>> on "the newshour tonight, mass arrests in brazil after thousands stormed government buildings. >> president biden meets with his counterpart in mexico city as the u.s. announces a strategy shift at the southern border. >> and a navy veteran describes being held hostage in his first ever television interview. >> they stole nearly three years of my life, but i was not going to let them steal my soul. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs

newshour" has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of "the newshour," including -- the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening and welcome to "the newshour." it was the most serious assault on latin america's largest democracy in decades. >> supporters of former president bolsonaro stormed the center of power in brazil's capital, demanding the military take over and evict current president lula da silva. today, bolsonaro, who is currently in florida, was admitted to the hospital. >> in brazil's capital today, right police showed up in for and sent in the cavalry to try to dismantle a movement fueled by former president j your bolsonaro. yesterday, they launched a frontal assault on brazil's democracy.

they rampaged through congress hoping to reinstall bolsonaro. they assaulted the presidential palace and occupied it, hoping the military would overthrow the new inhabitant. they assaulted police officers who tried t resist, and they ransacked the supreme court and stole an official chair and a symbol of the state. two years and two days since the january 6 riot in washington, the echoes were overt -- a violin attempt to undo an election in the name of the losing candidate who claimed fraud. quits military intervention is what we are asking for, period. there is no going back. we are not leaving here. >> they kept it up even as they were arrested. >> this is an injustice. there are no criminals here. we were just protesting. we want to save the country. >> authorities blame public security officials.

president lula called the rioters "frenetic fascists" who committed terrorist acts. >> they will all pay with the force of law for this irresponsible, undemocratic gesture, this gesture of vandals and fascists. >> bolsonaro never accepted defeat but did not try to stop transition. yesterday he tweeted, peaceful demonstrations are part of democracy, but violence such as that occurred today escape the rule. bolsonaro is in florida on a visa he obtained while still president. the state department suggested he would need to leave or apply for a new visa within 30 days. >> it would be incumbent on the visa board to either take that action. >> the u.s. also promises to cooperate with any brazilian veatanlyqu a festassoris to ncae brazilian extradition requests. to discuss this more, i'm joined by a professor of government and

public policy and associate vice provost for international affairs at cornell university. thanks very much. welcome to "the newshour." bolsonaro has been saying the election is rigged. he has been calling for supporters to take over congress and the supreme court. was yesterday a culminati of his efforts to delegitimize his own defeat? >> i think so. i think yesterday showed danger of undermining the credibility of elections. we have seen this in the u.s. and now we are seeing it in brazil. it is clear that through a large sector of the population, lula is not a legitimate president, and this is in great part because of the concerns that bolsonaro during the campaign after the first round of elections and even after the second round, he refused to concede. what we see right now is a direct consequence of that. trust in eltions is very difficult to rebuild. i think this will take quite a bit of time for brazil to

recover. >> in this country, we talk about donald trump is no longer president, but his ideas are part of the mainstream. are boatswain aro's ideas here to stay in brazil? >> i think that is right. one concrete way we will see his ideas endure is through congress. parties aligned with bolsonaro actually did quite well. there will be a strong, conservative sector, a strong right-wing contingent of parties in congres and it will be fairly difficult for president lula to govern without trying to accommodate these positions to some extent. >> obviously, some of these challenges to democracies put pain and pressure on the institutions of the democracies. it appears yesterday that the institutions help. can they continue to hold? >> it has been an important test for brazil's democratic institutions. i think these pressures will continue throughout the will

administration. if anything, they might become more and more frequent. it will be important to see what the new administration does to address the situation and to punish -- make sure that there is punishment so that this does not happen again. otherwise, supporters for bolsonaro, if there is not a strong response, they might be emboldened and may attempt or drastic measures in the future, but what we saw yesterday is that the specter of a military coup may be alive and well in brazil. there was a coup in 1964. the military was in power for about two decades. what we saw is that a lot of these people participating in the riots were proactively very outspoken in terms of inviting the military to step in to try to resolve the situation. >> to your point about punishment, it seems that in the past, brazil has tolerated some of the extreme right. could this lead brasilia to do something it has not done before, which is rein it in?

>> the silver lining that in the eyes of some sectors in brazilian society, the far right is playing with fire here. it may be perhaps they were willing to accommodate these sectors before and now they may not be willing to tolerate this. during the bolsonaro administration, there was an intense military station in public life. they will have tolerance for that and that will resonate among sectors of the society that use to tolerate these actions and that will hopefully have very little tolerance for that in the future. >> we have seen strains on other democracies. we are also seeing rising polarization. how important is brazil's internal response to democracy across the region? >> brazil is not only a regional leader but even on the world stage, it is important what brazil does.

if we think of latin america in general, places like peru or ecuador where there is a lot of political friction or political instability right now and people are watching closely, and it is important for democratically elected governments across the region to close ranks and expresd support to make sure this does not happen again in brazil for anywhere else in the region. >> how significant is this in the global context of right-wing populism and threats to democracy? >> we see that right-wing parties, especially extreme right wing parties around the world, are adopting some of the tactics, some of the strategies that we have seen in the u.s. from places like in spain where the far right party is adopting a lot of the same slogans or we are seeing in hungary, so we are likely to see more of this, unfortunately, not less, and as far as polarization continues to

increase around the world, we are likely to continue to see these situations. >> thank you very much. >> the white house now says that president biden spoke with brazilian president lula this afternoon to convey his support, and they agreed lula would visit washington in early february. ♪ stephanie: here are the latest headlines. a powerful storm is lashing california. tonight, rescuers and the search for a five-year-old boy who was swept away in floodwaters in montecito. his mother was rescued, but the waters are too treacherous for divers to resume the search for her son. the storm is wreaking havoc and follows more than a week of storms that have already claimed 14 lives. flood warnings are in effect in major swaths of northern and central california. some 10,000 residents of

montecito in santa barbara county as well as 32,000 in santa cruz are under evacuation warnings. sacramento city unified was among several city school districts that canceled classes. more than 130 5000 california customers were without power as of monday afternoon. meteorologists are predicting the storm could lead to $1 billn in damages. many residential areas are in shambles. trees have fallen on cars and blocked roads. >> i had gone upstairs with a flashlight, and suddenly i heard a real loud concussion, and i knew this tree had fallen over. >> a fallen branch killed a woman in sacramento last night. california's governor encouraged people to stay home. >> that's the imperative we are trying to express here, the seriousness of purpose in terms of being safe and being thoughtful. use your common sense.

>> californians are countg losses after a series of days of relentless rain and historic snowfall, including this business owner. >> it is our family restaurant. we have had it for, like, a decade. it is definitely a place where we have had a lot of good memories. it is more than just a business. it is really hard to see it in the state that it is in. >> the treacherous weather is not expected to let up until later this week. tonight, the entire town of montecito and several other communities are under mandatory evacuation orders. the justice department is reviewing potentially classified documents found in president joe biden's former institute. the white house said today that a small batch of documents with classified markings were discovered as biden's personal attorneys were clearing out the offices. the president kept an office there after he left the vice presidency. a special grand jury in georgia has finished investigating if

former president trump and his allies committed crimes trying to overturn the 2020 election. a judge in atlanta dissolved grand jury panel today. there's a hearing later this month to determine if it will make its findings public. the u.s. house of representatives passed a new rules package this evening. one provision makes it easier to oust newly minted house speaker kevin mccarthy. the rules will govern the chamber for the next two years. iran sentenced three more antigovernment protesters to death today after hanging two men on saturday. the country's court said at least for condemnedrotesters have been executed since september. at the vatican today, pope francis broke his silence over iran's protests and condemned the executions. >> the death penalty cannot be

employed since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims but only fuels the thirst for vengeance. >> iran's supreme leader signal country has no intention of suffering his position. in ukraine, russia rejected pm's claim that moscow is floating a possible peace deal with european officials. a spokesperson called it another fake, and russian attacks continued. a rocket strike near kharkiv left a large crater after hitting a market. ukrainian officials said it killed two women and wounded at least five other people. in this country, police in newport news, virginia, are still trying to figure out what drove a six-year-old boy to shoot his first grade teacher. the 25-year-old remains hospitalized today in a stable condition. the police chief said she had no warning of the attack.

>> she was providing class instruction when they six rolled child splayed a firearm, pointed at her and fired one round. she took a defensive positio where she raised one hand. the round went through her hand, exited the rear of her hand and entered her upper chest. >> the chief called her a hero for shepherding her students to safety before she herself received first-aid. in new mexico tonight, elder kirby -- albuquerque police announced the arrest of a man in connection with shootings of six elected officials. the shootings began in early december and did not result in any injuries. police have not declared a motive. thousands of nurses went on strike today at two major privately owned hospitals in new york. they began walking picket lines after contract netiations stalled. their demands include better staffing and higher salaries after nearly three years of the pandemic.

the hospitals have postponed nonemergency surgeries and diverted ambulances to other facilities. nfl player damar hamlin is back in buffalo tonight for the first time since he suffered cardiac arrest during a game a week ago. hamlin was transferred to a hospital in cincinnati. he tweeted that he is happy to be back. doctors say he is able to walk and is undergoing therapy. still to come, republicans wrangle over which rules will govern the house of representatives. the cdc warns of rising strep throat infections among children, and the true story behind one of the most damaging spies in american history. >> this is "the pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and in the west from walter cronkite school of journalm at arizona state university. >> today, president biden and his mexican and canadian

counterparts kicked off a summit where migration will be a key issue. the talks, after president biden made his first visit to the southern border since taking office. yesterday, he joined border patrol agents in el paso, texas, and met with migrant advocates and local officials. our white house correspondent is following all of this and joins me here. good to see you. obviously, that meeting between president biden and president lopez open door, we know migration is going to be a key issue -- that meeting between president biden and president lopez obredor. >> the three key issues will be about cracking down on fentanyl trafficking, trade supply chains, and migration emigration enforcement. recently, mexico said they would take some 30,000 migrantper month from haiti, cuba,

nicaragua, venezuela, and a part of the discussions today could be that they might be willing to take even more than that 30,000 per month. >> we know advocate communities and nonprofits, church groups on the ground, they play a key role in terms of being on the front lines receiving a lot of those migrant populations. president biden met with some of them. what do we know about those conversations and what they want fr the white house? >> i spoke to multiple immigrant advocates who met with biden, and they say they are concerned this new parole program makes it so migrants will have to stay in their country and apply for asylum from there and that migran cannot afford to wait. i spoke to the director of an organization that helps migrants, and he had this to say -- >> i've been doing ts for 45 years. this is the first time that i have seen as many individuals from one country that have no or very, very few choice sponsors.

we cannot simply dig a holend simply stick your head in that hole and think that it is going to go away. we are going to see more fleeing their country. >> ruben garcia in addition to the catholic bishop i also spoke to, said their position is they are hoping the white house -- the administration can provide a 48-hour window where those undocumented venezuelans and a number of other migrants who are they say stuff in el paso, could turn themselves in to authorities and not be -- be reassud that they would not then be deported to mexico or to another country, but the president and aides told him yesterday that their hands are tied by the court. >> these groups are clearly feeling very tax. they also know those border front line officials, they are severely taxed, right? those responsible for

apprehending folks, processing them. what do they want to see from the white house right now? >> the law enforcement source i spoke to who works closely with water patrol officers says they are stretched insanely thin right now. its "like controlled chaos," and ulmately, they need more resources, that they are having to do humanitarian work that they are not trained for. they say the only thing that will fix this long-term is going to be a comprehensive immigrationill. >> tell me about that. how likely are we to see comprehensive immigration reform? >> in short on that, we are very unlikely to see it. there is a bipartisan group of senators in el paso today, so there might be some appetite among the senate. in the house, there could very well be one republican in texas, tony gonzales, who had this to say about immigration. >> this insurgency caucus decides to put anti-immigrant legislation on the floor and

masquerade it as more security policy, that's not going to fly. i will do everything in my power to make sure that type of legislation fails on the floor. >> tony gonzalez could very we be one house republican that the white house could work with, but ultimately, there's no indication that house republicans are going to go along with senate republicans and work with the white house on a big deal. >> certainly a topic i know you will be tracking along with many others. good to see you. >> in a first big test of kevin mccarthy's speakership, the house is voting on a controversial rules package that would set the procedural plans for this new congress. it includes concessions mccarthy made in closed-door deals with republican hardliners to help

get the cash to help get him elected speer, concessions many worry could lead to more gridlock. to lop -- to walk us through this, i'm joined by our congressional correspondent. republicans have a speaker, but the house cannot really get down to work until the chamber passes this set of operating rules. the all important question these days appears to be -- do they have the votes? >> this is the first big test of this republican new house, and i will say that going into today, we knew the caucus folks who negotiated these rules, they like how much it changes the house, but there is a question mark over two nights vote, and that comes ipart from moderates who were upset they did not have a seat at the table. here's republik and nancy mays of south carolina speaking yesterday. >> i represent a purple mocrats, and independents.ans, i want to know that the

positions i have are going to have a voice. there are a lot of members like me that have issues with some of the policies that we are going to be working on. >> just in the past hour or so, it is our understanding that representative mesa has dided she will vote yes tonight. that is a big yes vote and a relief to, i think, kevin mccarthy and some other republicans, some like chip malloy, who was known as an opponent of mccarthy who kind of got these rules going. he spoke on the glenn beck radio show today about what he sees as the importance, what his philosophy is behind these rules . >> we are doing what we can to move the needle in this town towards openness and the sense that we are going to try to do the work of the american people and empower your congressman, not just a few people, to be able to execute. >> this is a real con -- a real question of how this congress can get along. right now, my sources indicate they think they will have this vote, but predicting the

direction of this body is a bit like predicting the direction of a group of loosely tethered huskies. >> we have talked about this critical rules package before. help us understand whthis hold up it matters. >> right. these specific rules, there's a 55-page document we have seen. there's another three-page document in a secret that has been floated around that contains some concessions that are not public and are not all the way known. one of those, we do not know the exact requirement for raising the debt ceiling. that will be a major factor in your life and my life and the country's life as we hit that debt ceiling deadline likely at the beginning of the summer. there also is not a clear standard forct e tlehe syxa ocad finally, we do not know the extent of the influence of the freedom caucus on the

committee's. one thing we did line today, byron donalds, someone who made a name for himself for florida as one of the alternate candidates for speaker, we know he has been placed on the all-important steering committee. i know we are talking so much process, but that really is the committee that decides who goes where, who get what's power within the house, republican committee structure. clearly there was someone of a sense of a reward for him and a big foothold for those he represents, which are those sort of opponents, those folks who are watchful of kevin mccarthy. >> as you know, there are lawmakers who say that these concessions and increased transparency around how major legislation comes together, but there are also lawmakers who say these concessions basically bake in disruption to make it difficult for the house to do pretty much anything. give us a sense -- what are the pros and cons of the republican approach? >> it is so important to stress

that. there are many republicans and democrats who would like a more open house, who would like 72 hours before a bill is seen, going back to the early days of the 19th century when there was vigorous open debate on the floor. something that could be good, but let's look at the one major issue here with the national debt -- in 2013, the national debt, 11.5 trillion dollars. now, look at that -- $24.5 trillion. this is the issue, that's about 95% of our gdp. while these maneuvers seem like they would allow for more spending cuts, one issue is they could also motivate and there's more incentive for cutting taxes. that's come thing that adds more red ink. on the one hand, it is this. on the other, it is that. it's also not clear if the republican party in the house will be able to control itself and bleed -- and be disciplined about getting these things done together. >>hanks. as house republicans get to

work, one member inarticular is comin under increased scrutiny. a campaign watchdog group filed a complaint today with the federal election commission, accusing newly sworn in congressman george santos of illegally using campaign funds to pay expenses and of illegally masking the source of those funds. the republican has admitted he lied about his family history, his resume, his edation, all following a bombshell report by "the new york times" last month, but "the times" was not the first report on his fabricated biography. a small local paper on non--- on long island broke the sndal before the november election. by the time other outlets picked it up, santos had already been elected. in your paper back in september, you wrote about santos' rise and reported net worth from basically nothing in 2020 some

$11 million by 2022, an inexplicable rise was how your paper characterized it. how did your reporters catch on to the story? >> well, look, he was a prominent personality while he was running for office. we are pretty attuned to the political activities of folks on the north shore, so a lot of people within this paper and a lot of people i knew outside the newspaper were follong him and tracking him and looking at what his claims were, and what we all concluded was that he was a fraud. he was making things up and lying and boasting and putting people down, claiming he was such a rich man when he clearly was not. so we all smelled a fake, and we started looking through his campaign finance reports, and we saw a lot that looked fraudulent , really over the top fraudulent.

>> what is your theory for why other outlets did not pick up your paper's reporting until after the election? >> i tell you, it was very disappointing that that did not happen. we did send the paper out to a lot of the local media, but it was busy here in new york. we had a very hotly contested gubernatorial election, which was within a few points. that dominated the news cycle. we also had a lot of other open congressional races in the neighboring districts, so a lot of the media got distracted in looking at really the bigger race, not the local races. >> you are a lifelong republican who ran three times before the new york three district seat, the seat that santos now occupies, and your paper reluctantly endorsed a democrat in the run-up to the election, saying of santos, "he boasts like an insecure child, but he's most likely just a fabulist, a fake." >> wiener santos was a fraud.

we knew what he was claiming, what he was filing was fraudulent, and that is ultimately what will get him in trouble now. he can lie about who he is, his religion. he can claim he is a jewish descendant of holocaust survivors, that stuff won't get you in jail, but when you file also reports with the house of representatives and with the federal elections commission deliberately, willfully false reports, that's going to get you in jail. every offense is a felony, and it will get you five years in federal prison. >> your paper's reporting speaks to the importance of local journalism. we have seen hundreds of local papers closed in recent years. the disappearance has left millions of people without access to vital local news. what do you see as the significance of your paper's reporting on santos in that context? >> i have actually spoken to quite a few of the other local papers and letter publishers and

owners around the area. they are very cheered by this development, that we were able to break this story, and it is now a national story. unrtunately, but it is a national story and we broke it. it has reenergized a lotth oelo hlere in new york , but also i think around the u.s. it is a tough business to be in, but it's also a niche because nobody else covers the local news in local communities like a local newspaper does. >> lastly, how are voters feeling about this, that their member of congress effectively lied his way into his seat? >> in the north shore in this third congressional district, they are furious. particularly republicans because they feel that they were used. santos took money from them. he took time from them. he got them into his scheme and

got them to go out and talk to their friends, so they feel completely betrayed. democrats are outraged and frankly bewildered that they could lose to such a guy, but the universal sentiment is that this is an outrage and that this y has got to go. >> grant lowry is the publisher of "the north shore leer." thank you for your time. >> thank you. ♪ >> it has been nearly 17 months since the u.s. pulled out of afghanistan. they left pan american behind, contractor and u.s. navy veteran who was kidnapped and held hostage by taliban forces for over two and a half years. he was released as part of a prisoner swap last september and is now adjusting to freedom and life back in america. i went to illinois where he is

staying with family, to sit down with him in his first television interview since being freed. >> you have to be able to totally relax your body and you just walk up from your toes to your head and just imagine your muscles relaxing, from your toes, your ankles, up to your shins. you just talk yourself through your body. by the time it gets to your head, you cannot feel your body. for me, i cannot feel my body. you're sleeping but awake. your brain is totally aware of what is going on in the room, and you can do whatever you want. >> this is how he says he survived to a half years held hostage in afghanistan, busying his mind and body under brutal conditions. he has just marked three months of freedom back in his hometown, and he spoke exclusively to "newshour" in his first television interview.

>> did you dream about traveling the rest of the world growing up here? >> well, i was in the navy for five years and did a lot of traveling. that got me interested in what is going on in the rest of the world. >> these are from your time in service, too, right? >> yeah, this is stuff they gave me. >> he left the navy in the mid-1980's, moved back to the midwest and became a contractor, building on his love of craftsmanship. >> look at that. >> solid oak. >> wait, wait, wait, you always put a secret compartment into what you build? as opportunities touild a rose overseas after 9/11, mark jumped at the chance, first to iraq, then to afghanistan in 2009 where he put his skills to good use. you were there building things is the simplest way to put it? >> building army garrisons for the afghan national army, which

included complete basis with hospitals, dining facilities, maintenance facilities, classroom facilities and office facilities, living quarters. >> you have always liked building things, right? >> yeah. it is the feeling for me, you take nothing and turn it into something. >> life in afghanistan was a world away from the one he grew up in, the middle son with two sisters, the shy kid who turned to magic as a way to connect with others and over 10 years in country, he built a life. before long, he was relaxed and up to his old tricks. >> good, good, good. >> did you ever think in your 10 years there, am i going to get out? >> no, you cannot not think about it. >> mark says he kept the same drive for 10 years, but as he drove the familiar road from

kabul to bagram airbase, the worst case scenario. >> there's been a horrific accident. you believe your team is dead. you yourself are really badly injured, right? what is the moment that you realize this h gone horribly wrong? >> i was laying in a ditch on the hood of the car, the suv, windshield completely knocked out, everyone is standing around, nobody is helping me. i'm still thinking maybe there's police around. finally, they help me up out of the tch. i'm thinking one of these guys will help me to the hospital. >> what does it feel like in the moment? >> i could barely walk. i was, like, half conscious. they walked me, pretty much dragged me, and as they were dragging me, one of them -- and these are words i will never forget, probably the worst words i have ever heard in my life,

"taliban good, america no good." >> he said that to you? >> as he said -- as he took my shoes and kicked me into the trunk. >> mark says he thought he was being taken toward the eastern afghan city known as a stronghold of the taliban how connie group who u.s. officials believe were holding him. >> they bring me to this compound area. i could tell they were organizing things. >> you call them kids. like teenagers? >> yeah, they were just teenagers. >> with guns? >> teenagers with guns. even if i could get away from these people, where am i going to go? but i did not know what they were going to do. they seemed like they did not know what to do with me. >> u.s. officials tell "the newshour" they believe mark may

have been surveilled but that the kidnapping on the heels of a rrific car crash was a crime of opportunity. >> most of your time in captivity, you are kept in what you describe as a room with a dirt floor, very little else. what do you remember about what it felt like in that room? >> people. people, cold, dank, especially dry. it rained a few times, the roof leaked. had a bat flying around for a couple of nights. scorpions. >> what did you sleep on every night? >> just the ground, the dirt ground. there was a donkey blanket. >> what did you eat every day?

>> bread and water mostly. stale bread and dirty water. >> could you move around freely in that room? >> no, i was chained up. my wrists and ankles were chained. >> for how long? >> two years. >> what did they do to you? >> basically physical abuse. beat with a chain on several occasions. beat with a wire co. ask cable on several occasions. kicked in the head more times than i can count. just punched in the head more times that i could count. when i'm down on the ground chained up, just open palm, ear smacks -- that was probably the worst. >> all that time, 32 month, your mind goes to a lot of different places. what do you remember thinking about? >> besides meditating, i thought a lot about my childhood.

>> what did you think about it? >> a lot of places we visited. >> in a snow-coated lumbar, mark took me to those childhood spots he would visit in his mind. >> this is where i use to ice skate when i was a kid. lombard lagoon, not even a pond, a lagoon. his is not very deep, so if you fell through the ice, -- it is not very deep, so if you fell through the eyes, you would not drown. maybe a way to distract myself. >> distract himself from his reality, held hostage in a remote part of afghanistan. he had no idea about the coronavirus pandemic during his time in captivity, russia's war in ukraine, or that his government had brokered a deal to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan in 2021, a deal that did not include his release. >> watching your country leave, what do you think?

>> collateral damage. do they even know i'm here? do they even know i'm here? >> as a cruel joke, his captors showed him video of the u.s. pullout. >> the last u.s. planes leaving. >> despite feeling abandoned by his country, mark says he never let his fear show. >> i handled it like a trooper. i never broke down and cried. can close, but i was not going to let them -- they may have stolen nearly three years of my life, but i wasn't going to let them steal my soul and spirit. >>'s response to your question, what did that room feel like and he says people, speaks volumes. he was released in september of this past year. what have the last four or five months been like for him? >> just a whole new journey that

is unimaginable in so many ways. what this man endured is so sad and his strength and fortitude are so impressive. i think even more impressive are the efforts to release him, what his family went through and what he's going through back at home, we will get all of that tomorrow during part two. >> cannot wait to see it. ♪ the cdc is investigating a rise in severe cases of strip among kids in the u.s. several children's hospitals across the country have reported an increase in strip cases since november, including in colorado where two children have died. the cdc has since issued an advisory, warning of the surge of strip a among kids ages five through 15 -- the surge of strip -- the surge of strep a among

kids ages five through 15. dr., the cdc investigating this strain of strep, but what makes it so severe? >> the problem is it produces severe illness every year. most parents know it as a class of strep throat, where it harms the tonsils, but it can also cause more invasive disease such as scarlet fever, was called necrotizing fasciitis, toxic shock syndrome. the cdc worried about this directing in invasive streptococcal diseases that could also result in dramatic fever. it is not just in the united states. it is also happening in europe and australia, so there's concerned we are seeing a worldwide increase in this illness. >> as we mentioned, at least two children in the u.s. have died. it is shocking to think that strep throat could be fatal. how do you characterize the

risk? >> the point is we can treat it. the treatment is usually oral amoxicillin or penicillin. we actually have an amoxicillin shortage right now. you can get an injection of benzedrine penicillin, so the point is these cases should be preventable with early diagnosis and treatment. parents are not often aware of it, but if you see your child struggling to swallow, with high fever, that is a sign that there is severe strep throat that requires medical intervention. if you have a bright red rash all over the body, that is a sign. if you start seeing a cut or bruce in your child and you start seeing streaking red rash around it, that is another tip-off. >> we are struggling with a season of horrible viruses. strip, covid, flu, rsv compliting things. pharmacists and parents are struggli to find children's

pain and fever-reducing medications, surpassing what we saw at the peak of the pandemic. how long do you expect that particular problem, the availability of kids' pain medication to persist? >> in terms of the fever medication, remember, the fever is the body's natural response to these infectious agents. it is really important that parents closely monitor it, but of course, fevers can make kids uncomfortable. hopefully, the supply chain management issues around these anti-fevers, anti-pain medications will start to subside fairly soon in the coming weeks, so it's just a matter of getting through these next weeks, but remember, if your child does have high fever and appears ill, you want to have again that low threshold for having that relationship with your pediatrician, and by the way, i'm recommending to parents that they have that relationship. don't wait until your child is

sick in the middle of the night suddenly start scrambling, looking for a phone number, trying to figure out where you take your child in the middle of the night. have that planorked out with your pediatrician ahead of time. >> that's good advice. parents in ohio have experienced another unexpected threat to their children's health. it is a measles outbreak. dozens of hospitalizations, many of those in children are unvaccinated. >> that's right. typically we give the first measles vaccinations towards the end of the first year of life. my understanding is that the 80-plus cases, more than 70, 75 have been unvaccinated, so this is in many respects a self-inflicted wound. a lot of these cases are all of these cases could have been prevented had these kids received their routine mmr vaccinations. what i'm really worried about is this is spillover from all of the anti-vaccine activism we saw

really take off around covid-19 vaccines for adults. remember, the numbers are horrific. an estimated 200,000 americans needlessly lost their lives because they refused the covid vaccine, even after vaccines and itwidely available, is happening because of a rise in what i call anti-vaccine, antiscience aggression coming from activist. now i think they are going to try to target all childhood immunizations. measles is a deadly illness. in the year 2000, 500,000 kids died annually from measles, and now that number we have brought down to low 100,000. i'm worried about a reversal of that not only in the united states but globally. just a reminder that measles is nothing to trifle th. it is a serious iness and one of the leading causes of death for kids under the age of five. >> thanks as always for your time and clear insights. we appreciate it.

>> thank you. ♪ >> she's been called one of the st damaging spies in u.s. history. anna montes past secrets and information to the cuban government for almost 17 years until her arrest just days after the 9/11 attacks after the nearly two decades behind bars, she was released from prison on friday. i recently spoke with jim popkin, who chronicled her fascinating story in his new book, "codename blue friend -- codename blue wren." anna montes is the center of this story. you have called her the most dangerous spy that most people have probably never heard of. how did you first hear of her? >> i heard about her right when she was arrested, which was 10 days after 9/11.

i was covering the fbi and justice department and 9/11 for nbc news at the time. i uld not get to this story, but it really stayed with me, and i think a lot of people have never really heard about her because of 9/11. it was obviously such a big distraction, but she is a very important spy in american history. >> she led an impressive double life, right? by day, she was actually a senior analyst for u.s. intelligence, a cuba expert, and by night, she's passing secrets to the cuban government. how did she do that? >> she had two jobs. she had her real day job. she was a brilliant analyst. she would keep her head down and memorize documents all day long, classified documents, and then her night job began in washington, d.c. in her apartment and she would basically upload what she had sh laptop, encrypted, and a

couple weeks later past that information along to her cuban handlers, whom she would meet at restaurants in washington, d.c. >> this is fascinating detail to me about her family. she had 4 family members who worked for the fbi, including her sister lucy, who among her many specialties, was rooting out cuban spies for the u.s. govement and no one knew anything. >> it is absolutely amazing. 4 family members, including her sister. her brother, who was an fbi special agent in atlanta, sister-in-law, another special agent as well, and as you mention was a translator in miami. most of her job pertained to drug cases in miami in the 1980's and 1990's, but she got assigned to a special unit that was looking for cuban spies. they were very successful. she had no idea -- she's a very

loyal, patriotic american -- she had no ia that her sister was secretly the greatest spy in cuban history. >> you report that the fbi did know there was someone inside the u.s. government spying for cuba at a very high level, right? how did she eventually get caught? >> it was actually first the national security agency that figured this out, but decrypting communications between cuba and the u.s. it ultimately lands with the fbi . they open a full field investigation in late 2000. they got court authority to break into her apartment in 2001 and in her apartment, they go through her laptop, and she had very carelessly left communications, messages with the cubans, and it was clear that she was a spy. one of the messages said, thank you for providing the true identity of an american who was based in havana -- this is

someone presumably working for the cia. we were waiting for him with open arms. as soon as the fbi saw that, there was no doubt this is a cuban spy. >> you also document in some detail for the first time exactly how much damage she did with that spying. what did she hand? >> 17 years of providing classified documents. the true identities of americans operating overseas in havana, the names of hundreds of people who worked on the cuba account throughout the u.s. intelligence community, and then also secrets about a super secretive stealth satellite that the u.s. government operated and was working to spy on russia, china, cuba, and other adversaries. she learned about it, turn it over to the cubans, and the cubans have quite a track record of sharing that kind of information with russia and

other enemies, so it was a major naonal security disaster. >> she is now being released after nearly two decades, right? maximum security prison. what does life look like for her now? >> she will be on probation for five years, but as she gets out, i just have to imagine she is going to keep her head low for a long time. she does not want to go back to this very tough prison where she has been held for two decades. she is thought to be likely going to puerto rico, which is where her family is from, and she has some sympathetic relatives, and try to rebuild her life. she is fortunate in this sense, she is only 65 years old. most spies in this context go away for life. they are sent to super max and you never see themgain. she's getting out at 65. she has a chance to maybe rebuild her life. >> do u think you might talk to her? >> i'm probably not top of her

list, but i'm going to try. >> i'm sure you will. thanks for being here. >> thank you so much. >> and that is "th newshour" for tonight. remember there's a lot more online at pbs.org/newshour, and on our instagram, including a post about the golf cup soccer tournament that has kicked off in iraq for the first time since 1970 nine. >> we hope you will join us back here tomorrow night. >> thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal is to provide wireless svice that helps people communicate and connect. our customer -- our customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. find more at

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget and julia make the ultimate caramel-espresso yule log, and lisa reviews mini muffin tins. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." -"america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the following.