amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, tensions rise in the middle east after israeli forces kill several palestinians during a raid in the west bank. amna: how will former president trump being allowed back on facebook and instagram after a two-year ban change political dialogue? geoff: and new research upends the conventional wisdom about the health effects of alcohol. >> the big point to keep in mind is no matter what level you drink at, that consuming less will be good for health. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by.

the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. 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 individuals and institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. five former poce officers in memphis, tennessee, have been charged tonight with second-degree murder in a killing that has echoed across the country. amna: the victim, tyre nichols, died after a confrontation during a traffic stop earlier this month. john yang has our report. john: the head of the tennessee bureau of investigation said he was appalled. david: frankly, i'm shocked, i'm sickened by what i saw. and what we have learned through our extensive and thorough investigation. let me be clear, what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. this was wrong. this was criminal.

john: fired memphis police officers demetrius haley, desmond mills jr., emmitt martin iii, and justin smith, tadarrius bean, all charged with the murder of 29-year-old tyre nichols. police said they stopped nichols the evening of january 7 near his home for reckless driving and that he fled on foot. there was another confrontation, police say, after they caught up with him. nichols was hospitalized, complaining of shortness of breath. he died three days later. police said nichols had a medical emergency, but the family's attorneys said early results from an independent autopsy the family commissioned showed he suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating. the attorneys say body camera footage shows a police beating that lasted three minutes and included pepper spray and tasing. civil rights attorney ben crump. ben: he's only about 80 to 100

yards from his house, and he calls for his mom. three times, "mom." he calls for his mom. where's the humanity? where's the humanity? john: crump likened it to the 1991 videotape of los angeles police beating rodney king. nichols was a fedex worker and an aspiring photographer. his family described him as a loving father to his four-year-old son. rowvaughn: we're going to get justice for my son tyre if that's the last breath i take. >> that's right. amen. [applause] rowvaughn: because, at the end of the day, my son and no son deserves this at all. john: memphis officials say they are braced for a backlash tomorrow when the body camera video is made public. for the “pbs newshour,” i'm john yang.

vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." here are the latest headlines. the u.s. economy is showing new signs of slowing, after repeated interest rate hikes by the federal reserve. but the latest numbers don't yet make car if the nation can tame inflation without sliding into recession. the commerce department reports that from october through december, growth decelerated to an annual rate of 2.9%. that was down from 3.2% in the previous quarter, but still relatively strong. in the middle east, early friday morning, the israeli military says it carried out airstrikes in the gaza strip after two rockets fired from the palestinian territory were intercepted by its air defenses. this comes after an israeli raid in the west bank that killed

nine palestinians in that region. it's the deadliest operation there in two decades. the israelis said they were targeting militants in the jenin refugee camp. palestinian officials said seven of the dead were gunmen and two were civilians. a tenth palestinian was shot and killed in a separate incident. ukrainian officials say at least 11 people died today in a new wave of russian missiles and drones. the strikes hit nearly a dozen regions and again targeted energy sites. others tore through residential areas, including one near the capital, kyiv. in the aftermath, more people were left homeless and in despair. >> this is such a tragedy for me. i'm telling you, i'm left without anything. this is such a disaster. everything scrambled and was destroyed. not a single room is left intact. everything got hit. vanessa: ukraine says its air defenses shot down most of the missiles. back in this country, the california mushroom farm where

four people were killed monday was the site of another shooting last july. documents from local officials show one employee threatened to kill another before firing his gun into the man's trailer. no injuries were reported. boeing pleaded not guilty today to a federal fraud charge involving its 737 max jetliners. during today's arraigen the company denied concealing information about an automated system blamed for two crashes that killed 346 people. boeing had reached a settlement with the justice department to avoid prosecution. but victims' families say they were never consulted. also, the fbi says it has taken down one of the world's leading ransomware networks, at least temporarily. justice department officials say the outfit, known as "hive," had extorted some $100 million from more than 1300 businesses worldwide. but starting last summer, they

say fbi specialists hacked the hackers, estimating the operation saved hive's victims, including hospitals and schools, up to $130 million. but there have been no arrests, and it is unclear how long it might take the group to re-establish itself. the national archives is asking former presidents and vice presidents to recheck their records for classified documents. reports today said the agency sent letters to representatives of the last six u.s. administrations. classified material has already been found at the florida property of former president trump, and the private homes of president biden and former vice president pence. still to come on the "newshour," the 2024 senate campaigns kick off, and we're taking a closer look. fundamentally change american communities. also, the republican national committee confronts party infighting as it chooses its leader. and a new exhibit showcases puerto rican artists reflecting

on hurricane maria. >> 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: as we reported, today was the deadliest day in the occupied west bank in two decades. israeli forces raided jenin this morning and killed nine people. in response, the palestinian authority cut security coordination with israel. and, this evening, there were reports of rocket fire into israel from gaza, which is controlled by the palestinian militant group hamas. the west bank raid coincided with an announcement that secretary of state tony blinken will travel to israel and the west bank next week. nick schifrin looks at u.s. policy priorities and the tense holy land he will soon visit.

nick: in the west bank's most volatile city, a most violent day. palestinians carried out gunshot victims. they chanted the names of those killed in a fierce battle and rare daytime israeli raid into jenin's refugee camp. a massive show of israeli force left a building that israel says was full of militants plotting an imminent attack a charred, destroyed wreck. palestinians say one of the victims was an elderly woman. the fury quickly followed. thousands filled the streets to mourn the dead. and the militant group hamas, which runs gaza, vowed revenge. ham: the resistance will always be ready to defend its people everywhere. nick: the fallout was also political. the palestinian authority said it would refer the raid to the u.n. and cut off security coordination with israel. nabil: in light of the repeated aggression against our people, we consider that security coordination with the israeli occupation government no longer

exists. nick: but for israel's new government, the raid was mission accomplished. the israeli army released bodycam footage of the soldier'' raid, heavy weapons fired onto the streets below, and palestinians opening fire on israi soldiers. the new ultranationalist israeli national security minister, itamar ben-gvir, called it a successful operation. itamar: we give backing to our fighters in the war against the terrorists. let every police officer know, every fighter, every soldier that he has the full backing from the israeli government, the ministry of national security, and the commissioner of police. nick: jenin is largely controlled by palestinian militants, and has long been a flash point. but, across the west bank, the last year has been among the deadliest ever. israel blames palestinian terrorism. and now israel's right-wing government pushes a hard line, including ben-gvir's recent visit to the al-aqsa compound, what jews call the temple mount, judaism's holiest site.

in washington, state department deputy spokesman vedant patel called for calm. vedant: we believe there is an urgent need for all parties to de-escalate and to work together to improve the security situation in the west bank. nick: in a separate incident, the israeli military also fatally shot a 22-year-old palestinian who confronted soldiers north of jerusalem. for more on the violence and secretary blinken's upcoming trip to israel, we turn to aaron david miller, senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and a longtime state department official in democratic and republican administrations. aaron david miller, welcome back to the "newshour." thanks very much. this was the deadliest incident in the west bank in decades. how consequential might it be? aaron: i think very. look, i think -- this year, i think 29 palestinians already in 2023 have been killed. last year was a record year of more violence, palestinians and israelis dying, than at any point since 2005.

today's raid, with nine, maybe even 10 killed, you already have a joint statement, which is not unusual from palestine islamic jihad and hamas, that there will be a response, the israelis will -- quote, unquote -- pay for their actions, some such language. nick: as you said, it s been a violent few weeks during a time when the new israeli coalition took charge. but the violence preceded the coalition. this is not only about who is leading the government right now in israel, is it? aaron: no, absolutely. it is a gathering sort of perfect storm that has been building for quite a while. you have a 56-year-old israeli occupation. you have got a very weak palestinian authority. mahmoud abbas, i think, is now in the 18th year of a four-year term. he has lost great credibility as a consequence of canceling elections last year. he has been accused of corruption and nepotism. and you also have this counterinsurgency strategy on the part of the israelis, which, since march, has focused largely

on jenin. i'm not sure it's working, or the costs of it working are very high. and then, finally, the emergence of an israeli government we have never quite seen before, with three ministers with budgets, as well as newfound powers, whose views and sensibilities are jewish supremacists, racist, anti-democratic. you have a perfect storm. and it wouldn't take much, it seems to me, to light a match and create a serious explosion. nick: we heard just before the longtime palestinian authority spokesman say that they would, because of this raid, cut off security coordination. they have said that before. it hasn't necessarily lasted. but does that have an impact going forward, if indeed that security coordination is cut off? aaron: they have suspended formal security cooperation, but i suspect, if the palestinian authority received information of an imminent attack, even in the west bank, against settlers

or in israel proper, that they would share that information with the israelis. i suspect we will come back to israeli-palestinian security cooperation, in large part because it's -- is in abbas' interest in order to check hamas' growing influence in the west bank. nick: into this situation, secretary blinken hits the road, in the next couple of days, will fly to israel and will visit the west bank earlier next week. what are the u.s. options when it comes to dealing with this violence and the new israeli government? aaron: i think bleak. i think -- look, i worked for half-a-dozen administrations. i have rarely -- actually never seen this much intense engagement with the new israeli government at such a senior level. i think the administration has essentially made a decision to embrace the government, but to make it unmistakably clear to hold netanyahu to what he has said repeatedly, that his hands are on the wheel, he's in charge, this is his government. i think their options, though,

nick, are very, very, very few. the best they can hope for is to try to de-escalate and keep the lid on things, because if they really were serious about helping to create an environment for a negotiation one day, not now, that could lead to an end of conflict agreement, they would have to create rules of the road for both israelis and for palestinians. and they would have to do everything they possibly could to impose consequences on both sides if, in fact, those rules of the road were violated. they really would have to get into some very awkward, unpleasant conversations, primarily with the israes. and joe biden,t's not an election year, but he probably will announce in the next two months hisntention is to seek a second term. it's fraught. nick: and, quickly, you used the term keep a lid on the violence. that's what the u.s. wants. historically, israel has also wanted to keep a lid on violence, especially during a

high-level u.s. visit. is that still the case? aaron: benjamin netanyahu, for all of his vaunted rhetoric, has been traditionally very risk-averse when it comes to projecting israeli military force, whether it's gaza or lebanon. and i think the last thing the prime minister needs is this. on balance, it's going to be a problem for both tony blinken and for benjamin netanyahu, not to mention for palestinians. nick: aaron david miller, thank you very much. aaron: thank you, nick. amna: meta, the parent company of facebook and instagram, has cleared the way for former president trump to return to the platforms in the coming weeks. it comes two years after trump was suspended following the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. twitter also recently reinstated the former president's account, but he hasn't eeted since the decision.

joining me now is sheera frenkel, who covers meta and other social media platforms for the "new york times." sheera, welcome back to the "newshour." thanks for joining us. so, the company suspended him two years ago on january 7. they said they're only going to reinstate the account if conditions permit. so, what do we know about the decision to let him back on? sheera: well, we know that, in the last two years, meta hasn't communicated much about how they're making this decision, other than it'll be up to nick clegg, the former british prime minister. they have spoken to civil disobedience groups and politicians. and i think, ultimately, what it came down to is, they see trump running for office again, and they don't want to be in a position where they have a republican nominee for president who is banned off of their social media platforms. amna: it was two years ago, though, they said that he posed a serious risk to public safety. that was part of the reason behind the ban. mr. trump continues to repeat a lot of the same election lies that fueled the violence on january 6, so is meta saying that that risk has gone away? sheera: well, i -- in the last day, i have spoken to two people who work at facebook -- at meta,

that is, and they're watching what trump posts on truth social, his own social network site, which includes the same types of conspiracies of the 2020 elections. it includes conspiracies around the recent midterm elections. so they're aware that he is very likely to share content on other social media platforms that he's given access to which are likely in violation of their rules. i think they're just sort of willing to roll the dice and play a sort of game with trump at the moment of how far to the line will he get before they have to ban him or -- temporarily or permanently once again? amna: they are watching what he's posting. other groups are watching, as well as a coalition of civil rights, and technology policy, consumer protection groups, who actually sent a letter to the ceo mark zuckerberg and said he should make that ban permanent, because they have been tracking what mr. trump has been posting on truth social, his own social media platform. and they say he's been posting things there that would absolutely violate facebook's current stdards. so, what is the company's plan to hold him accountable if he continues to post that kind of

stuff, but on their platform? sheera: well, i think they're still, honestly, figuring it out. we saw some language in their statement yesterday that they could ban him for a period of weeks or even months. they could also choose to permanently ban him, it sounds like. but we don't have any clear guidelines. there isn't any three strikes and you're out sort of policy, which is something we know they have used in the past. so it's unclear what trump can do and say to get himself those sort of more temporary bans. something else they have mentioned is that they could take action against his ability to advertise and fund-raise on facebook. and i think, if you're sitting on the trump campaign team for the 2024 presidential elections, that's something that's going to be worrying for you, because facebook has been a major way, a major asset for his company to raise money -- for his first campaign, i'm sorry, to raise money. amna: so, mr. trump had responded to the news his account would be reinstated on truth social. he argued that such a thing should never happen again to a sitting president. he also went on to tout the growth of his platform, truth social.

but, sheera, is there a chance he doesn't even end up posting anything on facebook, similar to what we have seen with twitter so far? sheera: well, i think, for the ti being, he's not likely to start posting. we know he has an exclusivity agreement with truth social, which takes him towards the beginning of this summer. and so, even though he's been given access to his former twitter page, his twitter account, and now to facebook and instagram, we think the earliest he's likely to start posting is the summer, which is, coincidentally, exactly when the republican party primaries are likely to heat up for president. amna: at the end of all of this, if you step away from just this one incident, do you have a better sense of where the bar is for facebook to remove some of these actors with particularly big platforms and followers when it comes to misinformation and the like? i mean, we know the connection between online rhetoric and racist or hateful speech and real-world violence. do you have a better sense of where their line is? sheera: you know, i have had a lot of conversations with facebook, not just in the last 24 hours, but in the last two

years since trump was removed from the platform, about that exact question. where's the line? and their answer is always, we can't define a line, because the minute we do, the characters who want to incite violence, the online, the characters who want to use their social media platforms for l are going to walk right up to that line and not step or it. and so they sort of intentionally try to leave it murky. they intentionally try to say, well, there is no definite line. we will know it when we see it. we will know incitement to violence when we see it. i think those of us who have closely watched social media platforms, especially meta, have seen time and time again that they often miss that moment where it crosses over into language that actually incites violence. they're pledging to do better going forward. they're saying, we have learned our lesson. we hope that, going forward, we will figure out where that line is and ban people ahead of time. but i think, at the moment, we're all just sort of watching and waiting to see what a number of world leaders, not just trump, are going to do online. amna: all right, sheera frenkel covers technology at the "new york times." thank you for joining us. sheera: thank you for having me.

geoff: congress has just started its new term, but many senators and senate hopefuls are already thinking about the next election. just today, congressman adam schiff became the second democrat to jump into the 2024 race for the senate in california. and, earlier this week, democratic congressman ruben gallego announced he's running for the senate seat in arizona. his campaign announcement took aim at the incumbent, newly independent senator kyrsten sinema. rep. gallego: if you're more likely to be meeting with the powerful than the powerless, you're doing this job incorrectly. i'm sorry that politicians have let you down. but i'm going tohange that. i'm ruben gallego. i'm running to be the senator of arizona, because you deserve somebody fighting for you and fighting with you every day. geoff: arizona is always a closely watched state. and the 2024 senate race is no exception.

it's rated a toss-up and is one of nine key senate battlegrounds, according to the cook political report with amy walter, which released its first 2024 analysis this week. and joining us now is our friend, the aforementioned amy walter. it's great to see you. amy: good to see you, geoff. thank you. geoff: so, democrats are expected to have a tougher map in 2024, as they try to defend their slim senate majority. they're on defense in states like arizona, michigan, nevada. what are you watching for? amy: well, i'm glad you brought up arizona, because that's the most complicated of all these. as you pointed out, ruben gallego is a democrat. kyrsten sinema used to be a democrat not that long ago. it sets up the possibility here, in a state where democrats have been doing really well for the last few years, right, winning two senate races, biden won there, won a governor's race. but if sinema is running, gallego, the democrat, is running, they could split up that pool of independent and democratic votes, allowing a

republican to win there. it also puts the democratic senate campaign committee, the people who are in charge of helping incumbents, in a pretty awkward position too. technically, she's not a democrat, but she still votes with democrats, right? she's still -- geoff: they have got some tough decisions to make, yes? amy: that's right. and i think, secretly, a lot of them are hoping that, well, maybe she just doesn't run for reelection, and then that makes their job a little bit easier. but, if she does, it makes it much more complicated. geoff: you have also got three states on your radar that voted for donald trump in 2020, but are represented by democratic senators, ohio, montana, and west virginia. sherrod brown says he's going to run again in ohio. we haven't heard yet from jon tester and joe manchin. do those senators need to run in order to help democrats keep those states? amy: i never say anything's impossible, geoff, but holding on to those two states without those two senators, tester and manchin, is all but impossible. remember, west virginia especially, a state that went

for president trump by almost 40 points, this is a state that is so deeply red, it's quite remarkable that manchin has been able to hold on to this state year after year, election after election. now, he also turns 77 by the time we hit 2024. so besides the fact that he's in a red state, he's got the issue of his age. and the question is whether the popular incumbent governor, who himself was once a democrat, jim justice, runs. that's a much more difficult race than manchin's ever had to face before. jon tester is also in a unique position in a state like montana, which, again, pretty red, but he's outperformed the democratic presidential candidate time after time. what's tting harder and harder, though, geoff, as you probably know, is running as a candidate from a state that is different from your party, that has voted for the presidential candidate of the other party and winning in a presidential year.

in 2016, there was not one senate candidate who won in a state that their presidential nominee didn't win in. in 2020, the only person to win was susan collins. she won in maine, even as joe biden carried that state as well. geoff: for the democrats, though, apart from the personalities, what cathey do policy-wise to help their chances? amy: you know, that's a really good point. and a lot of democrats, after the 2022 election, said, we were able to pick up a seat in the senate, not just because republicans put up really bad candidates, right? that was the conventional conversation both during and after -- geoff: even mitch mcconnell said that, yeah. amy: yeah, exactly -- both during and after the campaign was, if republicans had put up better candidates, republicans would have won. but democrats also had a story to tell, which was they passed a lot of legislation in the basically early to late summer of 2022, everything from infrastructure, the chips act on more domestic manufacturing of microchips, and, of course, the

inflation reduction act. the good news for democrats is, even though there's not a likelihood you're going to see big pieces of legislation pass in the coming year with a divided congress, those pieces of legislation are still doling out money, right? there's still infrastructure going on. the president himself seems to be going to a swing state every week highlighting new projects that have been funded by these very pieces of legislation. geoff: let's talk about the republicans, amy, because, in looking at your analysis, i noted that you see only one gop-held seat potentially in play. and that's florida. really? only one? amy: i know. geoff: one seat? amy: republicans have a very good map this year, in the same way democrats had a very good map in 2022. they only have 11 seats to defend. most of them are in dark red states. now, florida -- remember when florida used to be a toss-up state? geoff: barely. barely remember it. amy: you barely remember that. [laughter] it's moving further and further

and a bit off of the map for democrats. and the bigger question for democrats is, where do you invest, right? they have to play so much defense. are they going to have enough money especially to play in an expensive state like florida? texas is also up. remember, in 2018, that was a very competitive race with beto o'rourke and ted cruz, but again, a really, really expensive state. and, right now, you're just not hearing democrats get particularly excited about it. geoff: amy walter, always great to speak with you. thanks for coming in. amy: good to see you. thank you. amna: members of the republican national committee are meeting this week to determine the party's next leader. but the race for rnc chair between incumbent ronna mcdani d challenger harmeet dhillon, a lawyer and rnc memr, is revealing deeper divisions in the gop, as republicans hope to build a winning strategy for the 2024 campaign. erik iverson is a republican strategist and the former chair

of the montana republican party. he joins me now. erik, welcome, and thanks for joining us. before we get into what all this means for the party, i want to talk about this rnc chair race. ronna mcdaniel seems to have the votes that she needs. but, of course, nothing's done until the vote, which is tomorrow. but there are clear divisions playing out in the open here, right? what does this battle say to you? what's it all about? erik: well, first, thanks for having me. look, i mean, these races tend to take care of themselves. we will know by tomorrow who the new chair is. for me, what's more important than who is sitting in that chair is, what are they going to do? i think the new chair of the republican party nationally needs to do two things right off the get-go, right off the bat. we have to fix this hard money gap between candidates. we had some of our u.s. senate candidates in 2022 being outspent two-to-one, three-to-one, 3.5-to-one. that has to get fixed if republicans are going to compete. the second thing the new chair needs to do,nd no matter who that is, after tomorrow's vote, friday, we have to stop whining

about mail-in ballots and early votes and start to beat the democrats at their own game. mail balloting isn't going to go away. we can't put our heads in the sand anymore. we have got to get out there and we have got to quit whining and start competing when it comes to the early vote. amna: when it comes to this rnc chair race, though, i do have to ask, because the incumbent here, ronna mcdaniel, is being challenged very, very hard from the right by harmeet dhillon here. and you just had florida governor ron desantis come out today and say, y know, i like some of what harmeet dhillon has to say, and maybe we do need some fresh thinking. what does that say to you? erik: look, i mean, maybe governor desantis coming out can change a few votes. i mean, i know both candidates have some really high-profile endorsements. but, again, it's not so much who's in the chair, but what they're going to do with it. but i will tell you this. the new chair the rnc, no matter who that person is, has a leg up over where they're at the dnc, because the dnc is going to be stuck with joe biden as president and his four years of failed policy. so, look, no matter who the republican is, when the dust settles and the votes are

cleared, they're going to have a much easier job than the democrat, because this race and a lot of these races are going to be about joe biden and his failed record. amna: well, let me ask you about the republicans, then, because they're coming off what i would call a poor midterm showing. i think you would agree. they failed to win the senate, barely won the house. what are the lessons that you hope the party carries forward? erik: we did take back control of the house. but there are three things that i think republicans really need to lean into and to execute in 2024. and i think the first thing is, look, need to talk about solutions to the problems that democrats created. second of all, we can't just talk to our base. and, finally, i think the third big thing, look, don't just talk to white voters. and so what i mean by all that, look, when we talk about talking about solutions, a lot of republican candidates, whether they were candidates for senate or candidates for governor, did a nice job of talking -- of creating contrasts between themselves and their democratic opponent, between themselves and the joe biden record. the republicans who did a good job in 2022, the ones who won, the brian kemp, sheriff lombardo, ron desantis, in addition to creating that contrast, they also talked about

solutions. republicans have got to talk about solutions to the problems that democrats created. they have also got to stop just talking to the base. look, a lot of these races are going to be decided by about 10%, 8%, 9% of the voters, those voters in the middle. they need to hear solutions. we need to have republicans not only talking to the base, but let's talk to some of those independent voters. i'm not saying be less conservative. i'm saying be smarter about the words that we use and the issues that we choose. amna: i understand you're making your party's point here. i think democrats would also argue the economy, in particular, it's not about problems they created, but a number of factors there they have to deal with. i do have to ask you, though, about 2024, because only donald trump has officially announced that he's going to be running. when you make these points about where you want to see the party go, who among the potential field of candidates -- there's all these potentials, right, mike pence, ron desantis, nikki haley, tim scott. who do you think is best positioned to carry the message you want to see forward? erik: look, there are a lot of great options out there for republicans. and that's what's exciting. and that primary process is

going to take care of itself. but the problem for -- the problem for the democrats, the problem is, they're stuck with joe biden. that's the big difference he. this presidential election is going to be about the incumbent and the incumbent's record. and joe biden -- even if you look athe senate states, the big senate states that matter, the battleground states, he's underwater in his image all across the board. so, look, the republicans have a great stable of candidates who are either running or thinking about running. that process is going to shake itself out. the democrats are saddled with joe biden. and i think, look, no matter who emerges from the republican primary, they start off with an advantage. amna: erik iverson, republican strategist and former chair of the montana republican party, good to talk to you. thank you for your time. erik: thank you. amna: we're coming to the end of dry january, where millions of americans abstain from alcohol for the entire month.

this yearly ritual again underscores the accumulating evidence that drinking alcoholic beverages, even in what are considered relativy small amounts, can be harmful to our health. william brangham has the latest, including how canada is considering radically revising its recommendations for drinking. william: that's right. canadian health authorities had previously said that a low-risk amount of alcohol was about 10 drinks per week. but, just recently, a panel of advisers to the government, citing some of this research about alcohol's impacts, suggested lowering that to two drinks per week. for more on all of this, i'm joined by dr. tim naimi. he's an alcohol epidemiologist and the director of the university of victoria's canadian institute for substance use research. dr. naimi, great to have you on the "newshour." before we get to this changing guidance, can you just remind

our audience, what do we know about alcohol's impact on us? dr. naimi: sure. well, alcohol is one of the leading behavior-related causes of health problems and deaths, and also some social problems and economic costs, ranging from things like injuries and accidents, to cancers, and, actually, heart and cardiovascular disease. so it causes a wide range of health effects. and, of course, those have been long appreciated at high -- high levels of consumption, but even for some lower levels as well. william: it also has impacts on our mental health as well, i take it? dr. naimi: yes. well, there's a really complicated, but important relationship between alcohol and things like depression and anxiety in particular. so, yes, so alcohol may play a causal role in those, but can certainly also exacerbate or make worse existing mental health conditions, particularly depression. william: i want to talk about dosage for a second. you mentioned this in passing.

but is it true that these harmful effects go up the more you drink, so a little bit is better than a moderate amount is better than a large amount? dr. naimi: exactly right. when it comes to health, less is more. and that's actually the main -- the main message stemming from the new canadian guidelines. it's not that anyone needs to get down to a number. we know that the lowest level of risk is associated with a really small amount of alcohol. as little as two drinks per week is the lowest risk. but the main message behind the new canadian guidelines and the main message -- and this, i think, is consistent with other guidelines. the big point to keep in mind is, no matter what level you drink at, that consuming less will be good for health. and we really want to reach out to people. and i think this is -- we're talking about the public health community broadly, not just to people who are already drinking a little bit and might cut back further, but people -- if you're drinking six or seven drinks a day, and you can cut down to three or four, that would be fantastic for your health.

so, just want to kind of reach a broad spectrum of drinkers. that's the basic idea. william: it still must come as a bit of a shock that something that is so widely accepted in our society can be implicated in cancer and heart disease and all of these other things? i mean, i think people think of drunk driving, and they understand that. and maybe drunken violence and things like that, but cancer and heart disease, do you think that the public fully appreciates those risks? dr. naimi: right, william. well, i think you're right. i think people are aware of sort of impaired driving and crashes. they're aware of maybe cirrhosis of the liver. and maybe they're aware of, like, fetal alcohol spectrum birth defects and so forth. but i think they're much less aware of cardiovascular disease, and particularly in terms of the risk of cancer. i should mention that alcohol is actually considered a class one carcinogen or cancer-causing agent by the world health organization. so that's the same category as benzene and tobacco smoke. and some studies estimate that a

drink of alcohol has about the same cancer-causing potential as one to two cigarettes, depending on your sex. as an example, the risk of breast cancer goes somewhere between 8% and 10% increase with each additional drink that a woman consumes per day on average. so, that's an important thing. and we know from surveys that only a small fraction of the population understands the cancer link. william: help me understand, though. it feels like we have been getting some conflicting guidance. i think many people remember being told that moderate amounts of drinking for certain people can be beneficial. there was that infamous study years ago that red wine was good for your heart. are those things just -- have those gone by the wayside now? dr. naimi: even for those studies, above very small amounts of alcohol, the risks started to increase. so it's really an argument about, how low is that point? so, broadly speaking, i think the science is consistent that sort of less is better, down to very low amounts.

yes, i do think -- i do think some of that science has gone by the wayside. and without getting deep into the weeds, the basic idea there is that somebody -- for example, a red wine drinker in their 50's who's been drinking just a small amount for their whole life is actually somebody, those people tend to be super healthy and have a lot of social advantages, and so maybe the red wine is a reflection of that, and -- but not its cause. and that's the basic problem with the previous research on that. william: as i mentioned, a lot of americans are doing this dry january. is there any evidence that that, stopping for a 30-day window, is useful? dr. naimi: well, it depends on what you're going for, right? i think the main idea behind dry january or, this year, damp january seems to be in fashion, which is sort of cutting back, but not stopping completely, in a way, these are sort of experiential versions of what most of the guidelines around the world are recommending, which is to sort of cut back on your drinking.

and some people may experience immediate changes. i mean, the main idea is just to explore doing sort of things or activities or people that are less alcohol-centric, if you will. some people get some sleep benefits immediately. some, pending on how much they are drinking, will -- may lose some weight. but the idea is to explore it. there is some evidence that, even six months later, people who don't intend to continue will be drinking a bit less than they were in the start of january. so there may be sort of a -- the idea is here for us to just sort of to do a check on one's relationship with alcohol and maybe a bit a reset after what is always the heaviest drinking time of the year in the u.s. william: all right, dr. tim imi at the university of victoria, thank you so much for being here. dr. naim oh, it's great to be on "newshour." thanks for having me. geoff: over the course of eight days, mass shootings in california have killed at least

two dozen people. they have also left at least 15 other people injured and many residents coping with the trauma of these attacks. we're going to spend some time talking now about the wider toll of gun violence on americans. for that, i'm joined by jennifer carlson, associate professor of sociology at the university of arizona. she's currently studying the impact and the aftermath of gun violence for the national science foundation. thanks for being with us. there have been 40 mass shootings in this country since the start of the year. help us understand the collective impact on those communities and the nation as a whole. jennifer: yes, thank you so much for having me to have this very important conversation. one of the ways that we often talk about gun violence in this country is through the numbers, as you just did, the number of mass shootings, the number of people who have been killed, the number of people who have been

shot. and one of the -- i mean, those numbers are staggering, but they actually really just scratched the surface in terms of the impact of gun violence on communities, families, friendship circles, the workplace. and so this idea of gun trauma is really helpful in understanding the notion that gun violence is never just an isolated incident. it has ramifications throughout families, friends, communities. and so most certainly in the case of mass shootings, these are events that are experienced by a community like what happened for lunar new year for -- in monterey park. we hear the words parkland, uvalde, highland park, buffalo, and now monterey park and half moon bay, and that becomes part of the identity of what that place is. and this is something that is -- then unfolds for individuals within that community. there's individual coping, the trauma of -- from ptsd, and there's many ways that survivors

are impacted. so, you actually have community-level dynamics of hopelessness, withdrawal, depending on how communities come together or fall apart, or actually sometimes both at the same time, in the aftermath of these kinds of events. geoff: when we talk about gun violence, it's often easy to lose sight of the fact that most shooting victims survive. what have you learned about how acts of gun violence shape the lives of survivors? jennifer: yes, so that's something that's really important to really emphasize, is that, even though the numbers, in terms of the people who are killed by guns, are just unimaginably large in the united states, that barely -- that barely gets us thinking at the scale of the people who are impacted, whether they're shot and survived, whether they are present at a mass shooting, but aren't shot, whether they are impacted by having a loved one

killed by gun violence. and so even kids who are -- who grow up in neighrhoods where hearing gun violence and knowing gun violence is happening in their neighborhood is part of their awareness growing up, we see at they're impacted in terms of sort of the ptsd symptoms of anxiety, sleeplessness, depression, higher rates of suicidality, disengagement at school, difficulties with reading and math, lower graduation rates. we see even beyond that health disparities, physical health disparities, later on in life with people who are exposed to gun violence or survive gun violence. geoff: if a tragedy like a mass shooting befalls a community, what resources do they need to provide? what are the best practices? jeifer: so, mass shootings tend to really capture the public attention, capture public sympathy. donations for -- to support victims, resources involving therapy tend to come out in the aftermath of a mass shooting,

and to support victims and survivors. and i think it's important to recognize that that is very unusual, in terms of the community and sort of broader even national support that gun violence victims often receive. oftentimes, gun violence victims do not have their stories -- their stories heard. they do not experience this outpour of -- outpouring of sympathy and support. i think that some of the -- some of this is being worked out by organizations like youth alive. in oakland, like crime survivors for safety and justice, which is a national organization, that have looked at providing wraparound trauma services that recognize that, when gun violence impacts a person, it impacts the community, it impacts the multiple -- multiple dimensions of their lives. so, therapy is part of that, but so is support for housing. so is support for employment, if they can wk, if they need space to process their grief and their trauma.

and so really recognizing that, this is not just even in terms of therapy, that individual, but the family, the friends, that this is actually much more than just, again, an instance of violence that people -- quote, unquote -- get over. that's just absolutely not how this -- that's not how people experience gun violence, even though, in the media and sort of public discourse, given the attention span even for tragedies like what happened in monterey park and half moon bay, the public attention span is woefully short. geoff: jennifer carlson is associate professor of sociology at the university of arizona. thanks for your time. jennifer: thank you for having me. geoff: and our "newshour" team has produced a special report hosted by william brangham on the wider, often unseen effects of gun violence in america. watch "ricoct: an american trauma," online at pbs.org/newshour, or check your local listings.

amna: it is billed as the first major u.s. museum exhibition of puerto rican art in nearly 50 years, a response from puerto rican artists to hurricane maria and its aftermath. jeffrey brown visited new york's whitney museum for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: september 2017, a woman takes cell phone video while driving as hurricane maria comes ashore in puerto rico. the island's power grid, long unstable, has already failed. the vast destruction maria would cause, all it would expose of the vulnerability of the island and its people, that is still to come. the cell phone footage is part of a video by puerto rican artist sofia cordova that mixes documentary with poetic and other imagery, the reality and almost surreal strangeness. it's one of among some 50 works by 20 puerto rican artists based

on the island and elsewhere, all created in the five years after maria, all exploring aspects of puerto rico before and since the hurricane -- a damaged environment, crumbling infrastructure and decaying buildings, political corruption and resistance to it. whitney museum curator marcela guerrero. marcela: the title is "no existe un mundo poshuracan, puerto rican art in the wake of hurricane maria." something that's close to a translation would be, a post-hurricane world doesn't exist. jeffrey: meaning you can't get past it, or? marcela: correct. the world is perpetually in this wake of the hurricane, as if the hurrice wasn't just the natural event that happened on september 20, 2017, but a metaphor of many more things. jeffrey: for the puerto rican-born guerrero, this was an unusually personal curatorial experience. when maria hit, she had just given birth to her first child. her parents had been visiting her in new york, but her father had returned to puerto rico.

suddenly, the family's joy turned to worry and fear. marcela: it's a story, it's -- i say that it's not remarkablen any way, because it's a story of many people, kind of average, in a way. and we were able to make contact with him a couple of days later. and, luckily, he was fine. and so i thought, what can i do beyond donations and sending food and anything that one could think? and i have this great platform here, the whitney, and so that's kind the -- the idea was generated. jeffrey: some of the art is extremely personal. an installation by gabriella baez remembers her father, who took his own life in the aftermath of maria. she's called it a direct consequence of the failed response. other works jab at the island paradise image. a video by sofia gallisa muriente titled b-roll cleverly mixes together outtakes from government promotionalilms intended to attract outside

investors and tourists. a tilted, but ry pointed work by gabriella torres-ferrer presents a storm-ravaged lamppost still holding a sign reading, value your american citizenship. marcela: they're making reference to the disproportionate or asymmetrical relationship between puerto rico and the u.s. it's not a fair relationship. it's failing. jeffrey: puerto rico is a u.s. territory, neither state nor independent country. its people u.s. citizens, but without representation in congress or the right to vote for the presidency. for many, the inadequate response to maria, including the scene of then-president trump nearly two weeks after the hurricane throwing paper towels to a crowd, exposed both the corruption and ineffectiveness of puerto rico's government and the lack of caring by the u.s. federal government. artist miguel luciano. miguel: i think the hurricane brought a lot of crisis issues in puerto rico to the awareness

of a broader public in the u.s. and that's kind of part of our bittersweet reality, is that a lot of people in the u.s. didn't know a lot about puerto rico's relationship to the u.s., our political status. we're a colony of the united states. we're the oldescolony in the world. jeffrey: in the wake of maria and continued charges of government corruption, puerto ricans have regularly taken to the streets to protest. demonstrations in 2019 led to the resignation of then-governor ricardo rossello. miguel: so, from here, you will see rankly roughly, like, the length of a school bus. jeffrey: miguel luciano, who now lives and works in new york, created a large installation of protest shields, on one side, the sheet metal from old school buses taken out of commission after the island's debt crisis and austerity measures led to school closures, on the other, a black and white version of the puerto rican flag, a symbol used by demonstrators.

miguel: the material from these buses that were like the armor of the buses, the sheet metal that once protected children on their way to school, now become the armor for these shields to protect the protesters that are out there trying to defended the future of education in puerto rico. we all want to reimagine a future that we can be more in control of. and so, for me, that's the responsibility for artists, is to respond to and to reflect the world that we live in. jeffrey: for the museum, the whitney museum of american art, this rare exhibition of puerto rican work is an example of expanding the definition of what american art encompasses. curator marcela guerrero hopes visitors will be moved by the art, but also the message. marcela: by coming to see the exhibition, i want them to be curious of, oh, what happened after that event? how do puerto ricans live in puerto rico? have things changed? are they better? it might change how people think about puerto rico as not just

this tropical paradise where you go drink your pina coladas and go to the beach, but actually a place where people are striving and struggling to survive, even. jeffrey: for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown at the whitney museum in new york. geoff: it is striking. more than five years after maria, the anguish, the pain, it's still pretty fresh. amna: it is, and so powerful in how personal the art is, yeah. geoff: absolutely. be sure to join us again here tomorrow night for a look at how a baltimore ementary school is trying to combat the learning loss that some students experienced during the pandemic. amna: and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. have a great evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv.

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