♪good evening . >> on the newshour tonight. new released body camera footage of the police response to the natural schools shooting when used debate. >> why recent bank failures were not prevented despite multiple warning signs. >> plus, the disappearance of a woman in boston and the little attention paid to her case highlights the broader plight of missing latinas. >> we are seeing this across the country, the lack of urgency around missing cases with women of color. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening and welcome. authorities are still searching for a motive in this shooting at a christian elementary school in nashville, tennessee, that left six people dead. >> law enforcement said that shooter bought seven guns legally, three of which were used in the murders. in nashville police released new video of their response. stephanie sy has the latest and a warning,r report includes video that some viewers may find upsetting. >> newly released surveillance video shows the shooter driving up to the covenant school and

gaining entry into the building by shooting through a side door. it is 10:10 a.m. the suspect walks through the halls carrying two assault style rifles and a handgun. police receive free sports -- reports of the shooting three minutes after entry. as police officers arrived at the scene, the assailant fires at their vehicles. >> making entry on the front side. >> body camera footage shows officers following the sound of gunshots to the second floor where they confront and kill audrey hale. hale was a former student at the christian school. police have obtained writings and campus maps they say show hale calculated the attack. they also say hale had other targets in mind. police have given unclear and sometimes conflicting information about hale's gender, but they said today the guns used by the shooter were legally obtained. the police chief said investigators are in contact with hale's parents. >> we know that they felt that

she had one weapon and that she sold it. she was under care, a doctor's care for an emotional disorder. law enforcement knew nothing about the treatment she was receiving. but her parents felt that she should not own weapons. they were under the impression when she sold the one weapon she did not own anymore. as it turned out, she had been hiding several weapo within the house. >> in nashville, mourners continue to gather at the school today to lay flowers and pay their respects. >> send a message that things need to change and that thoughts and prayers alone are not something that fixes or can aid the situation. >> the student victims were evelyn dieckhaus, hallie scruggs and william kinney, all nine years old. the three adults killed included the head of the school katherine koonce. cynthia peak was a substitute teacher. mike hill the custodian.

as voices rise for lawmakers and washington, d.c., did you something about the epidemic of gun violence, this morning the senate chaplains morning prayer was a call for divine intervention. >> lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond " thoughts and prayers." remind our law makers of the words of the british statesmen edmund burke "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." >> a prayer as much as a call for action in the course of grief. i'm stephanie sy. >> amid the shock of the tragedy

in tennessee, renewed calls for lawbreakers to do dump-- to lawmakers to do something. chris brown is president of brady and joins us for more on what that something could be. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having. >> the assailant as we heard legally purchased seven firearms, three of which were used in the murders, according to police. as this person was being treated for an emotional disorder. yhid persons this person's parents did not know the guns were in house. how do we solve for that, what piece of legislation, what policy would have prevented this from happening? >> extremist protection laws. 19 states and the district of columbia have passed those last year. president biden signed the safer communities act to give funding to states and to incent other states to pass these laws. why is that relevant?

because what that says iss a law if you have someone in your household who is at risk of doing themselves harm or others, you can seek a protective order from the court to remove all firearms and in some states that also means that person is put into background check systems. so, we need that kind of law. tennessee does not have to when i hear what the parents are saying, it breaks my heart. i think they tried and did what they could, but tennessee does not offer them other solutions that they should and they must, because this is far too frequent in our life today and we need all of the tools that we can amass to stop gun violence. >> at the federal level, the gun reform debate appears to be frozen. the president said congress needs to act. he says he has exhausted the reins of what he can do unilaterally, but there are couple of things i want to point out that suggests that congress

won't act on this anytime soon. one is and olga goals, whose district includes the christian school. he received widespread criticism from gun-control advocates for a christmas photo that he posted in 2021 of his family posing with ar-style rifles. today he says he has nothing to apologized for and did not see anything wrong with that. and then there is tennessee commerce men tim version. he said there is no way to fix gun violence. >> i do not see any real role that we can do other than mess things up honestly because of the situation -- like i said, i do not think a criminal is going to stop from guns. you can print them out on the computer now, 3d printing. i don't think you will stop the gun violence. i think you got to change people's hearts. >> is that where the public sentiment is, is that -- no role for congress? >> no, it is a failure of

democracy what we are hearing here is manifestly against what every poll tells us the american people want. 93% of americans want expanded background checks. why is that? because they know that background checks save lives. we have stopped more than 4 million through the brady law. four million sales of guns through prohibited purchasers. but today one in five guns is sold with no background check at all. why is that? over the internet and at gun shows these guns can be sold with no background check. when jim and sarah brady pass the law there was no internet, nor no gun shows. and there are so many other things that we can do, president biden has talked about some of them. for those who say we cannot do anything, let's look at the kinds of things they're actually doing in congress and

state legislatures to reverse, to backroll the kinds of public safety that are important to us. just today, congress was supposed to have a hearing in the house about certain kinds of devices that can be added to assault style weapons to make the more deadly. they cancel that hearing. why? because of this shooting. because there are certain reports that indicate that the shooter used those kinds of devices. brace stabilizers is what they are called. obviously, people like him who talk about we can't do anything, they are the ones who are trying to roll back protections. and i have to say the issue that we as americans should really internalize is , do we want a version of the second amendment that is a death sentence to our fellow americans? are we going to make this a key

political issue or won't we? because we have to hold people like that law maker and others to account. they have blood on their hands. i can't vote. i wish i could. i can't vote in congress, but i can vote at the ballot box. and every time i do, make gun and that is what we must do if we want to change the trajectory of our country. this is a national shame. we cannot say we live in a country the land of the free, the home of the brave when our kids are dying at school and when gun violence is the number one killer of our children, surpassing automobile fatalities. we have to make a difference, and we can. we can, and we should. we're americans. >> chris brown, president of brady. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. ♪

>> i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. a federal judge has reportedly ruled that former vice president mike pence must testify in the justice department's january 6th investigation. multiple news outlets report he is ordered to up here before a federal grand jury. it is unclear if he ll appeal. mr pence's lawyers argued since he was acting as senate president during january 6, 2 021, he has protected from being forced to testify. in mexico, a fire late last night killed at least 40 people at a migrant detention center. authorities said detainees set mattresses on fire in protest at a detention cell across the border from el paso. emergency responders swarm to the scene. dozens of men and women from central and south america had been held there and relatives

waited for news. >> they don't know. nobody > ask in they give us a rude answer or do not because i worry about my wife. i want to know whats going to happen to her. are they going to deport all of them? >> surveillance video and released showed no apparent attempt by guards to release the migrants from their cell even after the fire started. across france today, hundreds of thousands of people turned out again to protest raising the retirement age. demonstrations were largely peaceful. bands of leftist militants battled police in paris and other cities. our special correspondent reports from the scene. >> paris is known as the city of light. but today in parts of the french capital, it was the city of -- alight. protesters --

and thousands of people flooded the famous-- heart of the city. riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. after some black clad protesters, the black bloc, lted police with stones. the police chief. >> [speaking french] >> there is a tense situation but it is not an insurrection. law enforcement is present. they will be present to maintain the public order. >> though the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, their anger was no less fierce. >> [speaking french] >> we are here to make the government give in and read with regard to pension reform. there is massive anger. >> i can see colleagues, although they are less than 60 years old and they already have physical difficulties. you can't even imagine what it is like working until 64 years old. that is not possible. >> rail traffic was disrupted with our long delays.

and the iconic eiffel tower stood closed today, its staff joins the nationwide strike. protesters also blocked entry to the louvre. the protests have intensified over the last two weeks since the government used special constitutional powers to bypass parliament in a final vote of the contested pension changes. after more than two months some demonstrations, there could be some movement from the opposing sides. the unions have written a joint letter to the president calling for mediation and the prime minister says she is ready to talk to the opposition next week. but the protests show no signs of dying down. for the pbs news hours, i'm ross: in paris. >> the french interior minister reported that 175 police officers have been injured and over 200 protesters arrested. there was one sign of relief for parisians -- garbage collector

suspended a strike that has left mountains of trash on the streets. ukraine's military may be revving up for a spring offensive. the defense minister said his forces will soon be using modern battle tanks delivered by germy, great britain and others. in washington, u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin told the senate hearing that russia is having to rely on older soviet era tanks. >> the ukrainians have inflicted significant casualties on the russians, and they have depleted their inventory of armored vehicles in a way that no one would have ever imagined. now we see pressure reaching for p-55 tanks because of the level of damage ukrainians have inflicted. >> meanwhile, ukraine's president zelenskyy walked trenches in northern ukraine where russian forces were driven off last april. law makers in scotland confirmed

yousaf as first minister. he is the first person of color to lead the scottish government in the first muslim to lead any western democracy. yousaf was elected monday to head the ruling scottish national party. he supports efforts to gain scotland's full independence from the united kingdom. the world health organization is out with new covid-19 vaccine guidance, and it's suggesting an extra shot for high risk groups. the recommendation say older adults or people with various risk factors should get another booster six to 12 months after their last vaccination. they also say children and young adults who are healthy may not need an additional dose. back in this country, in appeals court in maryland reinstated the murder conviction of adnan syed whose case was chronicled in the podcast serial. the court ruled the murder victim's family had no proper notice of the hearing that led to adnan syed's release last september. he remains free pending a new

hearing. federal prosecutors have unveiled new indictment against sam bankman-fried, the founder of the bankrupt ftx cryptocurrency exchange. it charges that he directed at ast $40 million in bribes to chinese government officials to unfreeze some of his assets. he now faces a total of 13 charges. for the first time in three years, southern california's largest reservoir is being refilled. officials this week opened valves that feed diamond valley lake, which holds twice as much water as the region's other reservoirs combined. water managers expect the lake be full by the end of the year. the supply follows a winter of historic precipitation that has eased drought conditions statewide. still to come, top banking officials testify before congress on the industry's recent turmoil. vice president harris looks to strengthen u.s. ties and investment in africa.

state legislatures move to limit teens access to social media. and much more. ♪ >> this is "pbs newshour." from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> this was the first of two days of hearings about the failure of silicon valley bank's and the role of regulators. we will hear about how lawmakers from both parties criticize top officials today, but first let's break down some of the basics behind the second largest bank failure in u.s. history. our economics correspondent is our guide. >> the collapse of silicon valley bank. first, what happened? >> svb is a large bank that essentially failed. >> and why i asked dana peterson? >> it was highly concentrated in an industry, the tech sector,

that is not doing that well now. >> and the depositors were? >> many of the folks who were invested in svb were very high net worth individuals, they had tons of money. you also had a number of startup companies. so you had companies that need money for payroll and cash. >> of course banks usually love such depositors, but svb didn't have enough corporate or individual borrowers to loan the money to. what is a bank do then? >> you can lend to the government. uncle sam -- is very happy to borrow from the public and they pay decent rates of interest. >> interest on their iou's, government bonds. that was a few years back. then the tech sector turned sour, and the depositors had to start withdrawing their money to come up with cash, svb had to sell some bonds. guaranteed safe by the government but says johnson - >> the problem is there is

interest rate risk which means as interest rates go up the lue of the bonds go down. >> this is often confusing, so i asked, why when interest rates go up does the value of bonds go down? >> the value of the old bonds, the bonds issued at a previous interest rate because now the government is borrowing, and paying the higher interest rate. >> i thought this might benefit from showing tell. at the treasury itself. simple when you stop to think about it. the bank had bought billions of dollars of u.s. treasury bonds at a low rate of interest. suddenly, it had to sell some to come up with cash to pay off depositors. meanwhile, interest rates had gone up. today's bonds are playing -- are paying a much higher rate of interest. which would you rather have? obviously this one, which means that this one is worth less than the price goes down. the bank loses money. and sdays johnson -- >> depositors thought about that

and decided to put out even more money. and then the run was on. >> what happened, how did it start? >> all i know is the bank called our loan. all our cash. every cent. >> just remembered that this thing is not as black as it appears. >> it is the wonderful life story. >> as sheila bair told jeff les -- last week. >> we have all seen that, the money had been invested in mortgages, they did not have all the cash, no bank does, every bank lends out some of their deposits. >> i will take mine now. >> no, but -- you're thinking of this place all wrong as if i had the money back in the safe. the money is not here. >> the bank has made loans. if the depositors are withdrawing their money, either you call in the loan or if you cannot do it, you cannot pay depositors, either way the bank is in serious trouble and may not survive.l

then whodunit? several suscts? svb taking more depositors and putting them all in one basket, long-term bonds. quick trader depositors. inflation that hiked into straight, killing the value of long-term bonds and the likes of senator elizabeth warren loosening regulation starting back in 2018. we need to learn from what has just happens with these banks and go forward by tightening the regulations. it is just that simple. >> simon johnson agreed. >> loose regulation was very important to cars -- in part because in that is what was said because it change the ne of supervision. silicon valley bank was clearly poorly supervised. >> so what is the fixed? david wessel fromhe brookings institution. >> the federal deposit insurance corporation, with the permission of the treasury secretary, evoked a special provision of law and said that they would

stand behind the deposits of every depositor at signature bank and silicon valley bank even if they had a lot more than $250,00. >> and the federal reserve also rode to the rescue. >> we have the tools to protect depositors when there is a threat of serious harm to the economy or to the financial system. we're prepared to use those tool. i think depositors should assume that -- their deposits are safe. >> at the federal reserve, what's the fed's role? >> it is the lender of last resort to read when the banks are in trouble, they lend hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks. >> the key question -- what does the future hold? the economy was already slowing down partly because the federal reserve has raised interest rates a lot. but now the banking crisis is probably going to slow it further. banks are going to be more reluctant to lend. that means less borrowing and less spending. but that is what the fed wanted

to begin with -- the slowdown? >> absolutely. as jay powell said in his press conference the other day, the credit crunch that's caused by the banking crisis is somehow going to substitute for interest rate increases. thus, concludes -- >> the fed will not have to raise interest rates so much. >> because a banking crunch may or may not squash inflation on its own. >> law makers also dug into what went wrong and the role of regulators both before the banks collapse and since then. lisa desjardins reports on hearing. >> it looks to me like the regulators knew the problem but nobody dropped the hammer. >> in the first formal congressional hearing on the collapse of silicon valley bank, senators grilled top federal regulators on why they did not do more to prevent the bank's demise. >> this does not take a highly sophisticated person to understand the risk. it damn had to be known months

before the day of-- the chickens came home to roost. >> you and the fed and the 4000 examine nader's have known this was coming. >> the top regulator michael barr laid the blame on the bank, saying svb roll the dice rather than acting as rising interest rates created high-risk. >> this is a textbook case of bank mismanagement. >> but senors' gaze was pointed equally at the fed. >> vice chair barr, did the fed dropped the ball because it did not see the risk that was building? >> fundamentally the bank fail because its management failed to appropriately address clear interest rate risk and clear liquidity risk. the federal reserve bank brought , forward these problems to the bank and they fail to address them. >> senators asked why regulators

did not act sooner with some republicans -- saying that the agency saw signs of risk and flag them as early as 2021. >> the federal reserve knew well in advance that silicon valley bank had a problem with holding too much of its money in interest rate sensitive loan government bonds. >> i think the investment public and the federal reserve which cited it knew that it had interest rate risk. >> the federal reserve did not do anything about it, did it? >> i disagree with that, senator, respectfully. the federal reserve did cite these problems to the bank and require them to take action. management failed to act on those. >> you did not follow up, did you? >> some democrats like elizabeth warren are urging more regulation bu tnot all. >jon tester voiced his larger frustration. >> i am not a banker, i'm not even close, i am a farmer. when they laid what this bank it

happened over the last two years, it did not have to be an accountant to figure out what was going on here. >> raphael warnock of georgia. >> here is the bottom line -- ordinary folks who just showed up and put their deposits, they should not have to bear the run decisions. >> the fdic is in the middle of a review and how it ensurebank customers. as for the fed, barr sa it will consider stricter regulations going forward. i'm lisa desjardins. ♪ >> vice president kamala harris is in africa this week for a three country tour focused on economic development and security. over nine days she will meet with leaders in ghana, tanzania and zambia. >> her travel follows other trips by senior officials to the continent as pressure to counter

chinese influence in the region grows. we report on the trip's historic and strategic significance. >> for america's first black female vice president, a trip wi th deep political and personal meaning. harris placing flowers in a women's dungeon at the cape coast castle in ghana. and walking to the door of no return where millions of africans were forced onto ships bound for the americas. >> so, being here was -- was immensely powerful and moving. >> speaking of script about the brutality of slavery, harris challenge growing efforts back home to censor black history. >> it cannot be denied. it must be taught. history must be learned >>. >>a solemn moment to recognize the past during the visit harris

says is focused on the future, specifically for women and young people. >> to witness firsthand the extraordinary innovation and creativity that is occurri on this continent. >> on the fastest and youngt continent. >> how are you? nice to meet you. >> harassment with young artists at a skate park and recording studio. >> you are a speaking in a way that around the globe people -- >> joining her were actors. together to highlight the power of music to unite the global african diaspora. >> ♪ and in know -- i know where my voice belongs ♪ ♪ [cheering] >> harris's tr followsi the african leader summit held in washington last yearp. >> the united states is all in on africa and all in with africa. >> since then, she is the fifth

high-ranking administration official to visit the continent and his sweeping effort to strengthen relationships. in a part of the world were chinese influence runs deep. china has poured billions into infrastructure and developing projects across africa, including a $2 billion deal in ghana to build roads and bridges. on this trip harris announced $100 million for the western coast but said the goal was not to counter china. >> this trip is motivated by the importance of the direct relationship between the united states and ghana. >> and got to's president m-- ghana'apresident made clear he would work with both natios. >> they are obsessing in america about the chinese activism on the continent. but there is no such obsession here. china is one of the many countries with whom ghana is engaged and you're country is one of them. all of the countries of the >> world are friends of ghana. >>the vice president is excited

to announce additional investments later this week to empower women run businesses, enhance food security, and promote climate resilience. a model of democracy in the region in ghana harris says the two countries must work to preserve freedom. the vice president will travel to zambia, family -- a place where her grandfather lived. >> there so much symbolism wrapped up in this trip, there are multiple audiences abroad and here at home. what is the white house open to achieve? >> they are hoping the vice president really uses her ability to strengthen ties with africa, that they talk a lot about the historical significance of her going there. but one personal political thing that she is also working on is gaining foreign policy experience p she has metith more than 100 foreign leaders. this comes after her big trip to the munich security conference and this is showing that she is very much a part of the biden reelection plan. >> the vice president's office

has been aggressive and intentional about owning and trying to reshape public peeptionss of her and how she is handling the job. how can we look at the trip in that context? >> well, like president biden, vice presint harris has an uphill climb now with the public, with voters. there was a recent poll that shows her approval rating at 36% and her disapproval rating is at 53%. but i spoke to multiple sources close to harris, and they argue that she is really key to the president's reelection, the democrats are starting to rally around her and say the backbiting needs to stop. they've really warned other democrats that if she were to somehow be set aside, that there would be a swift backlash. one thing that they also stress is that for the first year and half, there is very little time spent on the trail. now harris has recently traveled

to tallahassee, florida, on abortion rights, traveled to iowa, her first trip this year, and that is a big focus for her. >> was really struck by e fact that the vice president was not on the strip alone, surrounded by friends, allies, celebrities. what was the idea behind it? >> this was her idea according to the sources that i spoke too close to her. she wanted all of the celebrities, including spike lee, the director, the president of the naacp, the president of the urban league and a number of hbus presidents. they understand that harris does not get all of the press that they get, that the vice president -- alone may not be able to create this echo chamber. they also said that bringing those people along, they bring their own resources and investments to the continent, to really stress the importance of these ties with africa the administration is focusing on. >> a signal boost. thanks so much for that reporting. >> thank you.

>> now from the political landscape around the vice president's trip to the realities on the ground in africa and the relationship between the u.s. and the 56 nations of the continent. moore served as minister of public works and liberia and the director of the africa initiative at a think tank. welcome to the news and thanks for joining us. vice president harris is now the fifth high-ranking u.s. official to visit africa from the biden administration. what message do you take away from that about how the u.s. views the continent right now? >> thanks for having me. i think the first thing is that this is a stark change from the administration that came before. when the previous administration announced its africa policy, there was not even a cabinet level official. this is the fifth high-ranking official there, and we gave the value of the relationship between -- any two places and how high the level of exchange is between them.

this follows from august of last year, the launch of the new u.s. africa strategy, the africa leaders summit. it seems that in rhetoric and perception and we are looking to see substance that the u.s. is backing up president biden's declaration that the u.s. is going to treat africa as partners. >> let's talk about the substance. we saw the vice president kick offer our announcing -- her tour, announcing new support for a few country, that is, ghana, guinea, the ivory coast and tovo, following a 55 billion dollars december pledge by the president to the continent over the next three years. does that seem -- say to you that t u.s. is all in as the president put it? >> absolutely. one of the things you will notice about the vice president's travel is a lot of focus on the creative industries. if you follow the continent in any way over the past decade or so, you see the outside -- in

agriculture, the greatest potential is the creative's and the tech sector. she's followed by celebrities who are active in that space. the $55 billion is an accumulation of american commitments, existing commitments and new ones, digital. when japan had its meeting with africa, japan pledged $30 billion over the same three years and now we are seeing the u.s. with 55 billion. it shows in my view that the americans are stepping up the game because as you noted for the last two decades, china has actually increased its influence on the continent and many and the foreign policy sector feel like it came at the cost to the u.s.. >> tell me more about that, because one of the three nations that vice president harris is visiting is tanzania. the president of tanzania's first state visit outside of africa was to beijing, to meet

with the president there. where does chinese influence fit into all of this? >> i think, so for a long time, at least since 2000, china has been the largest bilateral lens or when it comes to infrastructure in africa. and because africa lagged the rest of the world on infrastructure especially when it comes to transportation and electricity, most african governments turned to china. and the united states is heavily pres-- present on the continent but in soft issues like health and education. there needs to be a balance. as long as china continue to dominate and provide physical infrastructure, rail, ports, roads, airports, most african countries turn to them. think over time the united states realize that by ceding that entire space, was that the best thing? the dfc is now more active in

africa, investing in the digital infrastructure. for africans, this is good. this is the kind of competition, one between two great powers to see who is the better partner to africa, instead of a race to the top between united states and china. >> u.s. officials like harris say they are not asking nations to choose between the u.s. and china. harris that she wants natns to expand their options. given the competition between the u.s. and china what does that look like to you in practical terms? >> well, i think africa is very large. the scale and scope of the challenges on the contine mean ere is not a single partner who would be able to et all of that. so, instead of finding a partner of choice if -- china or the united states -- most africans are going to try to expand the choice of partners they have to deal with. but i think, in the long run, because it is a zero-sum game between united states and china, a game for what is perceived as a loss for the other, -- they

are not asking africans to choose somehow along the way, they hope they will rise -- the ricin influence will come at the cost of the competitor. >> that is the senior policy fellow at the center for global development joining us tonight. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. ♪ >> last year, more than 270,000 women and girls went missing across the country. studies have shown that when women of color go missing, there are far less likely to receive media attention. along with our producers, our reporter finds the case of a missing i immigrant wome in boston raising new concerns abou how fast police respond. >> it has been four months since anyone has seen rena carolina morales rojas.

security cameras capture this footage on november 26th. she was pick to buy a car service and later dropped off five miles away in somerville, massachusetts. >> she's an excellent mother. and a great sister. we are very close as sisters. >> her sister alicia lives in el salvador. rena crossed into the u.s. as an undocumented immigrant last may, but she and alica spoke to each other daily. so, when her phone started going straight to voicemail alica became worried. did it seem odd to you that she was not answering her phone initially? >> i just felt something was wrong. because she never turned her phone off, not even to charge it. she always, she kept it on in case there was an emergency with her kids or someone in the family. >> last yera, rena's family said

that she came to the u.s. alone and her goal is to bring her two children to live with her. >> lefts to the united states for a better future for her kids andh instead of finding the american dreame what she found was hell, because oy god knows what she must be suffering. >> when alicia did not hear from her sister, she reached out to her landlord. >> and this was her apartment? >> he recently showed us where she had been living at the time of her disappearance. he filed a missing persons report with the boston police department on november 28th. two days after she was last seen. but more than six weeks went past before the boston police department issued a public notice about her disappearance. >> i have never heard of a case like this before. she has been missing november the 26 and not hear about it until -- that is a long time.

>> julia is the fir latina elected to the boston's city council. she introduced a resolution calling on police to treat all missing persons equally. >> in this case, she is not only a woman of color but also an immigrant, which further makes her susceptible to dismissive treatment. this is not just the case -- we're seeing this across the country, the lack of urgency on missing cases with women of color. >> rena is one of 250,000 women and girls who go missing in this country every year. but exactly how many of these women are latina is unknown. that is because local and national law enforcement do not often gather data on sing latinas like they do for white and black people. >> i can't say, there are this percentage of missing people that are latina because the data is not there. >> daniela is a criminology at sacramento state university.

>> so many of our major criminal justice databases bump white and latino public -- lump white and latino people together. this is a community that is not viewed on its own accord and is awful lumped in with another category. >> when a person goes missing, local law enforcement will enter any details i have into the national crime information center or ncic, a database overseen by the fbi. but within that hispanic is only listed as an ethnic city, not a specific race, making it optional for police to incde. last year, of the more than 271,000 total entries under missing females, 21,759 women were categorized as hispanic. but in the overall database the tion of ethnicity field was filled out in less than 20% of cases. >> [speaking spanish] >> back in boston, question still remains why it took the police so long to publicly alert

rena's disappearance. >> it is a misstep that happen and we as a police department own it. >> victor evans is a deputy superintendent of the boston police department. >> it taking six weeks is not standard protocol. is it for an alert to go out for a missing person? >> no, it is not. the public alert was sent out six weeks later but prior to that, a lot of investigative work went into it. we have canvassed areaswhere public and private video and utilized her photo. through several law enforcement agencies, not only in massachusetts. but around the country. we utilize the access of drones along with canines to locate her. >> but her disappearance remains a mystery. >> detectives are looking for 41-year-old rena morella's role has. >> her case highlights how the media covers missing person cases. studies have shown that media outlets often take their cues from police. >> we hear from law-enforcement

and then recover it. >> she's a columnist for the boston globe in one of the first journalist to cover the story. she believes the case has largely been ignored by media outlets because of what is known as missing white woman syndrome, aterm coined by gwen i felt. >> the mystery deepens and the search for 39-year-old and a wash. >> it refers to the disproportionate coverage of missing endangered white women receive. >> when white women go missing, there is all of this attention and resources an outpouring of support and everybody wants to know what happened and let's find her. i said, how is this possible a woman can go missing for months and a half? and we do not give the same resources to find her. >> colombia recently examined thousands of news articles about missing people to create a tool called are you press worthy,

where people can enter theiown information to calculate how much coverage they would receive if they went missing. a 41-year-old latina and massachusetts would get about eight stories. but a missing white woman in her early 20's would be covered in more than 120 stories. criminologist call the phenomenon the ideal victim stereotype. >> t ideal victim is somebody who is viewed as blameless and as meeting -- needing our protection. and women and girls of color are not betrayed in that way -- portrayed in that way. they are portrayed as risk-taking at the time that the disappearance or the crime occurred whereas white women and girls are often portrayed as the innocent and blameless ones. >> alicia morales says she continues to search for answers from police. >> do believe that because she is latina, because she is undocumented, because she is an immigrant, they never cared

about her. i even told them that. >> the boston police department say they have no updates on her case, which remains an active investigation and rejected accusations that missing undocumented people are treated differently. >> we're here to help anyone regardless of their status. we want to know where she is, we want to know what happened to her. and if something tremendously bad has happened to her, we want to bring the person responsible for it, up for justice. >> in also for door, her children are holding out hope that they will one day see her mom again. we have shielded their faces to protect their identity. >> we love her and miss her. and we know that one day she will be back with us here in el salvador. >> i have faith that she will be found, that one day they're going to call and tell the say founder. that would be the most beautiful thing to happen in my life. >> it is a family now clinging to their faith as they wait for answers.

♪ >> law and the state of utah could limit teenagers access to soal media platforms. the law, which is the first of its kind in this country requires anyone under the age of 18 to get parental consent to join social media platforms. it forces those platforms to give parents access to the children's posts and messages and it sets a social media curfew for minors. it's scheduled to go into effect next year. state senator mike mikell introduced legislation and joins us now. >> thank you for having me on. >> most of us are concerned about the ways in which social media affects our kids from the content to which they are exposed, to the ways in might affect their ability to socialize normally. why was this sweeping set of

restrictions necessary, what was the motivation behind? >> the concerns you have are the same concerns i have. social media is having a devastating impact on our kids. we have a mental health crisis in america today. it is interesting. this is a bipartisan issue. the president in his state of the union address, he jumped in really strong and he said, look, we need to stop this experiment on our kids, we need to stop allowing big tech to collect data on our kids. we need to stop letting big data target our kids with targeted advertisement. it was ironic because all of those things were in our bill in the state of utah, and as you look at what we are doing and what our congressional delegations are doing, republicans and democrats, i think we are in line. we see a very big problem with mental health, it is a crisis that is getting worse. social media has a lot to do with it. and that is why we care. i am a father of four.

i have two teenagers. and i worry about it everyday. >> the tech industry opposes this law, no surprise, but so, too, do civil liberties groups who say infringes on first amendment rights. there are other concerns that the age verification mandate, theyon't just affect children but it affects millions of people who do not have government issued i.d.'s. there are concerns about what happens to that data in the event of a security breach. how do you respond to that host a criticism and concern? >> the age verification, that is nothing new. for example, we do age verification for dating sites. we have a millions of americans who buy prescription drugs online, we do verification for that. it is nothing new. we want to get out in front of it. i know we have heard that there are first amendment concerns. what we do not do in the legislation is we don't moderate content. what we say is we will verify your age and have some restrictions for minors.

we have lots of restrictions for minors today. we verify age for minors all across the spectrum with different products. i think this is a step that makes a lot of sense. it is there to help and power parents to have tools necessary to help monitor and make sure these, this product is a product that is used appropriately for our kids. >> how will the state enforce these regulations because that was not clear to me in reading the legislation. >> two ways. first of all, we allow some enforcement through our division of consumer protection. i think that is an important tool in our legislation, the division of consumer protection will take the next eight months to a year to develop what that looks like working with big tehc, that verification process. the verification process, one of the things we are really clear, as it could not be limited to -- to government i.d. the other way that we will enforce this legislation is through a private right of

action, it that is in the legislation. for example if the social media company decided collect data on our kids, or do targeted advertisement, parents could join together and bring a private right of action in. and that is a powerful tool. and i think social media companies will comply. >> it seems that you have very little faith that the social media apps can ever get better or ever be safe for kids? am i wrong? >> you are not wrong. let me jump back to some cdc data. 17,000 kids were served, ninth through 12th graders. we have a serious mental health crisis. let me throw out a couple of points that i think that are important. 30% of our girls seriously contemplated suicide in that survey. 57% of our girls had sustained feelings of loneliness and depression. we have a serious problem and that problem is almost like a hockey stick that has gotten substantiall worse since 2009, 2010 when social media came on line.

all of the research that i see points to social media as a big part of that problem. for that reason, i am not comfortable simply saying, fix social media. i think they had their chance and failed. it's time for congress and states across an entry -- nation to take action. >> state senator mike mikell. thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me on. ♪ >> later this evening, be sure to look up into the night sky. >> five planets are aligning and tonight is a best time. to catcha glimpse jupiter mark, mercury, venus, uranus and mars will stretch up into the sky near the moon. to see them, look west after sunset. >> they should be visible from anywhere in the world as long as they are are clear skies. venus will be the brightest, but

to see some of the dimmer planets, you might want to gb binoculars. you can learn more about that alignment online at pbs.org/newshour. >> and that is the newshour for tonight. we havto go outside and look up at the sky. i'm geoff bennett. >> on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i'm legally blind and yes, i'm responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see and understand it, anyone can. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. that is the most rewarding thing. people who no, -- people who know, know bdo. ♪ >> 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 institutions -- this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from ourureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪ >>

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