amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett in east palestine, ohio, where i spoke with norfolk southern ceo alan shaw, who says the company will stay as long as it takes to clean up after the derailment as he defended its response. >> there's been hundreds of tests, and there have been thousands of data points and they've all come back with the same result that says the air and the water are clean. amna: on a trip to poland, president biden rallies support for ukraine, while vladimir putin rants against the west as russia's brutal invasion nears the one year mark. and. a new strain of avian flu that shows strong transmissibility among mammals raises concerns of a potential pandemic

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>> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering an and engaged communities. ♪ >> 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: we have two major stories this evening.

as the one-year anniversary of the war in ukraine approaches, president biden and putin delivered speeches reflecting a sharp divide in the conflict with no end in sight. we begin in ohio. the federal government today ordered norfolk southern to clean up contaminated soil and water at their train derailment site in east palestine, ohio. the to rail men let officials to carry out a so-called controlled release of toxic chemicals, forcing thousands to evacuate. returning residents say they are feeling the effect of air and water contamination. geoff is in in -- is in east palestine tonight. amna: officials were on the ground assuring residents that everything is being done to clean up the area and hold norfolk southern, the train operator, accountable. [laughter] >> ok. geoff: in his second trip to

east palestine in less than a week, epa administrator michael regan was visiting residents near the site of the derailment near the ohio, pennsylvania border. part of a push today by the biden administration to ramp up the response to the disaster. regan was joined by ohio governor mike dewine as they visited a health clinic that opened today to evaluate residents worried out symptoms from the chemicals released during and after the derailment. the epa today also took charge of the clean-up effort, ordering norfolk southern to pay for it, including houses and businesses near the crash site. the epa citing a federal law which gives it the authority to force polluters to pay. what exactly are you requiring them to do? michael: you know we are requiring them to suit a very prescriptive work plan that lays out every single step they plan to take to clean up the soil, any kind of water contamination, how they plan to transport that waste.

and we are going to force them to show up for community meeting and explain themselves to the community. geoff: the national transportation safety board is still in the early stages of investigating the cause of the derailment, but today transportation secretary pete buttigieg proposed a series of reforms to increase rail safety, including -- speeding up a 2029 deadline for stronger rail cars. adding more personnel on trains and paid sick leave for crews. asking congress for higher penalties for companies that break the rules. and revising rules to regulate train brakes and hazardous materials. as the biden administration is focused on reforms, for many in east palestine, they are still racked with anger and fear.

>> i came outside and i could see right away the main fire at the end of the street. geoff: 52-year old barb kugler lives right next to the crash site.after the derailment, she evacuated for nearly a week, but has now returned home. she says she's nervous for this village that she has lived in for 30 years. >> it breaks my heart to go down the road and to see people who rent homes and are moving out right, right now. and i just hate to see that happen. but no, i don't think it'll ever be the same. i just don't. off: over the weekend voluntrs handed out bottled water. while state officials have said the municipal water is safe, they urged those nearby the crash site who rely on private wells to drink bottled water . norfolk southern is also cleaning up local waterways where the release of hazardous chemicals resulted in 3500 dead fish. as the clean up continues, for some residents here, the worry is that the damage from exposure to toxic chemicals is already done. 71-year-old daniel clements lives about twmiles from the derailment site. >> these things are carcinogenic and that's the kind of damage where you're exposed and something you may not notice anything for 5, 10, 15, even 20

years, and then suddenly you're really ill and maybe even your last illness. and that's worrisome. it's terrifying. geoff: he says he is staying put for the time being and says norfolk southern needs to make it right. >> they have to fix this. and some of the things that we need to do here, we can't fix ourselves. i'm not capable of cleaning up toxins. i'm not capable of reestablishing an economy. i'm not capable of keeping businesses open. i don't have those skills. that's what the town needs. geoff: residents here still have questions about whether air and water are safe and about the company's commitment. alan shaw is the ceo of norfolk southern and i spoke with him earlier today. thank you for speaking with us.

how long will norfolk southern maintain a presence in east palestine? >> as long as it takes, we're, we're gonna see this thing through. that's my commitment. we are going to invest in the environmental cleanup. we have made a lot of progress. we hav air monitoring, water monitoring. we are coordinating with the ohio epa. we're continuing to provide financial assistance for the citizens of this community. so far, we've either reimbursed or committed $6.5 million to the citizens of this county, and that's a down payment. and we're going to invest in this community for the long haul to help this community recover and help this community thrive. geoff: when you say the 6.5 million dollars is a down payment, as you know, the average income for an east palestine family is less than $45,000 a year. we've talked to people who say

they need noolk southern to pay their medical expenses, to pay their moving expenses, and pay for independent testing of wells and soil and air. that's something that you would commit to? >> we've set up a lot of testing within an hour of the derailment. we had air testing. within a couple hours of the derailment. we've had water testing, we have independent testing going on right now with the ohio epa and with local health officials. there's been hundreds of tests, and the hoeven thousands of data points and they've all come back with the same result that says the air and the water are clean, anwe're setting up long term monitoring. we intend to be here for the long haul and continue to support this community. geoff: a question about rail safety. in november and december, norfolk southern met with federal regulators and pushed back against the proposed rule that would have in most cases mandated at least two crew on trains.

why did norfolk southern spend millions upon millions of dollars lobbying against that? >> what we are really interested in is solution based safety rules. and we're very focused on following the science with respect to this accident, and it's the national transportation safety board as you know, they're they're in charge of this investigation. and i'm very much looking forward to their results of their investigation. once we have that, we're going to sit down and figure out what we could have done better. as you can imagine, every day since this occurred, i've been asking myself, what could we have done better? what could we have done to prevent this. so we are fully cooperating with the ntsb and the fra in finding out what happened here. were going to make norfolk southern and the industry safer. geoff: following the derailment, would norfolk southern support having more crewmembers on

trains? if there had only been one crew member on board, i'm told that as bad as this was, it would have been even worse. >> i think it's really important that we let the ntsb continue with this process. there is a lot of speculation out there. it's a very unusual moment. the chair of the ntsb came out with a statement last thursday urging everyone not to speculate on the cause of this or what could have mitigated it. we are going to wait and see the results. we trust the ntsb, we trust the fra, and i'm looking forward to sitting down with our regulators and our elected officials after we get the results and working out solutions to make most -- make norfolk southern and the rail industry safer. geoff: what is your take on the

new standards proposed by the secretary of transportation pete buttigieg? >> i've talked to secretary buttigieg about this a couple of times as you can imagine and he's been very clear with me his frustration over this. my commitment to secretary buttigieg is the same as my commitment to the citizens in this community. we're going to continue with the environmental remediation. we got air monitoring, wat monitoring set up and we have long-term plans for monitoring. geoff: the rate of norfolk southern accidents have increased. at the same time, norfolk southern has seen record profits, so there is this question that the company is putting profits over safety. secretary buttigieg has said the same thing. how do you respond to that? >> safety as part of our culture, and it's clear that our safety culture and our investments and safety did not prevt this accident. so we're going to take a look at what occurred here and see what we can do to make norfolk

southern a safer railroad. we invest over $1 billion a year in maintaining our network and equipment and in technology to make us safer. geoff: over the past five years, both of the southern tait -- page shareholders -- norfolk southern page shareholders nearly $8 billion through stock buybacks and dividends. it's twice as much as the railroad invested in operations . how do you make the case you are focused on safety when you are focused on shareholders twice as much? >> we're extremely focused on safety and over the long term, we've seen reductions and derailments and hazardous material releases and injuries. this is clearly a situation where our safety culture and our investments in safety did not prevent this accident. so i'm looking forward to seeing the results from the ntsb to see what we can do better. geoff: if you lived in east

palestine, would you feel comfortable moving back? >> absolutely. i've been here several times and i'm -- i've drank the water. i've eaten the food as i've sat down with residents of this community. i know the testing is showing the air is safe in the water is safe. i also know that this community is frustrated. when i talk to the families here, they are scared, there's a lot of misinformation out there. they want to know that norfolk southern is going to be here for the long term, which we are. geoff: norfolk southern ceo alan shock, thank you for your time. >> thank you. ♪ amna: now, our other major story -- one year on since russia's invasion of ukraine. the two men in charge of the

world's largest nuclear arsenals faced off rhetorically today. president biden in warsaw, before a rousing crowd and russian president putin in moscow, in front of an orderly audience of his lieutenants and supporters. again with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrin reports from ukraine. >> hello, poland! [cheers] nick: in an eastern european capital, neighboring the largest war in 80 years, president biden today spoke in the language of civilizational conflict. >> the principles and the stakes are eternal. a choice between chaos and stability. between building and destroying. between hope and fear. between democracy that lifts up the human spirit, and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it. nick: u.s. official said before the speech, president biden would not get in a tit for tat, but he clearly targeted one man. >> the west was not plotting to attack russia, as putin said today.

this war was never a necessity. it's a tragedy. president putin chose this war. every day the war continues is his choice. he could end the war with a word. ♪ nick: poland was among the first eastern bloc countries to join nato. biden reiterated the commitment to nato's defense and val democracy would prevail. >> president putin's craven lust for land and power will fail and the ukrainian people's love for their countrwill prevail. democracy in the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever. nick: 1100 miles east and eight hour earlier president putin , had his own audience, and blamed the war in ukraine, mostly on the west. >> responsibility for fomenting the ukrainian conflict, for its escalation and for the increasing number of victims, lies entirely with western elites.

and, of course, the current regime in key -- kyiv for which the ukrainian people are essentially strangers. nick: and putin announced russia was suspending participation in the new strategic arms reduction treaty, or new start. it's the final bilateral arms control treaty that applies to long-range, city-destroying nuclear weapons. new start limits russia and the u.s.'s deployed nuclear warheads and includes extensive verification measures. u.s. officials had already accused russia blocking some of those measures, and tonight the russian foreign ministry said it would, in fact, respect new start requirements. but in his 100 minute long speech, putin said he would put nuclear systems on combat duty. >> what's important is that russia-u.s. relations have deteriorated. the responsibility for that is fully with the united states. it was them who started revising the post world war two arrangements after the collapse of the soviet union. they started to build the world in the american way, with just

one master, one lord. nick: today, the nato secretary general said putin's announcements had made the world a more dangerous place. >> with today's decision on new start, the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled. i'm calling on russia today to reconsider its decision to suspend its participation in the new start agreement. nick: but what is clear, putin is not reconsidering the war in ukraine. today, russian rockets struck in the middle of one of the larst cities in ukraine's south. at ast six died in a war biden called putin postural and putin called, a necessity. as for president putin's response to president biden's speech, we'll have to wait for the morning for that, but earlier today, putin's spokesman said that putin wouldn't even watch biden speech, but would rely on a summary prepared by his staff. amna? amna: nick schifrin once again in ukraine for us tonight. thank you.

vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy, with newshour west, here are the latest headlines. the biden administration formally proposed barring asylum seekers at the southern border -- unless they first ask for asylum in a country they passed through. it's something the trump administration tried, but was blocked in court. the rule is meant to deter border crossingsnce pandemic-era restrictions finally end. secretary of state antony blinken says it's up to iran to end a deadlock over restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. an agreement could curb tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions. but in greece today, blinken accused iran ostalling talks while advancinits weapons program. >> with regard to the nuclear program the most effective, sustainable way to deal with the challenge it poses is through diplomacy. but in this moment, those efforts are on the backburner

because iran is simply not engaged in a meaningful way. vanessa: blinken also cited iran's decision to supply attack drones to russia, and its violent suppression of pro-democracy protests at home. deaths from the earthquakes in turkey and syria climbed past 47,000 today. that included at least 8 people killed in monday's latest tremor. the quakes over the last two weeks have left ruined landscapes along the border region. hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless. back in this country, the former mexican public security chief was found guilty of taking huge bres to shield to drug cartels. a federal jury returned that in new york. he is the highest-ranking current or former mexican official ever tried in the united states. in virginia tonight, democrat jennifer mcclellan won her

election, defeating a republican in a special election to fill the seat of donald mceachin who died last year. mcclellan will become the first black woman to represent virginia in congress. democratic congressman david cicilline of rhode island announced today he is resigning as of june 1. he will become head of the rhode island foundation, the state's largest funder of nonprofit organizations. he has served in congress 12 years. he is on the house judiciary in foreign affairs committees and is cochair of the lgbtq+ equality caucus. seattle became the first city in the u.s. to ban caste based discrimination. the city council cited with supporters who argue the form of discrimination with origins in ancient india and based on birth or dissent was not covered by existing civil rights protections. some hindu americans opposed the

ban say, lines a specific community. in new orleans, thousands of partygoers packed the streets for mardi gras. the celebrations followed a fatal shooting at a sunday night parade, but today, the mood was much brighter less colorful costumes and dancing filled the parade route. some in the crowd dismissed fears of violent crime. >> i'm trying to not let a couple of bad things block out such a positive event. i see a lot of people out here with their families, little kids to grandparents. vanessa: still to come on the newshour. the supreme court considers rolling back legal immunity for social media companies. a new strain of avian flu sparks concerns over its transmissibility to humans. and how a midwest city's investment in public art mirrors its overall turnaround. and much more.

>> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: as russia's invasion of ukraine marks one year and president putin announces russia will suspend its participation in the new start treaty, where does that leave u.s.-russia relations? thehief u.s. negotiator for that treaty during the obama administration is now a distinguished lecturer at stanford university. and angela stent worked as a top intelligence officer on russia during the administration of george w. bush, she is now a professor at georgetown university. welcome to you both. rose, tell me, what is the practical implication of this, of putin saying that this treaty is being suspended? what changes immediately?

>> what has happened during this war in ukraine is that the russians have continued to provide the notifications that are vital to the verification regime of the treaty frequently during the week and sometimes even multiple times a day, they would send notifications about their strategic nuclear forces. when it returns to its deployment base, they would notify the united states. in that way, we had a great 24/7 view of what was going on with the russian strategic nuclear forces and they as well of course. they had, i would say, reciprocal rights under the treaty, but they have suspended those rights on their own recognizance. amna: does that mean the u.s. has less of an ability to know when russia is moving nuclear weapons and if they could use one? >> our knowledge of russian readiness is dependent on our

national technical means. all the capabilities we have of our intelligence establishments. it is not as if we are left blind by the mutual pretty ability helps us to have the 24/7 understanding backed up by what we know from our own intelligence. amna: angela,hat about the timing and intent? why would president putin to be delivering this particular message at this particular point in time? >> he skipped his address to the federal assembly last year, so it was really time to address the russian nation and also foreign listeners. they knewhe munich security conference was happening when it happened. they didn't know president biden would visit kyiv until a couple of hours before he did, but putin wanted to restate all of the myths about the origins of this war, that it is the west's fault, that we did not negotiate

seriously with russia before hand, and that the west threatened russia. and he wanted to tell his own people that this war would continue for a long time. he said the americans want a strategic defeat, but the russians cannot be defeated on the battlefield. he said the war will go on until russia has achieved its objectives, but he hasn't spelled out what those objectives are. we think it is at least the annexation and full control of these four territories and to get the ukrainians to recognize it, but there may be other goals. he just said, we will continue until we achieve our goals. there was also a slight element that would cause concern to the ukrainians in the outside world, which are the veiled hints that russia could develop some new nuclear weapons. there wasn't a direct threat of nuclear weapons, but that this war could escalate because of what the west was doing.

so, in the outside world and trying to calm his own people, but to tell them, this war is going to go on and you have to accept it. amna: putin did say they have been put on combat duty. what does that mean to you? >> this is something we are all puzzling about and we have to wait and see if there are any actual changes in the operational data's of the posture. at the time of the invasion of ukraine, he also said that the forces were being put on higher alert, but we know that it actually meant that there were more soldiers in the command posts, that they were upping their level of oversight of what was going on, but they were not changing the operational status of their nuclear forces and putting them on higher alert. to go to a higr alert status is destabilizing and sends the warning of a possible escalatory action, which i don't think is in the russian interest, but at

the same time, it is also ry ressing for the nuclear forces and is something that on a day-to-day basis they don't want to do because it means they possibly will be less effective and efficient should they need to be called upon, heaven forbid of course. there are downside operational risks to that kind of approach, but i want to stress i'm not sure at this moment that there are any actual changes in the operational status of the russian strategic nuclear forces. amna: so why would he make this announcement if there are no changes? >> i think it really echoes what he said he year ago when he was trying to really rattle the nuclear sabr and make it clear that this was going to be part of his overall rhetoric. it underscores the seriousness of the threats. amna: on the rattling of the nuclear sabres, the new start

treaty only is about long-range weapons, but there has been concerned about putin using a tactical weapon in ukraine. do you share that concern? >> you can't dismiss it entirely, but i think he has used the threats to intimidate the outside world and break western unity. we just saw at the munich security conference how great the western unity still is a year into this war and given the fact that european countries have suffered from the economic aftereffects. but he wants people to believe he could use a nuclear weapo, a tactical nuclear weapon, particularly where the ukrainians to take back crimea. we do see even in the biden administration for all of its support of ukraine a concern not to take actions or allow the ukrainians to take actions that could lead to a russian nuclear escalation. you can't rule it out, but you shouldn't intimidated by it. amna: terms of where we are

right now, president biden recommitted to support of ukraine. we just heard vice president harris say that russia has committed crimes against humanity. as for marking one year in the war, does all of this make it more likely for president putin to negotiate or be more deeply dug in? >> i didot hear anything in his speech to indicate he's interested in negotiations, unfortunately. i think that was really the mood in munich. the understanding that this was not the time for negotiations because putin thinks he can outlast the west, that western unity will crack, and tt he will force the ukrainians to make significant territorial concessions. i'm afraid i don't see any time in the near future the possibility for real, genuine negotiations. geoff: rose, what is your take? >> my take is that we really need to do everything we can,

the united states of america as well as other countries around the world, the chise for example have an interest in the russians staying in the new start treaty, so there is a good deal of predictability between the two biggest nuclear powers, the united states and russia. we are all worried about chinese modernization, but it is in the general interest of the nuclear weapons states and the nonnuclear weapons states to get the message out there that the strategic nuclear arms treaty's we have had for 50 years now have served a good, strong strategic purpose. amna: thank you both for your time and insights. ♪ today, the supreme court heard arguments in a case that has the potential to radically transform the internet and social media. john yang explores the case and

its impact. john: this case is about a law that protects websites over information posted by users. one family says the immunity should not apply to the recommendations youtube's algorithms make based on viewing history. by recommending isis related content, youtube acted as a recruiting platform for the group, they say. the law often referred to as section 230 was written in 1996 before google, twitter, and the concerns about the spread of disinformation and hate speech. maia coyle is the newshour's supreme court analyst and was in the courtroom for today's two and half hours of arguments. and we have a tech reporter from the new york times. when the lawyer for the family was making his case, i think confusion seemed to be the word

of the day from the justices. it was used five times by liberal and consvative justices. there was a lot of skepticism about the arguments. this is justice elena kagan. >> everybody is trying their best to figure out how this statute, which was a pre-algorithm statute, applies in a post algorithm world. every time anybody looks at anything on the internet, there is an algorithm involved. does your position send us down the road such that 230 really can't mean anything at all? >> i don't think so, your honor. the question, algorithms are ubiquitous, but the question is what does the defendant do with the algorithm? >> what is going on there? >> the family's lawyer was responding to justice kagan trying to explain how he viewed these algorithmic recommendations. he also called them thumbnails that youtube puts on its website.

he said if these thumbnails encourage access to information or videos, in this case to isis information, and the user has not requested that information, then it falls outside of the statute. because it is, in effect, he argues, in service to isis. john: on the other hand, there was some skepticism about google's argument. this is justice get good in due brown jackson. >> isn't it true that that statute had a more narrow scope of immunity than courts have ultimately interpreted it to have and what youtube is arguing here today? the question today is, can we be sued for making recommendations? that is not something the statute was directed to. >> at his death by 1000 cuts and the internet would never have gotten off the ground if anybody could sue every time. john: she is looking at the text

of the law. >> and she sees narrower immunity for sial media platforms. the google attorney is really arguing for the greatest amount of immunity, obviously, for her client and other platforms. she disagreed with justice jackson about the history here. she said even though congress at the time it enacted this may not have referred to algorithmic recommendations, there were analogs to it. they knew it was coming on the horizon and were able to address it. john: does it seem like the court is not ready to go all the way on either side? >> did absolutely. the bottom line is if the court wants to do something with this case, it's going to be drawn into line drawing. how far does it go to protect social media platforms or how far does that have to go to take away some of that immunity? it is a line drawing difficulty. john: and where to draw that

line, a couple of justices actually asked out loud whether the supreme court was the right place to do that. this is justice brett kavanaugh. >> isn't it better to keep it the way it is for us and congress, to put the burden on congress to change that and they can consider the implications and make predictive judgments? john: what has congress been trying to do about section 230? >> we have a rare situation where almostveryone in congress is united in inking that section 230 is an old l that needs updating. the problems that republicans and democrats really disagree about the problems. republicans are concerned that internet companies have too much control. they are worried about conservative bias, the idea that tech companies routinely censor conservative voices on their channels more than other voices. democrats are worried that the company's art doing enough about harmful speech and conspiracy

theories. things about misinformation around elections. why does john: john: the changing of this law --john: what is the prospect of changing this law make internet companies so nervous? >> section 230 has protected them until now. it has let them roll content moderation policies that they see as appropriate. they decide what is allowed and not allowed. but if they missed something, such as the case was in this specific trial that is being heard, they are not punished for. john: we have a new pbs newshour/npr marist poll set to be released this week that found that only 29% of adults said the government should be the one setting the rules for social media. 67% said it should be left to the social media companies themselves. i would imagine that his music to silicon valley's ears? >> i would imagine if you are

sitting at google or facebook or twitter, you are happy to hear that. i think people are worried, rightfully so, about how the government is going to decide what something like hate speech is. pending on who sits in the white house and in congress, that could mean something very different. people are worried that if the government makes these decisions, it will become overly politicized. john: this was the first big social media case to come before the court. a lot more to come. there is a case tomorrow. >> it is a sequel to the one today. the gonzalez family is part of the case, the case tomorrow that has two other families, the underlying claim is that youtube, facebook, twitter have recommendations, content that violated or encouraged an act of terror under the antiterrorism act. that is what the court is going

to look at. the elements of that kind of a claim and whether they can be held liable under that specific statute. i should add that the content moderation that was mentioned, that there are two big cases pending in the supreme court. the justices have yet to decide whether to take them. they are out of florida and texas. opposite lower court rulings. good chance the court might get into this again. john: it would most likely be in the fall. >> that's right. john: thank you both very much. >> a pleasure, john. >> thank you. ♪ amna: a highly contagious avian flu is infecting birds all over the globe. here in the u.s., farmers have lost, or had to kill, over 58 million birds to try and prevent the virus' spread. so far, this lou hasn't caused any serious threat to humans,

but as william brangham reports, there are several new outbreaks that are raising some alarms. william: over the last two years, the spread of this strain known as h5n1 has been limited to birds, but now two particular outbreaks, one among farmed mink in spain, and another among wild sea lions in peru suggests that h5n1 might now be able to spre between mammals. and that's raise concerns about the virus's potential to spread further and perhaps even make humans sick. scott hensley is a professor of microbiology and an influenza researcher at the university of pennsylvania. scott, thank you so much for being here. before we get to the mink and the sea lions, can you remind us how bad h5n1 is among birds right now? >> we have seen h5n1 circulating

birds before. what makeshis current situation unique is how widespread this particular ague of h5n1 is spreading. it is not a good time to be a bird today it h infected wild bir populations and domestic birds all across the world. and again, unique thing about this particular virus is it is getting into bird populations that we have not seen be infected historically with viruses in the past. william: i was at an avian centern minnesota several months ago and we were seeing eagles and dowels d raptors of all kinds getting this virus. with regards to these cases of the sea lions in the main -- and the mink, it seems to suggest that the virus is spreading within mammals. do you think that is what is happening and if so, why is that a problem? >> that is exactly what makes us a little bit nervous.

these viruses are obviously very good at attacking the avian cells and getting into bird cells and replicating. we know that because the virus is spreading very rapidly among birds. the good news is the virus doesn't appear to be able to replicate in human cells very effectively. we have seen the case of the viruses getting intomink and there is likely mink transmission in spain. we see it spreading to other mammals as well. this is alarming because we are afraid the virus might start anging. it might undergo acquiring different substitutions that enable better replication in these mammals. we are afraid that might enable the virus to attack human cells more effectively. right now, the good news is the virus appears to be very poor at infecting human cells, but we start to get nervous when we see

these essential crossover events when avian viruses are getting in other animals. william: there have been, as i mentioned briefly, some cases where the virus has jumped in. i think case in colorado where a person was cleaning out a chicken farm that had suffered a big outbreak. that wasn't a human to human transmission, it was something getting a big dose of the virus. what do we know about what the virus does to people if it does get into people? >> luckily, there have been a limited number of infections with this particular h5n1 virus. in the past, each viruses have been shown to have very high mortality rates, but again in this current outbreak, we have seen a limited number of human infections, mostly with folks who have d very close contact with birds and there has not

been many serious infections to date. h5n1 has the potential to cause a lot of disease and high mortality rates. this particular virus does not seem well adapted at infecting humans, but this could change of course and something that we have to keep our eye on. william: can you help put this into perspective for people? people who might be alarmed about this ide of it jumping into humans. how worried should we be? >> look, we don't have to be alarmed right now. don't run out to your pharmacy and by 1000 rolls of toilet paper. [laughter] if you see a dead bird or a sick bird, certainly stay away from it. it's likely that this virus needs to acquire several substitutions before it can efficiently spad from human to human and start infecting humans. but we need to remain vigilant.

the research community has to come together. we need increased funding for surveillance to be able to track this virus in real time. and we have to understand better what changes this virus needs to have take place to jump into the human population. so an everyday person right now, avoid sick birds. other than that, there's not a whole lot you need to do. but this is the time for the research community to come together and increase surveillance efforts and start developing new vacnes in case this virus does jump into humans. william: all right, that is scott hensley at the university of pennsylvania, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. ♪ amna: like cities across the rust belt, fort wayne, indiana, endured some tough decades as

plants closed, jobs dried up, and the city's population shrank, but in recent years, fort wayne has made a turn around and a big investment in public art. cap wise recently spent time with a local artist who is a iving force of that effort. her report is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. cat: above a busy street in downtown fort wayne, in a quiet studio apartment, artist alexandra hall brings colorful, playful creatures to life wi paint and brush. hall, who is 37, grew up in fort wayne and has been a full-time artist since 2015. over the years, she's drawn and painted a variety of subjects including portraits, still-life, , and delightful tipsy frogs. more recently, she's become known for her large-scale paintings of animals in bright, pattern-filled costumes. >> i'm inspired by a lot of different things. travel.

sometimes it's a person i see on the sidewalk. i have for a very long time recreated the things i see into whimsical animals that often have human traits or an anthropomorphized animal. cat: tell me about the dripping of the paint. why is that important? >> i think there is a little bit of chaos in every piece. there needs to be that release of control, that idea that nothing in our life is unchanging and nothing in our life is fully in our control. i took that in because i think it is part of everyone's life story. cat: her life took an unexpeed turn in high school when she was diagnosed with bone cancer. >> back when i was ill, i was spending a lot of time in bed. it was really up to me to create the world around me and make it interesting. and so art became that outlet for me, and it's still an outlet for me today. cat: after recovering and going to college, hall began traveling

and discovered a love of public art. >> when i traveled, i noticed that there were communities that organically have a really strong public art presence, and i found myself more drawn to those places and those spaces because they have some sort of story to tell. at the time, i would say i thought, wow, i can't wait to live in a place like that. i want to leave indiana. cat: she eventually decided not to leave and instead she has broad public art to her hometown. >> in the summer, this can be a really cool place to hang out, read a book. it's a little quieter than the streetside. cat: in 2016, hall started a donation funded organization called art this way. now i nonprofit as part of fort wayne's downtown improvement district the organization , facilitates public art projects on private property a the development of pedestrian-friendly spaces.

cat: we work really hard to make spaces walkable in the sense that there is art. every so often and often enough that you are intrigued and inspired and want to keep going. cat: she took me on a tour to see some of the 30 large-scale pieces her organization has helped install by local, national, and international artists. tell me about this mural. >> right, so this is walt whitman by tim parsley. this is meant to depict the creative brain and the hope that comes from the creative brain. what we wanted to do with the art this way program was create a place where public art could be about anything, and it didn't need to necessarily be about fort wayne. so give it room to breathe and allow art for art's sake to happen. cat: that art, she says, has helped breathe new life into the city. which during the downturn years had seen an increase in vacant parking lots and abandoned buildings.

today, one stark alleyways are now a destination. tell me about this piece. >> this is called 77 steps. we've seen engagement photos, people get engaged in this space. it can be programmed to do a lot of different things. we will program them for special events and holidays. cat: the community loves it. >> the community loves it. cat: art this way's projects, including two of hall's own works, are part of a growing collection of public art throughout the city. nearly 150 pieces including a new sculpture in honor of ukraine. >> you are supposed to be able to engage with them. you are pictured with your crown and your set of wings. cat: events like the annual art crawl in september drawn locals and visitors and perhaps convince some of those visitors to stay. >> there's more people moving in then moving out. it is there and it is a big deal and that is something to be proud of. cat: bill brown is a retired

fort wayne business owner and former head of the downtown improvement district. i metim at the bradley, a new boutique hotel in downtown. >> what is cool is that the bradley has been able to embrace them and hang their art. cat: he says public art has played a significant role in fort wayne's revitalization efforts which have also included riverfront development and a baseball stadium. nationally, a 2018 survey by the nonprofit americans for the arts found that 70%f americans believe that the arts improve the image and identity of their community. in indiana, arts and culture is a $7.6 industry, which supports more than 78,000 jobs. brown says in fort wayne nearly everyone is on boa now with public art, but it took some time to get there. >> i think the change was the realization that the arts can drive economic development. i think tha kind of show me

kind of thing, a conservative community, once they trust, they are all in. i think with people like alex, it is about performance, trust, and talent. cat: hall and other fort wayne artists have been building on that trust and expanding their impact. like theoplis smith who goes by the artistic name phresh laundry. i met him at his new mural in the entrance tunnel to electric works. the recently renovated former campus of general electric that was vacant for years. smith -- an internationally recognized artist whose work can be seen throughout fort wayne including at the bradley hotel -- has high hopes for his city. >> i want this to be like a mecca in the north region to see the arts flourished. being the second largest city in indiana, the economy is growing. you have people in all walks of life coming into fort wayne to see what we have to offer. we want to make sure we are screaming and echoing art. cat: but as his city grows, he wants to make sure everyone is included and able to access the

arts. >> you have your fine line between gentrification and revitalization. making sure you have the right people at the table to make it cohesive. you want people to feel invited, feel welcome, feel i belong here. cat: hall wants to continue to make public art more accessible. >> we've created this huge melting pot of street art. we're seeing lots of diversity in the cultures and ethnicities and where someone is from brazil, germany, you name it. cat:cat: she is now consulting with communities outside of fort wayne and over the past three years, she has led more than three dozen projects in rural towns in indiana, new york, and pennsylvania. and while she still loves to travel, she has no plans to leave her hometown. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in fort wayne, indiana. ♪ amna: remember, there's a lot

more in line at pbs.org/newshour including a conversation about , how advocates for harm reduction are working to combat a nationwide spike in fentanyl overdoses. and join us again here tomorrow night, for t first installment of judy woodruff's series america at a crossroads, exploring what is dividing the nation. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm on none of oz. i'm vanessa ruiz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> 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 taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. ♪ >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change, so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. 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. >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ [captioning performed by the national caponing institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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