♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: a i'm amna nawaz. on "the newshour" tonight... as the world enters the fourth yearf ling with covid, we speak to the director of the centers for disease control about what we've learned and where we go from here. geoff: how the shifting nature of work during the pandemic led to an unexpected rise in birth rates, with far-reaching implications for the u.s. economy. >> a lot of people were working from home, especially the more educated women. and we thought that this workplace flexibility may have played a role in their ability to both have children and maintain their busy work lives. amna: and... iran's future on the world stage becomes increasingly uncertain amid continuing protests, suspected poisoning of school-age girls, and advancements in nuclear enrichment. ♪

>> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including -- leonard and norma klorfine, and koo and patricia yuan. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. ♪ ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: good evening and welcome to "the newshour." for thousands of people in california, the punishing clean-up from back-to-back blizzards goes on tonight amid mountains of snow. geoff: winter in the california mountains has turned out to be more like a natural disaster, especially east of los angeles. william brangham has our report. william: as snow continues to blanket various parts of california, residents are still trying to find ways to get out from under it. patricia derleth lives in a mobile home complex in the san bernardino mountains, where at least 10 feet of snow has fallen. patricia: this place is a disaster zone.

william: many people are just emerging for the first time in days, inching their way through dug-out paths. some have to trek long distances just to get necessities like food and medicine. john: just hiking back now with the food. i'm actually trying to get to the hilltop, that's the only place we can get phone service to make a phone call. william: crews are working around the clock to rescue those who are still trapped. they're using special equipment to dig routes to safety and deploying as much help as they can. chief estes: and that preparedness part of it is key for us. it also deals with a lot of specialized equipment and resources based on what we think we're gonna see on the forecast. william: officials reopened interstate 80 this morning, after shutting it down in several mountain towns over the weekend. but california isn't done with this extreme weather yet. more snow -- and later rain -- is predicted for this week. the heavy combination could collapse more roofs and cause other structural damage

-- structural damage. meanwhile, winter weather is again hitting the midwest. minnesota woke up today to snow covered roads and high winds, as did much of the great lakes region. the northeast is girding for its arrival next. for "the pbs newshour," i'm william brangham. amna: all told, 13 counties in california are under states of emergency because of the massive snowfall. it's been one month since a deadly earthquake rocked the turkey/syria border region, and the u.n. is warning that it doesn't have the funds to help. the world body says an appeal for $1 billion dollars to help survivors is only 10 percent funded. silence has fallen over destroyed cities like hatay in southern turkey. the u.n. says hundreds of thousands of people still need humanitarian aid. in eastern ukraine, commanders in the blasted city of bakhmut are vowing again to hold out. a non-stop russian assault

continued today, and one ukrainian officer described the situation as utter hell. drone footage from inside bakhmut showed miles of scarred ruins. a military spokesman told ukrainian tv that defenders are under constant pressure. shandyba: it's tough. the enemy's assaults happen all the time. they try to capture out positions, small groups attempt to carry out assaults. in the past couple of days, the number of people in those groups have increased. but so far, they've failed. amna: u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin said today that even if the russians finally capture bakhmut, it would be a symbolic victory only. back in this country, more than 20 people face domestic terrorism charges in atlanta after a violent protest on sunday. it happened at a construction site for a new police training center. surveillance video showed demonstrators throwing flaming bottles, fireworks and rocks. construction equipment was also set on fire. the project has been a flashpoint for months.

police shot and killed one protester in january. california will stop doing business with walgreens after the pharmacy chain halted sales of the abortion pill mifepristone in 20 republican-run states. democratic governor gavin newsom tweeted today he is done with any company that "cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk." newsom ordered state-funded insurance plans to review all dealings with walgreens. the u.s. transportation department says 3 top airlines have agreed to eliminate family seating fees in some cases. american, alaska and frontier airlines say they'll let parents with young children sit together at no extra cost if seats are available at booking. those carriers will get a green check mark on a new dashboard that went online today. and, wall street mostly marked time today. the dow jones industrial average gained 40 points to close at 33,431.

the nasdaq fell 13 points. the s&p 500 was up 2. still to come on "the newshour"... iran vows to punish anyone found responsible for the poisoning of school-age girls... speeches by leading republicans highlight the choice voters face on the direction of their party... remembering an activist's lasting contributions to disability rights... plus 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. geoff: it was three years ago this month when the u.s. began shutting down due to the explosive spread of covid-19. the country is now into its fourth year with the virus, and it's fair to say that to many people, the pandemic is over. but covid isn't done with us. the cdc reports there were nearly 2300 deaths tied to covid over the last week, and more

than 3000 people hospitalized each day with it on average. throughout the panmic, the centers for disease control and prevention has been criticized for its response, and the agency is now undergoing a major reorganization after an internal review identified shortcomings. i'm joined now by cdc director dr. rochelle walensky. welcome back. dr. walensky: thank you for having me. geoff: you said the cdc failed to respond quickly enough to the pandemic and the agency was responsible for public mistakes. what are you doing to address it? dr. walensky: i feel like our responsibility now is to be the public health agency of the future and to be sure that we are prepared for every next public health emergency that we face. we've done a huge amount of work within the agency. you mentioned reorganization, but much more work than that, including increasing the

rapidity at which we get science out, how that science gets out how we communicate it and how, , how quickly we're able to communicate it. and then really being a response based agency where we've always been kwn as an academic science based agency, but we also need to be a response based agency where we're ready to respond. so much of the work that we're doing within the agency is critically important. but we also really need help from congress to be all that we can be in public health. geoff: a question about the cdc being a response based agency. we talked with a number of public healt experts in advance of speaking with you and nearly all of them pointed to what they saw was the biggest, perhaps toughest challenge, which is changing the culture at the cdc. as you mentioned, it is an academic institution, but it has to be aimble, action focused agency. how are you going to accomplish that?

because reorganization by itself might not be enough. dr. walensky: i've said exactly that to the agency. the reorganization was necessary but not sufficient for the work that we need to do. we have been known as an exceptional science based agency and we need to be a response based agency. we have a responsibility such that when there is a public health urgency and emergency that we have a public health workforce within cdc and truly around the country that has -- they're driven and responder based. we're doing a lot of training within the agency. in part of our reorganization, we have escalated the readiness and response based office directly into the immediate office of the director. and there's a real motivation within the agency toward that change. that said, we're doing all of these efforts within the agency. but this is again another one of those areas where it would be super helpful to have congressional support. we don't enjoy many of the authorities that response stage based agencies like fema do enjoy.

for example, overtime pay or danger pay or direct hiring authorities. those are some of the authorities om human resource perspective. those would be incredibly helpful for us to be the full response based agency that we need to be. geoff: what about data sharing? does the cdc have the authority it needs to compel states to share data? i ask the question because the u.s. was relying on data from israel to ma recommendations for booster shots for americans and that raised a lot of questions and concerns. there's been a criticism that the cdc hasn't shared information as quickly as it needs to. dr. walensky: yeah, i'm glad you asked that question. we do need to share our data faster when we get it. and we have been actively doing that. and i think you can see some of the responses from our impacts response about how we were getting our data out faster. we've decreased our scientific clearance time by 50%. more work is happening there. but you raise a really critical

point, and that is, when people ask cdc for data, the most important question is does cdc have the data that is being asked of us? as you note, we rely on data coming in from 3000 counties and jurisdictions 64 states and our , territories and 574 tribes, and th all report the those data voluntarily. often those data are not standardized. and in fact, with the end of the public health emergency for covid specifically, we will lose the receipt as much of the data that people are traditionally used to seeing from the cdc. and that's another place where we are asking for congressional support to help with those data authorities so we can standardize the data, receive the data and then importantly, feed it back to the american people and feed it back to those jurisdictions so they know what's happening around them. geoff: is there a way to insulate the cdc from partisan influence, from the political whimof the day? dr. walensky: you know, so much of what we need to do is foundational in the science that

we deliver, and yet we need to understand the dialogue of the policies around us and recognize that health is not in a vacuum. as we are delivering in ou school-based guidance, we really do need to understand the intersection of the department of education. as we are looking at our health care guidance, we really need to understand how we intersect at our department of labor. so much of what we need to do is foundational in the science that we deliver, and then it is critically important that we intersect with some of these other places across the government. so that that those policies that are scientifically based can actually be implement it on the ground. geoff: covid has been part of our lives for nearly four years now. is the u.s. better prepared, better positioned to respond to the next pandemic? dr. walensky: we are doing that work right now. and so much of that work is in bolstering our public health workforce in the cdc and across the country, bolstering our

laboratories and da systems across the country. what i will say is we started on a very frail under invested public health infrastructure, and i know people are tired of talking about the pandemic. but we started with a frail public health infrastructure. we've made great strides, but we are not where we need to be to be fully prepared for the next pandemic, and that is the hard work we have ahead and the real reason that we need ongoing investments in public health. geoff: lastly, the biden administration as you mentioned, plans to end the emergency declarations tied to covid-19 in may. there are more than 3000 people hospitalized each day with this virus. there are vulnerable communities, people with pre-existing conditions, older americans, who feel they are left to fend for themselves and everybody else has moved on.

what would you say in your capacity as the director of the cdc to those folks? dr. walensky: i would say that whether or not there is a declared public health emergency, our mission is unchanged with regard to covid-19 and to protecting the health, safety and security of all americans. will continue to work on covid-19 and all other health public health threats with the ongoing investment and vigor as we've had during the public health emergency. geoff: dr. rochelle wilensky, thank you. amna: the covid pandemic had impacts both big and small. one unexpected effect -- a small baby boom. it's the first major reversal in declining u.s. fertility rates since 2007. special correspondent and "washington post" columnist catherine rampell reports on the surprise pandemic baby bump. >> ♪ you are my sunshine my only sunshine ♪ reporter: if this woman sounds

professional when signing to her daughter, that's because she is. a few short years ago, she was performing in front of a bigger audience with broadway aspirations. >> it was like ok, this is my year, i had had shots, a great meeting with my agent, i'm going to go for it, get this dream job and then the pandemic hit. reporter: and her career was put on pause. >> my agent said i'm going to be real, theater is probably closed for at least a year. if i were you, i would think about what else you want to be doing during this time. we looked at each other and i said well, we have another nine months, so should we have a baby, is this the time? it's never been right because i

did not want to stop auditioning. catherine: this trend extends well off-broadway. she is part of the pandemic baby boom. even in my own social circl seemingly everyone had a baby the last two years. this was unexpected. for many years, birthrates have been trending downwardsbut especially when the economy was weak. >> and all of the recessions in recent history, birth rates have gone down pretty dramatically as the economy has contracted. people delayed having children. what's so interesting about the pandemic recession is birth rates went on to rise. it is not a big increase, a lot of people say this is a blip and that is true, but what is surprising is instead of seeing a massive decline, we've seen a slight increase, which surprised all of us. catherine: possible reasons? stimulus checks and government

help made this recession less painful. priorities change. >> i got pregnant on the iu daily -- iud. i think under normal circumstances we would have taken it differently. catherine: this couple had not been dating long but it was an intense perd since they were stuck at home. >> our value started to change. even though we were dating, before if we were going to go out to a bar d drink, now we were spending nights at home cooking. >> without covid, we probably would have done a lot more -- >> taken the long route. >> yeah. catherine: suddenly they were on the fast track. >> i asked, what if i am pregnant, do you want to keep the baby? he said maybe not. i woke up, it was a friday, tested, and it was positive. i was like uh-oh.

>> you also had to immediately go to your doctor. >> yeah, because i had an iud and it was going to be tricky. i was exhausted from the day and i took a nap on the couch and i woke up to him quietly crying on the couch with a smile on his face. he looks at me and says, i'm going to be a dad. [laughter] so that was sweet. catherine: and along came there baby. one factor that made the idea of becoming parents less daunting? their work lives had changed. >> before covid i was traveling a lot and that went to zero. >> i was teaching. you're getting up to get there before the kids, staying up for the kids and it doesn't leave a lot of room to do much else. >> you would just come home and go to sleep, right? when you are teaching in the classroom. then all of a sudden the next day you could get up and wear sweatpants. catherine: when schools returned

to in person instruction, amy decided to become a consultant so she could continue working remotely. >> social -- to still have that aspect of me that likes to work and wants to have a career but also be able to balance my family. catherine: the broader shift to remote work might help partly explainethat national baby bump. >> a lot of people are working from home, especially more educated women, and we thought this may have played a role in their ability to both have children and maintain their busy work lives. catherine: women with college degrees are more likely to be in white collar careers that can go remote. >> there is a big educational divide. women with more education or the ones having a lot more children. exceeding trends and increasing birthrates. women with less than a college education, not only saw birthrates go down, but they barely covered to trend by the end of 2021. catherine: the uptick w more pronounced for first-time parents.

those who already had kids had a lot to deal with. >> the closure of childcare and schools, remote schooling for their kids, those things were tricky and it was not the right time to expand your family. on the other hand, a lot of people without children did not have the same constraints. catherine: people already trapped at home with a toddler or kindergartner or two, they said no mas. newfound work flux ability is a key reason why callie became a mom. >> before the pandemic we had been long distance and trying to figure how to get in the same city and we were both able to work from home. that allowed us to be in the same place. catherine: before isaac was born, callie had been living in seattle for work and then moved back east. in the span of a year, she and her partner got married, bought a house and started their family. >> i think the pandemic accelerated everything by like five years for us.

we were both really focused on our careers. we were in a very different life stage before. catherine: she eventually transferred to an office closer to her now husband and has continued working remotely for now. >> they are requiring us to return four days a week so i will be going back into an office. catherine: and callie isn't alone. >> we are in a transition period and we don't know what companies or firms will be saying even a yearrom now. catherine: birthrates are key to what happens to the labor market and broader economy. >> if every woman is having a little more than two kids on average, our native population stays constant. we are down for a total fertility rate, the expected number of kids a woman will have in her lifetime is closer to 1.6. that is substantially low for a placement rate. it matters because absent a large increase in immigration,

it means in the not-too-distant future, our working age population is going to shrink. catherine: among other things, fewer people working means fewer people paying taxes to support retirement programs. >> if our fertility remains at 1.66 as opposed to 2.1, that means soci security benefits are going to have to be cut by more or payroll taxes are going to have to increase by more than current projections would say. >> ♪ if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands ♪ catherine: to us, these may look like cute toddlers. but two economists, they are critical future workers. >> ♪ if you're happy and you know it ♪ catherine: and that's a reason to celebrate. for the pbs newshour, i am catherine rammpell. ♪

geoff: today, iran's supreme leader called still-unexplained cases of sickness among iranian schoolgirls an unforgivable crime. iranian authorities say inhe last three months, more than one thousand girls have fallen ill in more than 100 schools. the incidents curred as the regime cracked down on and national protests, and as iran further accelerated its nuclear program. nick schifrin begins with the cases of mysterious illness across that country. nick: they go to study, and end up sick. iranian schoolgirls, gasping for air. some, their symptoms so serious, taken away by ambulance. "we don't want to die," they shout. in dozens of schools across the country, there has been chaos and fear. and hospitals near the schools are packed with young girls struggling with breathlessness and nausea. in most cases, students complained of a foul smell, then ll ill.

>> it was p.e. class, when we went to the hall we smelt something like perfume. >> i have severe numbness. i n't walk at all. >> the students all felt the same symptoms as me. they had coughs. some of them said their eyes burned. nick: the first suspected incident was reported in november in the holy city of qom, south of tehran. now, iranian officials admit suspected cases have spread to more than 20 of iran's 31 provinces. angry parents are taking to the streets, in videos blurred to protect them from government retribution. this protest, outside the department of education in tehran. the next to be poisoned will be yours, they chant. it's still unknown who, or what is responsible. the iranian regime launched an investigation, but has made no arrests, or conclusions. today, iranian supreme leader ali khamenei broke his silence, saying those responsible would receive the death penalty. ayatollah khamenei: if there truly is vandalism and there are individuals or groups behind this matter, this is a great and

unforgivable crime. the culprits must face the toughest of punishments. because this is not a small crime. this is a crime against the most innocent part of society meaning children. nick: but the regime has targeted innocent children, and thousands of demonstrators. last year iranians launched their most widespread protests in more than a decade. they were led by women, many of them teenagers. the regime responded with force. human rights organizations accuse authorities of using excessive force and killing hundreds of largely peaceful protestors, including dozens of children. authorities have also imprisoned hundreds more on what human rights groups call dubious charges, and issued dozens of death sentences. that has largely ended these demonstrations, but activists are calling for more protests tomorrow. for more on human rights in iran, and recent steps that iran has taken to advance its nuclear program, we turn to behnam ben taleblu, a senior fellow at the foundation for defense of democracies, a think tank in washington.

thank you, welcome to the newshour. today, a national security council spokesperson told me the u.s. is calling for a "critical -- " credible, independent" investigation into the schoolgirl poisonings. is that the correct approach? behnam: it is, there are about 1000 reports of these poisonings since november, after protests led by women and young girls, which is continuing. the regime has been ford by parent pressure and social pressure into conducting an investigation. today the supreme leader talked about the poisonings for the first time b it is highly likely if there is an investigation by the government of iran, it may point the finger elsewhere. nick: we will continue to focus on that sry but i want to

switch you to another story, iran's advancing nuclear program. the nuclear watchdog found on an unannounced visit to one of iran's nuclear sites, enriched particles up to 84%. why is that significant? behnam: 84 percent is just a hop, skip and jump away from 90%, which is wh you need for weapons grade uranium. a decade ago, people were trying to stop iran from enriching at any level, 3% or 5%. what the 2015 nuclear deal tried to cap was just under 5%. the last few years, the regime has resumed to enrich, and the regime went to 60% purely -- purities, which it was not comfortable doing until now. 84% was the regime testing the

redlines of the west, perhaps dissing for -- practicing for a future scenario. nick: the head of the iaea visited tehran and said in a press coverage that iran would allow the restoration of iaea cameras iran had removed and work with the iaea. but back in vienna, he said that will depend on future discussions. how do you think the international community could hold iran to its thomases -- it's promises? behnam: the regime is increasing its output and diminishing much of the monitoring. the iaea monitor said they still don't know where iran is making centrifuge rotors and bellows and heavy water output and several other technical components that go into the regime's nuclear program that

were supposed to be monitored and governed by safeguards. after he departs, you have a host of iranian hard-line media outlets and people affiliate with hard-line establishment in iran talking about the things he had said and agreed upon were not true. it makes sense he said much of this hinges on iranian political promises. that has always been the challenge with the islamic republic, it's always voluntary and political when the regime remains in the nuclear drivers take -- driver c. nick: the u.s. has a decision to center iran. the u.s. has argued that it has taken steps to deter iran and prevent further iranian attacks, including one in saudi arabia let's listen to the national security. >> the u.s. has acted against

iran, enhanced capability partners, establish new maritime works, and at times exposed and deterred imminent threats to the region. just last month in the eastern mediterranean, we held the largest joint military exercise ever in that part of the world, something our adversaries certainly noticed. nick: do you think iran has gotten the message that the u.s. has assumed? behnam: those things are necessary but not efficient to change the regime's calculus. the men at the helm are ultra-hard-line and the things they remember are the u.s. withdrawal from iraq and afghanistan. besting america in syria in recent years, if you will, showing the regime has greater staying power than the u.s. in the heartland of the middle east. finding new and innovative ways to proliferate weapons not just in the middle east, but with military ties with russia and

iran, even into the heart of europe. these things are necessary but not sufficient. the change of calculus on the nuclear, you need a snapping back or restoration of tougher multilateral sanctions that used to exist. that option is only legal and politically available to america and europe until 2025 and then it goes away. if increasing military threats by the regime, increasing domestic suppression and nuclear escalation are not sufficient to trigger that mechanism, a question for the administration is what is? nick: thank you very much. ♪ amna: which person and what message would offer the republican party the best chance to win back the white house next year? those are two questions generating a lot of discussion

among potential candidates and grassroots activists. lisa desjardins has this roundup of the weekend debate. lisa: the republican field is taking shape. mr. hogan: it was a tough decision, but i have decided that i will not be a candidate for the republican nomination for president. lisa: as former maryland governor larry hogan, a moderate, says he'll sit out the 2024 race for the white house. his concern, splitting the opposition to former president donald trump. mr. hogan: i didn't want to have a pileup of a bunch of people fighting. lisa: one potential candidate still deciding -- new hampshire governor chris sununu also wants to move past trump, but will back him if he wins the nomination. gov. sununu: yeah, look, i'm a lifelong republican. i'm going to support the republican nominee. lisa: this, as trump -- announcer: president donald j. trump! lisa: -- heard cheers saturday on political home turf. his speech at cpac, the conservative political action

conference, was a mix of philosophy and fabrication. but something new -- the former president who once railed against mail-in and some early voting is changing strategy. mr. trump: republicans must compete using every lawful means to win. that means swamping the left with mail-in votes, early vote and election day votes. lisa: trump, in the midst of multiple investigations, told reporters he will stay in the race even if indicted. on stage he seemed to lash out at key rival ron desantis, who once wanted to privatize social security. mr. trump: we are not going back to people who want to destroy our great social security system, even some in our own party. i wonder who that might be. lisa: the florida governor, who nasa's -- who now says he won't disrupt social security wasn't , at cpac. he told others last week that republicans have sat back like potted plants and need to sh on cultural issues. that is the theme for other

republicans as well, including at cpac, where some remarks about anti-lgbtq and anti-transgender legislation ignited immediate concern. >> the political stakes for our country are very high. lisa: conservative author and commentator michael knowles drew criticism for these words. >> transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely. lisa: which some said amounted to a call for genocide. knowles, who has made similar remarks before, both doubled down and pushed back on his online show. >> nobody's calling to exterminate anybody because the other problem with that statement is that transgender people is not a real ontological category. it's not a legitimate category of being. lisa: transgender is a recognized category in science, medicine and, per one recent study, the identity of some 1.6 million americans. as republicans pushed further right, a democrat from the left jumped in.

>> i'm a candidate for the office of president of the united states. lisa: all thor -- author marianne williamson, whose 2020 attempt failed, announced her long-shot campaign, making her the first democrat to challenge president biden. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. amna: presidential primary voters will cast their first ballots in less than a year. as the field begins to take shape and pressure mounts, divisions withinhe gop are becoming clearer. for an insider's view on what's happening, we have doug heye, the former communications director to house majority leader eric cantor and to the republican national committee. and david avella, chairman of gopac, a republican super pac which trains and assists candidates up and down the ballot. welcome to you both. david, let's start with governor hogan's decision not to run, specifically to discourage a crowded field he believes could benefit former president trump. if you are another potential

candidate polling in single digits like he was, do you have the same concerns? david: absolutely, you look at randy site -- ron desantis, over $90 million in his bank account, clearly right now a contender to be the nominee, and you are looking back and saying where do i get the oxygen? that's what governor hogan said, he said so much of the oxygen is taken up by former president trump and governor desantis that there isn't a lane for me and that's why he passed. amna: you see it the same way? doug: i dupe you that's part of how the rnc -- i do. that's partly because of how the artsy is structured. if david is running against me and gets one more vote, he gets all the delegates paid if you are 2% or 4% in the polls and it is winner take all, if your concern is donald trump, you are at 2%, 6% may be helping donald trump to get all of the delegates in a particular state.

amna: when you look at the field of potentials and even governor hogan, who has said he's not running, the popularity of republican governors in blue states or purp states does not seem to be translating nationally right now. charlie baker left massachusetts, went to run the ncaa. governor hogan is not running. doug: governors are known in their states. they are really known that well outside their states. they have to work hard on that process. a good example is a guy named bill clinton. nobody knew nationally who he was. the criticism is he was a failed governor, republicans said, but of a small state. that was true then and it was hard for him to get note. it worked for him but that's what governors have to overcome in the early parts of the primary process. david: we are also seeing that not only are republican governors popular in democratic

led states but also republican led states. that's what you see the migration from traditionally democratic states, california, illinois, new york, to southern states, whether that be florida or tennessee or north carolina. all of those leading into where americans are ultimately moving to. republican governors democratic and republican states getting high approval marks. amna: when you look at some of the folks we heard from, potential candidates, nikki haley in particular, you see where they go to address potential voters. it seems like you either go to cpac for the populist crowd or you go to club for growth and talk to the establishment voters. is this where the rift is right now in the republican party? david: if you want to get republican voters, you go to social media, which is where anybody goes to amplify their message. amna: but only nikki haley went to both. david: governor desantis went to

california and the reagan library. the last few winters of the cpac straw poll was ted cruz, ron paul, ron paul and ron paul. it has not been a particularly good indicator of who our nominee is going to be. 80 president trump will ultimately be the nominee, but we have a long way to go. doug: i was wearing my 2012 iowa straw poll t-shirt, a lot of people forget who won in 2012, it was michele bachmann, whose campaign did not do well. she disregard straw polls good they are not even cotton candy level of nutritional value for politics. amna: you mentioned governors having trouble going outside their states. will ron desantis have tha problem? david: it doesn't look like it come he's well into the mid-20's to 30's depending on which poll you see. he clearly is getting -- his donor base is not just from florida, he's raising money across the country. he has gone the ability to get

some oxygen and attention and that's where he is in the polls right now. amna: he's running on this anti-woke agenda. when you look at governor hogan, who said i'm not going to run in this field, he was firmly a reagan republican. even wrote in ronald reagan for president in 2020. is that school of thought on elective in the republican party right now, the reagan republican? doug: i don't think we know yet. were coming up on the 40th anniversary of ronald reagan's even -- evil empire speech. if you look at the audience at cpac, for instance, not firmly behind ukraine right now, where they were a year ago. the republicans will be on this issue really depends quite often aware the voters will be, but also are they going to be able to lead in those areas and what is their traction going to be? he remains to be seen. i'm nervous about it, especially

on ukraine. but we have to wait and see. amna: the to canada's leading polls by a mile, former president trump and governor ron desantis, are not talking about the economy or texas or foreign policy. they are talking about social and cultural issues for is that what we will continue to see? david: i will push back, governor desantis does talk about the economic success they are having in florida. he does talk about the tax cuts they have pushed the last few years through the legislature. ultimately he's talking to social and economic conservatives, which if you're going to put a winning coalition together, you have to be able to talk to republicans who are concerned about the economy and about their security. amna: do you see it the same way? doug: i do. ron desantis hasn't taken any of the bay from donald trump. to use david's word, oxygen, that means he's denying donald trump some of the oxygen he needs, which means he's spoiling for a fight and he clearly wants

to get into a fight with desantis as he comes up with nicknames. ron desantis doesn't do things accidentally. choosing not to respond and that might not be sustainable for year but right now it is the smart and strategic thing to do. david: it is a playbook governor brian kemp used in georgia as former president trump came after him in the primary. he didn't engage and he ultimately went on to win not only the primary last year but also a huge one against stacey abrams, a democratic star. amna: a huge caveat, we have to say it is march 2023. [laughter] general and, thank you so much. tomorrow we will continue our conversation about the future of republican party when we sit down with former maryland governor larry hogan and new hampshire governor chris sununu. ♪ geoff: we will be back shortly.

but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. amna: it is a chance to offer your support which helps keep , programs like ours on the air. ♪ for those staying with us, we take a second look at an effort to spotlight native arts. indigenous american artists have historically been overlooked, but they are getting more attention these days. and one new project has found a way to push the movement further ahead. jeffrey brown has our encore report, for ouarts and culture series "canvas." jeffrey: on a hilltop in new york's hudson valley buildings , housing artworks created by contemporary indigenous artists from the u.s. and canada. among them, never forget by

tlingit artist nicholas galanin beauty, the beast by santa clara , pueblo artist rose simpson war , horse in babylon, by jaune quick-to-see smith, of the confederated salish and kootenai nation. curator candice hopkins... candace: i say it's a bit of an activist collection because it's meant to, it's meant to correct, you know, this absence, particularly for these major institutions that have -- jeffrey: an activist collection? candice: yes which means that it has a single purpose. you know, its purpose is to support the work of living artists making work right now. jeffrey: some of the activism is making sure it gets out in the world. >> absolutely. and we try to reduce as many barriers to that as possible. jeffrey: hopkins, a citizen of carcross tagish first nation in the canadian yukon territory, is

now executive director of forge project, co-founded in 2021 by philanthropist becky gochman and art dealer zach feuer with a clear mission: to support native artists through purchases of their work, and then to lend those wos to museums and other arts institutions, raising awareness of and access to native art. it's part of what hopkins sees as a growing movement. candice: a lot of people are recognizing that one of the missing narratives in american art history is actlly the narrative of the development o native art, and the influence native art has had, even on how we understand this country, how we understand the formation of this country. jeffrey: the buildings that house forge were originally designed by famed chinese artist ai wei wei. the location, the land itself is , important. >> forge is about establishing presence. it's about indigenous placemaking. and that's not just about people. jeffrey: it's not just about the art. and it's not just about the art, >>and it's not just about the art, it's about the places where we live. jeffrey: this is an area known as home to the famed 19th century 'hudson river school of art', landscapes that captured the drama and beauty, but not the original inhabitants who'd been killed or displaced farther

west. candice: to return to this region, i think for native folks is also to talk about what that was but also the longer histories of these lands. they've been populated for a long period of time. jeffrey: but forge's main target is the art world. its collection now has some 144 works by 48 artists. it has loaned art to institutions far and wide, including the hammer museum in los angeles and the tucson museum of art, and the winnie in new york. for hopkins, 45, it represents a shift from when she was first starting out. candice: there were so many good native artists working in contemporary art, but they still weren't getting the big shows. there was a kind of, you know, the beginnings of a kind of national conversation that had been coming actually since the sixties. but what they needed was, they needed allies in these large institutions. jeffrey: bias?

racism? hostility? what is it, what do you think? candice: i think that there was definite bias. and i think that, you know, most of the people that were in positions of power had no knowledge of this work, and they didn't take the time to get to know it. that shows that there's a kind of elitism that underpins a lot of institutions. and you know, it kept a lot of us, a lot of us out. ♪ jeffrey: forge also offers residencies to native artists of all kinds. one is laura ortman, a white mountain apache who's long lived and worked in new york. a musician and composer, her sonic genre bending has been heard and seen in performing arts venues and museum exhibitions. forge and other new initiatives, she says, are making a difference. laura: we can find each other through these pathways, artistically. which i was missing, for many decades.

something's happened, where that loneliness and isolation is disappearing. and why is that? because we're making spaces for ourselves. we are taking care of our communities making sure it's not silenced anymore. you know, it's incredible. i love that. jeffrey: also expanding the , scope, subject matter, and styles that define 'indigenous art' today. some contemporary artists are using older materials, such as beads, long considered the stuff of craft, in new ways. others find new paths to explore long-simmering issues of land use and displacement. candice: one of the definitions of native art is that we don't have boundaries between our, i would say our personal lives, our political lives and our artistic lives, because they're all intertwined. you know, in a way we don't have

that privilege. jeffrey: exhibitions of native artists at leading museums in recent years offer signs of change. forge aims to build on that momentum. candice: you need to have support from institutions and collectors. there needs to be critical writing about that work, so catalogs and essays. exhibitions. there needs to be an art market, so that work is being represented by galleries. jeffrey: in theory, if you're successful, then you wouldn't be needed anymore. candice: that's right. that would be, that would be success. jeffrey: that day remains far off. for now, the collecting and lending continue. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at forge project in new york's hudson valley. amna: that report was part of a series on contemporary native arts. you can find the other stories in that series on our website, pbs.org/news our -- pbs.org/news

our. geoff: judy heumann, who has been called the mother of the disability rights movement, has died at the age of 75. president biden in a statement noting her passing, called her a trail blazer, a rolling warrior for disability rights in america. heumann, who lost her ability to walk at age 2 after contracting polio, lobbied for legislation that led to the passage of the landmark americans with disabilities act. tonight, we hear her in own her own words as we revisit her "brief but spectacular" take on the disability rights movement. judy: when i was five years old in brooklyn, new york on east 38th street, my mother did what every other parent did when their kid was five. she took me to school to register me. and, uh, this was in the early 1950s. there were no motorized wheelchairs. so she pushed me to school and it wasn't accessible.

she pulled me up the steps and, um, the principal said i couldn't go to school because i was a fire hazard. i don't really know that there was an explanation. it just was. i think the average person, they see disability as a threat -- as a threat to not being able to do things as people have typically done them. and i think there's truth in that, but the question is, is it because one has a disability or because society itself has constructed itself in such a way, because they haven't seen us? discrimination against disabled people has existed from the beginning of time. and we're in a place right now, where, because of other movements, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, black lives matter movement, etc., people are speaking up and out. one of the first pieces of legislation that the disability

community really engaged in was getting regulations developed for a provision of law section 504. section 504 says you can't discriminate against someone who has a disability if the entity is receiving money from the federal government. it was the first time that many of these young disabled people felt a pt of something and really felt that they were making a difference, not only for their lives but for the lives of many others. there is a shift, i believe, going on in our society where we're looking at race and gender, equality, and disability as issues that we need to address. that diversity is something that makes our companies stronger. that diverse businesses provide better services for customers. i also am a very big believer that the disability rights

community cannot stand on its own. we need to be working with all other movements, and we want all other movements to be inclusive of disabled people. if we are actively learning and working together, we can do things like make sure when housing is being built in our communities, that i's accessible, not just for people that have physical disabilities today, but if you're going to have a physical disability tomorrow. i think having a disability really has allowed me to do and get in touch with so many things and opportunities that otherwise would not have happened. people look at us as a label of our disability. and it is a part of who we are, but it is not who we are. my name is judy heumann and this is my brief but spectacular take on the disability rights movement. geoff: hers was a life that made a difference. amna: she will be missed. geoff: that's the newshour for

tonight. tomorrow we will speak with this year's winner of architecture's most established award, the pritzker prize. amna: thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i am legally blind, and yes i am sponsor will for the user -- i am responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas.

more at kendedafund.org. ♪ supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

. >> hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> guilty verdict. >> the murder trial that captivated america. we dive into the saga of south carolina disgraced attorney alex murdaugh. then as battles rage in ukraine, i speak to a chinese blogger and his ukrainian wife in odesa about fighting disinformation and finding love in the time of war. and yemen's forgotten suffering. formerasketball player turned aid organizer joinse with a ve report from the ground. plus. >> we are strapping ourselves in for a roller coaster ride that no state inspector has looked at. >> steven levi editor at charge