john: tonight on pbs news weekend, the growing health concerns about so-called forever chemicals and what can be done to avoid them. then, as tcher shortages hit schools across the country, we look awhy there are so few black men leading classrooms. and a new documentary raising awareness of endometriosis, the often debilitating disease that's difficult to diagnose. >> this is a human iue. every single viewer watching this right now is affected by endometriosis. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by --

>> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

john: good evening, i am john yang. was another day of unsettled weather in the southeast, even as residen and rescue teams in mississippi combed through what's left of flattened homes and buildings. president biden declared a major disaster across the stretch of the mississippi delta that was ravaged by a deadly tornado late friday. that adds federal funds to the rebuilding effort. at least 25 people were killed in mississippi, dozens more were injured and hundreds were displaced as the storm ripped through several towns. overnight in georgia, storms destroyed entire city blocks. severe thunderstorm watches are still in effect in parts of the region. former president trump gave his first public remarks about a possible indictment in a new york case centering on hush money paents to several women. at his first 2024 campaign rally last night in waco, texas, mr. trump said it's all st politics. trump --

mr. trump: the new weapon being used by out of control, unhinged democrats to cheat on election is criminally investigating a candidate. they couldn't get it done in washington. so they said, let's use local offices. john: the manhattan grand jury hearing trump's case is expected to reconvene this week. if indicted, mr. trump would be the first former president ever to be charged with a crime. a fourth person has died as a result of an explosion on friday that leveled a chocolate factory outside philadelphia. three people are still missing. a weather camera in west redding captured the blast at the rm palmer plant. investigators are still trying to determine the cause. israeli prime minister benjamin nenyahu fired defense minister yoav gallant today, one day after gallant called on netanyahu to delay his contentious plan to overhaul the justice system. the plan has set off mass protests, unrest in the military and, now, cracks in the fragile governing coalition. following today's announcement, protestors returned to the streets, including near

netanyahu's own home in jerusalem. the israeli parliament is preparing for a vote on the proposal early this week. -- early next week. president biden is looking for a new person to lead the federal aviation administration. his previous nominee, phillip washington, has withdrawn from consideration after critics questioned his qualifications. he's currently head of denver's airport. the faa has not had a senate-confirmed administrator for nearly a year now, as commercial aviation has been plagued with close calls, i.t. malfunctions, and delays and cancellations. still to come on pbs news weekend, wife are there so few -- why are there so few black male teachers in american classrooms? and the story of a native american photographer who captured images of her own community. >> this is pbs news weekend, from weta studios in washington, home of the pbs newshour, weeknights on pbs.

john: there's a class of toxic chemicals so pervasive that they are found in food, soil, water, and in the blood of most people in america. earlier this month, the epa proposed the first-ever regulatory standard to limit the quantity allowed in drinking water. ali rogin looks at the growing health conceabout these chemicals. ali: pfas, sometimes called forever chemicals, repel fire, water, oil and stains and have been used since the 1940s in a wide variety of everyday products. you can find them in nonstick cookware, fast food wrappers, clothes, and cosmetics. but these man made chemicals don't break down easily, and a number of them have been linked to serious health problems. for more on their impact, we turn to erin bell. she's an environmental epidemiologist at the state university of new york at albany who studies human exposure to these toxins. erin, thank you so much for joining us. just how widespread are these chemicals?

erin: these chemicals have been detected in the drinking water and soil in every state of the united states, and it is also being detected in many countries across the world. a number of health concerns are related to exposure to these chemicals. they include impact on the immune system. folks with higher exposures are more likely to have thyroid changes, changes in kidney function, as well as higher cholesterol. we're also concerned about impacts on children with regards to low birth weight and neurodevelopment in those children. and there are a number of other health outcomes where the literature is more mixed. we sometimes see an association, other times we see less of an association and we have more work to do. these would include infertility factors around ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases. ali: and are these things that people can determine by taking a blood test? i mean, how how does one test to

see where their levels are? erin: that's correct. so for each individual, we measure concentrations in their blood, and that is the best way to determine the individual level of exposure for people who have lived in communities or for people in occupations that have these higher exposures. unfortunately, there's no consistent guidance or coverage from insurance companies for testing for pfas in your blood. if you contact your local health department, they will let you know if there are programs at the state level sponsored through state health departments, if they have opportunities for you to get tested. but this is a situation that we're still working on in terms of making sure there's coverage for people to get tested if they wish to know what their levels are. ali: now, the epa, as we mentioned in the introduction, is proposing a new regulation pertaining to pfas in water. can you explain what exactly this proposal would do? erin: there are 12,000 chemicals in the family of pfas.

the epa has suggested that for six of these chemicals, there should be a standard federal rule that would require that water utilities test for these six chemicals. and if they were above a certain level, that those levels be monitored for and companies be required to reduce their exposure in the water utility. ali: now six out of 12,000 doesn't sound like a lot. are we missing something here? are these very significant versions of these chemicals? erin: so that's an excellent question. and this is one of the challenges we have in the field. out of the 12,000, we've viously studied very few of them. so these six are particularly of concern because we know the most about them. we also have detected them in higher levels in drinking water across the country. however, it is quite literally a drop in the bucket. it is just a very small number.

there is concern in the scientific community that we will never catch up in terms of understanding what the health effects are for the much larger group of pfas's. ali: how is it that these companies are able to continue to manufacture products with these dangerous chemicals in them? erin: so historically, when we talk about environmental exposures and removing them from production, we focus on their persistence. they stay in the environment and in our bodies for a very long time. the newer versions are not as long lasting in the environment, however, because they are structurally designed to in essence do the same thing that made them good for production and for our consumer products. they're still related to some of these adverse health outcomes. so they're still being used because we have noregulated them and we still require them in the manufacturing process. and until those rules and laws change, then that will be allowed to happen. ali: so my understanding is that this epa rule, if it is

approved, is still going to take a few years before it's fully operational. so what kind of things can people do if they want to begin reducing their exposure now? erin: there are a number of things that people can do and communities can do. the first is awareness. please be sure and keep mindful of what might be going on in your community, especially in the drinking water. if you are not sure what the levels of pfas are in your drinking water, you can contact your local water utility, your state health department, as well as any university or college researchers that are in the area. in terms of reduction, we can use filters on our water systems and in our homes. you also want to be mindful of what you use on an individual basis. again, minimizing fast food wrappers, the wrappers are lined with these materials as well as microwave popcorn is another example. pots and pans have these linings . as they become scratched the pfas can leach into the food and cause us more exposure.

so again, be mindful of that. and as you replace them with things that are nonstick with that don't have the nonstick chemicals or have the other types of coatings on them that would potentially have these chemicals. ali: erin bell with suny albany, thank you so much for your time. er: thank you. john: this past week, employees from los angeles schools went on strike, demanding, among other things, staffing increases. but teacher shortages are an issue beyond l.a. more than half of public schools report being understaffed. and bringing diversity into the classroom is a big part of that. in the 2020-2021 school year, fewer than 2% of teachers were black men, while 61% were white women. earlier i spoke with mark joseph of "call me mister," a program that aims to recruit and retain diverse students pursuing careers in education. i asked him why there are so few

black male teachers today. >> i think part of it is there is a huge disconnect with many african-american male students in terms of their fit in today's classrooms. many of them are in those spaces day in and day out. they don't feel seen. they don't feel connected. they just don't understand their role and their place or really how school plays a significant impact in their lives moving forward. that's why what we have been able to do as a program is take those same experiences that they've had during that k-12 journey and address those things in a kind of way to where we can emphasize leadership, we can emphasize relationships, and we can emphasize development in terms of being able to go back to serve in those spaces that you didn't see yourself leading at one point in time. john: how much of this is a

vious cycle? you talk about young black students not feeling seen, not feeling involved. how much would it help to have teachers who look like them at the head of the classroom? mark: yeah, i think it's extremely important. we all know and understand there is no magic potion that we could take and there is no magic pill. the reality is that those same african-american males that everyone says they're looking for, we know and understand that they sit in our classrooms day in and day out. however, the reality is how do we tap into their potential so that these same individuals can then return into those classroom spaces, leading those classrooms, instructing those classrooms, really connecting to students in a way that only they could do it. john: you know, lately w've been seeing the public schools become sort of the battleground

for the culture wars. do you think that might lead or discourage some black men from going back as teachers? mark: i believe so. you know, educatn as we w know it and understand has really taken a significant hit in theublic's eye and so the natural understanding is, why would i want to go into that space if all i'm hearing about education and being a teacher is so negative? why do why would i find myself in that position? one of the things that we try to do and live by, how do we change the narrative of what it means to be an educator in this day and age? because truthfully, we realize the challenges, we realize the the hardships that may encounter being an educator. but the truth of the matter is what generation didn't encounter some level of challenge and because of the commitment of the previous generation, it has given us an opportunity to do

what we're passionate about today. it has given us an opportunity to serve our communities, our schools, and most importantly, our young people in a way that it will benefit them to be able to move forward in our society. john: tell me specifically, what is call me mister doing to try to achieve all these goals? mark: our program is designed to address retention, recruitment and development. and so when we look at it on the recruitment end, we know we can't just recruit individuals into the profession the same way we have done many years before. we've learned how to leverage and use our stories and the stories of many of the educators that have gone through this program to really connect to the students that we try to recruit. the retention piece is so critical as well becau it makes no sense to bring individuals into the program and you can't retain them. it's an opportunity and an

experience where young african-american males get an opportunity to work together. they get to go to classes together. they get to study together. you get to do it with the cohort of individuals with that same fire, that same passion, and thatame passion and with that same love of being an educator and serving our young people. and then the last component, the developmental stages. we do know and understand that in order to become that effective teacher, we have to put our individuals through a developmental process. all students deserve an effective educator, an educator that's willing to see them, and an educator that's willing to to move them forward, an educator that's willing to create new experiences and opportunities not just for one typof students, but all students in that classroom environment. that's the mission of our program to recruit, to retain and to develop and to place

these individuals into our classrooms today. john: mark joseph of call me mr., thank you very much. john: endometriosis is a disease that affects one in ten people with uteruses over the course of their lifetime. it occurs when tissue, similar to the lining of the uterus, gross somewhere else in the body, typically on or around reproductive organs. it can cause debilitating pain and often leads to infertility. but after symptoms begin, it can take years for doctors to correctly diagnose it. a new documentary tells the story of several people as they battle endometriosis and fight for more awareness of both the disease itself and treatment for it. >> i knew something was wrong. >> it took 10 doctors to find

someone who believed my pain. >> i thought i am dying or have some rare disease. then i go online and find millions. john: ali rogin is back with a conversation with the director of that documentary, shannon cohn. it's part of our continuing covera of inequities in women's health, "unequal treatment." ali: thank you for joining us. many people might have heard the word endometriosis, might know a little about it, but so much is unknown. what are some important things that people should know. shannon:rguably, and dimitrios us is the most common, devastating disease most people have never heard of. it takes an average of eight doctors and 10 years to diagnose. it's the cause of up to 50% of infertility in women and the cause of an estimated $116 billion each year in lost wages,

productivity, and associated medical costs yet a lot of people have never heard of it. ali: what have you discovered about why it is so widespread, yet so poorly understood? shannon: where do i start? a lot of things. endometriosis is the perfect all. of a lot of things that apply across the health spectrum. menstrual to booze, societal stigmas about below the belt women's health issues, gender bias in medicine, racial bias in medicine, financial hurdles to care and other institutional hurdles we all go through. all these things combined make it difficult for this huge population of peopleo get diagnosed and get the care they need early. ali: speaking of care, there are

not that many options. there are a couple surgeries. they are extremely radical in some cases. often insurance does not cover them. how is it there are so few options for treatment and even those are so hard for women to access? shannon: the reason is mainly research funding has not been there and attention has not been on the disease and women's health in general to find answers we need to develop treatments that work. a lot of medicationshat, by the way, only treat symptoms, have been around for 30 years. they have just been repurposed. another issue is in the u.s., the vast majority of the 60,000 ob/gyn's in the country, they don't have these skills to perform advanced endometriosis surgery. if you envisioan iceberg that is a tumor, or the endometriosis in someone's body, do you want

someone to laser the top or do you want someone to cut it out? you might not be able to see the whole lesion. the vast majority of ob/gyn's in the country only know how to remove the top. they don't have that extra skill set. ali: let's talk about what it takes to expand the breadth of knowledge, the professionals that do this. in the films, you highlight a family who has made it their mission to lobby the hill, meet with lawmakers, get attention and federal lawmakers. what is congress doing? are they doing enough? shannon: we are getting started in a robust and meaningful way. we have been working with senator elizabeth warren and started working with orrin hatch in 2017 because his granddaughter emily hatch and her motherary alice hatch have been phenomenal advocates, along with the late senator hatch in

pushing endometriosis forward in a meaningful way. when senator hatch retired in 1919, senator mitt romney stepped into his shoes and pushed it foard alongside senator warren. ali: you had a screening on capitol hill. lawmakers were present. what was the reaction? shannon: it was wonderful to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle come together on an issue, especially in today's political climate, to do with women's health. to see them say, it's not a political issue, this is a human issue. every viewer watching right now is affected by endometriosis. either they have it or they know or love someone who has it, a guaranteed fact. human if you think, what is this weird word, should i care about this? you should, everyone should, because it affects you. ali: this is the second

documentary you have done on endometriosis. why is this form of storytelling so powerful to tell stories? shannon: i think it's the way we tell stories in the 21st centuries. you can change hearts and minds, you can change policy. we are all human, we have hopes and dreams and loves and disappointments. when you share a human story, we all identify with that common humanity. by extension you start caring about the issues that these subjects in the film go through. that's how we create change because you create a worldwide community saying, we need to do something about this, this isn't fair. that's the power of storytelling. ali: the documentary is below the belt, premiering on pbs. thank you for your time. shannon: it was an honor.

john: or the last week of women's history month, we spotlight another figure whose contributions have oftenone unseen. tonight, the first known female native american photographer, who captured personal images of her community. jennie ross cobb's candid depictions of members of the cherokee nation, rarely seen by the rest of the country, cemented her place in tribal and photographic history. the daughter of prominent cherokee leaders, she was given a box camera in the 1890s when she was a teen, and used it to capture images of her friends and family over a period of about 10 years. her fellow students at the cherokee national female seminary, friends eating snacks, playing on train tracks, and her students in front of one of the cherokee schoolhouses where she taught foreveral years. they tell the story of the community the cherokee had built after they were forced to leave

their ancestral homelands in the east. and of a life under threat yet again, as the federal government worked to break up communally held lands to make way for railroads and non-indian settlement. later in life, cobb fought to preserve a piece of her people's heritage, campaigning to save the historic hunter's home. when the state of oklahoma took it over in 1945, she became curator and restored it using her own glass plate negatives. she remained in that position until her death in 1959 at the age of 77. that is pbs news weekend for this sunday. i am john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help

people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> 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.

>> major funding for "kasturba gandhi: accidental activist" was provided by... with archival photos and footage provided by... additional funding by... with support by the following. a full list of funders is available at aptonline.org. >> gandhi became known for recruiting women into his campaigns, a trailblazing tactic. but before he could broaden his view to fully embrace women's power, the primary lessons had to be given and fearless steps taken by kasturba. >> kasturba was a big part of what's called gandhian philosophy. >> kasturba sets up an example. she becomes a full partner