geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the newshour tonight, the u.s. hits its borrowing limit, forcing the treasury to take extraordinary measures to avoid default while congress wrangles over raising the debt ceiling. geoff: a new rugee program allows american citizens to sponsor people fleeing violence and oppression. amna: and scientists lay out the environmental and heal effects associated with gas stoves as they become the subject of national debate. >> the results right now are showing that cooking with gas in apartments leads to incredibly high levels of harmful pollutants that really hurt our health. ♪

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the can do to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in restorative leaders. more at kendedafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york. at carnegie.org. and with the going support of these individuals and 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. geoff: good evening and welcome to the newshour. the u.s. government hit its debt limit today, forcing the treasury department to resort to extraordinary measures to keep the government paying its bills and avoid the catastrophic consequences of a default. that's with the new gop-led congress setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown over raising the debt limit. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins joins us with the latest. it is great to see you. for the unfamiliar, remind us what this means if the country has hit its debt limit. lisa: to use a cliche analogy, we have reached our credit card limit. however, unlike most of us, the treasury has more powers to deal

with hitting the credit card limit, so they are dealing with accounting mechanisms. i am calling them extra ordinary because they have to use them so often in order to keep us paying our bills. how long will that last? estimates are till summer. i want to draw attention to a note janet yellen wrote today. she wrote, " the period of time that external measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty." that means no one really knows how long we can keep treading water. geoff: the timing ahead is uncertainty. the treasury is trying to buy time. in 2011, this brings midship resulted in the u.s. having its credit rating downgraded for the first time in history, and retirement savings took a hit. what is the risk this time? lisa: it is a significant risk. a quick reminder that most people believe the treasury would pay our creditors, but the treasury, by reporting a couple

years ago was that there is not a clear plan. let's say they pay our bonds right away. but then they have to make choices, prioritize. would it be that federal workers have to be furloughed? is it benefit programs? someone would not get money, and the problem that could lead to tipping in the economy. all of those things including interest rates and the world economy could lead to an avalanche of problems throughout systems around the world. geoff: why are these hard-line republican members of the house willing to play roulette with a still vulnerable economy? what is their political calculation here? lisa: they say this is one problem, dealing with the debt ceiling, but another they are more concerned about is the size of the debt itself. here's how kevin mccarthy put it this week. he stressed the most recent

omnibus spending bill, one of the largest passed by congress. here's what he said. >> they let two senators write a $2.7 trillion omnibus bill that no one got to see and jammed it through in the middle of december. you realize why we have a debt like we had in the past. why wouldn't we sit down now, set up a budget, set up have to get us to a balanced budget, and let's start paying this debt off and make sure the future generation has as many opportunities as we do? lisa: a lot going on. he said, why don't we sit down? what they are really saying is we will not raise the debt ceiling until you agree to limits on spending. they will put significant limits on spending. but they say the problem is so large. let's look at where we are with the national debt. let's look at the history of the national debt relative to our economy. we are almost at world war ii levels and that 100% of our economy range. let's look at what is forecast from the congressional budget

office. if nothing changes in how are our congress and government operate, that is where our debt will go, to areas people say are uncharted and a danger. that is why conservatives are doubling down. they want the debt, which is its own issue connected to spending. geoff: a lot of that spending happened during the trump era, and those same republicans were not sounding like kevin mccarthy sounded today. what gives? lisa: i was keeping track of those spending bills republicans were passing, with her for the military or veterans. they had no problem with this buffet of federal dollars they were passing at that point. what is happening is they are coming into power and those behind them, their core base, is saying this is a problem, it is about their identity. they assert where those fiscal republicans are, but there are also the combative republicans willing to risk everything for brinksmanship. those two things are coming to

play right now. let's talk about what we think could happen, what are the scenarios ahead. geoff: how is this likely to end up? lisa: we don't know, but i want to tee off these chaotic potentially months ahead with these ideas. first of all, republicans could potentially win out with this freeze they want or a cut to federal spending. but already, we see industries and agencies worried about that scenario. there could be bipartisan measures to cut the budgets ahead. that is what happened in 2011. there was a deal to put up more guardrails on spending. or there could be no deal. there could be a complete standoff. one side or the other has to caventirely. right now, the president is saying he will not negotiate. i have a feeling that whether these things are cnected in press releases or knots, they are going to have to have conversations about federal spending. how much will democrats give or not, how much will republicans give or not? geoff: for one thing, we know

for sure you will be tracking all of it. lisa desjardins, thank you for sharing that reporting. good to see you. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, president biden got an up-close look at the ravages of storms that have swept california. the president and california governor gavin newsom toured the seaside town of capitola, one of the areas south of san francco that was hardest hit by so-called atmospheric rivers. the federal emergency management agency now estimates the storms caused at least several hundred million dollars in damage. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy issued an urgent appeal to western nations today for tanks and air defense systems. he addressed a meeting at the world economic forum in switzerland via video link and said ukraine needs tanks to take the fight to t russians.

>> we can't get there, to get the enemy. this requires a specific weapon. there is a list of countries that have it, and there is a specific list from us of what we need. want to help? help. no dialogue. just help. amna: he spoke as u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin met with germany's new defense minister in berlin. the allies are pressing each other to supply tanks to ukraine. in france, more than one million people took to the streets blasting plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64. striking workers and other protesters held largely peacef rallies nationwide, but police in paris fired tear gas after some in the crowd threw objects at them. french president emmanuel macron responded from a meeting in barcelona, spain, and vowed to proceed with the pension age change. >> in countries where people

live even longer and where we have strong welfare systems, when there are fewer and fewer people who are economically active and more and more who are retired, this reform needs to be carried out if you want the pact between generations to be fair. amna: the french government says the change would also bring billions in additional pension contributions, as workers pay in to the system longer. back in this country, harvard university reversed itself and announced it will offer a fellowship to kenneth roth, former head of human rights watch. roth accepted an offer last year, but then the dean of harvard's kennedy school of government rejected it. roth said he believed his criticism of israel was the reason. today the dean, douglas elmendorf, said his initial decision was an error. on wall street, stocks gave more ground on disappointing data from the housing industry and manufacturing. the dow jones industrial average lost 252 points to close at 33,44. the nasdaq fell 104 points, 1%. the s&p 500 slipped 30 points.

and there is word that david crosby, a major figure in rock music in the 1960's and 1970's, has died. he was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who cofounded two legendary bands, the byrds, and crosby stills, nash, and young. >> ♪ don't you ever asked them why if they told you, you would cry so just look at them and sigh and know they love you ♪ ♪ amna: crosby battled drug and alcohol addiction for years, but was twice inducted into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. david crosby was 81 years old. still to come on the newshour, why new zealand's prime minister is stepping down after becoming a global symbol of female leadership. after alec baldwin faces charges

for a fatal shooting movie set. director sarah polley discusses her new phone. 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. geoff: it was eight earthquake last may when the draft support court opinion overturning roe v. wade was leaked before the ruling was handed down. chief justice john roberts launched an investigation, and today, the court issued its report. john: the investigation has not been able to identify the leaker. no one confessed and none of the available evidence points to a culprit. the investigation, which was reviewed by michael chertoff, did identify weaknesses in the

way the court handles sensitive documents. how did the supreme court go about investigating this? >> as you recall, the investigation was assigned to the courts-martial. she is a former national security lawyer for the army. and pretty much is an administrator now. and when she manages the courts security. the marshal undertook the investigation and there were interviews of 97 court employees , 82 of whom actually had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft opinion. these employees were not only interviewed but were asked -- agreed to sworn affidavits about the statements they made to investigators. as you said, they could not show

by a preponderance of evidence that any one was responsible for the leak. john: end the reports saithe pandemic may have actually played a role in this. >> and that was kind of interesting. the courts said the pandemic and the expansion of the ability to work from home, along with the gaps in the courts own security measures really increased the risk of an inadvertent or deliberate disclosure of the draft report. john: the report also said they had some broad recommendations about improving the way the court handles secure documents, or documents that should not be leaked. they said a lot of the policies are outdated. should that surprise people that in the 21st century, the supreme court has outdated policies on

handling secure documents? >> i am sure it would surprise many who are not really familiar with the court itself. but it does not support -- surprise those who follow the court. the court as an institution is very slow to change, and i think that is largely the reason why. we are still hearing arguments over whether there should be cameras in the courtroom. and it was only because of the pandemic that the court began to livestream audio of arguments. again, it is an institution that changes incrementally. no, i don't think those who know the court would be surprised. john: you know the court very well. you have watched the court and thesjustices. one thing the report did not talk about is the effect that the leak had on the operations of the court. the dealings between the justices. are you seeing any long-term effects of that in the way the court, the justices, operate and

deal with each other? >> in terms of the leak, i think it is hard to say that i see anything visibly. we know that last summer, some of the justices made comments about the impacts of the leak. justice thomas said it was the sort of thing that makes you always want to look over your shoulder. justice alito talked about how it led to threats on justices' lives. overall, i think it definitely affected the interpersonal relationships within the court. not just among the justices and their clerks, but even the people who work there, especially after being investigated for this. and i think it is unfortunate that the investigation did not find someone to hold responsible for this, because it continues a

shadow over the court. there were a number of people who believe that we may never hear the results,. but also people felt that it might have been somebody, it might have been a justice or the spouse of a justice who did this. and without holding someone responsible, that suspicion is going to continue. and i think as well, it will continue to affect the interpersonal relationships, perhaps not as much as they were affected last term when things were still so raw. the court gets its work done and the justices work together. but i think it can't help but continue to cast a shadow over the institution, at a time when there are many shadows over many institutions in our government,

and that's unfortunate. john: supreme court analyst marcia coyle, thank you very much. >> my pleasure, john. ♪ amna: the state department announced a new program to help faciliate refugees coming to and settling in the united states. it's called welcome corps and aims to empower private american citizens to sponsor refugees. nce the 1980's, the number of refugees admitted to the united states has fluctuated. after the 9/11 attacks numbers plunged, but then rose over time. they dropped again during the trump administration, but have been rising since joe biden became president. krish omar is the president and ceo of lutheran immigration and refugee service. she joins me now. let's talk about this new program. they aim to mobilize 10,000

americans to sponsor 5000 refugees in the first year. they call it the boldest innovation undertaken in their approach to refugee resettlement in over four decades. do you agree with that? >> i guess it is the right thursday because in many ways this pilot reverts to how refugee resettlement was done before it was professionalized. before that, it was private citizens who came together and supported refugees through private sponsorship. the refugee program has been refined since then, but community involvement is the core of our work even today, even before this announcement. what we find is our volunteers become the most enthusiastic ambassadors and advocates, so it is nice to see the administration recognize the generosity of the american spirit and bring more people into the work of welcome. that said, i do think there are a few things to keep in mind to

be realistic about the program. there are things private citizens can do well or better than anyone else. organizing a donation drive, helping furnish apartments. there is a risk that sponsors may not be fully prepared or equipped for what oftentimes is complicated, challenging work, whether talking about addressing the trauma refugees of experienced or navigating the paperwork and bureaucracy of helping a family enroll their kids in school. we want to make sure these sponsors are prepared for what's in store and they are vetted. we are excited about the program, but obviously we need to be realistic about what it will deliver. amna: it doesn't sound as if you have a lot of faith that this program will make a significant difference. it sounds like it is welcome but you do not think it will make a huge difference. your organization is one of the largest resettlement agencies in the country. you are not part of this

coalition in this program. why not? >> we had the state department event. we certainly are supportive of anything that can rebuild the infrastructure. there are excellent groups that are involved. we have invested in a model of community cosponsorship because we have seen over decades of experience that the best outcomes happen when there is public-private collaboration. for us, cosponsorship means leveraging the incredible generosity and compassion of americans while also recognizing that the buck stops with us as a resettlement agency that has done this work for 83 years. we are grateful for any effort that brings americans until the work, but it is a lot to ask private citizens to do this principally on their own. that is where i think there are opportunitieso leverage individual involvement. but at the end of the day, there is real value to the professionalization we have seen in the four decades the program

has been in place. amna: when you look at the refugee resettlement program in the u.s. right now, president biden's latest refugee cap for 2023 is set at 125,000 people. when you look at the way our system works right now, where would you be putting resources and attention for the u.s. to get anywhere close to that number? >> that a question because we have to solve for the real probm, and that is not the domestic infrastructure to resettle refees. it is the backlogs that continue to plague the program. maybe there is a misconception out there that we do not have the domestic capacity here in the u.s., but that is not the case. it is true many resettlement sites closed during the cuts of the trump administration, but two years later we have built back. we had to close 17 of our 48 sites during the trump administration, but we haven't just returned to 48. we now have 50 resettlement sites up and running.

the real and most pressing challenge is how do we process refugees and ultimately admit them to the u.s.? to your point of citing, the numbers the administration has increased the number 262,500 and 125,000. in the first year, we resettled less than 12,000, and in the second, about 25,000. the question is, how do we build that pipeline abroad? otherwise, there is a risk that you have this new program and sponsors will come forward, but there will be very few families to support. geoff: -- amna: krish o'mara gina rajab, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having us. ♪ geoff: there's been quite a bit of heated debate lately about gas stoves and potential government rulation.

the fire was lit last week after recent studies linked asthma with the use of gas stoves. and a member of a federal consumer agency briefly suggested that perhaps the federal government might even ban them in newly built homes. but that was quickly shot down by the white house. still, there's new focus on the health impact and possible alternatives. in fact, there are even some new government incentives for swapping out older stoves. miles o'brien has been looking into all of this and has our report. miles: maria is happily cooking without gas, long before a political stew started boiling over in washington. >> right now, you have this campaign by these left-wing groups to end gas burning stoves. miles: teasing a potential federal ban on gas stoves. >> the link between your gas stove and childhood asthma. >> gas stoves don't cause asthma.

there is no research proving that, chef. miles: no ban is currently in the works. but cooking with gas is the latest battle in the culture war. since last yr, maria has used an electric oven with an induction cooktop. >> beautiful. it will be done very quick. miles: it replaced a gas range. maria has lived in this new york city housing authority apartment in the bronx for 44 years. when you first heard about an electric stove, did you think i like cooking with gas? or were you ready to change? >> i was not ready, but i thought of one thing. miasma. every time i would turn it on i would start coughing. miles: really? >> yes, i would start coughing. so it wathe gas. unfortunely, that is what i noticed. miles: she is part of a pilot program hoping to refine the recipe for the big switch away from fossil fuels.

new york city has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 80% in 2050. and here, about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. >> the electrification of existing buildings is going to be a complex challenge, and what we don't want to see is communities of color, low income communities, affordable housing residents being left behind. miles: annie is a climate change c campaign coordinator for the we act. they are installing sensors in kitchens with electric and gas appliances. >> we are looking to see the change in air quality over six months in this building, and also to study the challenges and opportunities of electrification and affordable housing. miles: this has led them to an important conclusion. methane is a greenhouse gas that harms the climate, but burning

it also has a more immediate impact right at home. >> the results right now are showing that cooking with gas in apartments leads to incredibly high levels harmful pollutants that hurt our health. miles: as methane or natural gas burns, it tri triggers a reactin that creates nitrogen dioxide, pollutants known as nox. they cause all sorts of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, including asthma. the latest study published in december compared data on nationwi asthma rates and gas stove usages and concluded 12.7 percent of current childhood asthma in the u.s. is attributable to gas stove use. no surprise to rob jackson. >> put the fans. >> on the ground. it is onhe windows. miles: he is a professional or

of environmental sciences at stanford university. he and his team a focused on finding methanwherever it may be. he spends his time sampling the air in kitchens equipped with gas ranges. >>e take a series of measurements before we liked it. we measure how much methane comes when you turn the thing on and off. then we measure how much is coming when the flame is on. miles: jackson's team samples beyond the kitchen. >> the nox generated in the kitchen spread throughout the house. you get above these thresholds in adjacent bedrooms where there is no hood and no expectation you would find those gases in the air. miles: in the bronx, a few floors away from maria, a rec researcher is on her own hunt for air quality data. >> are you hungry? >> yeah. miles: it was lunchtime in her apartment. >> are you going to help me? miles: she cooks with gas. a p candidate in climate and

health at columbia university, she recorded nitrogen dioxide levels nearly 40 times greater than world healtorganization daily guidelines. >> if you look at this, the level is 500 ppb. >> that is parts per billion. >> that is huge. the guideline is about 13 ppb. miles: this is five times greater than the epa one hour error standard for nox. but there are no rules in the u.s. governing indoor pollution, even though that is where we spend most of our time. >> people who experience asthma are on the frontlines of climate change because a lot of the sources of carbon in missions also are producing these pollutants that exacerbate asthma. miles: while gas stoves are looking less attractive, electric cooktop technology has learned some new tricks. traditional electric stoves are inefficient.

they create heat by simply resisting the electric current. but newer induction cooktop's use electricity to create a magnetic field. the electrons inside cause and pans that create iron aligned with the magnet, vibrating tens of thousands of times per second, creating friction and heat. the result is better energy efficiency, faster cooking, and no combustion fumes. so why are so many americans and republican lawmakers still enthralled with gas? ♪ >> gas. miles: for decades, the fossil fuel industry has spent heavily to promote the idea that gas is superior. but it is a bad rap, in more ways than one. >> ♪ cooking with gas, cooking with gas ♪ >> ♪ we all cook better when we are cooking with gas ♪ >> miles: miles: here scum of e word is spreading. -- here in the bronx, the word

is spreading. now that the results are in, ayana has her new electric range. >> i am excited to get rid of this old-school gas stove and get with the new. and of course, if it is anything i can do that can make the smallest change in the world, i am down to help. miles: it turns out the climate crisis is also an air pollution crisis. if we can stop burning things, fast, we can all breathe a little easier. geoff: miles joins us from his kitchen to answer more questions about induction stoves. let's talk dollars and cents. if somebody wants to install an induction cooktop range in their home, how much will it cost? miles: before i do that, i want to start the tea kettle water boiling so you can see how quickly that happens on and induction stove.

basically, a low-end induction range is $1200. a low-end gas range is about $1000. you might have to upgrade your electricity to22 or0 -- 220 or 240 . if you want to save money or you are renting, you can use something like this. this is a cooking plate. it is an actual full up burner that will do everything that this induction range will do, for about $250. there's cheaper ones like this one here, about $150. you can do that immediately. there are inexpensive ways to do this if you are concerned. there you go. geoff: boiled water in 30 seconds? miles: about 30 seconds. geoff: why do professional chefs still use gas? i am sure a lot of people assume if pros use gas, that is best. miles: absolutely.

as much as anything, it is transition. -- it is tradition. we are trying to electrify the society to address the climate change problem. but in professional kitchens, there is an assumption that the only way to do it is to light a flame, which is what cavemen did to cook. this is changing. some of the top restaurants in the world in europe and asia are all ition and have been for some time. there is more resistance here in the u.s., and some of that has to do with a fossil fuel industry doing a pretty effective campaign to ke -- to convince people electric is not as good. geoff: there are questions about the types of pots and pans that work with induction. tell us more about that. miles: this is an issue that comes up quite a bit. it is cooking with magnetic fields so it has to have a pot or pan that is magnetic. everytng you see here works

just fine because it has some iron in it. there is a lot of varietyut there. u cannot use things like this, ceramic, because that is not magnetic. if you have a whole bunch of aluminum pots and pans, you have to retire those as well. but it is not like you have to use a specialized cookware. geoff: you have a vent hood in your kitchen. is that necessary for an induction cooktop? miles: not as important as it is with gas. one of the things people should think about if they are still using a gas stove and will continue to do so, use that vent hood and make sure it is vented outside. not one of those that recirculate. that will not do. you any good at all y that goes a long way to improving the air quality. geoff: thank you for sharing that reporting with us and inviting us into your kitchen. we appreciate it. ♪

amna: actor alec baldwn will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a new mexico movie set in 2021. the film's weapons specialist and assistant director are also being charged. stephanie sy has more. stephanie: the santa fe district attorney said there was "a criminal disregard for safety” that led to the death of the cinematographer halyna hutchins. she explained the decision to file charges on cnn. >> this was a really fast and loose set. and that nobody was doing their job. there were three people if they had done their job that day, this tragedy wouldn't have happened. and that's david halls, hannah gutierrez reed, and alec baldwi if they had just done their basic duties, we wouldn't be standing here. stephanie: halls agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. both baldwin and gutierrez-reed will be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

in a statement, baldwin's attorney said, "mr. baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun, or anywhere on the movie set. he relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds." elizabeth wagmeister is chief correspondent for variety. she joins us with more. were you surprised by the announcement of these charges? elizabeth: i think this is clearly a surprising announcement because you have a n a-list actor charged with involuntary manslaughter. that said, that is what happened. a woman died onset and alec baldwin was the one who did fire the gun. so if he did not fire the gun, there are a lot of steps that should have been taken before then, but have that gun not been fired, then halyna hutchins would still be alive. stephanie: the husband of halyna

hutchins reacted today. his lawyer said in a statement that "it is a comfort to the family that in new mexico, no one is above the law." he added they fully support the charges. are you hearing similar reactions in the film industry? or the opposite? elizabeth: what i think is interesting about that statement from the family is, remember that there was a settlement, a civil settlement a few months ago, so that was also surprising to me. but in the film industry, what i am hearing is a lot of shock. people seem to be very surprised that alec baldwin was hit with these charges. people are wondering, will he really go to jail? these charges are tied to a fair number of years behind bars. but i do think one common thread i am hearing in the entertainment industry this this was a horrible mistake. stephanie: and if he is convicted on the one count of

involuntary manslaughter, it would carry 18 months. i do want to ask about the significance for the film industry and first set safety standards. was this tragedy an outlier? or is having better control over stunt guns on set an issue that hollywood needs to address? elizabeth: this absolutely needs to be addressed. and in the wake of the tragedy on the set of "rust," there has been at outcry for more protocol and safety to ensure that this never, ever happens again. but i have to tell you, the outcry has not matched what is actually being enacted on the sets. there are not new laws that we have seen go into place. there is nothing that says there cannot be a real gun and real ammo on set. there is a call for action but we have not seen much yet. but i do expect we will see a lot more safety protocols being put in place on any set that is

using firearms. the question remains, why do we need to have real firearms in movies? we are in a world in which james cameron can make actors into blue creatures. you can clearly do anything through cgi. of course it is more expensive in postproction to use cgi, but it can be done, and safety needs to be paramount. stephanie: i think a lot of us had that same question with this tragedy happened. the senior correspondent for variety, thank you. ♪ amna: lawmakers in new zealand today are negotiating over the country's next prime minister after jacinda ardern made a surprise announcement she would step down before the end of her second term. she has been new zealand's youngest prime minister in 150 years. nick schifrin looks at why she's leaving, and her legacy.

nick: she was the world's youngest female head of government. >> yes, i can do the job and be a mother. nick: well known for empathy. >> jump online quickly and just check in with everyone, really. our gun laws will change. nick: who became a global liberal icon as a self-proclaimed feminist. >> me too must become we too. nick: and yet, at just 43 years old, five years into the job, jacinda ardern says she's had enough. i know what this job takes, and i know that i no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. it is that simple. and so today, i am announcing that i will not be seeking reelection. nick: ardern is well known for that emotion and openness. especially in 2019, after an australian gunman killed 51 muslum worshippers in two mosques. she stood with the muslim community, and against the shooter's white supremacy.

>> they have chosen to make new zealand their home, and it is their home. they are us. the person who has perpetuated th violence against us is not. nick: in less than four weeks, parliament passed a bill banning most semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. >> every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on friday will be banned in this country. nick: her tenure was marked by crises, none larger than covid. >> these decisions will place the most significant restrictions on new zealanders' movements in modern history. nick: her government shut the borders and imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns, despite the country reliance on tourism. it saved lives and allowed kiwis to resume normal life earlier than most countries. throughout, she spoke to the country via facebook live. >> as we all joined together in the fight against covid-19. >> without question, we had one of the most effective responses to the pandemic in the world, and many people owe their lives

to that. nick: helen clarke was new zealand prime minister from 1999 to 2008, from ardern's same party. she also co-led an independent review of covid's origins and countries' responses. we spoke to her from a train, outside of davos. >> i think that jacinda's government distinguished itself by taking the science seriously. a lot of other women leaders around the world took a similar approach. listen to the experts, make sound decisions, communicate clearly to the public about what you know and what you don't know. nick: but two years later, demonstrators protested outside parliament. a slow vaccine rollout, government mandates, inflation, sparked opposition among conservatives, and led to ardern's party slipping in the polls. dr. wilson is a senior lecturer at new zealand's massey university. >> the cost of living pressures are very real for people. they're looking for someone to blame.

and of course, they're gng to blame the government. nick: but ardern also faced criticism that could be sexist and ageist. >> i've met a lot of prime ministers in my time. but none so young, not too many so smart, and never one so attractive. nick: in 2018, she became only the second world leader to give birth in office. she never hid her motherhood. >> it's bedtime, darling. pop back to bed. i'll come and see you in a second. nick: or her feminism, standing next to 37-year-old finnish prime minister sanaa marin. >> a lot of people will be wondering, are you two meeting just because you're similar in age and got a lot of common stuff there? >> my first question is, i wonder whether or not anyone ever asked barack obama and john key if they met because they were of similar age. >> if you're being subjected to threats of violence and unprecedend levels, all of that makes your workplace environment far more hostile. while she's the number one target, this behavior has a chilling effect for all women.

we look at how she is being treated and we go, so that's what happens if you have a public profile. nick: ardern never shied away from that public profile, until now. after leading the country through countless crises, she says she and her fiance will finally have time to get married. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ amna: a new film is getting oscar buzz for its standout acting performances and unusually deep exploration of sexual violence. the film opens nationwe tomorrow. jeffrey brown talks to sarah polley, director of "women talking," for our arts and culture series, "canvas." >> we know that we are bruised and infected and pregnant and terrified and insane, and some

of us are dead. jeffrey: a series of sexual assaults has taken place in a conservative mennonite community, far removed from modern life. and the women of the colony, realizing the perpetrators are their own menfolk, must vote. do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. >> it's part of our faith to forgive. we will be excommunicated, forced to leave the colony in disgrace if we cannot forgive these men. and if we are excommunicated, we forfeit our place in heaven. jeffrey: the film "women talking" takes us into a conversation in which, says director sarah polley, the stakes couldn't be higher. >> questions around faith and forgiveness andemocracy and individualuilt versus systemic injustice, and how do we heal and how do we live together in community, and how do we sit with people who don't agree with us on every single issue and come to some kind of consensus to move forward and out of harm. and the idea of getting the best cast i possibly could in a room together to have this

conversation was so exciting to me. >> is forgiveness that's forced upon us true forgiveness? jeffrey: what a conversation, and what a cast, including rooney mara, frances mcdormand, claire foy, jessie buckley, and judith ivey. >> isn't it interesting that the one and only request we women would have of the men would be for them to leave? jeffrey: the film is based on the 2018 novel of the same name by miriam toews, which itself reimagined real events that occurred in a remote mennonite colony in bolivia earlier this century. >> it's been amazing to see the film have this kind of life in so many places, because you don't know, you never know when you make a film if it's going to connect. jeffrey: in new york recently, polley spoke of how a story of women outside contemporary life. >> it was all waiting to happen, before it happened. jeffrey: members of a deeply hierarchical faith-community, in which girls and women are kept illiterate and under the authority of men, could resonate so strongly for her and others

today. >> one of the resonant parts for me was the power of language, the power of having words for something that's previously been unspoken, the power of having a conversation come into the culture that hasn't been part of it. that's what these women are doing. and i think, most importantly, what i loved about the conversation in this film is it wasn't just about the harms that had been done. it was about, how do we find a way forward? how do we build a better world? what do we want that to look like? jeffrey: even though it's in such an other world, right? >> the film is told in the realm of a fable. so, there's something of an allegory about it. there's something surreal in the heightened reality. jeffrey: you wanted to take it out of a specific place and time? >> this is not limited to women in this particular sect. i mean, certainly there's an extremity and a horror that happened in this community that is easier for that to happen in an isolated community where there's no contact with the outside world and where there's such a hierarchical power structure.

but i also didn't want to just give people permission to say, these are only issues that people a dealing with in this kind of community. because, of course, we're dealing with them every day in our own. jeffrey: polley herself, now 44, has been in the film world since she was a child star in canada. >> you are mistaking me for someone with potential. jeffrey: she appeared in numerous films before turning to directing in her late 20's with her feature debut, "away from her," based on a short story by nobel prize winning writer alice munro, about a woman institutionalized with alzheimer's. >> michael was a private person, and diane was not a private person. jeffrey: a much-acclaimed documentary, "stories we tell," examined polley's own family history and the different ways lives can be understood and seen. last year, she published a memoir titled "run towards the danger" that candidly explored some of the traumas she experienced along the way, and how she did or did not respond to them, including a sexual

assault as a teenager, which came out much later amid a highly-publicized court case. and what she saw as abusive treatment she experienced as a child and teen on film sets , being put in emotionally and physically perilous situations. >> may on this 1 -- jeffrey: polley the director has prioritized the workplace aspect of film production. >> i kind of have a policy that it is your responsibility as a filmmaker to create a healthy working environment. and i think that kind of gets underplayed in the job description. jeffrey: underplayed because people don't think of it on a hollywood set? >> i think people just expect filmmakers to be these wild, creative, imaginative geniuses. and it's -- irresponsibility or spontaneity or madness is part of the job description, maybe a symptom of a good filmmaker. and i have found that better work is done on sets where attention is paid to those basic principles of a decent place for people to work, and the hours

not being crushingly long, and people's emotional and physical well-being prioritized. jeffrey: on the set of "women talking," that meant having a therapist, lori haskell, on hand for the most emotional scenes, including one in which the character played by claire foy finally explodes, exhorting her companions to leave the colony now to protect their children. >> i will destroy any living thing that harms my child. >> lori turned to me and said, "this is going to be my busiest day." and i said, "why? we've done all of these scenes that seem to be more traumatic than this." and she said, "because every person in this room right now on the crew and the cast who didn't have a parent to protect them is going to hear what it sounds like if they did." what does it sound like? what are the words you would have wanted to hear your parents say? jeffrey: the therapist knew right away. >> right away. and sure enough, it was absolutely her busiest day. she had a lineup. jeffrey: ultimately, polley wants to make clear, this is an empowering film. "women talking" not only of

violence and danger, but how they can change their lives and those of their children. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. >> we will have to ask ourselves who we are. ♪ geoff: amy stelly is an urban planner, designer, and artist in new orleans, where her family has lived for four generations. she has been fighting to have the claiborne expressway removed. it's a highway that the biden administration has called "an example of historic inequity." tonight, stelly shares her "brief but spectacular" take on improving community health near urban highways. >> i don't like interstatgoing through treme. i've never liked it. it's loud. it's dirty. it's nasty. it's ugly. there's nothinto love about the interstate going through treme in the seventh ward. ♪

growing up, i would enjoy taking the ride to visit my grandparents. my grandparents lived off of the famed st. charles avenue. so it was a beautiful ride from downtown new orleans to uptown new orleans. it was green, it was pleasant, itas lush. but then when i came back home, i was faced with this huge piece of gray infrastructurehat just loomed over what we call the neutral ground here. i was never clear about why our neighborhood had to be so ugly and other neighborhoods, like uptown new orleans, were still beautiful. it puzzled me as ahild. i began to understand the race and class divide much later as an adult. as a child, i decided that it would be my mission in life to get rid of the interstate. i intuitively knew that that interstate did not give us the quality of life.

-- quality of life that, first of all, my family bought into when they bought into the neighborhood 70 years ago. but it also doesn't give us as black people anywhere in the united states the quality of life that we deserve. when you put an interstate through a neighborhood, you invite people to go through the neighborhood. they don't stop. they don't support the neighborhood. they don't contribute to the economic vitality of the nehborhood. claiborne was really, in its day, a black wall street. there were all types of black businesses there. unfortunately, the interstate ran all of that away because it's a very, very difficult environment to live in and to do business in. we're looking at 50 years of disinvestment now. there is nothing there. so, it ruined the black community. as a planner and designer, i began to see exactly how land use and land use decisions impact people, especially minorities, people of color, older people who don't understand the language or who

haven't been exposed to it. so, i really felt compelled to make sure that these things were clear and understandable. with regard to land use decisions, if they don't happen with you, they will happen to you. by and large, the interstates have wrecked our lives. so, we have to take the bull by the horns and we have to speak up. my name is amy stelly, and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on urban highways. geoff: you can watch more brief -- "brief but spectacular" videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. amna: you can also view a gallery of images around iraq's historic victory in the gulf cup final today hosted in basra, iraq. love to see it. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night, when we'll speak with the u.s. undersecretary of defense about the efforts to arm ukraine in its fight against russia. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett.

amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering plans to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities but ahead to future ones. resilice is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know bdo. ♪ >> the ford foundation.

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. hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. a tragic hicopter crash near kyiv. an on the ground report and. >> the priority is to ensure sec cooersty and safety of the p plant. fired for acting up about the climate crisis. i speak to earth scientist rose about what it cost her. and. >> i said we need an economic renewal of production. we need to be the best, best producing nation in the world and we can be. >> roasted dreams or can these jobs r