♪ >> good evening and welcome. >> on the newshour tonight, airlines scramble to get back on track after an faa technical glitch grounds thousands of flights across the country. >> russian mercenaries battle for territory in eastern ukraine as western nations promise more weapons to aid the country's defense. those systems are required for the large-scale offensive we are talking about likely to be this winter and into the spring. >> and the attack on brazil's government by a far right mob raises concerns about how extremism in the u.s. has spread abroad.

♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist, a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned.

>>he ttoaln wo winlyg fafor ndst water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at mac found.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening and welcome to the newshour. the nation's air travel system has had another long and

difficult day. by late afternoon, nearly 1300 flights had been canceled and more than 8000 delayed because of a critical system failure at the faa. >> the failure force the faa to call a nationwide halt to operations for several hours. federal officials vowed to get to the bottom of an outage that disrupted travel plans for millions of people. a wave of delays and cancellations rippled from coast-to-coast just as the nation's airports were starting their day. the sun shut down left terminals filled with travelers with nowhere to go. the ground stop order was lifted just before nine :00 a.m. eastern time but the disruptions lingered for hours. pat and allison were trying to fly out of newark new jersey. >> i am really upset but what can i do? >> makes you kind of nervous is there something else maybe we are not being told right now. >> the problem started late tuesday when the faa's notice to air mission system with down. that antiquated computer system

supplies information flight crews must have before being allowed to take off. this morning, transportation secretary pete buttigieg said initially there was no sign of a cyber attack. >> there has been no direct evidence or indication of that but we are not going to roll that out until we have a better understanding of what is taking place. >> several hours later he vowed to get to the bottom of what happened. >> my top priority right now another system is working again as of 9:00 this morning is to understand the root cause come understand how it could've led to this level of disruption and how to make sure it does not happen again should >> all of this comes weeks after a massive holiday flight cancellations and delays reach havoc for days. that trouble was blamed on winter weather and southwest airline's outdated technology and reliance on a point-to-point system rather than using hubs. the air travel system is heading backo tor e avening m bute rout'

aynationswide flight stoppage se 9/11. it has raised questions again about the reliability and vulnerability of our system. our science and aviation's special correspondent joins us to look at those concerns. thanks for being here. let's start with this system, the notice to air mission system the faa says went down late on tuesday. what does it do and how to create such a mess? >> notice to air missions are the late changes to the game plan. you have published information on airports and what is available and what frequencies are working and whanavigation systems are working but things change and before you take off you want to know if the runway is closed or the frequency is not working or if there is some airspace closed. that is all encapsulated in these noticed air missions formerly known as notice to airmen.

they are sometimes minor changes. sometimes very important but most important for an airliner can be dispatched on a flight the pilots have to be briefed on what the notices are along their route of flight. the remedy for this problem is you don't take off. it is not like a situation where something like this fails, airplanes fall out of the sky but clearly causes huge disruption if it is not working. tryi to figure out what was the root cause, how did this happen, how did they keep it from happening. what are the possible theories? >> those of us who follow the faa are not surprised to see a technological glitch sadly. this is in agency that has historically been underfunded on its effort to modernize. it is basically a system built after world war ii, 1950's technology using spinning radar domes and uhf radio

transmissions between the ground in pilots. it has not moved into the space age as it should have using satell ait cputer transmission. as it has moved and starts into the modern age there have been glitches along the way. i think quite like this one but it is indicative of the fact the agency needs to spend more on its infrastructure. the fact its so safe is remarkable frankly. th is a testament to the men and women who made the system work in spite of its antiquated technology. >> we did hear from travelers. today was a big headache. delays and disruptions but some have safety concerns and the bigger concern is if a system like this could fail, are there other systems you think are also vulnerable to similar failure? >> that is the lurking question. the redundancy is what makes the system safe. flight critical systems.

navigation systems, the team that gets you down to the dark and stormy night onto the runway. you want that to be backed up in many different ways. this system which is part of the overall picture of redundancy evidently did not have enough backups. as i say, that did not cause a direct flight safety problem. it caused huge inconvenience but you have to ask yourself, or other problems lurking in the moreesilnce,eedsoe needs to be another layer of redundancy and i think it is high time congress, the people in washington focusedn the faa and thinking about it is a crucial piece of infrastructure and appropriating the right am fix it. y toountnef mo>> luckily today,t incredible delays and disruptions. not a safety concern. our science and aviation special correspondent. thank you for being with us. always good to see you. >> you are welcome. ♪

>> in the days other headlines, new thunderstorms arrived in northern califora as rain eased across the rest of the state. death toll stood at 17 after days of downpours. in a los angeles road crews worked to repair a sinkhole caused by the heavy rains. crews have also been clearing roads ihard-hit town of montecito where thousands had to flee this week. >> several people have lost their lives and they are cleaning it up really fast. they are doing an amazing job on that. hopefully they will get it passable soon. >> more than half of california's counties have been declared disaster areas with another major storm expected friday. there is word that aids to president biden have found more classified documents from his

days as vice president. mr. biden's lawyers made the initial discovery at his former office at a washington think tank. in bc news and others report one more batch of documents has turned up at a separate site. no other details are available. newly elected gop congressman george santos insisted today he will not resign. that is after republican party leaders in his new york district called for him to quit. they pointed to his lies about everything from his career to his heritage including a claim his family members were holocaust survivors. >> these lies were not mere fibs. he disgraced the house of representatives. in particular his fabrications went too far. many groups were hurt specifically i look at those families that were touched by the horrors of the holocaust and feel for them. >> house speaker kevin mccarthy said today santos will not serve on any key congressional committees. jan that house republican leaders have taken no action so

far. ublican-led house is taking action on abortion early into its majority. approving two measures today. one, a resolution condemns attacks on antiabortion facilities including pregnancy crisis centers. the other is a bill to penalize doctors who refuse care to an infant surviving an abortion attempt. an already rare occurrence. neither measure is expected to pass the senate. in brazil the new leftist government braced for more protest across the country. supporters of former president bolsonaro storm the capitol complex sunday and called for new demonstrations this evening. in response release -- in response police in brasilia shut down the main avenue and set up check spit the new head of capital security said his forces will be ready this time. >> there are some protests planned under the federal district. we want to reassure the population and federal employees there is no chance of the

unacceptable effects that happened on the eighth will happ again. >> brazil's new president warned any move against the country's democracy will be honest. back in this country, the supreme court agreed to lay new york state continue enforcing a gun ban in sensitive locations for now. those locations include schools, playgrounds in times square. the justices turned away a plea by gun owners to block the law while a lower court hears their suit against it. first lady dr. jill biden had cancerous lesions -- lesions reved today. the white houseosition said all of the cancerous tissue was removed in daylong procedure at walter reed medical center outside washington. another lesion on her left eyelid is being examined. the so-called mohs surgery slices away thin layers of skin until all signs of cancer are going to flow bills safety dam hamlin was released from a hospital today and sent home to continue his recovery.

nine days ago he suffered a cardiac arrest during a game in cincinnati and had to be resuscitated. the team says they will welcome him back when he feels ready to return should on wall street stocks rallied today on hopes inflation is easing. the dow gained at 206 and nine points to close at 33,970 three. the nasdaq rose 189 points, nearly 1.8%. the s&p 500 was up about 1.3%. legendary rock guitarist jeff beck has died of bacterial meningitis. he gained fame in the 1960's with the yardbirds and later as a solo artist compared to the likes of eric clapton and jimi hendrix. beck won eight emmys, was inducted into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame and influence generations of guitars. here he is in 2016 playing beck's bolero. ♪

jeff beck was 78 years old. still to come of the pbs newshour, the political wrangling over house speaker ships in state legislatures. the mayor of denver discusses thehallenges posed by an influx of migrants and how homes are increasingly using heat pumps as a cheaper greener alternative to fossil fuels. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour. from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> moscow has announced a new commander for the war in ukraine and claimed victory in one of the bloodiest battles in with in 10 months of war. the fight for key cities in eastern cities of ukraine has

barely moved for months. russia said it achieved its fit territorial gain in ukraine since july. kyiv says the battle continues. nick schifrin reports. >> the ukrainian soldiers who spent six months trying to defend every street, every corner in soledar said the battle has felt like world war ii. a brutal violent fight over a small patch of land that has become a wasteland to 10,000 people used live here. soldiers say it is full of craters from constant artillery and the smell of death. russia's gains thanks to the wegner group's mercenaries, many of them criminals were acquitted from prison. ukrainian forces locate them with drones and fire using hvy guns and newly arrived mobile german artillery. the fight has killed and wounded thousands including ukrainian actor and volunteer dmytro

linartovych. >> member we are on god-given land. glory to ukraine. >> it is a small mining town part of the eastern donetsk region not controlled by russia. it is just northeast of a logistical hub russia hopes to encircle. a russian victory would be the first territory gained in more than six months. today wegner mercenaries claimed that victory and posted a photo inside what they said is one of the salt mines with the founder. he claimed the remaining ukrainian resistance was limited in an audio message. >> units have taken control of the entire territory. a cauldron has been formed under the center of the city where urban fighting is going on. >> the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy called that propaganda. >> they will present this to their society to support

mobilization and give hope to those who support aggression but the fighting continues. the units are holding out. >> russia's primary local target is bakhmut where ukrainian resistance is relentless even with soviet era guns. much of the city of 70,000 is empty and in ruins. the few who remained including 75-year-old ohana constantly reminded of what has been stolen and destroyed. >> dear god, our town used to be so beautiful. there were roses everywhere. flowers. it was clean. everything was kept in order. >> and then it is time to go. the shelling gets too close. but she stands there. she s nowhere else to go. >> to discuss the significance of the fight for soledar and

bakhmur from the institute for the study of war. you heard presidt zelenskyy say russia was using soledar as a piece of propaganda. is this moment as much about the information war as it iabout any gains on the battlefield? >> absolutely. russia is trying to score an informational win soledar at enormous cost. the information value is higher than the military value. as not forget we are 10 months into the war and russia lost a lot of the territory it seized originally and it still cannot control fully even the luhansk and donetsk region. soledar and bakhmut are to create perception russia can advance pad russia is trying to put as a major area russia has been seizing.

the financier of the wegner group has exaggerated the culture and economic value as he is trying to position himself as an effective combat force. >> is there a military significance if the wegner group , if russia is able to seize soledar and threaten bakhmut more effectively? >> russia has been trying to establish control over ukrainian ground lines of communication. it sits on the critical highway as well as intersection of several lines of communication. even if russia takes soledar it is not clear can fully establish control over t lines as well as the chance of some major breakthrough for the russian advance after soledar which is right russian media is trying to betray as a possibility are also unlikely. i want to emphasize soledar

comes at a great cost to russia in terms of spending a lot of their manpower in pursuit of limited gains. >> why has it been so important for ukraine to continue this fight for so long? >> the fact that ukraine's relentless defense pinned down rush in those areas is preventing pressure from king a breather on a battlefield. it is a critical point because it helps ukraine to preserve its momentum on the battlefield. ukraine is setting conditions for the larger scale offensive later this winter and spring as ukrainian officials have mentioned. the offensive that the west should support at a large scale. >> today moscow longed an operational commander. their equivalent to the joint chief of staff. what is the significance of that announcement? >> i would say couple of things.

it is one of the reasons russia wants to score informational wind on the battlefield. regardless of the rotations of the senior leadership that putin is doing, it is unlikely to change. fundamentally alter the structural problems that led to russia mistakes and setbacks on the battlefield in the first place. i do not think it will have the immediate battlefield impact that the kremlin seeks to generate. >> let's talk about western weapons support. today the british prime minister's spokesman said the u.k. was considering sending tanks to ukraine. poland said it would send leopard tanks to ukraine if germany gave it permission peer ukraine has been asking for leopards and tanks for months. is there now momentum in europe especially to send tanks to

ukraine and how important are those tanks to the fig? >> i think it is a crical one because those systems are required for the larger scale offensive we are talking about that is likely to be this winter and into the spring. what would be more effective if those systems came in bulk in a way that helps to supply ukrainian units cohesively in a way that makes it easier to resupply them. >> ukrainian officials are asking for hundreds of tanks and it is not clear the west is willing to send that. lastly the u.s. has announced it will start in the next week training ukrainians on the patriot missile system. how important is that system inside of ukraine's larger air defenses? >> boosting ukraine's capability to protect its airspace is critical and will be critical a month from now as well. precisely because russia's

tent regarding ukraine, the kremlin's objections have not changed, are not likely to change and will outlast putin most likely by desn. tblwaeth tr e estabislish air superiority in ukraine. new to boost ukraine's ability to protect its airspace is can credit -- is critica >> thank you very much. ♪ >> for now, calm has been largely restored in brazil after supporters of the former president swarmed the brazilian congress, supreme court and presidential palace on sunday. but what if any connections are there between sunday's aack and other antidemocratic moves worldwide? . is laura brown lopez. >> the scenes of bolsonaro

supporters srming the capital were similar to the insurrection here two years to the day. the ties between the two are deeper. former president trump and the defeated brazilian leaders share allies and a playbook. joining us to break down the network of anti-democracy far right figures that traffic and versy. thank you for joining us. what i president bolsonaro and mr. p?trum>> there is a very direct ectith of headwater bolsonaro, one of his sons who is a member of congress who has often come to the states. he was in washington, d.c. on january 5 at the white house speaking with ivanka trump. he is very close with steve van

and who is an advisor of bolsonaro has is jason miller. eduardo bolsonaro after his father lost the election came to florida and met with all of these characters and was encouraged to continue to contest the election. there is a common playbook that trump and bolsonaro have followed where you disseminate -- you get the public to lose faith in the electoral system and bolsonaro did this relentlessly. this was not a theme in brazil before. then you have a personality call so people will believe your false claims. >> steve bannon and jason miller both former trump advisors. have also said this is not as simple as american right-wing forces asked wooding eremism should what other international leaders or influencers are in the snow -- in this network? >> it is important to see the

republican party today as not only a party that is dedicated to destroying democracy at home and it is quite relevant in february 22 the gop decreed january 6 attack was legitimate political discourse meeting the attempt and violence, they considered a valid way to meet their political goals. this has in common with a lot of extremists abroad and the gop is immersed in these far right networks that stretch from moscow to budapest and it is well known the amount of interchange with orb on. -- with victor orb on. political action conference in budapest. tucker karlsson broadcast forbuw neofascist prime minister. shont shesh said she

has attended the natl the gop and her neofascist party arebats they discusss a.ll when you talk about victor orb on in hungry as well as vladimir putin in russia, is there a common playbook across these figures who you have called strongmen? >> these are people who use this information. they repress dissenters. i refer to the strongmen as these leaders who use cheese and a -- who use machismo. ppeeoplbond to them and they believe the fraudulent things they say to them. in bolsonaro's case, he got people to beeve he was the victim. victimhood is important to all

of the strongmen. he also disseminated the idea violence might be necessary. this is another hallmark of these extremist leaders. in june 2022, he said -- he is setting up violence might be necessary if he los. he said if necessary we will go to war. and they did go to war for him on january 8. >> you say strongmen like mr. trump and balls and there are not necessarily going to go away but the international republicans that you told my public this. >> i think we can look at the fact our system worked. that is the long-term takeaway. the institutions held. good people, republican and democrat proceeded to effect a peaceful transfer of power and guess who had a bad subsequent year or two following january 6. it was not the united states. we had political change.

we had some economic renewal. the people who had a bad year were dictators in iran, russia and china. >> what do you say to that assessment that overall democracy seems to have held? >> we are witnessing a time when authoritarianism is being revealed to be weak. thes prosthite cinnareputin's we ssian military is showing it is an institution that has been ravaged by putin's kleptocracy. ow tbyteanll ttihe id tronuth. authoritarianism has never been weaker and a sense but that is why these p rcke, grping youplo.

♪>> while republicans in washington were fighting over the vote for house speaker, two states faced their own high-stakes tensions as they chose who to lead their statehouses. in ohio, moderate republicans banded together with democrats to elect a new speaker despite the fact the states republican party endorsed a more hard right member. in pennsylvania, a group of republicans also agreedo support a democrat to serve as the state houses speaker but only if he changed his party affiliation to independent. it is laid of business is at a standstill as the parties wrangle over control. for more, aaron casler is with

us. she is state house news bureau chief for ohio public radio and tv. katie meier is a government and politics editor for spotlight pa. welcome to you both. at one point during the protracted speaker race in washington thereas w democrats and republicans forming a coalition majority. in ohio the parties were able to band together and basically do that. how? >> it actually happened here and what was interesting is this is sex for speaker candidate, jason stevens, was able to pull together more democratic votes and republican votes. he got all 32 democrats to vote for him and 22 republican votes. the other candidate who was the speaker elect coming into this, he had been chosen speaker by the republican caucus in november, he got 44 -- 43 votes. he had more republican votes than the speaker who was elected . so now there is a real question

among these two camps over what is going to happen next. today, the group of folks who backed derek marin got together to talk about what they plan to do and if they plan to oppose or try to push forward legislation that may be speaker jason stevens does not want to see. like you said, it is kind of bringing everything to a standstill. >> what led the moderate republicans to push back? >> i think there were questions during our lame-duck session in december about some of the bills that were proposed that would -- that did not go forward. some that did. there was one night where the house was meeting for 16 hours straight, ended at 6:00 in the morning. there were questions about whether that was something that i might have really caused some republicans to be frustrated. there are republicans, moderate republicans who say derek merin who was the speaker elect did not reach out to them after he won the vote and they were

concerned about that. his supporters say his father was in hospice and dying at the time. so he did not have the ability to do much other than to try to make phone calls. there are a lot of hurt feelings all the way around. democrats have tried to capitalize on this by teaming up with those more moderate republicans in voting for jason stevens for speaker. what that will do to legislation going forward is a question picked >> that was my next question for you. how does this affect the broader slate of agenda in ohio sets that anybody knows at this point? >> democrats said they worked with jason stevens because they feel he could work with them on issues they are concerned about. primarily education. derek min, the speaker they did not vote for, has shown a lot of support for universal school vouchers which democrats oppose. there is a proposal here that would make it so voters would have to approve constitutional amendments i 60% in ohio. now it is a simple majority.

democrats did not want to see that happen because there are some potential ballot issues on reprodtive rights and redistricting they want to go's -- they want to see go forward. jason stevens has agreed to work with them on that. do some of the back-and-forth among republicans because they support these things. they are wondering what jason stens told democrats about what he will work with them on and how he will get that done. >> let's shift our focus to pennsylvania. the pennsylvania state house is in limbo. help us understand what happened. >> this goes back to november. in that election the house came away with a razor thin split. had been republican-controlled for a decade. m accredits won of the 203 member chamber, they won hundred and two seats. a slim majority. the republicans wonone of the my and two others had to resigned

to take higher offices. republicans have on the floor a functional majority. that is going to be temporary and special elections will give democrats back those seats. in the meantime, what it has done is create a situation where republicans have been having trouble keeping their caucus together. they were unable to get full otheir own candidates for speaker. a speaker who probably only would serve temporarily. democrats were not able toei ce ghenoua philadelphia democrat. sh ied was a strange episode last week where republicans engineered basically a power-sharing agreement. not one that is predicated on moderation. they convict a -- they convinced a democrat to run for speaker the nomination democrats voted for him and a handful of

republicans did as well.ng he announced he was an independent. this was engineered by republicans. democrats knew at some poik-anfh parties were totally taken by rprise. what has happened since has been even more complicated. there was a lot of talk about birtisanship, getting along but these are bitterly divided chambers. he has since refused or has not committed to switching his party registration which republican said he told them he was going to do. the policy at the center of this has gone into limbo. the reasons we are told he took the speakership was he had hopes to avoid a standoff and get a constitutional amendment passed that would give sexual assault survivors, people assaulted in childhood more options to sue. even after the statute of

limitations has passed. >> if he switches his party affiliation, could that break the stalemate? >> it could. there are a lot of movinparts right now. republicans have said they wl pass these amendments -- they want to pass the amendment. they have passed it before and that is a whole other story. these are complicated to pass in pennsylvania. they also want to roll it into a bunch of their own party amendments which includes voter identification, a new requirement that the state up or election audits. these are things democrats generally oppose. now he is in the middle of this. he is not saying too much about his own policy preferences but democrats have made it clear they don't want those things. all of these are a big question mark >> moving forward, how does this affect the legislative agenda in pennsylvania? >> a lot is going to hinge on special elections. it will either happen -- one is happening in february. two more might happen in february. they also make it delayed

depending on what a court says she had these are highly contested things. even when the democrats are back up to full strength and have likely if they win those elections and have a narrow majority, what we are going to see is tough legislative deadlocks all the time in pennsylvania because this is a narrowly divided body and they have shown little indication ey are going to happily work together with people crossing the aisle to support certain things. i think we are in for a lot of standoffs. >> thanks to you both. ♪ >> as federal, state and local leaders seek solutions along the southern border, the effects of thmigrant crisis are being felt well within the nation's interior. john yang has more on how the

situation is creating new divides between cities and states hundreds of miles apart. >> more than 4000 migrants who crossed into the united states from mexico arrived in denver over the past month. with shelters and services overwhelmed, colorado began chartering buses of its own. democratic governor jared polis insists the trips matched migrants plans to reconnect with family unlike the scene last september when republican governor ron desantis of florida took credit for sending migrants to martha's vineyard much to the surprise of both the passengers and locals. >> the minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with everyday is brought to their front door they all of a sudden go berserk. >> mayors of two of the country's biggest cities, destinations for colorado buses, accused the state of exporting its crisis as they struggle with their own. >> it is unacceptable and i am

not going to sit back and allow new yorkers to carry the burden of a man-made crisis. this must be fixed. this has to be fixed. >> last week, mayors eric adams ofew york and lori lightfoot of chicago sent a letter asking colorado to cease and desist saying neither city had room to accommodate anymore migrants. colorado has since halted its busing operation but advocates say they remain overwhelmed and under resourced. colorado was allotted $5 million to respond to the migrant crisis. half of that money for denver. the city has already spent about one and a half million dollars. michael hancock is in his third term as mayor of denver and because of term limits it is because of -- it is his last. what is the current situation? comedy people are currently in shelters and our new migrants still arriving in denver? >> it is good to be with you. we are still seeing about 50

migrants arrive in denver on a daily basis. right now we are highs -- we are housing over 1200partners, nonph up to help us through thisepped crisis. >> we should clarify the migrants are coming on their own initiative. they are not being sent up by republican governor or an official. >> from what we understand and talking with the migrants and trying to understand how they got here and why they are here, it was loosely coordinated among themselves to come into colorado. most of them, not all of them but most of them were hoping to go on to other destinations outside of colorado. >> have set a 14 day limit on how long the migrants can stay in shelters. why that decision?

>> there are a couple reasons. as we continue to talk with cities along the border and other cities that have been daily used with migrants, we look at best practices paired were the best things we can do to help the migrants as well as to effectively serve them as well as to relieve the financial stress and burden on the people of denver and the use of our recreation centers. this is not their intended purpose in terms of the centers themselves. what we have learned is once a city leans in to shelter, it becomes a long-term challenge that is hard to break out of. what we are working to do not so much as people out on the street after 14 days but to send a call to all of our external partners, nonprofit, faith organizations as well as state and federal government we have to work with gently to assess, authorize and to properly shelter individuals throughout, dispersed throughout denver and the state of colorade have to return our recwher cents

heir intended purpose sooner than later. there is nothing humane about trying to house migrants on the floors of our gymnasiums and rec centers where they do not have the proper facilities. it is more of a approach to compassion, humane approach to helping folks be more comfortable but also able to access services they need. >> are you confident there will be places for the migrants to go at the end of the 14 days? >> i'm not at all confused this is going to be a challenging effort. we know it is going to be challenging because notnly do we have to find alternative shelter opportunities but we have to case manage and asendivs who have come to our cities. that e is y it has to be a multilevel of government response and not just cities of denver, tucson, new york respding.

>> you mentioned this multilevel government approach. should the federal government be helping you with this situation? >> absolutely. what we are dealing with is a failure of congress and passed administration's to respond. the most recent policy released by biden has been helpful to us to an extent but we need a long-term strategy. i've been calling for this for 12 years i've been mayor of denver because we recognize a lot of the challenges cities like denver and other cities in the u.s. are dealing with shared the frustrations with immigration are due to the lack of policy direction from the federal government. the federal government, congress in particular needs to do its job, design and bring forward sensible legislation with a sensible pathway to citizenship for migrants who are willing to come to e u.s. >> your city is hundreds of mile from the border. did you ever imagine you would be facing a migrant crisis in urine city? >> we knew they were political games being played. denver was named as one of the progressive cities they may start shipping migrants to.

we did not expect them to come to denver. there is nothing natural agratnt to denver for migrants out of venezuela or el salvador or wherever they are coming from. we don't really have a venezuelan population in denver. we are a little surprised we have such a large surge that has come to our city. >> whose responsibility do you think this is? was this happening in denver? >> i think the reality is, we have failed to develop a sensible immigration strategy for the nation and to help our border cities deal effectively with the right resources, with the right safety net systems to help those who want to come to the u.s. other cities like tucson and denver and chicago who may not be on the border are being surged with migrants who are looking for opportunities in the u.s. as they have come across on

authorized for the most part took the united states. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. ♪ >> u.s. emissions fell during the height of the pandemic as people were stuck at home and there were fewer vehicles on the road that changed as the pandemic eased. any report this week shows emissions rose again base mold amount last year. many researchers, scientists and lawmakers argue americans need to reduce their use of fossil fuels much sooner than they may have planned. miles o'brien is back with a look at an alternative for home heating that could prove useful and reduce the costs of fossil fuels. >> a super efficient, economical all electric home. it can be done.

welcome to mark jacobson's home in stanford, california. built in 2017, it is a way to fully practice what he preaches. >> i wanted first and foremost a comfortable home using zero fossil fuel energy. >> he is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at stanford university. it is also cofounder of the solutions project. >> the green on here is the solar production during the day. >> in nonprofit trying to accelerate the transition to 100% renewable energy all over the world. >> we have solar on the roof, electric heat comes, electric heat pump water heater. was he myself to use only electricity. >> would you declare this as a success? >> it is way beyond what i expected. i produce more electricity than i consume. it proves new homes and all be developed with no gas, all electric. >> but what about existing homes? is the transition away from

fossil fuels practical and affordable? there is growing evidence it is. >> you can still run it down. >> nine years ago al lopez started a company called green team long island. he also is on a mission to rid homes of fossil fuels. >> time is running out before we can really stop that two degree warming that will start making things dramatically worse. every home is going to be using heat pumps in a matter of time because it is so efficient. >> we caught up with him and his crew at jennifer because frey's home in west hempstead, new york. it is one of 15 installations the company completes every week. she hired the team to install insulation, heat pumps and solar panels. >> i've always wanted to have a green home. i think it is something i've always thought a bill in my mind. i've always said if i am going

to be a homeowner something has to be green or everything has to be green. >> heat pumps are so green because they are not creating heat. removing it from one place to another. inside there is a fluid called refrigerant that boils at -40 degrees low zero fahrenheit cared as long as the outside a is warmer than -40 the refrigerant picks up heat from the outside air as it becomes a gas. it flows into an electric compressor where it is put under pressure adding more warmth to the gas. the warm gas flows into your room unit as it heats your room. the gas itself condenses back into a liquid. now the liquid travels back out flowing through a valve that lowers the pressure and the temperature. the cycle starts all over again. in the winter you can pump heat inside and in the summer reverse the process to pump heat outside cooling your room.

you can go to 4, 5, 800 percent efficiency because you are not making heat. you are just pushing it from one area to the other pit >> as the temperatures get very high or very low, the efficiency does decline. >> the challge is the time you need heating the most is literally when there is the least heat to be extracted from their on that coldest winter night. and the time when you need cooling the most is on the hottest summer day when it is the hardest to put heat into the air. if the rock is deep enough to let you do that. >> kathy is the founder and president of dandelion ergy. the company is installing heat pumps connected geothermal wells. it makes a heat pump even more efficient. >> you are extracting heat and rejecting heat to the ground and the ground is typically 50 degrees fahrenheit year-round. so it is never that hard to pull

heat out of the ground and it is never that hard to put heat into the ground. what that translates to is a system that is incredibly efficient and very cost-effective for homeowners. >> dandelion has focused on reducing the costnd consequence of drilling a geothermal well. using smaller more noble drilling rigs to reach tight lots like this one. so far they have installed more than 1000 geothermal wells for heat pumps. elaine is among their customers. she got rid of her old gas furnace and air conditioning system at her home in scarsdale, new york. all of it was replaced with two heat pumps in her basement attached to closed-loop geothermal wells. >> these pipes are connect to the outside underneath the ground. >> the pipes are filled with a steady supply of 50 degree water year-round matter the weather. the system cost $40,000 all in but with subsidies in financing

they did not have to come out of pocket upfront. has it been satisfactory both in heating and cooling? >> definitely. all our neighbors are complaining about how much their heating bills went up. but ours stayed the same. we are using that heat a lot more and we use the ac a lot more as well. >> without guilt. >> yeah, without guilt. >> drilling fema -- drilling geothermal wells to enhance heat mps greatly adds to the expense. in the most extreme climates it is often mandatory that there is some conventional wisdom or urban myth air source heat pumps don't work well in climates like new york either. >> they have become more reliable. >> bj modi is a professor of mechanical engineering at columbia university.

he has installed heat pumps in his 150-year-old harlem brownstone. he says he pump technology has greatly improved in the last 20 years. but buyer beware. >> i think one gap we need to address is we need more people trained to install them and install them right. they are a tricky technology. this technology is there to deploy. we will need heat pump simply because that is the only option we have. >> new york state aims to completely eliminate fossil fuels in all its buildings by 2050. right now we are doing about 20,000 buildings a year. to reach our goal, we need to do 200,000 a year. a tenfold increase and that is where the challenge and the opportunity come in. >> is it realistic to imagine fully electrified homes en masse

across the country in the next 20 years >> it is a challenge. it is a high goal but one that is achievable. >> on rooftops across the city there is evidence the transition is well underway. but with one million buildings in the city alone, the road to zero is fraught with congestion and gridlock. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in new york city. >> there is a lot more online at pbs.org/newshour including a story about solar powered energy hubs being built in and around new orleans to provide residents with electricity after natural disasters. >> join us again back here tomorrow night when we will explore the state of policing in america amid ongoing calls for reform. that is the newshour for tonight. >> thanks for snding part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by --

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ever. >> >>. hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> what they want is a coup and there won't be a coup. they have to learn democracy is the most complicated thing for us to do. >> a warning from the brazilian president to the insurgents and what it says about the state of demo democracy. lulu's advisor joins me. then. >> god bless everybody in this chamber. god bless america. >> in the united states congress is finally in session. the dysfunction is on the menu. legendary historian puts it into

context. then. >> lurching from one crisis to another is how i describe the house in modern