>> good evening. i am geoff bennett. amna: i am amna navaz. >> nothing right now suggests that they are related to china. amna: president biden says the three objects shot down over north america were likely linked to scientific research. geoff: earthquake devastation puts turkeys president under scrutiny. amna: in the aftermath of the ohio train derailment, residents grow increasingly frustrated, saying they aren't getting answers about their risk for toxic exposure. ♪

announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. the kandida fund. carnegie corporation of new ork, supportingn innovation, democratic engagement and 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. amna: good evening and welcome to the newshour. president biden gave his most detailed assessment of the chinese spy balloon and other objects that have crossed into u.s. airspace. amna: addressing the country, president biden salt to calm concerns about the objects shot down over the u.s. and canada. the president made no apologies r ordering the takedown of these objects. >> make no mistake, if any object poses a threat to the american people, i will take it down. amna: the remarks came days after pressure from lawmakers in both parties. following this closely is our correspondent laura perrone lopez.

there have been questions about when or if the president would address these objects. you were there. what did we learn? laura: the president talked about these objects we shot down over the course of three days starting on february 10. those objects were shot down over the waters over the coast of alaska, the yukon territory in canada, and over lake huron over the coast of michigan. the president provided some of the clearest details about them and what type of entities officials believe were responsible for these objects. >> the intelligence community's assessment is that these objects were balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions conducting scientific research. laura: president biden said the u.s. military and canadian

military are working to get the debris out of the ocean and lake , but weather is proving difficult. amna: it was the shooting down of the chinese spy balloon on february 4 off the coast of south carolina that triggered this. what is the latest intelligence? laura: administration officials believe the spy balloon was intended to surveilled military bases over guam and hawaii. here is what we know about the flight path. it was intended to fly over guam and hawaii, but it took a turn and was directed towards alaska and over the continental united states before it was shot down over the coast of south carolina on february 4. despite the fact that chinese officials refused to take a call from secretary of defense austin, president biden said

president biden is trying to keep channels open with the chinese and is hopeful and expecting to talk with president xi soon. amna:amna: one of the questions we have seen is, is there a plan? what is the policy for future flying objects deemed a threat? laura: the president deemed his national security advisor to establish some parameters, so today he did give some of the clearest points of this pla which is specifically for unmanned objects in the u.s. airspace. it would establish inventory and improve capacity to detect these objects, update regulations for maintaining them, and the secretary of state is going to work to establish some common global standards. the president said he is continuing to get daily updates on all the intel gathered on these objects and will continue to share it with congress.

amna: increased vigilance of u.s. airspace, there has to be a cost. what do we know? laura: it is hard to get the cost of this, and some say this has been budgeted into the cost because these are training exercises. we did get cost data from the air force and gao about what it takes to fly these flying jets. the cost per hour is $85,000 per hour. the cost of an f-35 is $35,000, and each missile file -- fired costs over, $400,000, as well as the tinker aircraft, they cost $25,000 to $30,000 per hour, depending on which they use. it costs a decent amount of money to shoot down these

objects in u.s. airspace. amna: thank you. laura: thank you. ♪ amna: in the day other headline a grand jury in georgia has concluded one or more witnesses lied under oh about efforts to overturn the. 2020 election results the panel focused on former president trump and his allies. the allegations are part of a final report released today. the grand jurors urged prosecutors to seek indictments for such cris where the evidence is compelling. the report stayed silent on who might have lied. police in michigan shed more light today on the shootings that killed three students at michigan state university. they said the gunman anthony mcrae had two guns purchased

legally but not registered. they found a note on mrae when he killed himself several hours after the attack. >> it appears based on the content of the note he felt he was slated in some way. was a mental health issue a part of that? we are not sure. amna: four students remained in critical condition. a fifth has beeupgraded to stable. a suburban chicago man deal - pleaded not guilty to reckless conduct after his son killed seven people at a fourth of july parade. robert crimo iii has been charged with the shootings. police say his father helped him to get a gun license in 2019 even though he allegedly threatened violence. also, a chinese immigrant farmworker pleaded not guilty to killing seven coworkers in half

moon bay, california last month. authorities in memphis have suspended two sheriff's deputies for five days for turning off their body cameras at the scene of tyr nichols' deadly arrest. a statement said the deputies violated many regulations. nichols died after being beaten by five officers. in ukraine, russia rained a new barrage of missiles as the war's one-year anniversary new year's. ukrainian officials said more missiles got through in part because the attackers use balloons with reflectors to trick the radars. they say the russians do not seem to care about casualties. >> they have a lot of manpower. they are sending a lot of troops. i don't think it is sustainable for them to keep attacking this way. there are places where there are bodies just piled up. there is a trench where they

just don't evacuate their wounded or killed. amna: the head of a russian myth -- mercenary group acknowledge heavy losses but said his fighters will capture the city by april. china says it has decisively be in the covid pandemic and is transitioning to a new stage. beijing announced that more than 200 million people were diagnosed and treated. it said 800,000 of the sickest patients have recovered. the outbreak spread quickly after containment measures were dropped in november. in this country, kentucky's supreme court allowed a near total ban on abortion to stand. the justices heard challenges to laws that sharply limit abortions in the state. they ruled on narrow grounds and sent the case back to a lower court. president biden's doctors say he is healthy and fit to fulfill his duties after a medical checkup today.

it drew more than unusual attention because president biden is over the oldest age of president at 80. the white house press secretary dismissed concerns he might not be up to the job. >> the president always said this, watch him. if you watch him, you will see he has a grueling schedule that he keeps up with. amna: in recent polls, majorities of americans, including most democrats, say mr. biden shouldn't run given his age. on wall street, stocks sank on news that inflation slowed less than expected in january. major indices dropped up to 1.8%. the dow jones lost 431 points to close at 33,696. the nasdaq fell 214 points. the s&p was down 57. former baseball and broadcasting star tim mccarver has die he was an all-star catcher who

one troo -- won two world series with the st. louis cardinals. he later went on to become a ha of fame broadcaster after his playing days ended. still to come on "the newshour," people living with long covid detail how the disease has changed their lives. as senator federman seeks help for depression, we explore the challenges of dealing with depression in the public eye. a new book details the struggles of black soldiers during world war ii. and much more. announcer: this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios and from the walter cronkite school of journalism. geoff: the death toll the devastating earthquakes in turkey and syria has crossed

41,000 as hope for finding survivors saves -- fades. in turkey, thousands of buildings have been reduced to rubble. amna: but the widespread damage is not the only permanent scar left on the landscape. here is a report from a village in southern turkey where the destructive power of this earthquake is clear. >> since the earthquake struck southern turkey in the early hours of monday morning last week, most of the focus has been on the consequences for human beings. far less attention has been on the consequences for the earth itself. but here in the farmland, there is a good example of that. this is the world's newest valley. during that awful night as they cowered in their homes, the locals knew that something cataclysmic had happened, but imagine their surprise when they first saw this chasm.

we went to the bottom of it for the perspective from down there, but the best way to illustrate what we are talking about here is from above. n they local people said at the time they thoughtn it wasy an air raid. the earth's crust was torn apart. >> it used to be a flat field. i would ride my motorbike on it. it waall in all of grove that is now bisected by a gorge that in places is the width of a football field. the rift is so deep that a 13-story building could fit in it.

this boy said that after first light that morning, they came out here, terrified, and starte crying. >> we thought we wness something that was out of this worl >> eventually the cities and towns will be clear of rubble, but this rupture, shaky ground permitting, will endure as a reminder of the power of the quake. the power of 7.8. amna: that was john irvine of independent television news. turkey's disastrous earthquake has expressed -- shown president again's political foul lines. to discuss this, we turn to the founding director of the middle east institute's turkey program and author of the book "erdog

an's war." we invited you because of your credentials, but on a personal note, i know you were in turkey when the earthquake hit. we know you lost family, and we are so very sorry for your loss. these numbers are staggering, over 41,000 dead. help us understand what people are feeling now. >> there is a lot of anger over the government upon response. it was not only slow, but very disorganized, too. the narrative is that erdogan's government did things to pave way for the tragedy. granting projects to cronies who cut corners that played a role

in the high death toll. another policy was granting amnesty to unsafe buildings. there are millions, more than half of all the buildings in the country received these amnesties. compounding the problems for the government is the fact that state agencies were not there on time, and when they arrived, they did not want to do enough to help the victims. that frustrated a lot of people. amna: help us understand about the granting of these amnesties and president erdogan's role in that. the country did undergo a huge construction boom, and what was president erdogan's role in allowing those construction companies to get around the enforcement standards? >> erdogan's government had a

construction boom early in his tenure, and almost immediately after coming to power, he started granting these contracts to a handful of cronies who had little regard for environmental concerns or safety concerns. he granted those without any regulatory oversight, so i think that really compounded the problem, and on top of that, he collected large sums of money in earthquake tax, and those taxes were meant to build stronger buildings. apparently, he has not built strong enough buildings. amna: the turkish government said they have ordered over 100 people detained they are responsible for those many buildings collapsing. is that the accountability you want to see? >> not really.

these are small private contractors. i think the bigger problem is e five largest companies in the country, and they are very close friends of erdogan, and they have become very rich because of these government tenders, and i doubt they will be held accountable. one is the richest men in the country, a personal friend of erdogan, and he has received $42.1 billion in tenders since erdogan came to power. those people i doubt will be held accountable, and on the contrary last night, there was a government campaign to raise money for the victims. he was there donating over $160

million, and that happened right after president erdogan's government gave them incentives. even that effort was an effort from the erdogan government to provide tenders to those companies. amna: president erdogan has scheduled a state of emergency that will go up to the election. do you think they >> >> could be postponed? >> they have to be held on time according to the constitution. turkey cannot hold elections later than june, but erdogan tested the waters in the last few days. one of his associates suggested that turkey should not hold elections soon, and it was said it was unconstitutional to hold elections after june 18.

amna: that is the founding director of the middle east institute's turkey program joining us, thank you. >> thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: now to the continuing concerns over a major chemical spill in eastern ohio caused by a train derailment. another train derailed outside of detroit. one of the cars that went off the tracks did ve hazardous materials, but chemicals did not leak out. in ohio, anger and anxiety are running high after two weeks

after the incident there. frustration, fear and unanswered questions in east palestine, ohio. >> i think most people are concerned they are going to sweep this under the rug. we have dead fish in the streams. there are a lot of reports of pets and animals dying. we just want to make sure we are taken care of here. geoff: residents worried about the danger of returning to their homes given the potential long-term effect of toxic chemicals in the air, soil and water following the fiery train derailment. no one was injured in the derailment, but as the cleanup continues, there are more questions about the chemicals relieved into the environment, including vinyl chloride, linked to cancers, and known to cause dizziness and other symptoms residents have complained about. >> my grandkids are only six

months and two years old. i was very concerned with them growing up in this town that they will have to endure that. geoff: tests say the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink, butesidents say they are not convinced. >> i feel like the police department, fire department, first responders, i don't think they know. geoff: earlier this week, ohio governor mike dewine said if -- was asked if he would feel comfortable returning to home if he lived near the derailment. >> i think i would be drinking the bottle water, i would be alert and concerned, but i think i would be back in my house. geoff: notably missing from last night's community meeting, nor folk southern company telling "pbs newshour" in a statement,

unfortunately, we have become concerned about the growing threat to our employees. the company says it is creating a one million-dollar charitable fund for the community and h paid $1 million in relief so far. epa administrator michael regan visited the community today. >> we are absolutely going to hold norfolk southern accountable, and i can promise you that. amna: geoff: five lawsuits have been filed against norfolk southern, including a class action by some east palestine residents. to help us understand more about the tential risks residents could face, i am by peter decarlo, and associate professor of environmental engineering at johns hopkins. if you lived in east palestine, what would you need to hear or see from officials in order to feel safe living there? peter: i think ultimately given the public information

available, i would not feel comfortable moving back quite yet, and what i would need to see is evidence that there are no more emissions coming from the accident site and that the inside of my home was safe tbe in. i have not seen data that ggests either of those things are true yet, and for me with small children, i would not want to move back at this point. geoff: the epa is not providing that data, or the data you have seen is not suggesting it is safe? peter: the epa is providing monitoring and stationary sampling data. the monitoring data comes from instruments not designed to measure air quality. i lieve these are not the instruments used to screen peoples homes. as an atmospheric measurement person, i would not feel comfortable with that level of screening. i would want to know what

chemicals are present. that would require air sampling, which means you take air into a stainless steel container and do much more detailed observations. there are also surfaces in the home where some of the plume from the large fire could have deposited. we do not know what kinof chemicals are made when you burn something like vinyl chloride. we know it is a whole host of toxic chemicals, and if those accumulate on surfaces in your home, that becomes another thing to worry about. we spend most of our lives indoors, so making sure that is a safe environment to go back to, especially if there are rural burrell -- vulnerable

populations, making sure that home envonment is safe is key if i were to move back. geoff: we heard from a grandmother in our report, her grandkids are six months and two years old. what are some of the special safety considerations for children? peter: i have two young boys who are ght and 6, if it was on a toy or near their mouth, especially with youn children who are touching everything, we know that kids are more vulnerable to chemical exposure, so extra careful especially when young children are involved because there are so many ways chemicals can get into these bodies. geoff: the release of these chemicals caused the death of 3500 fish. the epa is telling people it is

safe to return to their homes, but there are people in east palestine wondering how both things can be true, how they are being told on one hand, it is people bng safe, but on the other, people are feeling symptoms. peter: our noses are not detailed chemical instruments to measure air quality, but they are detectors for measuring when something is not right. when people report smells, you know there are chemicals still in that environment that were not there before. it is important to characterize what chemicals are and aren't present. during the burn of the train car contents. you probably have the worst possibility for exposure. it is important to characterize

in a systematic way what is in the air and in the indoor environment. geoff:geoff: what about the long-term impact? how long might it take to know the full-time consequences? peter: that is difficult to measure because the data doesn't tell me as a scientist what is still going on. i need to understand, are there continuing emissions, and without the data to tell us what is there and what continues to be emitted, we cannot put a timeline on any of this. we need the measurement data to understand exposure and how long this could potentially last. amna: peter decarlo, thank you for your time and insights.

amna: last fall, president biden said the pandemic was over, and judging how most americans are living their lives, they agree, even though the virus is killing about 2000 americans every week. as william brangham reports, a broader impact is being borne by the untold millions who have survived their infection but suffer from the troubling condition of long covid. william: the specter of long covid with its mysterious cause and an unknown duration haunts millions of people. we will hear from a person who treats this conditi, but first, let's hear from some who are ffering. >> one day, i woke up and felt like i had the flu. i had bodyaches and congestion and everything. it felt like a flu i had before, so i didn't think anything of

it. as the weeks went by, i noticed the symptoms were not going away. >> physically come along covid has ruined my life. there's no other way to say that. many days i still cannot get out of bed. i now have chronic migraines. i am constantly getting dizzy, constantly going to the er because i have fallen. my joints hurt all the time. that is what people don't realize, how much pain is involved. >> after having covid the first time and recovering fine, i assumed having it again wouldn't be a problem because i was ok during my first infection, and i couldn't have been more wrong. now i havehese debilitating

symptoms, and there is no treatment and noure for it. doctors don't know what to do. >> i worked through it. the first year and a half, the only thing i could do was work, and the rest of the day i was pretty much out cold. i got reinfected in september of 2021 with delta, and for most of last year, i couldn't get off the couch. >> i started to have a heart attack symptoms. i did end up going to the er because i've never experienced any of these symptoms before in my life. every time i would go to doctors or the hospital, they would say, you are fine. >> i have tried dozens of medications and dozens of therapies. i went through dozens of doctors. i finally have a great team of

doctors who believe me and are doing everything they can to treat me, but i am completely house-bound. >> i have shortness of breath every day. that is one of the most frustrating parts, doctors don't know what to do with you. >> financially, it has been devastating. my husband is my full-time caretaker. he can't leave me alone for long periods lifetime because i fall. we don't have our business anymore. if it was not for the help of friends and family and the community, we wouldn't be able to survive at all. >> i am able to walk, but i am not able to do any exercise. even just the thought of getting a job, i wish i could work and live a life like most other

able-bodied people. >> i ran out of short-term disability. i cannot work. the social worker i talked to said, don't bother applying for long-term disability because you are going to get denied. >> my friends and family have been very supportive, but to watch your life go down the drain is very depressing. people do not understand if you get long covid, it debilitate's you to some degree. you are done for. there is no help coming your way. geoff: that is a small snapshot of the kinds of symptoms people are deing with now. for more, we are joined by a neuroscientist and physical therapist, director of rehabilitation at the mount sinai health system, thank you

so much for being here. you heard those voices of people and what they are struggling with. do the stories are familiar with the kinds of people you deal with everyday. david: sadly, this is a common story. this is what we are hearing every day. we have seen over 3000 people with a covid, and what i heard is a very good representation of what we are dealing with everyday. geoff: in a recent commentary you authored, you noted that there are more than 200 symptoms associated with long covid, affecting virtually every organ system. are there proven treatments that help? how do you help people who are suffering from a myriad of

symptoms? >> it is a great question and one we are working out as we go. covid is a subset of conditions. take a lot of care in our clinic to understand what type of subtype we are looking at. based on those, we offer different treatments. all we can do right now is symptom management, and we can do a good job of that, making people feel a lot better with the symptoms that they have, but we are not curing them.

we are getting them to a point where they may be able to leave the house, but the underlying cause is still there. geoff: that is such a distressing die sis cyst. i know the national institutes of health has a project looking into this. what does the best research telus as to why this is happening to people? >> there is a lot of uncertainty about the causes of long covid, but what we know for sure is that long covid is an organic disease. the virus has changed things within the body. there are three or four different ways the virus can change the body's physiology and lead to the symptoms we are experiencing, but what we understand very clearly is that this is not a psychological illness. this is an illness that has been

caused by the body responding to a previously unknown virus. the immune system has become dis-regulated as a result of the virus, and it is leading to highly debilitating symptoms. i am optimistic we can close and on somtherapies for people with long covid, but we need the public to understand that dying is not your only risk of serious, life-changing problems from covid. we need the government helping in infection prevention so that my clinic doesn't become even more overwhelmed in the cing months and years. geoff: i have to imagine in

addition to physical symptoms there has to be a great deal of depression with all the mysteries you are discussing, plus this notion that the country has moved on while they are in the middle of this. >> many people with long covid are experiencing a traumatic transition from previously being lly healthy, never having a serious medical condition in their lives and transitioning to being completely debilitated, dependent on friends and family, as we heard in the last clip, just for basic survival here that is a tough transition to have to make. in our clinic, we try to make sure that in addition to care and research to treat the underlying causes of the illness, we are also doing our best to provide psychological

support and social support, th the understanding that this is not the overall cause, the transition from nondisabled to disabled is challenging. geoff: david petrenko, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. geoff: pennsylvania senator john fetterman announced he is in the hospital after seeking treatment for clinical depression. the senator is recovering after a stroke last may. his office said he has often experience depression but it became severe in recent weeks. millions of americans struggle with depression, but few share their stories publicly. jason kander stepped away from

his mayoral campaign in 2018 after acknowledging he suffered in silence depression for a dozen years. thank you for being with us. you praised senator fetterman saying his decision to be transparent is awesome leadership. tell me more about that, why the acknowledgment is so important. jason: so many of us tell ourselves stories about how whatever we are going through doesn't measure up or doesn't count. one of the benefits of having been public about my mental health challenges is i am a safe place for people to come and talk to somebody and say, here is what i've been going through. it affords me the knowledge that

not everybody feels the license or permission slip to deal with that stuff. whether you are a person that people know like john fetterman, or just somebody that people in the office no, if you are transparent and open with people in your life, and you say, this is what i am going through, that is contagious and causes people to feel like they have permission. geoff:geoff: you talked about the benefit of your experience. what about the flipside of that? how did being in the public eye complicate angst for you? -- complicate things for y? >> for a long time, it kept me

from going to the v.a. to get help. it was a factor making me think, i am a politician. when you are going through something, every day is not terrible. gradually, a lot of the days start to be better than the day before, but what the public knows is the last thing that they heard or saw. you could be at the grocery store, and then somebody takes it upon themselves to be the rson who convinces you to feel better, and they say something that is awkward but well-intentioned, and that can be a strange feeling, that everyone you meet sees you through the lens of having this mental health issue that you are dealing with or have dealt with.

it can make you feel very fragile. i'm sure he will be back to feeling like himself, but what he will reckon with is when he meets new people, there will be a period of time where they see him through this lens and knowledge, but he will learn to navigate that and come to take pride in the idea that he can be an example of getting better, which encourages other people to get help. geoff: more than 50% of americans will be diagnosed with mental illness over the course of their lives. what lessons have you learned that might help out others? jason: i wrote a book about it.

one of the most important lessons that i will share here is that it is not a contest. whatever you have been through or have not been through that led you to the place where you need some help, it doesn't really matter. one of the things that is so important about what senator fetterman is doing is, while i've gotten credit for being public, society gives guys like me permission. i am a combat veteran. there is an expectation that somebody like me might have this problem, and there is less dgment than someone who is not in this very particular group that society has given a permission slip to culturally. somebody like senator fetterman doinghis is important because so many people, to me all the

time, and they will express something they have been through, but they will say, but i haven't gone to war. it doesn't matter. what my brain experienced and your brain experienced, my brain doesn't know. trauma is trauma. senator fetterman, whether it is clinical, or related to the trauma of having a stroke, fine, it doesn't matter. you don't need to justify. the other thing i can say about it is, i think i made a much greater impact on the world since going to get help since getting help. when i think about politicians who have announced they've gone to get help for a mental health issue, you said the number is

50% -- i think it's probably higher than that. with people in leadership positions, i would rather they have dealt with themselves. i would rather have people in charge who have dealt with that stuff rather than people who are suppressing that stuff. geoff: thank you for the conversation. i appreciate you. amna: stories of american military service and here was him have been immortalized in books and movies for decades. missing from most of those narratives have been the contributions of more than one million black americans who served in the war.

no longer, thanks to the book "half american." it gives a detailed look at the dual role that lack service members played fighting fascism overseas and racism back home. i sat down with a history professor at delmont college to learn more. thanks for joining us. let's start with what brought you to the story in the first place. much of the narrative around black americans' service -- your research revealed service on a much broader level. tell me what you found. >> what we found is that black americans participated in world war ii. black americans we in the army, navy, marine corps. europe, the pacific. they built roads, bridges.

what i came away from with my research is you can't tell the research -- history of world war ii without talking about the contributions of black americans. once i got into the research, i realized how vast the story was. it goes beyond the tuskegee airmen. you cannot talk about this without teaching about the contribution of black americans. there are so many stories that typically don't end up in our history textbooks. the opportunity to write the book gave me more opportunities to share these stories. amna: one of the themes i found fascinating was how black americans identified the threat long before much of the nation. for black americans, a real

start date was well before the bombing of pearl harbor. one >> >> of the important things is the chronology of the war changes. if you look at a black newspaper, you would see extensive coverage of the rise of fascism in europe. they could see hitler's was explicitly pointing to the jim crow laws as justification for treatment of jews in europe. late in the 1930's, you see the civil war in spain. all of those things captivated the imaginations of black americans. they understood that fascism was moving across europe, and something had to be donebout it. amna: many of those black americans who chose to enlt had to travel to the jim crow south after traveling to

military bases. what were the conditions like? >> that was some of the hardest research. reading the letters of what the black soldiers wrote while being on these bases was troubling. they would get on trains going to the south. -- racial epithets daily, and violence both on base and in the small towns from white sheriffs and employees. things got so bad that these soldiers were running two lawyers from the naacp and said they would feel safer being deployed then we feel on these military bases in georgia and alabama. they described themselves being at war in the united states.

amna: you said one of the hardest parts was reading some of those personal letters and those accounts, including what happened when they came back home after serving overseas. what did you find? >> black veterans came back, and they were treated with hostility and violence. one of the things, there were 12 black veterans who were attacked when they returned. it was horrific, the kind of violence enacted against black veterans. the only inspiring thing is that black veterans came back and started fighting for civil-rights. one of the things the book tries to show is the war didn't end for black americans. they came home and started fighting for democracy in the united states.

amna: it strikes me that you and i are speaking at a time when our own american history in the history of racism in america and anti-black policies was part of a larger political debate. i am curious how you as a history professor, how do you view this conversation? >> it is troubling to see some of the debates and attacks on history across the country. you cannot talk about american history without talking about african-american history. we scholars focus on evidence. it is true whether it is president biden or president trump or whoever is there in the future. these are not just arguments. these are factual stories based on years of research and evidence, and i think it is

important to reckon honestly with both the good and bad parts of our history. if we cannot do that, we cannot understand how we might navigate the future. the book is half american, the epic story of african-americans fighting the war at home and abroad. the author is matthew delmont. thanks for joining us. ♪ geoff: and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: i am amna navaz. announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> 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 you find a plan that fits you.

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. hello, everyone and welcome to kwl"amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> sentenced to 13 years in prison without proof. ♪ ♪ >> nicaragua political prisoners arrive in the united states after a surprise release. why their autocrat president daniel ortega. i speak to juan sebastian and felix who spent almost two years behind bars. then. >> my message for the situation that i'm killed is very simple, not give up. >> poisoned but not dead. an inside look at russian opposition leader alex i navaln and the hunt for his would be