amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, the u.s. and germany agree to send tanks to ukraine, in a major boost to that nation's war effort. house speaker kevin mccarthy locks out leading democrats from key committees, sparking partisan outrage on capitol hill. geoff: and young volunteers work to counteract the growing mental health crisis among their peers. >> we're like a sidekick. the person has the option to choose what they want to do. they're like the hero of the story. we're just there to assist them. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by.

>> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well-planned. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during clima change so

people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committeto building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.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. amna: welcome to the “newshour”" for the first time today, the u.s. announced it will send american tanks to ukraine as part of a coordinated announcement with germany, which will also send its tanks. geoff: it's a shift in u.s. policy and one of the most significant weapons upgrades that ukraine has been asking for. nick schifrin starts our coverage. nick: ukraine calls them the

critical weapon systems to recapture its own territory, western tanks. and, today, the u.s. pledged 31 m1 abrams tanks. and germany approved the export of nearly 100 leopard 2 tanks. president biden at the white house. pres. biden: ukrainians are fighting an age-d battle against aggression and domination. it's a battle americans have fought proudly time and again. and it's a battle we're going to make sure the ukrainians are well-equipped to fight as well. nick: german chancellor olaf scholz in berlin. chancellor scholz: there really is a war going on in europe not far away from here. that's why we do what is necessary and possible to support ukraine, but, at the same time, avoid an escalation between russia and nato. nick: germany's announcement allows a half-dozen european countries to send their german-made leopard tanks. the goal is to create two battalions for a few thousand ukrainian soldiers in the next two to three months.

it will be a major upgrade to ukraine's mostly soviet era armor that ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy today called a historical achievement. pres. zelenskyy: we have to form a fist of tanks, a fist of freedom, which will not allow tyranny to rise again. nick: germany's announcement mends a european rift expod by poland and others' anger over germany's prior resistance. pm morawiecki: the germans are defending themselves against this like a devil protects himself against holy water. nick: german officials said they were waiting to send a new capaty to ukraine until the u.s. took the step with them. chancellor scholz: it is right that we didn't let ourselves be driven, and that we instead counted and will continue to count on close cooperation for such an issue. heather: it's been very clear that the german government does not want to take a major step that they fear may be a cause of escalating the war without the united states.

nick: heather conley is the president of the german marshall fund. she says german fears of escalati and the legacy of german nazi tanks overrunning european cities during world war ii led berlin to hesitate. heather: this is a historically difficult moment for the germans to be sending tanks back into that theater. again, they feel stronger and more cable when the u.s. is standing right beside them as they take that step. nick: the u.s. took the step with them, even though it had called the abrams tank unsustainable for ukraine as recently as friday on the “newshour.” colin: the challenge with the abra is, it's expensive. it's difficult to tra on. it's very difficult to sustain. it has a huge, complicated turbine engine that requires jet fuel. lt. gen. hodges: none of these excuses were compelling, and that's what they were. nick: retired general ben hodges is the former commander of the u.s. army in europe. he argues the time frame announced today to deliver abrams in months, perhaps a year, isn't fast enough.

lt. gen. hodges: i'm disaointed because the way -- the amount of time it took to get to this decision, and then the way that the decision is going to be implemented does not convey a sense of urgency that the administration wants ukraine to win anytime soon. nick: did it have a choice? could the u.s. have gone faster? lt. gen. hodges: of course. we always have a choice. but if you want me to win, i'm going to take the closest tanks i have got, which is a brigade's worth of m1's that are in storage here in -- on the ground in europe. nick: that's nearly 90 tas that hodges says could be deployed within weeks. lt. gen. hodges: get ukrainian troops on those abrams tanks that are parked in europe right now. let them train the gunnery, practice the tactics, and then put them on trains and send them to the front. nick: that front may prove ukraine's biggest challenge yet. in the last four months, ukraine has recaptured some territory in the east and in the south. but east of the dnipro river, russn forces have be digging in. territory will require a lot of

firepower. that's why the u.s. and european priority is the leopards. lt. gen. hodges: they could play a kerole if they get there in the next two or three months. nick: this evening, president zelenskyy also said the key now is speed and volum how quickly and how many tanks can be supplied to ukraine. to discuss all this, i'm joined by john kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications for the national security council. john kirby, welcome back to the “newshour.” why have the defense department procure abrams tanks, a process that can take months, rather than, as you heard general hodges say, have abrams tanks that are already in europe sent to ukraine, a process that could have taken weeks? john: well, the pentagon took a look at this. and they -- and they said as much this morning, that there are no excess tanks in the u.s. inventory, and that, even if there were, to provide them under drawdown authority, in other words, just take them off the -- off the tarmac and move them in there, would still

require months of preparation to get them ready to go into ukraine and things that they would need to do to the tanks themselves, not to mention the training that needs to happen for the ukrainian soldiers. there's also an important component here. and the sound bite you played by colin kahl kind of got at this. i mean, these are very capable, sophisticated systems. there's a supply chain issue. we got to make sure that the parts and supplies, that we have got in place a system so that maintainers, ukraine maintainers, can fix these things in a battlefield environment swiftly and efficiently. so there's a lot that goes into this. but they looked at this. and, frankly, procuring new tanks is really not going to make much of a difference in the time frame than if they were to try to draw them off of stocks. and, again, they didn't find any excess in the stocks. nick: you mentioned colin kahl. he is the top defense department policy official. i had him on the show just a few days ago explaining why the abrams tank is unsustainable to ukraine. so what changed between friday and today to make the tank more

sustainable? john: nothing's changed to make the tanks more sustainable. i mean, the challenges that dr. kahl put forward are still there. we have been very open and honest about how sophisticated this system is, this tank is, and how hard it's going to be for any military to operate and maintain it. i mean, and there are foreign militaries that use abrams tanks. and it's just -- it's just that sophisticated a system. we have been very honest about that. and, look, tanks have never been off the table, nick. we have been discussing tanks with the ukrainians. we have been discussing them with our allies and partners for many months now. what's different now, to ask what's changed, the big change is what the conditions are on the battlefield, and, more particularly, the kinds of conditions we think the ukrainians and they think they're going to be facing in coming months, as the weather turns better, as spring comes, and as we can all assume that the russians are going to try to regain some sort of sense of momentum. nick: but, as you know, those concerns existed just a few days ago, when we heard administration officials say the

tank was unsustainable. it sounds like, given that you believe there are still the same concerns that you have been talking about for days, did the president authorize these tanks explicitly so that germany would authorize its leopards? john: we moved in lockstep with germany. this was a coordinated announcement -- i think that's pretty obvious -- today. and we're graful for that. we're grateful for germany's contributions. this was also the result of weeks of discussions with the germans about this particular capability and other armored capabilities. again, this is all about making sure tt ukrainians have what they need, the tools they need to conduct effective combined arms maneuver operations, the kind of operations we think they're going to be conducting in the spring and summer months. tanks are a partf that. so this was done certainly in close coordination with the germans. nick: you say ukraine -- give ukraine what it needs. but ukraine says it needs 300 tanks. between the abrams that we're talking about and the leopards, we're talking, give or take, about 100 tanks. so why not give more? john: i'm sorry.

i missed that last question. nick: so you said that ukraine has stated what it needs. you're ting to get ukraine what it needs. john: yes. nick: ukraine says it needs 300 tanks. between the m1's that you're talking about and the leopards, we're only talking about 100 or so tanks. john: right. nick: so you're not giving them what they need, even after today's announcements? john: well, that's our focus right now is this 31 abrams that -- that, again, will take many months to get into ukraine. and, of course, the germans have committed to helping fit out two more tank battalions. so that's about another 60 tanks. you're right. that gets you up to around 90. but look, we're just -- we will keep at this. we will keep talking to the ukrainians. i don't want to get ahead of announcements that haven't been made yet. but we kw they have real needs. we're working in lockstep with them and in real time with them, as you just saw last week in ramstein, to continue to provide them t capabilities that they need. nick: before chancellor scholz's announcement today, some german officials had raised the concern about giving tanks would lead to russian escalation.

why do you think giving u.s. and european tanks will not lead to russian escalation? john: we're always concerned about the possibility for escalation of this conflict. i think we can all agree that having this war escalate, and certainly to become something like putin claims it is, the u.s. vs. russia, the west vs. russia, that's not good for the ruian people. it's not good for our national security interest, and it's certainly not good for ukraine and for the ukrainian people. so, we have obviously been mindful of escalation management since the very beginning of this war. and with every system we provide, we factor that calculus into that. and the tank -- the tanks are no different than that. now, look, as the president said -- and he was very clear today -- these tanks represent no offensive threat to russia, to the russian homeland. they do, however, present a threat to russian forces that are illegally in ukraine, and they ought to take note of that. but there's no threat, there's no offensive threat to the russian homeland. and so there would be no reason for the russians to overreact by -- about this. nick: you heard me report that

the goal here to get -- is to get the leopards into ukraine in the next two to three months. they have to be trained. they have to actually create these battalions of various different tanks. do you tnk it's realistic that germany and the other european countries can pull that off in two to three months? john: yes, in short, we do. we have been in close contact with the -- obviously, the germans and other nations that have leopard tanks. and we're confint. again, i don't want to get ahead of them and their planning timelines. but we're confident that they will be able to field and get into ukraine leopard tanks certainly at a faster rate than we're going to be able to get the abrams there. and these leopard tanks are very good. they're very capable as well. there's a lot of them on the european continent. and they can -- they can have a more near-term impact, clearly. nick: and, quickly, john kirby, i have only got less than a minute left. this week, zelenskyy announced his first major anti-corruption shakeup. deputy chief of staff, multiple deputy ministers, regional prosecutors are all out of a job. the u.s. has said that there's

no evidence that this money was part of what the u.s. has given. but does this concern you that corruption that has historically existed in ukraine still exists? john: certainly, we take these allegations of corruption and these claims of corruption seriously. and we're glad to see that president zelenskyy does too. we're not surprised by that, that he's taken action. we are -- as you said, we don't have any indication that any of our assistance, financial or security, otherwise, has been involved in this or wrapped up in this. and that's why we are continuing to work closely with the ukrainians on issues of accountability, particularly over the weapon systems that we provide ukraine. we're beefing up our capability at the embassy in kyiv to do exactly that, to monitor and to do the best we can to -- so that we can provide appropriate oversight and accountability of all the systems that were -- that we're providing ukraine. nick: john kirby, thank you very much. john: you bet.

vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." here are the latest headlines. the suspect accused of killing seven people in back-to-back shootings in northern california had his first court appearance. 66-year-old chunli zhao will face seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for thattacks in half moon bay. meanwhile, vice president kamala harris arrived this evening in southern california to pay respect to victims in monterey park. saturday's mass shooting there left 11 dead. a virginia teacher who was shot by a first-grader now says school officials were warned three times that day that the child had a gun. the lawyer for abigail zwerner made the allegation today, as she announced plans to sue the newport news school district. >> abby zwerner was shot in front of those horrified kids, and the school and community are living the nightmare. all because the school administration failed to act. were they not so paralyzed by

apathy, they could have prevented this tragedy. vanessa: zwerner is still recovering from the attack, earlier this month. the school district had no comment today on her allegation. meanwhile, the school board voted this evening to dismiss the superintendent, saying the district needed to move in a new direction after the shooting. a new report on mass attacks urges communities and businesses to intervene early when they see warning signs. the u.s. secret service studied 173 incidents from 2016 through 2020, nearly all involving men using guns. the agency found two-thirds of those attackers had previously shown concerning behavior that should have been addressed. it also said about half of the attacks were motivated by personal grievances. in lebanon, the top prosecutor today ordered all suspects released in the 2020 beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people.

it was the latest blow to th long-stalled investigation, and families of the victims were irate. some held up pictures of their dead relatives outside police stations. they insisted again that the ruling elite be called to account. >> sadly in this country, those who demand justice are detained, and the criminals are walking free. we are the families of the victims. our loved ones were killed, while they are with their children and evading justice. vanessa: calls for accountability have been fueled by frustration with lebanon's corrupt ruling factions. tensions remained high today in peru's capital after the city's largest and most violent anti-government protest yet. police fired tear gas tuesday at thousands of demonstrators in lima. the protesters rejected president dina boluarte's call for a truce. instead, they again demanded her resignation. more than 50 people have died in almost two months of unrest across peru.

also, the number of migrants from cuba, haiti, nicaragua, and venezuela encountered at the u.s. southern border has dropped sharply. the homeland security department reports it is down 97% since early december, from a daily average of nearly 3400 to just 115. a new biden administration plan accepts 30,000 migrants a month from those countries through legal channels. otherwise, they are automatically expelled. facebook and instagram are re-instating former president donald trump's accounts. parent company meta banned trump for two years after he praised people involved in the january 6 attacks on the u.s. capitol. meta said the public should be able to hear from politicians. still to come on the "newshour," the latest wave of mass shootings again sparks debate over gun access in the u.s. also, pope francis speaks out against laws that criminalize homosexuality.

and washington state implements a new plan to fight domestic extremism. >> 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. amna: historic levels of drama played out over the first few weeks of the new congress. legislative leaders are just now beginning to get into the day-to-day of capitol hill. lisa desjardins is here to break down what's happening now and what's to come. lisa, good to see you. lisa: good to see you. amna: so, take us through some of these first actions we're seeing in congress, especially the moves around the committees. what's happened and why does it matter? lisa: well, the first weeks, what happens now really sets the tone, any possible action, and also all of the leadership decisions are being made right now. so it's critical. and i'm going to start with what's going on with committees, because those are the driving force, sort of the blood that pumps congress.

and, already, we have seen from new speaker kevin mccarthy some big decisions. he has kept up his pledge to remove two democrats from the intelligence committee, so already sort of a tone of partisanship, kind of combat and divide. mccarthy says the reasons he's removed adam schiff, the former chairman, is because he claims schiff lied about intelligence that centers around former president trump. schiff says that was the impeachment effort, that he wasn't lying. that was what he knew. the other one is representative eric swalwell of california. we know that our intelligence agenciesay he was targeted by what they see was a chinese spy. he said that i have seen that he did anything wrong. he reported his contact once he knew there was a problem. but mr. mccarthy says that all of these questions are too much for such an important committee as intelligence. here's what he told me last night. rep. mccarthy: i will put the national security ahead of partisan politics any day. i don't care if they're in my party or not. integrity matters. and we're going to make the intel committee back to what it was supposed to be. lisa: it doesn't end there.

mr. mccarthy and republicans are also looking into removing another house democrat, representative ilhan omar, from the house foreign affairs committee. that is due to remarks she's made in the past about israel. she's apologized for those in the past. she spoke to us today about, this and she said all of these removals are just politics. rep. omar: it is not the accusations that mccarthy is making against us that is pushing for a removal from these committees. it is about revenge. it's about the -- appeasing the former president. all three of us have been a thorn in the back of the previous disgraced president. lisa: it is not clear house republicans have the votes to remove her. some republicans are saying, no, that's going too far. so that is still undetermined. but what this set is sort of a tone of you, me, we are against each other, we're not working together.

i will say there is some bipartisanship when it comes to committees, so something to watch, new committees forming in the house. let's go through these quickly. there is a new committee on competition with china passed overwhelmingly. and i think you will be talking about that more in the show coming up, amna. more partisan committees, though, there's one called the weaponization of the federal government, a subcommittee. that is to look at recent investigations, and also one on the coronavirus pandemic. that subcommittee, by the way, has on it marjorie taylor greene. she's someone who in the past has raised questions about vaccines, those kinds of things. this will also deal with the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, from a conservative point of view. amna: quite a tone they're setting in the early days here. well, let's talk about one specific congressman. that is new york congressman george santos. we have been following a lot of headlines about him, how he has lied about several pieces of his resume and his past. where does he stand right now as a new member? lisa: right. representative santos, as you can see, this was my video of him today as we were asking him questions. he did not answer really many of our questions. asked what he's doing to serve constituents, he said he's

working on nominations to military academies. that was the only thing he could raise. but what we have seen now is republicans in a very difficult position here. there are republicans in his district -- in fact, the republican party in nassau county, new york, has asked him to resign. he is refusing to. speaker mccarthy said he will not take him off of committees, but he will move to remove him if the ethics committee finds that he has done something illegal. that's down the road. it takes two-thirds of the entire house to remove a member. he's nowhere near that. for now, he is safe. republicans do need his votes. but privately, amna, they all admit he's an embarrassment and they don't think he should be serving, but they're not taking action against him. amna: so, lisa, zoom us out even further now. take the big picture look at this, the early ideas for this agenda in this congress. what are they actually going to be doing? what are the priorities? lisa: well, house republicans have made some announcements. border security, no surprise, is going to be a big initial push for them. they were hoping to, i think, be farther along on that this week. i think it will take them a bit longer than they expected.

but look for that issue to dominate, especially on the house side. also, i think republicans are changing the process. tomorrow, amna, we will see something we haven't seen in seven years, which will be a bill, this -- in this case about the strategic petroleum reserve, being built in real time on the house floor. any member will be able to propose amenents. it will take more than a day to work through the dozens of amendments. it will be messy. republicans say that is the point. but i want to point to something else going on right now that we don't talk about enough, big issues. there are many small issues. thousands anthousands of groups are now on capitol hill lobbying for things that will affect them and add up to millions of people. for example, i saw these signs outside the republican national committee today. look at that. that's about darrell issa, a congressman from california. they're saying he's bad for start-ups. this is a group called u.s. inventor. they do not want darrell issa to head up a subcommittee on intellectual property. i guarantee we're the only broadcast talking about this tonight. but i raise this because, for these inventors, they say the

person who runs that subcommittee will dictate whether they can get profits from their own inventions or not. mr. issa says he's for reform and that someone is harmed one way or the other. he doesn't want to harm inventors. but the point is, this is the business of congress that is happening now. these leadership decisions, who runs these subcommittees, very important, those decisions happening as we speak. amna: early days of the new congress, and a lot has already happened. lisa desjardins tracking it all. li: you're welcome. geoff: as vice president kamala harris meets with the families of those killed in the monterey park, california, shooting, many are grappling with the toll it's taking on their community. personal memorials in that city and in half moon bay, the site of a second mass shooting this week, are growing. beyond the mourning and reflection, many say it's a moment yet again to focus on gun access. john yang has that part of the story tonight.

john: geoff, it's a number that bears repeating. this year is only 25 days old, and, already, there have been at least 40 mass shootings in the united states. in fact, there have been more this january than any other january in nearly a decade. for asian americans, this past week has been especially painful. all 11 victims in the monterey park shooting were of asian descent. gloria pan is the senior vice president of momsrising, a group which works on gun safety. she's also a key member of the aapi agast gun violence coalition. gloria, i know you had a news conference earlier today. you acknowledged in that -- your group acknowledged in that there is no one single solution for these mass shootings. but are there any changes that you think could be done quickly that could make a difference? gloria: we need comprehensive gun policy reform. but that's not going to happen, because we have a culture problem.

there's big resistance to any kind of reform. the fact that high-capacity magazines and assault weapons are in civilian circulation is a symptom of that problem. so, i would love to see a ban on that. if we could accomplish that quickly, that would indicate that we're moving in the right direction to get the comprehensive reform that we need. john: but how do you address the bigger issue of the gun culture? you mentioned that we're in a gun culture, that culture is part of the problem. gloria: there is a culture that very much believes that everyone should have a gun, everyone should have a gun. and it doesn't matter if you're not trained. it doesn't matter if you don't store it right. and that culture is a problem. and that culture actually is part of the opposition to any kind of gun policy reform in washington, d.c. so, we need to start softening that culture, so that we can get the comprehensive reform that we need, because, until we ca change that culture, we're not going to get it. john: and since the pandemic began, we have seen reportthat

more asian americans are buying guns in response to the threats and the actual incidents against asian americans. does that give you concern? gloria: i'm very concerned about that. historically, asian americans have had the lowest rates of gun ownership. and because of that, we have actually had the lowest rates of gun violence in our communities. we have had the lowest rates of gun injury and gun deaths. and we'd like to keep it that way. the more guns there are within our community, the more likelihood that there will be this kind of harm against our community and within our community. john: but then how do you address their fears, their concerns of violence against the community? gloria: it's a very tough time. and, of course, every person experiences this kind of trauma differently. if a gun makes you feel safer, i mean, i don't really push very hard against that, because i understand that. but the actual defensive use of

guns is really not very high. and the fact that there is a gun as part of your life increases the risk of harm. i think that, to feel safer, we need to be in community and hold each other closer, and just try to do the best we can to be safe and to feel safe. john: you say that, when the guns are around there, there's a greater chance of harm. you -- we focus so much on mass shootings, but, as you have pointed out and others have pointed out, that access to guns also leads to higher incidence of suicide. and you pointed out that the rate of suicide -- or that suicide is the leading cause of death among asian americans aged 15 to 24. how do we address that? gloria: i do know that, when a gun is involved, the likelihood of successful suicide rises

dramatically. so, in our low gun-owning community, we should try to make sure that the guns are not accessible. we do not want to see the accessibility to guns actually lead to higher rates of successful suicide. john: you talked earlier about the need for stricter gun safety laws, but california has some of the most aggressive gun safety laws in the nation, yet, in the last two weeks, we have seen three mass shootings there. how do you reconcile the two things? gloria: well, in california, the gun laws actually work. california is the largest state in the country, and yet they have the 8th lowest rate of harm from guns. so, it works. the problem is that guns flow from state to state. it's very, very easy to get a gun. we need national reform in order to decrease gun violence everywhere, including in states

where there are already gun laws. we can -- california would have even lower gun violence if we did not have a national problem. john: gloria pan of momsrising and aapi against gun violence coalition, thank you very much. gloria: thank you. geoff: pope francis, in a wide-ranging interview with the associated press, spoke at length about his health, his critics and the future of the papacy. most notably, he called laws criminalizing homosexuality fundamentally unjust, making clear that, in the mind of the leader of the catholic church, being homosexual is not a crime. pope francis: we are all children of god, and god loves us as we are, and for the strength with which we fight for our dignity. being homosexual is not a crime. it is not a crime, but it is a sin.

and, well, we first have to distinguish a sin from a crime, but a sin is also the lack of charity with one another. geoff: for more, we're joined by paul elie, senior fellow with the berkley center for religion, peace and world affairs at georgetown university. he's also a contributing writer for the new yorker. thanks for being with us. and how should we understand the pope's remarks that being homosexual is not a crime, even as he stands by catholic teaching, which says that homosexual acts are -- quote -- intrinsically disordered and a sin? how is the pope distinguishing between the two? paul: well, pope francis across 10 years has tried to make a distinction between church doctrine or church teaching and the pastoral activities of people right up to the pope, dealing with ordinary people. and one of the most difficult challenges that he's faced in doing this has to do with

homosexuality. so, he's again and again tried to emphasize the pastoral dimension, the actual role of clerics right up to the pope in dealing with homosexuality and gay people, and the issues that are raised. and he's tried to do it incrementally, often through interviews. geoff: how significant a moment is this for the catholic church? paul: i think it's easy to overestimate the significance of any one moment. as i said, he's an incrementalist. and he's used this approach a number of times addressing civil unions, addressing laws against gay people, addressing discrimination. and the effect in aggregate is a substantial change in tone and attitude when it comes to the church's approach to gay people. geoff: the pope is set to visit south sudan, one of the roughly 67 countries around the world that criminalizes homosexuality. here in this country, there are roughly a dozen states that still have anti-sodomy laws on the books. how might the pope's remarks influence policy?

paul: it's hard to know, or it's hard to say in a general way, when tre are 67 different countries involved. but there's no question that the countries that have legislated against homosexuality, in doing so, have drawn on public knowledge that institutions such as the catholic church have stood behind such legislation historically, and many of them still do currently. geoff: does this bring the church any closer to acknowledging members of the lgbtq community as practicing catholics who can receive sacraments like marriage? paul: i think it does. we don't know the future. and it may be that the efforts of pope francis undertaken over 10 years will be rolled back by the next pope. but i don't think so. i think that the church is changing, and what pope francis has done is both an expression of that change and is helping to bring it about. and, yes, i think the church is moving, if very, very gradually

and even timidly, in that direction. geoff: in that same interview with the associated press, pope francis spoke about the criticism he's received from conservative cardinals and bishops. and he acknowledged -- he said, it's unpleasant. he said, it's like a rash that bothers you a bit. tell us more about that, the criticism he's faced om traditionalists for prioritizing social justice issues like poverty, migration, the environment. paul: certainly, he's faced criticism for his positions on the issues. but i would say that the criticism that's coming at pope francis from traditionalists is more deeply rooted than that. what they especially don't like about his approach is that he, in effect, is living the way that most catholics are, which is in a kind of uncertainty, trying to find a satisfactory, sensible way to live between doctrines, many of which were written long ago in the past, and the way our lives are

unfolding today. geoff: how has he set the tone for a different kind of papacy? paul: wow, i think in so many ways, the stress on mercy, rather than judgment, the determination that the church should go to the margins, and that's at its central part of its experience, even his willingness to give interviews like the one that he gave nicole winfield from the ap today. he's used casual conversations, speaking freely as a way to communicate. and previous popes just haven't done it either so extensively or que so casually. geoff: paul elie, senior fellow with the berkley center for religion, peace and world affairs at georgetown university, thanks so much for your time and for your insights. paul: thank you.

amna: it's been over a year since the u.s. surgeon general issued a dire warning about the state of young americans' mental health. to dig deeper into that crisis, willm brangham recently traveled to oregon, which ranks among the worst states for youth mental illness and access to care. he found a system facing heavy burdens, but one searching for solutions. it's part of our new series, early warnings: america's youth mental hlth crisis. and we want to let you know in advance, this story includes discussions ofuicide and depression. william: it feels like a rec room with string lights and beanbag chairs. and it often sounds like one. but what's happening here is a unique approach to helping young people who are in crisis. this is the call center for youthline in portland, where teenagers field calls from other teenagers who are struggling. >> still really brave of you to reach out about something so difficult.

william: a group of volunteers staffs the help line daily. they take calls, texts, and chats, and the issues they hear about run the gamut. >> because it sounds like you have a long time and you really care about her. fiona: ty reach out when they're experiencing a crisis. that can mean lots of things. that can be something smaller, like relationship struggleor friendship issues, family issues, but it can also mean, like, more acute crises, like self-harm or suicide. william: each volunteer gets more than 60 hours of training, and master's level supervisors are constantly on standby in the room, listening in and reading along, ready at a moment's notice to step in if a conversation gets too serious. mia: we're not medical professionals. we're like a sidekick, really. there's like -- and they're -- like, the person has the option to choose what they want to do. they're like the hero of the story. we're just there to assist them to make that choice. william: research suggests that teens cope better with stress when they interact with their

peers, rather than adults. so, the volunteers, listen, empathize, and, if needed, help figure out a plan for getting care. only in rare cases did youthline need to contact emergency services. fion we just have a much better perspective on what it's like to be a teenager today and the complexities that comes with and the strain that that can put on your mental health. william: and the need is clearly growing. youthline started over 20 years ago, and, in 2013, it received roughly 1400 contacts, many coming from in state. but, by 2021, things had exploded, with almost 25,000 annual contacts from all across the country. but is it a good idea to have teens field these calls? and what impact might that be having on the volunteers themselves? emily moser is youthline's director. emily: woven into all of the mentoring, all of the training are these -- these safeguards

for these young people, that we have contact information for their parents. we can reach out to them if they need to. they do check-ins every day after every shift. we underestimate the capacity of what young people can do to help other young people. as adults, it's easy for us to say, they can't do that. but they can. william: 17-year-old aditi khanna has been a youthline volunteer for about 10 months. aditi: eryone tries to go immediately towards, like, solving something. like, you can't always solve everyone's issues. and just telling them that you hear them, i think that's the biggest difference between what we're trying to do and what anyone else is. william: like many who work here, aditi herself has faced some mental health challenges. she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in seventh grade. aditi: it is so much harder than you would like imagine it to be, right, because it's like -- it feels like lifting like 1000 pounds just trying to get up. william: the news came as a

shock for aditi's mother, sangeeta. sangeeta: i love my kids. they get everything. william: what could they be? sangeeta: what could the depression be about? like, my heart sank immediately. i said, no. william: aditi started therapy, tried medication, and saw a drastic improvement. now not only does she volunteer with youthline, she says she can also sense when something seems off with friends or classmates. do you think there is a real crisis among young people now? aditi: oh, completely. i think that it is very rare that i meet someone and that they're not struggling with their mental health. william: a state audit in 2020 found oregon's youth mental health system left many children and their families in crisis due to, among other issues, severe staff shortages, poor data, and fragmented delivery of care. and that was even before the pandemic exacerbated those issues. nick kintigh: we have this huge

massive influx of families needing services all right now and at the highest need right away. william: nick kintigh is a pediatric psychiatric social worker at randall children's hospital in portland, where they saw a surge of young people who had attempted suicide. nick kintigh: we're not specifically a psychiatric hospital. but, at one point, if i remember right, my supervisor told me that our hospital census was 33% psychiatric kids. william: wow, a third. nick kintigh: a third of our entire hospital at one point was acute psychiatric kids needing a higher level of care. and our staff is not equipped to manage that. william: and it's not something you budgeted for the year before? nick kintigh: no, or trained. and so you have certain floors with highly trained nurses and pediatricians taking care of infants and babies with rsv. and now those nurses are having to taking care of a 17-year-old with a suicide attempt that is highly aggressive and angry. william: 18-year-old sam adamson began having suicidal thoughts when he was just 11. sam: i would say there were a

rare amount of times where i felt truly happy. william: the scariest part, he said, was when the idea of suicide became almost second nature. sam: wondering why i'm having dinner. oh, i have to work on this. i want to kill myself. i want water. and you just skip over this massive thought. when you look back on the fact that you were thinking i want to kill myself in a very subtle second, that's terrifying. william: sam's mom, jessica, says finding the right care for him was terrifying too. jessica: we are very fortunate to have insurance, to be part of a health system that is very well-resourced in mental health resources. and, frankly, i have a job in health care where i knew how to -- william: you knew how to navigate. jessica: right. and even with all of that, when you call and you're told that it's six wes, at a minimum, before they can see you, that

just seems impossible. william: last year, when sam was a senior, he called his parents from school. jessica: he said, i want to go and jump off of the 4th floor. and there is something about hearing your child who, at the very moment where he should have the most hope and opportunity, wants to stop participating in the world. it was scary. it broke my heart. william: sam went to the emergency room and ultimately enrolled in an intensive outpatient treatment program at providence st. vincent medical center in poland. sam: it only happens for a certain amount of weeks. you essentially take it like a class, and studied the content that they gave me and took notes. william: these are tools that you use? sam: yes, i use it on a daily basi.

william: is that right sam: yes. william: a daily basis? sam: i still have the notes upstairs in my backpack that i just flithrough. i remember some of the details about what i talked with my therapist, but what i do remember is us going over what strategies to use during certain occasions. if i didn't have those things, i don't think i would be sitting here today. but the fact is, that makes me a miracle. and miracles don't always happen. that gives me a mix of anger, frustration, and also a bit of fear and a bit of pain, just knowing that there are people who aren't that lucky. william: organizations like youthline are trying to fill the gaps and help more people get care. they're looking to broaden the diversity of their volunteers and expand nationally. despite difficult calls and long days, volunteers like aditi khanna find the experience invaluable.

aditi: even if it's just that tiny push or pull that someone needs off the ledge, and it can be that for one person, then we have done what we need to do. after i'm done with youthline, if i can go like, yeah, i was able to help o person from committing suicide, that's, like, all i need for the rest of my life. william: for the "pbs newshour," i'm william brangham in portland, oregon. geoff: a reminder that anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can get help by calling the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. amna: and the newshour's own nationwide network of student journalists has also been tackling the issue of teen mental health as part of their award-winning podcast, on our minds. check it out. >> teenagers, we're olympic athletes. we're young inventors. we're musicians. we're activists. >> we come from so many backgrounds and are the most connected we have ever been. >> but we have our own set of challenges. >> depression, anxiety, and stress are on the rise. >> thankfully, we're not in it alone. >> on our minds is a podcast about the teenage experience.

>> to have like a resource and an outlet so that they can better understand themselves. >> made by teens for teens. >> each season includes two team hosts and covers topics such as grades. >> coming out. >> eating disorders. >> self-esteem. >> cultural identity. >> and all the things we as teenagers face. >> student reporters from across the country produce stories. >> we also talk with psychologists, musicians, authors, and athletes to get advice about mental health and well-being lebron: it can become overwhelming. >> there's a lot on our minds, and talking about it helps. >> on our minds is a project of a "pbs newshour" student reporting labs. >> listen wherever you get your podcasts. geoff: four members of the far-right anti-government group the oath keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy this week for their role in the january 6 insurrection, once again shining a light on the dangerous rise of domestic extremism in america. laura barron-lopez looks at what one state is doing to combat those forces and how it could be a model for the nation.

laura: in washington state this week, legislators held public hearings to form a domestic violent extremism commission that, if implemented, would make washington the first in the nation to target extremism with a public health and civic engagement approach. the state attorney general's office authored the study that recommends the commission and other steps to prevent domestic terrorism and hate crimes. here to discuss that effort is the attorney general, bob ferguson. attorney general, thanks for joining us. this report was in response to the rise in white supremacy and domestic extremism in your state and across the country. washington ranks fifth in the country for white supremacist incidents. what actions are you recommending that your state take? bob: yeah, thanks so much for having me on, laura, on this important subject. i appreciate it. so in a nutshell, after a very detailed report that my team has put together in talking to a lot of experts around the country, the recommendations are first and foremost to create that commission that you mentioned at the outset, a commission that is specifically focused on this

issue. and that's not something we have seen around the country with other states. it's really one takeaway from this report is, i think it's appropriate for states to take a more active role on addressing domestic violent extremism. and this commission can put forth recommendations to really address this challenge here in washington state. laura: you define in the report, you define domestic violent extremism as including extremist and political violence. that includes online disinformation. it includes extremist recruitment, anti-government ideologies. but in a public hearing this week that you held in response to this potential commission being built, there was some criticism in your state about that broad definition of domestic violent extremism. take a listen. lara: this orwellian bill would cause washingtonians, including parents, nurses, doctors, and vulnerable and marginalized communities, to be afraid of expressing their opinions or of speaking misinformation, for

fear of being labeled or penalized as a domestic violence extremist. laura: what's your response to that concern? bob: yeah. well, of course, we have public hearings for a reason, to hear all voices. and our state legislature is no different than any state legislature. we have all sorts of voices at the table. our response is pretty straightforward. our report is very clear that we think a definition of domestic terrorism at the federal level is a useful starting point. t it focuses strictly on sort of threats of bodily harm, of killing somebody, for example, which, from our perspective, is simply too narrow for the great threat that we see with the increase of radicalization, for example. so we're trying to broaden that term to address things that are not specifically a threat to somebody, but where the state can take some action in prevention, for example, take a more holistic approach, a public health approach, to address what we all see and know is happening in communities all across the country. so, we appreciate the feedback. but we think that feedback is a bit of an exaggeration, to put it mildly. laura: and then you also commend a more public health approach, one that's led by the

community and by different community institutions. what does that look in practice, though? bob: yes, so the way to think of this -- and it's fairly detailed -- but, at a high level, up to this point, as a nation, really, we have addressed this type of extremism from a law enforcement standpoint, to criminalize folks who engage in that behavior, which is, of course, entirely appropriate. those folks need to be held accountable. what we're trying to get at is something a little bit different, to broaden the scope, look at it from a public health standpoint, because that is what it is. we should view this holistically. let's engage in prevention, of getting folks -- avoiding them being radicalized in the first place. if somebody is radicalized, and wants removal, move away from that, how can we help them with counseling, for example, to get them away from that ideology? so, looking at from a more holistic standpoint, we think, addresses prevention, addresses helping folks who've been radicalized and take a more holistic view of this to address what is a huge challenge, not just in washington state, but all across the country. laura: on radicalization spifically, you mentioned that

looking at social media and the role of social media and online disinformation in radicalizing people. and in many of these recent cases of violent extremism, including in the case of the oath keepers that were just found guilty of seditious conspiracy, these aren't young men. these are men in their 40's, 50's, even in their 60's. usually, when we talk about harmful content on social media, we're talking about how it impacts younger people, impressionable young people. so how do you prevent older citizens from being drawn into these alt-right conspiracy theory groups, like the oath keepers or anti-government groups? bob: you raise a really good point, laura, right, about the large number of folks in our community, not simply young people, who are impacted by this. and that's what creating a commission is all about. we'd be the first state to create the commission that you mentioned at the outset. and that would bring together experts to engage on making specific recommendations on exactly this kind of issue. what can we do to prevent the radicalization of folks who are

a bit older, ayou said, their 40's, their 50's, their 60's, and help them to get out of that if they are radicalized. so, there are all sorts of things that experts have recommended in this area. our goal is to create that commission. our report is a first step. now let's move to creating the commission, get experts together who can put together a plan for the entire state of washington, working with community members to make recommendations to really address exactly that type of challenge that we see all across the country every time it ems we pick up the newspaper. laura: and, lastly, torney general, i did want to ask you about the mass shooting in california in monterey park. it has caused a lot of fear among the asian american community. and you specifically cite that there has been a rise among -- a fear among the asian american community in washington state as well d to hate crimes. how specifically would your domestic violent extremism plan address hate crimes? bob: well, it's going to address hate crimes because that's one piece of what we're seeing all across the country, but especially a rise in washington state.

so we have engaged in putting into this report with communities the asian american community and many others in our state to see what they're experiencing and what recommendations we can put together to really address this in a more holistic fashion. that's but one example of what we see all around the country and what this commission, if put in place by our state legislature, will be able to grapple with and make specific recommendations, and working with the community to do so. laura: washington state attorney general bob ferguson, thank you so much for your time. bob: thank you. i appreciate it. amna: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. remember, there's a lot more on our website and on our social medipages. geoff: and be sure to join us again here tomorrow night. 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's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and

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