get them home, but that does not mean i don't think that has limits. i think that we have to take into account the other amecan citizens whose lives might be imperiled by taking such actions and the national security implications. i think we have to find ways to

start discouraging american citizens from placing themselves unnecessarily in ha's way. whether it is a missionary trying to spread god's word, and adventure seeker who wants to see ancient ruins, for a person that is traveling to an enemy of state for personal gain. >> we did here president biden urge americans to take into account travel guidance by the state department. how do you think the trade will impact the u.s. possibility to work with governments overss to pursue criminals? >> i think it really hurt our stance in the world. i think it's going to be very hard to take the united states at face value moving forward after some of these trades. we make incredible partnerships with law enforcement throughout the world. cases and investigations like the one of mr. bout are incredibly delicate and take a tremendous amount of resources,

not only in physical resources, but in relationships interest. some of these relationships take years to build and we make great promises to our foreign counterparts. >> tell us more about viktor bout. he described himself as the largest arms transporter in the world. >> and equip made him unique is that he had a private fleet of retired soviet military aircraft and he had reach that none other that i've seen was able to utilize to place this deadly cargo in conflict zones through the world where other people simply couldn't deliver. that is what made them unique and made him even more of a threat not only to the united states national security, but to global stability. >> you had a long career in law enforcement. you stay in touch with colleagues still working and the department of juste and other federal law enforcement agencies. i wonder, what are they telling you?

goes colleagues still in government. >> president biden has lost the department of justice, plain and simple. i've spoken to multiple levels, every level of law enforcement. including the prosecutorial side, the investigation side. it universally seems to be very disenfranchised. crestfallen and quite frankly i think that the department of justice has been lost for president biden. >> with all due respect, the attorney general at least publicly works very closely with the president. what evidence do you have that as you put it the president has lost the department of justice? >> i think i have an idea of where most folks fall and it certainly would seem that the state department won this round. >> meaning the state department believed in this trade and the department of justice did not?

>> that's my impression. >> we will have to leave it there. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. judy: to look more closely at the biden administration's efforts to secure grantors release and the controversy surrounding paul we lend, who remains in prison, we are joined by john kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the white house national security council. welcome back to the newshour. how is it that the russians had so much leverage over the u.s. that they were able to give us back a professional basketball player, who had been found guilty of a minor charge, in exchange for winning the release of a notorious arms dealer, someone who was considered one of the most wanted men in the world, and that he was convicted of conspiracy to kill americans? >> thanks, judy.

appreciate you having me. obviously, nobody wanted to see mr. bout be a free man six years before his sentence was due to be complete. and we were acting in good faith with the russians over many months to try to secure not just brittney griner, but paul whelan. that said, through all those weeks and months, it was clear, two things. one that they were treating mr. we lend separately because of the sham espionage charges they leveled against him. therefore, there would not be a way of getting them together out. two, the only way they would accept brittney griner's release was by mr. bout. this was the deal we could get, this was the moment we could get it. the choice was we get one american home or we get none. we felt we had a moral obligation to do what we could to get brittney griner back home

to her family and teammates where she belongs. we will continue the work to get paul whelan home. >> americans certainly are celebrating brittney griner's release, but another part of this is we heard david we lend tell nick schifrin that the russians were asking for another prisoner convicted of espionage in the united states, that there could have been a deal if that had happened. why didn't that happen? >> i'm going to be very careful here because we are still actively trying to get paul home and i would rather not get into any kind of details of what the options might look like and what that might be. we are actively working on this and we will stay at that task. i think you can understand why we wouldn't want to get into speculative discussions when we still don't have paul back home where he belongs. we still don't have an agreement to get him released. judy: when you say actively working on it, our negotiations underway right now? >> we have not stopped trying to

negotiate for his release. that continues today. and it will continue tomorrow and the next day. we are in active discussions with the russians still. even as we concluded brittney griner's case, to continue to work on paul's. judy: let me ask about the comments from the former dea agent, he told our nick schifrin just now, he said in his view this trade, what happened, sends a message to the world that illegal detention and kidnapping of american citizens is a good business. >> a couple of things here. we have ken a lot of actions to try to discourage exactly that. by instituting new sanctions, new visa ban requirements. we have incorporated guidance to ericans traveling overseas about the detention risk in any

country, including russia. i think any nation that would come away from this trade thinking i can do this would be making a dangerous presumption because we are going to continue to hold people accountable. at the same time, we need to think about the signal it sends to the american people. if you do everything right and you still get detained, your government is not going to forget you. we may have to make tough decisions that we do not take lightly. but if we have to do that, if that is the only recourse, you need to know that your president, your government is going to stand behind you and do what we can to bring you home. ju: what is it right now to stop the russians from grabbing another american anywhere in russia right now? >> mr. putin has done this before. this is not a new tactic for him. and in americans traveling to russia or who want to travel to russia out to think about that,

the fact that he has done this before and it could happen again. that is w we've got that designation on, -- on russia and other countries, the detention risk. we want americans to go overseas, but to be fully informed. unfortunately, this is a tactic mr. putin has used in the past. judy: i want to quote something else the former dea agent said. not only that it greatly tarnishes the rule of law in this country, but he went on to say that it reduces the judicial verdict to a political stunt. is that what this was? >> a political stunt. my goodness. i think i will just refrain a little bit. there was no politics here. this wasn't a stunt. this was about getting an american citizen back home to her family and her teammates where sh belongs.

she should not have been detainedn russia for one hour, let alone the 10 months she was in intolerable conditions, as the president called it. the same goes for mr. whelan. this is not about a political stunt, this is standing up for the rights of american citizens at home and around the world and doing so unapologetically. we are not celebrating the fact that mr. bout is walking free, but we are going to stay close, we will be vigilant on our national security. we made an assessment before we agreed to release him. he was not serving a life sentence. he was going to be out in 2029. eventually, he would be a free man. it is six years earlier. we will watch what he does. if he or anybody else continues to threaten american national security, we have the tools in place in the will in place to hold them accountable. judy: one other comment that he

made was that president biden has no lost the department of justice. that in the view of people he talks to their, this was a win for the state department, but the department of justice thought that was wrong. if that is what is going on internally? >> the entire national security team worked very hard over many months to arrange to get brittney griner home. at the same time, they were working to get paul whelan home. they will stay at that task, the entire interagency team, and that includes people from the justice department. i can't speak for every member, but i can say writ large across the national security team and president biden himself, this was an extraordinary, long, dedicated effort by the national security professionals across the administration to make this deal and to get brittney griner on that plane. judy: mark vogel still being

held in russia. any word on his fate? is the administration working to get his release? >> we are certainly working to try to better understand his situation. there's a limit to what i can say in this particular case for a variety of reasons. i'm going to have to be a bit guarded and careful here. we are certainly mindful of the situation and we are doing the best we can to get as much information and context as we can about that individual's state. judy: john kirby joining us from the white house. thank you so much. >> yes, ma'am. judy: now, we hear from a vocal advocate for brittney griner in one of the most prominent voices in women's basketball. dawn staley is the head of the south carolina gamecocks and a hall of fame player. she coached brittney griner and her teammates when they won the tokyo olympics and she has tweeted in support of grantor daily throughout her captivity.

we spoke to her earlier today. >> i cried tears of joy. i've got a dog that sleeps in the bed with me. he was looking at me like what is wrong? what is going on? i just told him, she's coming home. >> why do you think you cried? >> for nine months, 293 days, i thought about her every single day. i didn't get emotional. i didn't worry. i just prayed and i just forced myself to be strong for her because i know during those nine months, she had to have weak moments. i'm sure she did, so i wanted to be her strength. to be able to uphold somebody else for nine months, to now know she is coming home is a weight that is lifted.

only the people who were in this journey with her could feel. there is no more room. there is no more room to feel. there is no more strength to be had. it is more thankfulness, thankfulness, thinking god that he allowed this to happen for her and her family. >> you were a pin every day. you posted about her every day. you give interviews, you kept talking about her and making sure people did not forget her name. you are part of a larger network. we should note the wnba has a strong history of advocacy and speaking out. tell me about that network of support and the message of coming together. >> i could identify what strong women look like. i grew up in a household with her mother who was incredibly strong. i always acquitted my mother's strength to having the strength of 10 men. and when us women, strong women,

when we forge and link up for something we believe in, we know wholeheartedly it's going to happen. so a lot of strong women, the women of the wnba,he women in the white house, e women in all these organizations that advocate for people who are wrongly detained in a foreign country. we can't do it alone. president biden, god love him. he wanted this to take place. secrety blinken. all those people, we lifted up in prayer, we lifted up and strength to make sure they had the knowledge and the fight in the strength to do the right thing and that is to bring brittney griner home. unfortunately, there is another party involved in bringing her home and that is the russian government.

they decided that only she is on the table and that leaves paul whelan and his family in a position of what we were all in nine months ago, but with belief and hope and prayer, the same god that brought her home we hope will bring paul home sooner than later. >> i've got to ask you, brittney griner is a superstar, she's a seven-time wnba all-star, a two time olympic gold medalist, and there are those who set over the past several months, if this was lebron, he would be home by now. do you buy that? >> i've never commented on it because all of my strength and all of my desire to bring her home were for her. i don't want to compare. there are a lot of places in which things are not equitable here in the states. men and women or whatever. black, white.

that argument is for another time. we wanted to put all of our synergy into bringing her home. now that she is home, let's have it all. let's talk about it all. do i think that if it was a lebron or tom brady or somebody else, i think we would probably be moving a little bit quicker. that is not on our doing. that is not on our doing. i think it is all predicat on russia and their unpredictability and how they operate. i do think brittney griner coming home and then relinquishing her has a lot to do with her actually playing in theirountry and may be showing her little bit more grace than some other prisoners. i think you have to think about

that as well. when i say i pray for all of our prisoners, our american citizens who are wrongfully detained or detained in another country, if we could get them home, i prayed that they get home to their loved ones. >> coach, you worked with her and coached her for years on the olympic team. you know her fortitude, her heart. how do you think she got through those unimaginable months in russian detention? >> she's a black woman and she's an outwardly gay woman. when you have to endure those two things in our country, it prepares you to be able to handle the ordeal that she went through. the mental fortitude she need to have to get through and the people, her supporters, the people on the ground advocating for her, lifting her up. so, with all of that, it allowed

her to make it through 293 days. so, i mean i'm happening -- happy that she doesn't have to endure actually being there, but we know there is a loof decompressing and there was a lot of probably therapy she has to go through to get back to equal footing. i don't know if she will ever get back to that, so i do think her heart's desire will be pushed toward helping people who are in that situation abroad. and here in our country. >> coach dawn staley, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. judy: a lot of gratitude there and you can watch more of the interview on line at pbs.org/newshour. ♪ >> i'm vanessa ruiz in for

stephanie sy. we were returned to the full program after the latest headlines. congress gave final approval to requiring all states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages. it passed the house with nearly 40 republicans joining democrats in support. on the floor, arguments focused on protecting marriage rights against a conservative supreme court versus protecting religious freedoms. >> the bill right of religious liberty by depriving religious and faith-based organizations of their tax exempt status and depriving individual people of faith of being able to carry out fully their faith without repercussions. >> it is hard to believe that today in 2022, we are still fighting to protect the rights of all americans to marry the person they love. but the supreme court's actions

this summer have shown us that we cannot take our rights for granted. no one should have to live in fear that a supreme court decision cou invalidate their marriage in the blink of an eye. >> the bill now goes to president biden for his signature. we will get the details after the news summary. the house of representatives passed the defense authorization bill. it won a sweeping bipartisan vote and goes to the senate. makes changes in the handling of sexual cases in the military and drops the covid vaccine mandate for troops. the u.s. fda authorized covid booster shots today for children as young as six months old. the pfizer and moderna boosters target the original virus and the omicron subriants. shots will be available once the cdc gives approval. the united states will provide 270 $5 million in additional

military aid to ukraine. the package, expected to be announced friday will include ammunition and high-tech systems to counter russian drone attacks. iran has announced its first execution of a protester arrested in ongoing unrest. he was convicted of attacking a security guard with a machete. protes broke out in mid after young kurdish woman died in police custody. acss the persian gulf, chinese present jie zheng being held high-profile meetings with saudi arabia's rulers. xi was taken through the royal palace by the crown prince. they signed technology and other agreements and rejected criticism of their human rights records peru's ousted president appeared in court to face rebellion charges. he was arrested wednesday after he tried to dissolve congress and lawmakers voted him out.

today, peruvia tv show him in prison garb listening to court proceedings. prosecutors warned against releasing impending trial. >> it should be noted that it freed, he could communicate with gornment officials to hide or destroy elements of conviction to prevent the investigation of the truth. >> his defense attorney argued his arrest was arbitrary. back in this country, a congressiona report charged that the wasngton commanders football team and owner dan snyder created a toxic work culture with rampant sexual misconduct. the house oversight committee said he permitted and participated in the troubling conduct. the commanders call the findings one sided. lava from haii's volcano is no longer an imminent threat tthe big island main highway. scientists said that while the volcano was still erupting, lava flow heading toward the road is

now cut off. the dormant volcano began erupting on november 22. still to come, ukrainians brace for a brutal winter amid russian attacks on the country's energy grid. how suburban zoning rules are causing rents to spike. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: as we reported earlier, congressassed landmark legislation aimed at protecting same-sex and intercial marriages. lisa: lawmakers from both chambers came together to cheer final passage of the bill. the move comes after supreme court justice clarence thomas.

kate, how significant is this bill? >> a lot of people are reporting that this protects marriage equality and in some ways it does, but it does not codify marriage equality. what that means is that this would make marriages transportable from state to state for states that do have pro-marriage laws on the books, but for states that have bands, you still could not get married in those states. lisa: if they take the step to change national law, this would situation. republicans many voted no because they were worried out religious liberties. what are their arguments and what does the bill say about that?

>> the republican talking points about religious liberty tend to be that there is a worry that churches will be forced to perform same-sex unions. there are religious freedom protections in this bill. we were the protections that already exist. a church or nonprofit that is set up for religious worship would not have to perform those unions. however, if you do have a nonprofit or business that is set up and wants to do business or is accepting government funds, for example a charity that takes money and is doing adoption services, it would probably be still subject to state laws. there is not new law created by this in terms of nondiscrimination law. lisa: but some of those nonprofits may have to recognize an out-of-state same-sex union if they want state funds. >> that's correct, but that's

not different from the law we are living under right now. because we have marriage equality nationwide. lisa: i want to check with you abt the last midterm election. this was a very high-stakes election and i wonder what is your reporting on what it meant and what it showed about lgbtq issues and politics surrounding them right now? >> i think what we found was that even though anti-lgbtq+ rhetoric has gotten louder and louder and louder, what are reporting bore out is that lgbtq+ candidates won in higher numbers than we've ever seen before. in 2018, we saw 400 out lgbtq+ candidates run. this year, there were 1060 five

lgbtq+ candidates on the ballot. equality voters are growing. what evangelicals continue to shrink in numbers. i think when we talk about all this and i lgbtq+ legislation, we are seeing this as a backlash to greater political power of lgbtq+ people, but we often miss that part of the message because it is not as loud. >> as we finish up, thinking about those debates and sometimes we see ugly rhetoric, sometimes more threats of violence across the country, where do you think the queer movement is right now? what is this moment right now for queer america? >> when i talk to advocates and experts, everyone tells me that this is how social movements go. civil rights movements are often on this trajectory of any time

there is movement forward, advancement forward, there are pain pnts along the way. and that we are in one of those pain points a backlash and pain. especially transgeer people are experiencing a moment of increased visibility, rights, and acceptance, there is a backlash to that. it is a moment of incredible acceptance and visibility and without will come this really painful backlash. it is sometimes hard to see the moment of visibility and advancement. lisa: you can read the reporting at the 19th news. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. judy: for almost two months, russia has targeted ukraine's

energy grid in an attempt to sap and freeze the country's morale. one point, more than 10 million ukrainians had no electricity or heat. our special correspondent and videographer report from key on the cat and mouse game between russia and the ukrainian workers risking their lives to keep the country running. >> they call them the new heroes, ukrainian electrical workers doing the possible, keeping the lights on despite relentless russian attacks of critical infrastructure. the repair team leader says for weeks his unit has been working almost nonstop. >> we have been fixing the equipment that was destroyed as the result of the black outs the power spike but also as a result of the fighting happening around key. >> they face a constant threat, pressure launching hundreds of strikes and russian missiles.

and the cruiser in the crossfire. russian attacks have killed at least four workers of this energy company alone. >> it is difficult, the staff is scared. when a rocket flies over your head or something explodes nearby, sometimes people just refuse to work, not because they don't want to, but because their mental health is suffering. >> ukraine officials say more than 500 cities, towns, and villages face power problems. russia has struck nearly every major substation and now the country is running out of parts to fix the soviet era grid. ukrainian foreign minister recently urged allies to send spare parts quickly. >> we need transformers. when we have transformers and generators, we can restore our system, our energy grid, and provide people with decent living conditions, which president putin is trying to deprive them of. >> usaid and the u.s. of embassy

has delivered tens of millions of dollars of emergency generators. the u.s. pledged an additional $53 million for additional parts like transformers that run high-voltage power into home electricity. the u.s. even purchase body armor for utility workers. >> this assault on the inferred -- energy infrastructure and on civilians is not normal and can't be normalized. there needs to be an understanding of the bralization of the country that is quite simply barbaric. >> it is constant. the workers are there and the russian military destroys the infrastructure again. in a 24 year career, he has never faced such challenges. >> to have a complete destruction of substations, to complete destruction of equipment, i've never seen anything like this before. >> according to recent

estimates, almost 50% of country's energy infrastructure has been destroyed by russian targeted attacks. this means millions of people all across the country are experiencing daily blackouts. one such family -- with her 13-year-old and four-year-old. she showed us how they survive blackouts, some of which have lasted days. >> we have candles, we have our banks for our phones, we have natural gas because we are lucky so we can boil water, cook some food, make some tea or some soup. >> the real challenges david's inhaler, he needs it for his heart condition and the inhaler needs electricity. she tries to have him use it between the blackouts. she and her family brace for winter with the help of slippers, a present from her mother-in-law. >> our biggest challenge is the school. right now it is online.

whenever there's a blackout, there is no internet and it is a problem for kids and teachers. classes are often being canceled. >> the blackouts are designed to sap the country's morale. her husband works from home. but they are not planning to leave. when i ask why, she switches to english. >> it's very important to stay here, our family together in kyiv. it is important to stay home and help our country. >> even despite all the difficulties and hardships that this winter is promising? >> i thi this winter will be the hardest winter of our lives. >> cardiac surgeons recently had to save a child's life using headlamps. ukrainian resilience is on display at kyiv eating points,

they call them invincibility centers. they are equipped with generators, heating equipment, and some even have satellite internet. people come to charge their phones, stay warm, or keep up their schoolwork. >> we come here because when there's no electricity, we can't do our homework since we need internet and power. >> this center is a savior for these freshman students, who say they will keep coming for as long as they are open. but kyiv's mayor emits -- admits these are not enough in case of a long-term blackout. facing a long, dark, and col winter. for the pbs newshour, from kyiv, ukraine. ♪ judy: the cost o hf few years, helping drive levels of inflation not seen in decades.

one key factor is in many places building has not kept up with demand. the suburban counties of long island east of new york city flag and the nation. they have built less housing than almost any comparable area the country. after deces of fight, there are affordable housing. efforts to push for more development. >> a 14 acre eyesore in huntington, lo island obtained by local nonprofit to build housing. >> 146 units of affordable housing. >> right now it looks like scrubland. right now, that is what it is and it has been like this for 43 years. >> 43 years. >> housing help set up to build here when jimmy carter was president. legal opposition and approval delays have blocked it through

reagan, bush, clinton, bush, obama, trump, and biden. meanwhile -- >> the coastal housing on long island has significantly increased year afterear after year, even for young professionals. there is hardly any rental housing. you can see the sign the bus drivers are needed. this is alter long island, not just here. >> the battles over affordable housing are commonplace, but the counties that make up long island have a higher number of detached single-family homes than almost any county in the country. >> i lived on the second floor. it was around $3000 a month. for a one bedroom apartment. >> for young folks who grew up here and wanted to stay like this 27-year-old, buying was a pipe dream, renting a nightmare. you could not afford it anymore. >> no, unfortunately. you go to a good public high

school, a good university, get a good paying job, yet the market rate apartments in huntington are pricing out young professionals making upwards of $100,000. >> where has the opposition come from? >> in large part of the opposition are the nimby's and these are people who don't want affordable housing in their backyard. >> the nimby's, the not in my back yarders, determined to preserve their quiet suburb and make their resistance heard. >> it is not just an issue of affordable housing, there are issues of density, traffic, and schools. >> we have to talk about making it affordable for everybody. when ts gets built, that's great for the 146 people that are going to live there, but what about everybody? >> hector, a lifelong resident and real estate broker. >> developers like to build.

it definitely creates high-density, more people, it definitely creates more congestion and traffic. >> but he mainly insists it is government subsidies to developers and lower income residents that taxpayers will ultimately pay for that drive his opposition to projects like this. >> we don't have an affordability problem. what we have is a tax problem. we have some of the highest tax -- pperty taxes on long island. i'm ok with building any building as long as it doesn't cause taxpayers to suffer more in having to subsidize. we are already suffering enough by continuing to bail these >> another thinks long islanders have long had a problem which proceeds taxes. >> just to look for what it is. we do have a history of housing

segregation. there was a lot of fear, not only here, but also on long island. >> a community designed for modern living. >> in the 1940's, farms across the island were being turned into neighborhoods. when iconic community was the model. single-family homes built as a community that gis returning from world war ii could afford. people of color explicitly kept out. more recently after a newsday hidden camera investigation, new york state cited three real estate brokerages for discriminating against homebuyers of color. no surprise to this woman, who emigrated from peru and settled on long island in 1996. >> i moved to a white upscale community, within days i got a message on my door saying i don't belong here, that i need to move out. i refused to move out, they left a second note that they would burn down my house.

i got a third note that they would kill me. when i received the third note, i was pregnant and i said i'm not going to put the life of my baby at risk, so i told my neighbors and moving out. >> but enough convinced her to stay and volunteered to keep an eye on her house, and she became an affordable housing activist, who finally sees more long island neighbors coming around now that they are aging as she is. >> now i don't have to go from being a helicopter momo being an airplane grandmother. there is a place for my grandchildren. there was a place for my adult children to move in. there was a place for me to live when i'm a senior citizen. >> but just as important may be the cost to long island's economy. this company empys 82. sheaid she could hire 10 more. >> i paid their rent for a year and then it was on them to find their own place.

>> you are paying the rent and then? >> it was the sticker shock of the cost of living. understand, renting, even renting alace here is upwards of $3500 a month. >>'s ceo has a message for neighbors bemoaning density and taxes. >> you all taxpayers are benefiting from my employees working hard. the number of employees i hire, the number of employees getting paychecks, buying food at the stores, i'm your economic impact making this region successful. and i'm telling you is a business owner, my people can't afford to buy a house. they are going to leave. it's hard enough to compete for talent. now i have to find someone talented and able to afford housing. >> in fact, she is so desperate, she's looking for help from above. >> i'm looking at my roof wondering, obviously there is

structural engineering and sewer issues, but i'm thinking, the footprint of this building, how many apartments can put up there? >> seriously? >> why not? can i put a second floor on here where i could put 20 of my employees right on top? we got to do something. with got to find square footage somewhere. >> i asked the gas station owner across the street about the opposition. >> it used to be a lot. i don't see too many people anymore against this project. >> because they need the workers. >> yes. and how expensive it is living on long island. >> at the moment, the weeds still rule. by early next year, 100 46 units of affordable housing will rise here. yes, 43 years late for some, but better than never. for the pbs newshour, paul

solman on long island. judy: affordable housing, a problem all across the country. online, you may have seen the stunning images captured by the james webb space telescope. but just how are they made? we compare them to previous pictures from the hubble telescope on our website. pbs.org/newsho. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again tomorrow evening. for all of us, thank you, please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> mor funding has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that's -- that fits you. >> the landscape has changed and not for the last time.

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