geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the newshour tonight. an overheated wheel bearing and a warning that came too late. government investigators explore possible causes of the train derailment that led to a toxic chemical spill in ohio. ukraine's fight against russia forges new levels national unity and resolve as the war approaches the one year mark. >> putin made a huge mistake. the division that he created in the last few months will last for generations. amna: and. abortion pills become the latest battleground over reproductive rights pending a federal judge's decision that could ban them nationwide.

>> 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. amna: welcome to the newshour. federal investigators say the crew of the train that derailed in east palestine, ohio, tried to slow and stop the train after getting a critical sensor warning. geoff: but the preliminary investigation also found that warning, which came from an overheated axle, did not arrive until just moments before the train went off the track. investigators have not determined the cause of the derailment in east palestine but today's report from the national transportation safety board pointed to a key clue. an overheated wheel bearing that was 253 degrees hotter than the air temperature. investigators said that set off a sense or and audible warnings

on the norfolk southern train but the temperature did not reach a level that would have required the crew to stop the train by the company's own rules until just before the accident. >> the warning threshold is set by railroads and it varies by railroad. we are going to look at that and see if the threshold should have changed, should change. geoff: jennifer is chair of the ntsb. >> had there been a detector earlier, it would not have -- that derailment may not have curred. that is something we have to look at. geoff: the 149 car train derailed nearly three weeks ago. tracks its 38 cars came off the tracks. 11 of them tank cars that dumped more than 100,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals. including vinyl chloride, which is linked to cancer. the tests show the air and units of are safe.

today's ntsb report also found the train was traveling 47 miles per hour before the accident. which was below the speed limit. residents in east palestine remain anxious and frustrated about the aftermat what goes up has to come down. where is it going? how do i protect my family from something i cannot see? geoff: they question why norfolk southern and authorities opted for a controlled burn of the chemicals. in its pulmonary report, the ntsb said that happenedecause the temperature in one of the tank cars was very high and could have led to a catastrophic explosion. the port -- report was released as transportation secretary pete buttigieg was on the ground in east palestine today. he said the accident showed the need for tougher regulation from congress and higher safety protocols from the rail industry. >> norfolk southern and the other freight rail companies need to stop fightings every time we y to do regulation. geoff: he also acknowledged he may

have waited too long to travel there. saying he wanted to let the epa and ntsb deal with the emergency first. the federal response has become a partisan flashpoint. >> we have told you loud and clear you are not forgotten. geoff: yesterday, donald trump sited the area and blasted president biden for not yet visiting east palestine. >> they heard i was coming. they all came. they were not going to come. they would leave you abandoned and now, they are not. geoff: today, buttigieg pushed back, arguing the trump administration eased up on safety regulations to easily to satisfy the railroads. >> one thing he can do is express support for reversing the deregulation. that happened on his watch. geoff: the ntsb said it will carefully investigate sensors, alarms, and the rules set by railroads and it plans to hold a rare investigative hearing in east palestine this spring.

vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz, here are the latest headlines. across the country, and impress a dated winter storm has put some 75 million americans under winter weather alerts. at least one person died, a michigan firefighter who touched a downed power line. the heavy snow and ice triggered more than flight cancellations 1100 today, and made f treacherous travel. william brangham reports on the storm's impact. william: this monster storm has turned highways into skating rinks. potentially record breaking snow and subzero temperatures hav fallen across the upper midwest, forcing many to endure the worst in the dark. 900,000 residents across michigan, wisconsin, illinois and indiana were without power earlier today. the majority in michigan. minnesa, a state accustomed to blankets of snow, is expected to break its all time snowfall

records. there, and across the dakotas, windchills could plunge 45 degrees below zero. this storm system, covering over 2000 miles of the country, forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in and out of the u.s. with more than 3,000 , delayed. on the west coast, in los angeles county, where its usually in the 50s this time of year, a blizzard warning goes into effect friday, the first such warning in over three decades. further north, california highway patrol are urging those who have to drive to prepareor the worst. >> make sure those tires are in good working order. but also, make sure you're packed warm, you have enough supplies in case you might get stranded or stuck. william: in a sign of just how chaotic this weather is: while the midwest freezes at temperatures 40 degrees below average the mid atlantic and , southeast are seeing record

highs with temperatures forty degrees above average. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. vanessa: as the war in ukraine approaches the one year mark, heavy fighting rages in the east. the ukrainian military says russian forces launched more than 80 artillery barrages in the last day. newly released drone footage showed the scale of the destruction in the eastern city of bakhmut. it's a virtual ghost town of empty streets and hollowed out buildings. ukrainn soldiers there say they're determined to hold their ground. >> if we surrender bakhmut, it will be very tough for us later on. we can't surrender it under any circumstances, so we will hold out. vanessa: also, fresh violence erupted along the israel-gaza border today, hours after yesterday's israeli raid in the occupied west bank killed 10 palestinians and injured over 100. the israeli military said palestinian militants launched

several rockets towards southern israel this morning. they say israeli fighter jets then struck a weapons manufacturing site and a military compound in gaza. no injuries were reported in today's attacks. in turkey, hundreds of building contractors are under investigation for violating safety standards after this month's devastating earthquakes. the probe comes as the combined death toll in turkey and syria nears 50,000 people. survivors are still coming to terms with their losses. >> we never expected this to happen. i am 50-years-old, and i'd never seen an earthquake. i thought for a second that the world was ending. and in some moments during the time, the world did end. vanessa: the white helmets organization reported today that tens of thousands of families in northwestern syria are still sheltering intents and cars for fear of another earthquake. i can this country, disgraced

hollywood producer harvey weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a rape and sexual assault case in los angeles. the 70 year old media mogul already has more than 20 years left to serve for a similar conviction in new york in 2020. meantime, singer r kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child pornography, and enticement of minors for sex, that he is able to serve most of that concurrently with the separate 30 year sentence adding only one more year of prison. the number of u.s. mass killings linked to extremism has spiked over the last decade. a new report from the anti-defamation league said they are three times higher in the last 10 years than any other decade since the 1970's. between 2010 and 2020, there were 21 mass slayings motivated by extremism compared to just a handful in previous decades. they were linked to the far right. many were tied to white

supremacy. federal authorities arrested carlos watson, the founder of the digital startup, "ozy media," on fraud charges today. prosecutors say watson misled potential investors about the company's revenue, audience numbers, and the identities of its investors. two of the company's other top executives pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this month. watson, a former host and commentator for csm bc, and cnn was a frequent guest on the newshour in 2015. tennessee, a bill banning youth affirming gender care is headed to the president's death for an expected signature. doctors would be prohibited from prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to anyone under 18.

civil rights groups have vowed to sue. a similar ban in alabama is temporarily blocked by a federal courts. republican congressman tom cole weighs in on the many issues basing a dividedongress. in television veteran larry talks about what makes comedy work, 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: tomorrow is the first anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine, one year on after tens of thousands of lives lost, strong ukrainian resistance, and the u.s. led coalition funneling billions in aid to ukraine, where does the war stand? wendy sherman is the deputy secretary of state. and she joins me now. deputy secretary, thank you for joining us. one of the chief criticisms of

the u.s. and western response to the war in ukraine has been too little, too late. that they resisted sending things like stingers and tanks out of fear of escalation only to provide them later on anyway. we know president zelenskyy is requesting these long-range missiles. every expert we have spoken to says this would let him hit further away russi targets, keeping ukrainians safer. why is the biden administration holding this request up? >> it is great to be with you this afternoon and talk with you and ta with your viewers. president biden at every step along the way has listened very closely to what president zelenskyy has asked for. no doubt, if i was president zelenskyy, i would ask for everything i could possibly think of because this is very existential for ukraine. these are tough decisions. we look at our own readiness. we look at our own stockpiles.

but we look at what the ttlefield is and what we can provide and at every point along the way, one has to think about escalation, not taking us to a place -- i don't think ukraine or anyone else wants to be. i think the president has made incredibly wise and steady decisions. i think his trip to kyiv, his speech in poland made it clear that the american people and the world, for that matter, 141 countries stood with ukraine. amna: on the fear of escalation that has been there, and all of these weapons systems were provided anyway so what is the russian response you are trying to avoid at this point? have already bombed civilian targets and hospitals and so on. >> without a doubt, when vladimir putin wasn't winning or isn't winning on the battlefield, he's decided to try to freeze people to death to abduct children and take them to russia and try to reeducate them as russians.

horrifying acts i think everyone listening is just astounded at this would happen in this day and age. so many echoes of history that are profoundly horrible. but let me be clear that the united states has provided billions of dollars in security assistance to ukraine. we wt to ensure that vladimir putin is held back from taking the most horrible steps that he can take even beyond the horrible steps he's already taken. amna: when you say the most horrible, are you talking about a tactical nuclear weapon? is that the worst case you are trying to avoid? >> the worst-case scenario would also be invading other countries as well, believing that they belong to some fantasy of what a russian empire should look like under vladimir putin. but certainly, the world does not want vladimir putin to use what is considered to be a

tactical nuclear weapon. in my own view, having dealt with the issue of nuclear weapons over many years, every single kind of nuclear weapon, even if it is "low threshold" is a very, very great risk to the world security. amna: i would like to ask you about the recent warnings to china against providing legal -- lethal aid to russia that we have heard from u.s. officials. what does that mean? what in your view constitutes lethal aid that china is considering providing? wendy: we are very concerned that it means direct assistance to provide weapons to russia. the administration has told the people's republic of china directly that if they do provide lethal aid to russia that there will be consequences. the prc understands what that means. amna: would that be an

escalation that warrants a stronger u.s. response? >> i think it certainly will get a u.s. response if they provide such lethal aid. vladimir putin has been an aggressor nation. ukraine has been the victim here. the prc should be standing with ukraine. which is trying to uphold the principles of the u.n. charter that xi jinping says is so amna: deputy secretary, i want to ask you about wheree are as a nation. we havnew poll numbers that shows nearly one third of americans think we are providing too much support to ukraine. and of course there is a big partisan divide that is a , stronger sentiment among republicans, 47% of whom think it is too much. does declining public support here at home make it harder to continue to fund ukraine? wendy: you are talking about one third of americans who have said they think perhaps we are giving too much.

but that means two thirds think we should stand with ukraine. that is more than a simple majority. i think that is a profound statement about the tremendous solidarity with ukraine in this. everybody wants this to be over. no more so than the ukrainian people. who are being frozen out of their homes, don't have electricity, civilians being killed by iranian drones that have been given or sold to russia. amna: i want to ask about iran because the international atomic energy agency has said that they detected iran has enriched uranium to 84% purity that is weapons grade. what is the threshold for the u.s. to act in place new sanctions or take any other kind of action? wendy: i have not seen the final assessment by the international atomic energy agency. i look forward to seeing the

details of the assessment that i know they are currently making and the basis of it is. and then i am sure that we will have consultations with europe and others. before deciding how to proceed. if indeed they have enriched, as a matter of policy to 84%, that is extremely concerning. amna: would that trigger additional sanctions or something else? wendy: indeed, we would have to decide what that means and what consequences are appropriate. amna: that is deputy secretary wendi sherman joining us tonight. thank you for your time. wendy: thank you. take care. amna: the nation and lawmakers are facing some critical junctures on major issues including how to act on the that

-- on the debt ceiling. some new numbers in our pbs newshour poll give us a sense of where the public is an lisa desjardins is here to walk through some of those numbers. good to see you. let's start with the debt ceiling. lawmakers needed to raise it and soon. it would be catastrophic if they don't. do voters feel that sense of urgency, too? lisa: interesting numbers. everyone included here, when we ask the people surveyed, what should lawmakers -- should they raise the federal debt ceiling? only half of americans say they know that it's critical to the financial stability of this country and other countries as well. it's one way to look at it, americans are not quite convinced of the necessity of this. let's look back in time and see how this compares to 2011, the last time we had a major debt ceiling crisis. really, americans have changed. they now believe more that the debt ceiling must be raised but it is still half-and-half and

you would be surprised that is split on partisan lines with republicans in -- being much less likely to think the debt ceiling needs to be raised. >> what do they nt lawmakers to do? >> should we increase taxes or cut some spending? on this question again, a real divide in america, something judy woodruff was talking about in her programs and her efforts. this was also on the lines with democrats more likely saying increased taxes and republicans say, no, we need to cut programs. younger americans say we should cut taxes or raise taxes. amna: that is interesting among younger americans. a lot of this gets to how we see the approach of governing, this idea of brinksmanship that people should push as far as they can. how should voters feel about that? lisa: why can't lawmakers get together and figure this out? we asked, should lawmakers compromise or not? here is what they

told us, those we surveyed. 70% said yes, we want our lawmakers to say yes. only 20% say stand on possible. here is where we want to bring out the partisan divide. obviously, we have divided government. republicans, far fewer believe in compromise. a significant amount still telling us they believe stand in principle. what is interesting is democrats overwhelmingly say compromise and we hear from the white house language about things not being negotiable. we have cross purposes here. amna: we asked about a lot of other issues people talked about, things like in wage and -- minimum wage and the investigations house republicans are leading. what did folks say about that? sa: right now, three states in this country have $15 an hour minimum wages. about two thirds of americans say it's time to raise the minimum wage. younger americans in particular, 71% gen z, millennials. they are talking about 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, they

say, yes, let's raise the minimum wage. that is the highest we saw for generational groups. two thirds of americans say rae the national minimum wage. so it is something i think we are going to hear more about. republicans talk a lot about investigations. hunter biden, he asked people, do you think there should be more about hunter biden's laptop, the investigation into him? 57% of americans said yes. notably about one third of democrats even say yes. they would like more on that investigation. >> a lot of this is about a moment in time, asking people about how they feel right now. did you pull out any trends? lisa: polls are polls. people are changing in a few areas. really changing numbers especially from lower income americans and non-college-educated americans. president biden picked up in both of those groups and among republicans and so did president trump. those groups who are core voters

decided for people who have been in office or are in office now. amna: fascinating look at who we are in our poll. lisa desjardins, thanks for breaking it down. ♪ geoff: every second, the u.s. falls about $43,000 deeper into debt. lawmakers will need to raise the country's borrowing limit in the coming months to avoid a catastrophic financial fallout both here at home and around the world. many republicans say it is time to take a hard look at federal government spending. republican congressman tom ce is chair of the house rules committee. he joins us from oklahoma. thank you for being with us. tom: great to be with you. geoff: the u.s. faces a default as early as this summer if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. what is the latest on the negotiations between house republicans and the white house?

has there been any movement on this? tom: i think the president and speaker mccarthy had a good first meeting. i think each side are having quiet talks in terms of what is acceptable. both sides have said the default is not the appropriate measure. both sides have ruled, at least for this immediate agreement, social security, medicare off the table so that gives enough common basis. normally when you are in a situation like this in divided government, you try and change the trajectory of the spending and that is what we would like to do but at the end of the day, we need to get to an agreement and i think we will. geoff: let's talk about entitlements because social security and medicare in particular -- social security is, as you know, without a change in policy, its reserves will run dry by 2034. yoproposed establishing a commission to look at solutions. what reforms in your view seem workable and practical? >> first of all, you have to agree on the process before you

worry about the reforms and my proposal was bipartisan when i originally put it out there. this is something john delaney and i worked on together and we said, hey, when is the last time we confronted this problem and how do we solve it? we looked back at the 83 commission chaired by alan greenspan at the time during the reagan presidency. a framework agreed upon by president reagan, democratic speaker tip o'neill republican ,majority leader howard baker in the senate, and they arrived at a solution. everybody had to give a little bit. there were additional revenues. they extended the life of the system by almost half a century. that is within two months of having across-the-board cuts similar to what we will face in 2033. we should go back and do basically the same thing. it is not that hard to figure out. congress, 60 days, legislate

days to vote up or down. no amendments. you either want to save social security, you are willing to make trade-offs or you are not. i think that is the way to go. intensive specifics, i have a lot of different suggestions and we are living longer and raising the age and it makes a little bit of sense to me. we ought to look seriously at what countries like norway do. that is the best in the private sector. not all of it. i think the main idea is to save the system. geoff: how about raising taxes, is that on the table? tom: sure. revenue would have to be on the table. the last time they did this, they increase the amount of revenue that was subject to taxation. that doesn't raise the tax but it increases the tax base. something i noticed under warren, suggested recently, and we made a minor tweak in the amount of money, both the individual and the employer put into it. finally, the last time we did

this, we also made social security depending on your income level taxable, up to 85%. i think revenue is part of it because we are living a lot longer. reforms are part of it, too. that's where i think the commission will be likely to come to a sort of trade-off between the two, something both sides could find acceptable. what is unacceptable is to do nothing. that is what the administration right now is proposing and it's what the last administration proposed. it is going to go insolvent. we will have a 22% across-the-board cut. that is not something i'm interested in doing to people in their 70's, 80's, and 90's. geoff: looking at this latest marist poll on the debt ceiling and how to pay down the national debt, half of those polls, 50%, say they favored mostly cutting

programs and services but almost as many, 46%, said they preferred to see taxes and fees raised. looking at the federal debt, entitlements make up half of the debt. the other part of it is defense spending and there are republicans and democrats who say they don't want to touch the pentagon budget so what then is left? what is left? tom: you set the defense budget based on the threats in the world and i would suggest people look at ukraine, look at what china is doing, understand how dangerous the world is today. now again, the real driver here is entitlements. it is not defense. defense -- the discretionary budget of the united states is 30% of all spending. 60% social security, medicare, medicaid, putting interest on the debt and the federal pension system, 70%. the remaining 30%, defense is 15%. our problem is people want to try and balance the budget, 30% of the spending including defense or 15%. that is not doable. we have to look at entitlements

and that is the revenue and reform issue in my mind. geoff: and you are hoping to get recommendations from this panel within the next year? tom: if my legislation passes. when people put brand-new things on the table, and argue over the programs, it really slows you down. the first thing you need to do is agree on a process. president biden actually voted for this in 1983 for about the process and the final solution so i am mystified now as to why he does not find this acceptable. geoff: house speaker appears to have given tucker call certain exclusive access to some 40,000 -- tucker carlsen exclusive access to some 40,000 hours of previously unreleased surveillance camera footage from

january 6. was that something he discussed with you and other house republicans leaders in advance and what do you make of that decision? tom: i have not heard about this until i heard about it in the last day or so in the media. i am for people having access to most of this information. if there is something sensitive, probably we should sit down in a bipartis way and say this affects the safety of the house but at the end of the day, you are better off sharing information, letting people draw their own conclusions. that was the view of the founders on the first amendment and it worked out pretty well for 240 odd years, so let's stick with that. geoff: should other news outlets have access to the same material other than tucker carlsen, a known conspiracy theorist and liar? tom: yesthey suld. they made it available to people they wanted to. you are better off avoiding that and let anybody who wants to have a look do so and make whatever case they want to make. the american people are pretty smart, they will figure it out. geoff: congressman, always enjoy thanks for having me.

♪ amna: with abortion banned or severely restricted in u.s. 18 states, abortion pills have now become the new battle grou for the anti-abortion movement. in a story co-produced with the pbs newshour, kaiser health news correspondent sarah varney reports on a new lawsuit brought by a conservative christian anti-abortion group that could end access to the medication nationwide. sarah: at whole woman's house in virginia, a clinic manager -- health in virginia, a clinic manager is struggling to find appointments for women coming for abortion care in nearby states. >> we are in this half circle around the east coast of states including west virginia, kentucky, tennessee, georgia, south carolina, and many others that have either completely banned abortion access or very much restricted it. sarah: many come here for medication abortion which

involves taking two pills. theirst is mifepristone which blocks the hormone, progesterone, and halts the pregnancy. the second is misoprostol which induces a miscarriage. >> medication abtion is very common. i would say about every day that we see patients, we see about 10 to 15 patients who have a medication abortion. >> it can be taken up to 10 weeks in to a pregnancy. about 5 million women in the u.s. and millions more across the world have safely used the drugs. they now account for more than half of all abortions in this country and are also used by obgyns to manage early miscarriages. misoprostol was approved by the food and dg administration in 1988 to treat gastric ulcers, but mifepristone which was approved in 2000 to end early prnancy is now being targeted by anti-abortion advocates. a lawsuit underway in this federal courthouse in amarillo, texas could force the fda to remove mifepristone from the market entirely.

that would affect every state across the country, including those where abortion remains legal. the lawsuit was filed by an anti-abortion group represented by denise harle of the christian legal advocacy group, alliance defending freedom. harle claims the fda's safety review of mifepristone was flawed. >> the fda has one job, which is just to protect americans from dangerous drugs. it's caused great harm to women and girls. it's extremely dangerous. and we're asking the court to remove that chemical drug regimen until and unless the fda actually goes through the proper testing that it's required to do. sarah: 12 leading medical organizations, including the american medical association and the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists, say these claims are untrue. decades of research show the risk of major complications from taking abortion pills is less than 0.4%. they are safer than commonly used drugs like tylenol or viagra.

sarah: at whole woman's health, ceo amy hagstrom miller says medication abortion gives women more control over their health care. >> when you have medication abortion, part of the process happens at home. and a lot of people like that. they think it's less invasive. it involves cramping and bleeding and passing of the pregnancy, very similar to a miscarriage. and people can be at home with their loved ones and can sort of schedule the passing of the pregnancy around their work schedule or their childcare schedule. sarah: but here in texas, the lawsuit wants to put a stop to that. the alliance defending freedom makes a number of claims, including that the fda used the wrong process to approve the drug. >> the fda also pushed the drugs through a certain special provision that's supposed to be only for treating illnesses and only for life saving drugs. the regulatory process was not followed. sarah: in fact, mifepristone's approval was investigated in 2008 by the government accountability office which

found that the process was consistent with fda regulations. >> it's hard to think of a drug that's been under more scrutiny than mifepristone. sarah: i. glenn cohen, a harva law school professor, is one of 19 fda scholars who filed an amicus brief in support of the agency. >> we don't think there's a problem here statutorily or medically. it'd be very dangerous to allow a single judge sitting in amarillo to essentially order a ug that's used by millions -- by many women offhe market in america. sarah: the alliance defending freedom was almost guaranteed to draw a judge in the conservative movement. >> it's part of a trend of conservative legal movement actors trying to get before the judge. sarah: elizabeth is a law professor at the university of texas at austin.

>> he made statements in opposition to reproductive rights linking up reproduction to the feminist movement and making anti feminist statements. sarah: so why now? why is the conservative christian legal movement striking now with these cases? >> prior to dobbs, the right to abortion would have stood in the way of this lawsuit. but now, the conservative legal movement feels empowered to go after medication abortion, but then extend their aims beyond abortion to contraception, to prep medication to prevent hiv . sarah: federal judges in texas have ruled that a religious objector can block a federal program from providing birth control to teens, and emergency room doctors must equally weigh the life of a pregnant woman and her fetus. >> it's all part and parcel of a claim to restrict reproductive health care consistent with conservative religious beliefs.

sarah: denise harle of the alliance defending freedom said the fda needs to study whether mifepristone can be safely administered, but she says no scientific data would be enough. but it's fair to say, given your the beliefs of your organization, that you would you would not want to see this drug back on the market. >> oh, i would not want to see this drug back on the market, i think. i think chemical abortion does great harms to women and tir unborn children. but we certainly shouldn't be putting their health in danger no matter what. and that's what this lawsuit is really about. sarah: back in alexandria, virginia, whole woman's health ceo hagstrom miller is bracing for a ruling that takes mifepristo off the market. >> i think people know that what happens in texas doesn't stayn texas. some of the most progressive states in the country will face restrictions if this lawsuit is successful. sarah: if that's the case, her clinics and obgyns across the country will be forced to use only misoprostol for miscarriage and early abortion care.

while taking the two pills together is 99.6% effective in terminating early pregnancy, misoprostol alone, although still extremely safe, is about 80% effective. >> there's more cramping, there's more bleeding, there's nausea, there's diarrhea. and that matters, right? that matters to pregnant people. people should have access to the highest level of medical care and should be able to have the best research and the best science. sarah: clinic manager shaelin nauta says her biggest concern is that women will think they have no options. >> this will absolutely have an impact on the misinformation and on what people believe to be true so finding out that that is banned could really turn a lot of people away from not only having a medication abortion, but abortion care in general. sarah: a decision in the case could come as soon as this friday. for the pbs news hour and kaiser health news, i'm sarah varney in amarillo, texas.

♪ geoff: continuing our series ahead of the one-year anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion, ukrainian'' loyalties have sometimes been described as divided,between those who speak russian and ukrainian, between those who want to maintain historical ties with moscow and those who see a future in the e.u. and nato. but nick schifrin reports that in war, ukraine is crafting a new, united union. he tells that story through three russian-speaking cities, and three ukrainian mayors, starting in the south. >> in the first days of the war the mayor got a phone , call. russian official who assumed he would betray his country said, open the city gates. he said, go [beep] yourself. we met him at a shelter for ukrainians fleeing occupied territory.

before the full-scale invasion, he was a central figure in ukraine's pro-russian political party. he once ran for president, backed by pro-russian politicians. >> listen, i've never been pro-russian. i've been sanctioned by russia since 2018. >> vilkul has long denied supporting russia. but on ukrainian tv, he routinely called the 2014 revolution that overthrew a pro-russian president a "coup." one of the revolutions leaders fought him in the studio. but that was a different time. before russia's total war to, quote, "liberate russian speakers from ukraine's nazi government." >> russia mistakenly believed that those people in ukraine who speak russian, or those who are orthodox, it means that they love russia. putin made a huge mistake. the division that he created in the last few months will last for generations. >> and so, what's the future of the relationship between the people of this city, this region, many of whom speak russian and russia?

>> does it matter which language we speak? we're ukrainian, we're patriotic, and we will be -- we don't have a common past. we just have a divided future. >> a statue of a soviet pilot, and dismantled a soviet general. the subway station currently named for russian author leo tolstoy, will soon be called "place of ukrainian heroes." ukrainians trace their identity back to the 10th century. but for more than 300 years, the russian empire, and especially the soviet union, undermined any distinct, ukrainian character. ukraine gained independence in 1991, when the soviet union collapsed. and it is now breaking with its russian and soviet past, a process that start to accelerate in 2014, during russia's initial invasion of ukine, and annexation of crimea. >> when i was here in 2014, some -- iot the sense that some residents of this city had sentiments toward ukraine, and some toward russia.

what are the sentiments of residents in kharkiv today? >> 2014 and today, these are two different eras. as if a whole generation has passed. nick: igor terkhov is the mayor of kharkiv. we also met him last summer. he says residents once proud of their russian or soviet heritage, are now proud to be ukrainian, and horrified by the destruction and crimes russia has inflicted. >> yes, there were times when people wanted to be friends with russia. now, what they have done here has changed people's perceptions 180 degrees. and what putin did, he turned the people of kharkiv against him, and against russia. nick: 300 miles south, odessa is southern ukraine's largest city. the city was founded in the late 18th century by one of russia's greatest rulers, catherine the great. it was one of the russian empire's most important ports. and mayor gennadiy trukhanov was a senior member of the main political party with pro-russian

sentiments. but immediately after last february's full-scale invasion, he posed a rhetorical question in response to putin's claimed defense of odessa's russian speakers. >> who the -- are you planning to defend here? today, odesa has changed because we see what is happening in our country. how our ukrainian cities are being destroyed. and we clearly understand who's doing that, russian soldiers. >> people got together, no matter what languages they speak, because they realized that russia brings destruction. nick: he is a professor of ukrainian history atarvard. >> what we certainly witnessed today is an extremely important moment in the birth of a new ukrainian nation and really formation of a new type of ukrainian state. nick: 160 years ago, president abraham lincoln dedicated the

soldiers' cemetery at gettysburg, as read by an actor. >> we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom. nick: on new year's day, ukrainian president volodymr zelensky echoed lincoln. on february 24, we woke up to become a different people, a different ukraine. the first rockets became a wake-up call and we finally realized who is who. what our friends are capable of, what our enemies are capable of, but most importantly, what we are capable of. >> ukraine was born as an independent state in december of 1991. but the question was, there was a state that still had to acquire being a nation. it wasn't fighting for one particular language, it was for independence.

-- for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin in kyiv. geoff: your favorite tv comedies likely owe a lot to larry wilmore. as the creator or guiding force behind some of the most popular and most impactful sitcoms and comedy shows over the last 30 years. starting in the 1990's, as a writer on hit shows like in living color, and the fresh prince of bel-air, to creating and executive producing the bernie mac show, which earned him an emmy for writing. from there, consulting on the office before executive producing black-ish. in 2015, wilmore hosted his own late-night talk show, "the nightly show with larry wilmore," which ran for two seasons on comedy central. now, he's tapping into his experiences in late-night for a primetime comedy that abc recently announced.

i spoke with him earlier about how his work has challenged traditional notions of politics, race, and comedy, in the process, helping to shape the broader cultural conversation. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. it is great to speak with you. larry: thank for having me on. geoff: before you were a writer and producer, you were a standup comic. what drew you to it? larry: standup comedy offered the opportunity to create something because you have to write an act and even though it is scary at first, it was one of the best decisions i ever made because you find out kind of who you are, you have to make strangers laugh all the time. it was really diving headfirst into that, really trying to get control of my career to a certain point in that time. geoff: he credits as his influences johnny carson, richard pryor, steve martin, monty python, and flip wilson. >> don't touch me. >> it was so funny. >> you don't know me that well.

larry: and i just wanted to be him, you know? and i used to make my parents laugh. i would do geraldine and all that, you know, and i would do impressions, you know, you better watch it, fool, you know, do stuff like that. geoff: ultimately, though, you abandoned the standup comic route because you felt like you couldn't find a lane for yourself. tell me more about that. larry: that's true. so what happened was i did a lot of, you know, what you might call a hodgepodge kind of stand up act. i did political humor, i did impressions, i did social commentary. i did things like that. and at thatime, i thought hollywood was only interested in one type of black comedian. and robert townsend kind of lampooned that in hollywood shuffle where we said we need somebody more urban. they would use those kind of terms, you know, kind of somebody more mur-phonic like eddie murphy. geoff: murphonic. [laughter] larry: yeah. i felt like if i wanted to have a space in hollywood, i would have to create that space for myself. i was very influenced by what spike lee had done in film at the time. what keenen ivory wayans had

done, you know, with in living color and that kind of stuff. and so i thought, if i start writing and producing, i can maybe create a space for my type of voice. and so that's what i did at that time. >> welcome to the home boys shopping network. geoff: you mentioned in living color. you were a writer on that show. it was really a seminal moment in culture. it launched the careers of very people like jim carrey, jamie foxx, david alan grier, the wayans brothers. what was that experience like? larry: the amount of talent that went through was really kind of surreal cause in those days, if you worked on a living color, people went crazy, like, say, so what do you do? i go, oh, i write for television. oh, really? the didn't seem that impression. well, what shows you write for? i write for in living color. in living color? oh, my god. like people, the energy they had for that show, it was so interesting. and i think because we were pushing boundaries at that time that we hadn't really been pushed before, especially in race and culture. and people were so excited to

see that on their television. so i'll forever be grateful for that experience. geoff: what was it about the 1990's? because i'm convinced that the 1990's were sort of this high, high point in cultural creation, but black cultural creation in particular, from tv to fashion to music to movies just across the board. what was it about that time? larry: i think a lot of black culture was finding its voice during that time after not having a voice for a long time, because many like if you talk about black shows on television, many of them were created and run by white people, you know, and those were good shows, but they just had a different voice to them, a different gaze, as i like to call it. and when more black creators had an opportunity to create things so much creativity, just pouredout. -- just poured out. and i think the audiences were grateful to see all these different voices on tv, you know, with all these things that that they had to offer. so a lot of it, i think, geoff was the energy that was coming out of that. you know, it was kind of a

joyous energy of, hey, we get to be we get to be on this show now, you know. quick some want to thank larry wilmore for teaching me to write television as well as he did. >> he has inspired the next generation of comedians and creators including quinta brunson star and creator of the hit, award-winning sitcom abbott elementary on abc. larry: i had quinton the nightly show back in the day, back in 2015, you know, and i immediately said, oh, wow, she's she's got a -- she has got a toolbox. i saw in quinta just this ability to keep expanding what her skill set is, you know, and to do it at such a high level because she started off making like little videos, i think from facebook and that kind of stuff and was that buzzfeed? and she pt increasing like her skill set of what she does and she does it so fast. i mean she is at the top of her game as a showrunner creator, and actor. that's crazy.

just when you think about it in that short amount of time. and she's crushing it too, so i'm so proud of her. i was so surprised when she called me out. i was like what? ,it was a really cool moment. >> it's your fantasy. >> i will always be here what if guy. geoff: and he has worked with issa rae, co-creating her breakout show "insecure" for hbo. what about issa rae in the early days signaled success to you? larry: there was nothing in premium cable quite like that at that time. you know, a show from black woman's point of view that was a little different. she was kind of the underdog and issa had a very interesting quality where you really wanted to be her friend. you know, she was kind of like a that girl next door type of thing. very empathetic. you know, there's -- she has all these kind of -- i call them quiet qualities, but they're very interesting. you can't take your eyes off of her. there's something going on. and she's so nice and she's so funny and really so smart. you know, i saw so much

potential in her at that time. so it was a joy figuring that show out. geoff: you seem to be really intentional about mentoring younger artists. larry: yeah, i enjoy it a lot. i think i come from a family of teacrs all around in my family and, you know, it kind of frees you up to take the attention off of yourself, you know? and i learn a lot from mentoring too. it's honestly not just a one way street, but it is impoant for me. and i think it's because of the time i came up in if i can help somebody to get through that door also, then i like doing it. i always used to joke. i say, if i get my foot in the or, i'm just going to keep that door open and say, come on, everybody come on through as many people and as youan. so it's kind of that philosophy too. geoff: larry wilmore, it's a real privilege to speak with you. thanks for your time. larry: the pleasure's all mine. stick around for the whole hour, you guys. it's pbs news hour, not half hour. okay.

geoff: we will be hard-pressed to find a better seal of approval than that. amna: what a great interview. geoff: that is the newshour for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: and i am amna. thank you for joining us. >> 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 consumer cellular.tv. >> it was like an ah-ha moment. this is what i love doing. companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i am helping people reach their dreams. i am thriving by helping others every day. people who know know bdo.

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national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> 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. >> the pbs newshour has a rich legacy of strong reporti. >> the enormity of this moment is not lost on me. people turn to us because they know, they can hear from trusted sources of information and news. >> that won't change a bit, even as the faces behind the news change. ♪ >> you are watching pbs.

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