♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: i am amna nawaz. tonight, another mass shooting. two days after a shooting outside of los angeles. geoff: classified documents are found in vice president mike pence's indiana home, raising questions about the handling of sensitive information. amna: and lithium deposits in the salton sea show promise for the devastated region. >> this is an incredible opportunity because it is a matter of national security to have our own steady source of lithium instead of relying on other countries.

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informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ ♪ >> 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. the deadly toll of gun violence is again our top story tonight. yet another shocking attack in california, and then just a few hours later, a deadly shooting

in washington state. three ople in yakima, washington were killed in what appears to be a random shooting at a convenience store there. amna nawaz is co anchoring from california again tonight. amna: we are outside the scene of saturday's horrific shooting in monterey park. even today, folks have continued to file through to bring flowers, say a prayer and pay respects. but even before all the names of those killed in that attack were confirmed here, news broke of another mass shooting in california. according to the gun violence archive there have now been 39 , mass shootings across america in 2023 alone. more mass shootings than days of the year. less than 48 hours after a gunman's rampage sok the sleepy southern california city of monterey, a mass shooting in northern california, 30 miles out of san francisco, left a

nother trail of devastation. >> in a small town like this, it really does bring it home. amna: officials said a 66-year-old open fire monday at a farm and another agricultural business near half moon bay, a small coastal city of about 12,000 people. he worked at the farm, and the victims included asian and latino farmworkers. officers arrested him about two hours after the attack when they found him at his -- in his car. >> all the evidence we have points to this being the instance of workplace violence. our hearts are broken and we are working together with the community to heal this tragic incident. amna: even in a state with some of the nations strictest firearm laws, this month has brought a wave of gun violence across california. last monday, six people,

including a teenage mother and her baby, were gunned down in the central delhi, thought to be linked to gang activity. then monterey park, and the killings in half moon bay. yesterday in oakland, a shooting left many dead and wounded. the governor said he was meeting victims of one mass shooting when he got word of the shooting in half moon bay. tragedy after tragedy, he wrote. residents continue to grapple with the tragedy. >> it is a roller coaster. amna: nina is the director of behavior health for the chinatown service center, which is providing help for those residents in multiple languages. >> we have other chinese dialects. amna: why is it so important to

provide that in language service? >> the report -- rapport building. it is easier for them to open up and make that connection, and know that we understand each other. amna: she says cultural pressures and stigma often keep people in insular communities like monterey park from seeking help and flagging others that could be dangerous. >> among the most underserved population already aapi. the cultural aspect of men in chinese culture, and responsibility that they have to carry the family name. it is not top of their priority to address and learn about their emotns or express their emotions, or -- and to get help is low on their priorities. amna: today officials released

more identities of those killed on saturday. for this person who has lived in monterey park 40 years, each name brings more pain. >> as the faces starshowing up in media, you cannot help it recognize someone. or they are either wives, aunties, mother's of friends of friends. amna: she says shooting here and in half moon bay carried out by older asian men have shattered her sense of safety. >> to think many of us chose this neighborhood, very often we pick these neighborhoods for safety for our children. when shooters were not chinese, it was it happens somewhere else. now we have back-to-back incidents with chinesee nd to deal with it and feel the pain but we also need to set and

look at how do we prevent this? amna: and the streets here that have been mostly still the last couple of days are starting to come back to life. people are out and about, shops beginning to reopen as well. people tell us that immigrant immunities like this are built on hope and fueled by resilience. people here say they will rely on both of those moving forward. geoff: as investigation into half moon bay shooting begins, the one into the monterey park shooting continues. what if we learned about the gunmen and victims? amna: just today we learned from the l.a. corners office victims in monterey park ranged in age from 57 to 76. we are also learning more incremental details about the gunmen, about his life, from people sharing stories. the biggest question revolves

around the weapon, the semiautomatic pistol with an extended high-capacity magazine, it is illegal and has been banned in california for decades. officials say they will look into when and how and where he got that. i spoke earlier to the chief of police in monterey park, he says the biggest question for him is motive, how someone could do something like this. he says because the gunmen is now dead, that is a question he may never have an answer to. meantime, we are joined for that and more i as special guest, erika moritsugu, deputy assistant to president biden and white house's senior liaison to the asian american pacific community. thank you for being here. erika: thank you for having me. amna: you have just arrived. president biden announced vice president harris will be coming tomorrow. why is it important for you both to be here? erika: it is important to show up when there is a crisis that befalls a community that already

felt under siege, to be present. that's why the president asked me to come here immediately in the wake of the tragedy, even as it was still unfolding. to be with a community, to deliver his messages of healing and condolences on behalf of him and dr. biden, but also because i am a member of the community. this is my community too, and i am a representative of the president to the community but also of the community back to the president. when the vice president arrives tomorrow, it will be to be here in the community, to lay a wreath at the memorials, where lights and candles and prayers are replete and to meet with family members and express not just the wish for hope and healing, but to put it into action after we learn what their needs are. amna: we've heard the conversation around gun reform come up.

president biden has said he would like congress to act to pass an assaulweapons ban. when you talk to people here, is that what they want to see? erika: it is, and that has been reflected not just on the margins, but irrespective of the motive, we have a gun violence problem and it is creating terror and fear, and community members, particularly community members of color, they are seeing an unfair share of hateful violence and gun deaths. amna: two does not make a trend, the shooter here and in half moon bay were both older asian men, typically not the perpetrators of mass gun violence. what do you make of that? erika: when the president signed into law the first gun violence prevention measure, the first in 30 years, the safer communities asked, he said at the time and he will appear that it is not

enough. again, irrespective of the shooters and what is not known and that we will continue to learn and heal from it, we cannot ignore that there is a gun violence problem and too many tragic deaths, and asian americans and pacific islander communities live in fear, the deadly violence that has beset the community is a problem that persists. in addition to the fact that there is a mental health crisis i think besieges us all and we can't fget to censor the fact that there are victims and families and surviving members and community members and friends and allies and neighbors of the victims who are on a long journey to healing. amna: there has been an interesting study recently that looked at gun ownership among asian americans. as you noted, asian americans across the country have been through a lot the last three years, we saw a surge of

anti-asian hate during the pandemic. the study found that those people who experienced that racism were likely to buy a firearm for the first time. what does that say to us? erika: one of the things i have observed is people are not leaving the house, they are not able to live their everyday lives and that is also a problem because the isolation people feel in times of terror and fear is not healthy either. that's one of the things i have seen on the ground when i arrived yesterday, when i came to the makeshift memorials, when i spoke to community members and leaders and allies and neighbors , is the path to healing is a long process. it is not the work of a day. one of the reasons i was honored to be sent out here immediately was to listen and learn from community members and leaders about what is needed on the journey to healing. amna: erika, deputy assistant to

president biden and the white house senior liaison to the asian american pacific islander community, thank you. ♪ geoff: in the days other headlines -- the man accuseof killing 23 people at a texas walmart in 2019 will plead guilty to federal hate crimes and firearms charges. in return, new court filings say he won't face a federal death sentence. the attack in el paso also wounded more than 2 dozen people. many were mexican citizens, and police said the gunman told them he targeted mexicans. he still faces state murder charges that carry the death penalty. the newshour has confirmed that germany and the u.s. have now agreed to send tanks to ukraine, with an announcement set for tomorrow. both washington and berlin are refusing to acknowledge any

agreement publicly yet but they've been under mounting pressure to act. germany's defense minister rejected criticism today that his government has been slow to respond to ukraine's needs. min. pistorius: it is not the case, as portrayed over and over again, that there is no unity or that germany is isolated. there is an ongoing evaluation process, but last week's nato meeting showed very clearly that there are countries which are just as careful in their evaluation as is the german chancellor. geoff: meantime in ukraine, several senior officials were ousted today as president volodymyr zelenskyy cracks down on corruption. they include the deputy head of zelenskyy's office and the deputy defense minister. the u.s. and other nations have demanded more accountability for all of the aid being sent to ukraine. back in this country -- the u.s. justice department and 8 states filed an anti-trust lawsuit against google over its dominance of digital advertising. the suit alleges the company has damaged competitors, consumers

and advertisers by buying up rivals and forcing clients to use its products. associate u.s. attorney general vanita gupta spoke in washington. ag gupta: when any company including a big technology company violates the antitrust laws, our economy and our democracy suffer. americans rely on the internet for news and for community, and advertising revenue is essential for publishers to produce and share ideas and writings. but we allege th google has captured that revenue for its own profits and punished publishers who sought out alternatives. geoff: google's parent company alphabet rejectethe lawsuit's reasoning, and said it will only slow innovation and raise advertising fees. retail giant amazon announced a major expansion of its healthcare business today -- a prescription drug discount program. amazon prime customers will be able to pay 5 dollars a month to fill unlimited prescriptions from a list of about 50 generic medications. the new service will not use insurance d will not be covered by medicare or medicaid.

media titan rupert murdoch has scrapped plans to merge his fox corp and news corp. he says he's withdrawing a proposal to re-unite the 2 companies he divided nearly a decade ago. prominent investors had criticized the plan. on wall street, the new york stock exchange briefly halted trading in more than a dozen companies at the start of the day -- when their stock prices swung wildly. officials said it appeared to be a technical glitch. otherwise, the market had a lackluster session. the dow jones industrial average gained 104 points to close at 33,734. but the nasdaq fell 30 points. and, the s&p 500 was down about 3 points. and, the film "everything everywhere all at once" tops this year's oscar race with 11 nominations, including for best picture. it also made history today with michelle yeoh becoming the first actress of asian descent nominated for best actress. austin butler landed a nomination for his starring role in the biopic, "elvis."

and composer john williams became the oldest nominee ever -- at 90 -- for his score of "the fabelmans." the awards ceremony will be held march 12. still to come on "the newshour"... ticketmaster faces congressional scrutiny over whether it has a monopolyn the market... a former fbi agents charged with violating sanctions against russia... and mikaela shiffrin breaks a major record for world cup wins in alpine skiing. >> 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: aides to former vice president mike pence discovered what they say are a small number of classified documents at his indiana home in a search conducted last week, intensifying scrutiny over the handling of classified materials by the nation's highest officeholders. laura barron-lopez has the latest on what we know.

laura: the former vice president's attorney said they believe the documents were quote inadvertently boxed and transported to pence's home at the end of the trump administration without his knowledge. upon discovering the materials, pence and his attorneys notified the national archives. his attorney wrote in a letter that "vice president pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully." for more on what this means, i'm joined by larry pfeiffer. he's the director of the hayden center, an intelligence policy organization. thank you for joining us. pence's attorney said the search was prompt by the discovery of classified documents at president biden's home and office. you ran the situation room under president obama and have been in the security community over 30 years. should all high-level officials do searches like this? larry: i've been paying theast

several weeks that if i was a former president or vice president, i would even throw in former cabinet officials or even senators and congressmen that served on until communities, they should be searching every nook and cranny and storage space to make sure they are not the next big "whoops" moment. laura: former president trump am a current president biden, vice president pence, all of these classified documents have been found. is it time to reform how classified information is handled? larry: i do think an examination of the process at the white house is worth some attention. i think assembling a group of experts from the intelligence community, the pentagon, the national archives, perhaps the office of management and budget, to review the end-to-end process, how are documents coming in my toward, handled,

and particular focus on the timeframe at the end of an administration when it appears folks were scrabbling to remove the materials and put them in boxes and get them to where they should have gone clearly that is not happening correctly. laura: are there other things that could be done in terms of using electronic forms or other steps along the way in the process? larry: absolutely. i think a greater reliance on electronic documents would minimize the volume of paper sitting around in these spaces. i think we definitely should improve, review and improve the training, the people that go to work in the white house received, particularly those that come from other places than the security community, and then perhaps have a together schedule of reinforcement training. it might not be a bad idea to reinforce the notion that documents should be going to the archives during an administration, not just at the end of the administration. and lastly, it might be worth

considering having teams of experts come from those communities to help with the oxen and this position of those records at the end of an administration. laura: this revelation in the form of vice president pence comes after pence denied taking documents from the white house after he left in 2017. intentional or unintentional, how common is this? larry: the investigation vesely needs to take place to see exactly what happened, but this unfortunately happens. the handling of documents is largely a system of trust. it is subject to the human condition and people make mistakes. it happens enough that we have a term, we call this spillage and we have procedures in place to handle them. intentional, no. from what i am seeing so far, i think these documents got put into boxes unknowingly and i think it was done by staff, i

don't believe the vice president , former vice president, president biden were involved in the process of removing the documents. laura: given what we know so far across the cases, do you see each of them different on their own or are there similarities? larry: well, it is like sesame street, i think we have enough where we can say one of these things is not like the other. the biden and pence cases seem to be run-of-the-mill accidents. in the case of trump, however, the volume of material, the reluctance to respond to requests for the documents, the continued obstruction that took place, the litigation that followed, clearly set the trump situation in a different light. laura: larry, thank you for your

time. larry: thank you. ♪ geoff: the u.s. senate has bad blood with ticketmaster after the company botched ticket sales for taylor swift's upcoming tour. in a hearing today, the senate judiciary committee hammered ticketmaster not just for the ticketing buckle, -- ticketing debacle, but also for its near-monopoly in the live music industry. the senate judiciary committee today tore into ticketmaster after the fiasco last fall over taylor swift tickets. some senators unable to resist references to her songs. >> ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, "i'm the problem, it's me." >> a lot of pele seem to think that's somehow a solution. i think that's a nightmare dressed like a daydream. geoff: the committee called the hearing following public outrage over ticket sales for taylor swift's upcoming concert tour. thousands complained about being

unable to get ticketmaster's site to load. others couldn't access tickets, even though they had a pre-sale code. ticketmaster ultimately canceled sales to the general public, leaving lots of fans ticketless and angry. >> i have never been more mad at a company than i am at ticketmaster right now. >> tickets in the sections i was trying to get tickets for are now on stubhub being resold for thousands of dollars. >> ♪ the seats i had, so excited, finally showed up on my screen. and when the page was finally loaded the transaction couldn't complete ♪ geoff: ticketmaster blamed the 3 and a half billion requests for tickets they received from fans, bots, and scalpers. >> this is what led to a terrle consumer experience, which we deeply regret. we apologize to the fans. we apologize to ms. swift. we need to do better and we will do better. geoff: critics say the company wields too much control over the live music industry.

testimony today from singer-songwriter clyde lawrence. >> due to live nation's control across the industry, we have practically no leverage in negotiating them. if they want to take 10 percent of the revenues and call it a facility fee they can. and have. geoff: ticketmaster and live nation merged in 2010 -- combining ticketing, artist management and venues under one single powerful company. some democrats have advocated for breaking up the company, saying it violates antitrust laws. >> you have clear dominance. monopolistic control. this whole concert ticket system is a mess. it's a monopolistic mess. geoff: while republicans called ticketmaster out for subpar service. >> if you care about the consumer, you're going to hold the price down, cut out the middleman. >> why is it you have not

developed an algorithm to determine what is about and what is a human? the bank can do it and the local power company can do it and you can't. geoff: taylor swift, for her part has called the ticket-buying experience excruciating. senator amy klobuchar led today's hearing and joined us live from the capital. you said that ticketmaster and live nation are the definition of a monopoly. what problems does this create? senator klobuchar: it is not just taylor swift, we appreciate her fans making antitrust sexy again, but it is not just her, it is bad bunny fans, harry styles fans, springsteen fans.

many artists and bands through time, way back to pearl jam, have brought this to the forefront. the other piece about it is ticket prices. a government study found a 27% average, this was a few years ago, were fees. in some instances it was 80% of the price. as you heard from clyde lawrence, he said that he literally gets only six dollars for an eight-member band for a lot of these ticket sales. what is the answer? that's what we were focused on today. it wasn't democrats or republicans in asking the questions because there were so much unity taking on a company that has a monopoly on ticketing, 7 to 80% to penning on how you look at it, does the promotions and owns the arenas

or makes them take three to five to seven your contracts to get their services, icing out any competition. geoff: you mentioned the dominance ticketmaster and live nation have, should that company be broken up? sen. klobuchar: that is clearly one option. it worked with at&t only got better long distance rates and a brand-new cell phone industry. it could work here. 2010, i voiced concern about the merger back then, and it is something the justice department i am sure will be looking at. the other pieces of this will be legislation to at least make sure we have transparency on these fees and that the fan experience does not involve getting on the website and the price takes up as they get to the end of purchasing their ticket. speculative tickets that people are trying to sell that are not even there. for ticketmaster and live nation to blame everyone else, whether it is the bots or a cyberattack,

it makes no sense when they have this extreme monopoly power. the purpose of this hearing, i think we accomplished it -- get the public some knowledge, get under oath testimony from people who want to see change and ticketmaster for the justice department to use, and find bipartisan support with colleagues to move forward. instead of throwing popcorn at ceo's, i think it is time for action. geoff: ticketmaster came to today's hearing with some suggestions on how to improve the ticketing marketplace but they said they want better enforcement of existing anti-bot legislation, they want to ban speculative selling, ban websites that deceive consumers, they want to mandate pricing so that fans can see the full cost of tickets. why is that insufficient? sen. klobuchar: first of all, there was a lot of support for some of these changes and i think they've also intimated it would make some changes, at least the band member that was

one of the witnesses. but it is not enough because they still have this monopoly. arenas have told us and we heard testimony today that they are afraid to use competitive services because then they will not get the acts. you also have the fact we have a fan expansive having to pay for all of these fees and the fiasco when there is no one else to go to. that's why the justice department is reportedly investigating this. our information will help them greatly in that investigation. it's also why we need to look at legislation beyond this. i believe we need to strengthen our antitrust laws overall. 75% of american industries we've seen more consolidation, from caskets to cat food. if we are just going to accept these conservative court decisions that narrowed the use of antitrust laws, we will see this happening over and over again. there are some critical things we can do to put the burden on merging companies or companies

engaged in discriminatory conduct to prove it does not hurt competition, as opposed to putting it all on the government. we have just successfully given a major shot in the arm to the antitrust enforcers when it comes to resources with a bill senator grassley and i and others worked with -- worked on in the house to up the merger fees, on big companies, not little ones, that will help fund enforcers. they can't take on the biggest companies with duct tape and band-aids. they are a shadow of what they were under the nixon administration. geoff: i want to draw you out on that. there are people who will watch this and wonder why should congress concern itself with this? the free market is crippled by too much government intervention, regulation. and that the reason why ticketmaster is dominant is because it is best of brand.

sen. klobuchar: i don't think the fans would agree that we shouldn't have any competition. so, first of all we have a bunch of conservative supporting this, you heard from them today. they believe if you're gng to have capitalism that works, you need to have antitrust enforcement. you go back to the founding of this country and adam smith, the godfather of capitalism, he said watch out for the unbridled standing army of monopolies. fast-forward to senator sherman, a republican, fast-forward to roosevelt when he rode his horse into the white house on busting of the trust, that was a republican senator. over time it has been democrats and republicans working together to take on mopolies. back then it was a railroad trust and now it is big tech, ticketing and a what we are seeing right now. we simply cannot say it is ok and we will not do anything since the advent of the internet. we cannot do that. we have to take some action.

i was heartened by today's hearing and i believe if you believe in capitalism and competitive responses to things, you have to unleash cpetition and not allow monopolies to dominate a market, and that is exactly what is happening right now in ticketing. geoff: senator amy klobuchar, we watch a lot of congressional hearings around these parts, and today's was really interesting. i get for being with us. sen. klobuchar: that's a good pbs adjective, i appreciate it. i just want to see action. thank you. geoff: you can watch the full hearing online at pbs.org/newshour. ♪ tomorrow a former senior fbi official will appear in a federal court in washington. but not as an investigator or a government witness. nick schifrin examines the extremely rare case of an american counterintelligence

official who is charged with committing the very violations that for two decades he swore to prosecute. nick: charlie mcgonigal had a 22-year career in the fbi, and by the end, held one of the government's most senior and most trusted counterintelligence jobs. when he retired in 2018, he ran counterintelligence in the new york fbi field office. and had played a key role in some of the u.s.' most sensitive investigations, including russian intelligence activities in the u.s. before, during, and after the 2016 election, and chinese efforts to shut down u.s. spies. but he was arrested by the very agency where he spent his career. in new york, mcgonigal is charged with hiding $225,000 he received from a former albanian intelligence officer, while mcgonigal was still inside the fbi. and in washington, mcgonigal is charged with money laundering and violating russian sanctions. he is alleged, after he left the fbi, to have accepted secret payments from the very russian

oligarch he had investigated, oleg deripaska, who has kremlin ties and is sanctioned for his role in russia's 2016 election interference. to talk about this, we turn to frank montoya, who retired from the fbi as special agent in charge in the seattle office, and from 2012-2014, was the u.s. government's top counter-intelligence official welcome back to the newshour. you called charlie mcgonigal a friend. how shocking is this? frank: i'm still having a hard time processing it. we worked together on a lot of stuff and to hear this come out, it has shaken me to my foundations. geoff: two former senior officials tell me today this will force the fbi and the intelligence community as a whole to re-examine all of the work he did, and i just laidut how sensitive his work was. how significant is that? frank: it is snificant in that he was a network a long time.

they have to go through everything he touched because of the nature of the relationships that are alleged and charged in these indictments. nick: the indictmentsnly have what the justice department thinks it can prove beyond a reasonable doubt but former officials tell me there are concerns that go beyond the indictments. for example, did he pull his punches while he was still in the fbi, even whether he endangered any kind of human sources should are those concerns? frank: absolutely. the other part is if he had any kind of relationship with a russian oligarch or russian intelligence services, how were they modifying his behavior, how could these things have affected his judgment in cases involving these individuals or folks they were associated with? there are many different ways he could have been in mednet -- could have been manipulated if

these allegations are true, or they could've altered his judgment when it came to who he was going to go after or not. nick: one of the main questions will be how old, what is the origin of his relationships specifically with that one oligarch. frank: i want to stress we are all innocent until proven guilty, but the seriousness is exacerbated by the fact that this is not only in oligarch, but a sanctioned oligarch, and he has what the fbi and many in the intelligence community believes are very significant connections not only to russian intelligence services but to vladimir putin himself and the inner circle. nick: is there a concern today that this goes beyond these cases we have laid out, that this could jeopardize a larger portion of the u.s. counterintelligence effort? frank: they will have to be very careful now about whether or not there is any deception aimed at

them by russian intelligence services or individuals associated with all guards, -- oligarchs or the kremlin itself. they have to weigh carefully what they are doing against what happens here. worst case scenario perspectives, i hope if there is something to these allegations and indictments, it was limited in scope, as opposed to having that kind of full sale impact on counterintelligence efforts. not just in the united states, but in the west in general. nick: the fbi, as you know, has extensive tripwires to catch these kinds of cases. do we know yet whether this was a case of those tripwires not being implemented or if there is a gap? frank: you look at the indictments, there are a number of instances where he is talking to individuals inside the bureau, whether they were supervisors or other employees, that is a challenge.

tripwires are only as good as the people watching them, but at the same time, you are working in a position of trust and everyone is inside that circle of trust. you just don't expect people to violate that trust. that's why it is a shock, that's why it shocks people like me down to our core because we don't expect these kind of things to happen. we believe we are working in a circle of folks that are trustworthy and upholding their oaths and have the interests of their country first and foremost in their minds. the tripwires are there, but a the same time, human beings are very adept at overcoming or circling around those tripwires. nick: frank montoya, thanks very much. ♪ geoff: the demand for electric vehicles is surging in the u.s sparked in part by subsidies

offered by the federal government, but a looming supply shortage of lithium threatens to stall the ev transition. stephanie sy traveled to california's salton sea to report on the promise and remaining challenges of building a new lithium valley to meet the country's energy needs. stephanie: in the most southeastern stretch of the southern california desert sits a most unusual piece of the planet. it is like a dr. seuss book with sound effects. it is fascinating. what we are hearing is what? >> co2. stephanie: carbon dioxide is generated by reactions between superheated salty water, called brine, and rock deep in the bowels of the earth. geologist michael mckibben says the brine is full of lithium. mike: the attractiveness of geothermal brines and oil brines is that the plumbing system is already there, the fluids already being brought up. stephanie: this sound of the gurgling. mike: it is the sound of bad

plumbing! [laughter] stephanie: it is the sound of economic opportunity. since the 1980s, companies have tapped into the hot brine for geothermalnergy. it would take just a few more steps to recover the lithium in the used brine. today, the u.s. sources most of its lithium from south america and processes it in china. but what if the supply chain could all be right here? it's a natural two-fer. mike: and could supply all of the u.s. needs of lithium could come out of this field here. stephanie: the salton sea area alone could produce nearly six times the lithium currently produced globally and mckibben says the way it could be done here would be less harmful to the environment than other methods, such as crushing it out of hard rocks. the only barrier remains affordable technology that can extract lithium efficiently at a massive scale. a newer player in town, controlled thermal resources, has been testing their lithium extraction protocols in the area

known as hell's kitchen. jim: we have a process. it works great. stephanie: is the process scalable? jim: oh yeah, definitely. stephanie: chief operating officer jim turner says the plant was designed to reuse and recycle as much as possible, including the water that's needed to separate lithium. for every ton of lithium produced, some 50,000 gallons of water will be needed. and as evidenced from the shrinking salton sea, water is increasingly scarce here. what does come from the colorado river mostly goes to municipalities and agriculture, the economic backbone of the valley. you do think that if colorado river water really starts to go down, that there could be a little bit of tension here? jim: there probably will be a lot of tension. there already is. and that's a very difficult problem to solve. frank: we are experiencing the worst drought in modern history that i don't even call it a

drought anymore. i call it the new normalcy, because the water is simply not here. stephanie: frank ruiz is the salton sea program director for audubon california and sits on the state's lithium valley commission. he says the ecosystem, a crucial habitat for millions of migratory birds, is near collapse. frank: this is probably one of the worst environmental crisis on the west. in california we lost over 97% , of the wetlands in the last few decades, either to the agricultural industry or urban developments. stepnie: lithium extraction here could easily grow to a multi-billion dollar industry that drives the transition away from fossil fuels. frank: if california is going to electrify every single vehicle by 2035, we're going to need every piece of lithium we can get. and i understand the sense of urgency, but we also need to be careful not to rush it in a way

that we're going to be cutting corners here. stephanie: but if done right, many say lithium could help the long suffering region, one of the poorest in the golden state. the buckshot deli and diner sits on the deserted highway ading to the concentration of geothermal power plants. it may be the only eatery for miles, but it also serves up a mean plate of machaca con huevos. ruben hernandez owns the establishment with his wife. what are your concerns about the lithium industry coming here? ruben: well, the concern is for the revenue for this little town. because some companies come and the first time they come, they say here is money, and then they leave, and then they take all the profits and they don't leave nothing here. stephanie: he says the surrounding towns need services, especially better access to healthcare.

elizabeth: there are a lot of people who have allergies, have asthma or nose bleeds and there has been a lot of research, but we've never been given a clear answer on the cause. stephanie: elizabeth jaime's family has lived in the north shore neighborhood for 12 years with a view of the salton sea from the backyard. her son lorenzo has asthma, which researchers have linked to the toxic dust blowing off the salton sea's exposed lakebed. the region has some of the worst air quality in the country, and the children have a higher rate of asthma-related er visits than in most parts of california. jaime is worried lithium extraction will bring more health hazards. elizabeth: we don't know what is in the air. this is why we are worried about lithium. what more oblems is it going to bring? they say it's going to have less of an impact, but they're not saying there's going to be no impact.

raul: what we have here is momentum that we haven't seen around the salton sea. stephanie: representative raul bruits, -- raul ruiz, whose district includes the salton sea, wants to leverage that momentum by getting the burgeoning lithium interests to help foot the bill for the community's problems. raul: they've been sick and tired of politicians that come in and promise to fix the salton sea. and they haven't seen any progress. stephanie: but what does the lithium industry have to do with the salton sea? why should they have to pay for that? raul: because they're benefiting from the resources of the environment that is at jeopardy to the local residents. stephanie: even before lithium has proven a viable industry here, california has enacted a tax on any lithium produced here that will go partially toward salton sea remediation efforts and local community programs. not everyone agrees with the move. but so far, the tax hasn't scared off developers. and local officials have even

bigger hopes for the area. raul: this is an incredible opportunity, not just for the local community, the state, but also for our nation, because it is a matter of national security to havour own steady source of lithium and batteries instead of relying on other countries like china. stephanie: back at the diner, ruben hernandez says he'd just like to know when the lithium plants will be open so he can prepare for more customers. ruben: all of those people are going to need their housing. they're going to need services. and maybe with time the town will grow up. stephanie: maybe growth this time won't leave the community behind, and the locals will also be able to afford electric cars one day too. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in the imperial valley, california. ♪ geoff: american skier mikaela shiffrin is making history.

she now holds more world cup wins than any female alpine skier. she broke that record today after winning the giant slalom in italy. william brangham looks at her career and impact. william: a teenage prodigy who first burst on the scene more than a decade ago, mikaela shiffrin is a two-time olympic gold medalist and six time world champion. but for many, their last memories of her came during the beijing olympics, where she failed to medal and sometimes even finish her events. then today, she notched her seventh world cup win in her last 11 races with yet another blazing run down the mountain. that win earns shiffrin the crown with 83 world cup titles, the most for any woman -- she just passed lynsey vonn -- and rankher second amongst all skiers. i'm joined again by christine brennan sportswriter and , comnist for usa today. so good to see you in person, welcome back. christine: great to be here.

william: for those people who last focused on mikaela shiffrin during the beijing olympics when she really struggled, can you remind us overall of her remarkable achievements? christine: you alluded to it, how she burst on the scene as a teenager, winning national titles and world cup's quicker than anyone we've ever seen. incredible staying power in a sport where there is often injury. obviously it is on edge, as you are watching, your heart is in your throat as you watch anyone try to ski. time and again she has been able to win world cup races. two olympic gold medals and a silver medal. then came beijing and that was going to be the crowning achievement, potentially winning five metals, who knew how money gold. instead none as she skied off the course or had a disappointing after disappointed. the way she met that and talked about it, the dignity, the

honesty of how difficult it was. we had to know there was more to come because she was still incredibly young, 27, she will be 28 in march. here is the next chapter, and it is this season and she says she's going all the way to the 2026 winter olympics. it's not just about the olympics, even though that is what we as mere mortals focus on. there's so much more to a skie s 's career. william: a lot of athletes have been open about their struggles with adversity. how did mikaela shiffrin deal with this? she had a lot of setbacks leading up to beijing. christine: without a doubt, she had covid and was in isolation for 10 days, missing a key part of her training. her dad and her mom were both skiers and got her into the sport, decided how to train her, don't worry about winningittle ribbons are racist,ou will

stay on the mountain and be a kid and we will learn this way. her dad suddenly passed away after an accident, a fall in 2020. she was devastated. and then of course beijing itself. the poor performance after poor rformance. she was incredibly honest, as honest as anyone i've seen. most layers might slam their helmet, walkout. she would do interview after interview, a class act. i'm sure people saw one or two of those. william: confronted this head on. christine: absolutely. she talked about how devastated she was, how she thought she wouldn't get over it, and yet she was back for the next race. i think the honesty, humility, the human side of the greatest women's skier ever and soon to be the greatest skier of all-time, male or female, i think again that had people saying wait a minute, this is someone you can cheer for not just on the mountain but as a human being. william: i saw her mom accredit

the beijing failure in a way for helping to light the fire under her that got her to where she is now. she is now the top female skierg the top skier overall. what is the next goal? christine: she's had 83 world cup wins and 86 is the best of any human beings. that is a skier from sweden, he was at. only three more, and she can do that in the next few days, she is a technical skier, much more her forte than downhill or speed, although she's won those in the past. she has one more giant slalom and two slalom races in the next few days, so she could get to 86 by the end of the weekend, and the rest of the season to pass him. if she does, it will be one of those conversations i think we like to have in the country

about the boys versus the girls, who was the best? we had this with sera williams a few months ago when she was retiring in septemr. i think we will have this again and it will be easy to say it is a slamdunk. the best skier ever will be mikaela shiffrin. william: so great, i heard that swedish skier saying he thought she could win 100 of these. christine: oh yes, it will be interesting to see where she gets, but we will see a lot more from her, and i bet the olympic performance in 2026 will be different from 2022. william: christine, always great to see you, thank you. christine: william, thank you. ♪ geoff: returning to our lead story, as please continue their investigations, we're learning more about the shootings in half moon bay and monterey park are

affected. amna: it has been remarkable to see over just this past day alone, the memorial behind me has grown exponentially in size. flowers, candles, notes of prayer, people of all backgrounds and ages coming to just have a moment. this scene of such horrific violence a few days ago has become a place of peace and remembrance. just today, someone came and punctuated that by hanging an american flag. it echoes what we've heard from residents here over and over again, they know they are part of the community across america that has been touched by gun violence, but they don't want to let it find who they are. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. thank you for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymond james financial

advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. 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. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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