amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight, a mass shooting at a bank in downtown louisville, kentucky kills multiple people and injures several more. amna: u.s. officials scramble to do damage control after classified documents detailing military intelligence are leaked online. geoff: and north carolina expands medicaid after a decade-long battle. we speak with patients who could benefit. >> better late than never. you kind of just gotta roll with the punches. granted, i wish it would have came a little bit earlier. ♪

>> 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." >> it was like an a-ha moment. this is what i love doing. early-stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change the wod. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it's the same thing. i am helping people reach their dreams. i am thriving by helping others, every day. people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting instituations to promote a better world. at hewlett.org.

and with thengoing 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. geoff: good evening, and welcome to the “newshour.” yet another american city has joined the seemingly endless list of mass killings at the hands of a gunman. this time, it's louisville, kentucky, where four people were killed today, as well as the shooter. amna: nine others were injured, includintwo police officers.

it came two weeks after a school shooting in nashville, tennessee that killed three children and threadults. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. lisa: crime scene tape wraps around the old national bank building in louisville, marking tragedy there, and for a nation on edge, at least the 15th mass killing this year. witnesses said the gunman opened fire inside the building, located near louisville slugger field and waterfront park. officers arrived within three minutes of dispatch and immediately exchanged gunfire wi the shooter. the interim police chief. >> for my lmpd offers who took it upon themselves to not wait to assess everything but just went in to stop the threat so that more lives would not be lost, thank you. lisa: police say the gunman was a 23-year-old man who worked at the bank. they described his weapon as a

rifle. he left four victims dead on the scene. 63-year-old tommy elliott, 64-year-old jim tutt, 40-year-old josh barrick, 57-year-old juliana farmer. others were in critical condition, including nikolas wilt, a young police officer who was shot in the head. >> the officer who is in critical condition today, officer nicholas wilt, 26 years of age, just graduated from the police academy on march 31. lisa: survivors today grateful to escape a rampage the shooter broadcast on social media. >> we have a break room, i got in there, shut the door for a second, then i opened the door to see where he was at, and i could see him still shooting, i could see his face, and then i took off running out the front door. lisa: democratic governor andy beshear spoke as both state leader and a person grieving. >> this is awful.

i have a very close friend that didn't make it today. and one who's in the hospital that i hope is going to make it through. so when we talk about praying, i hope people will. lisa: louisville's mayocraig greenberg, also a democrat, has himself survived gun violence after a shooting in his campaign office last year. >> this was an evil act of targeted violence, and to add to that tragedy, a few blocks away shortly after this happened, another man lost his life and a woman was shot in completely different act of targeted violence. the two incidents appear to be entirely unrelated, but they both took lives. they both leave people scarred, grieving, and angry. lisa: as the nation continues a heated debate about gun deaths, louisville's investigation into today's violence begins, with assistance from the fbi. for the “pbs newshour,” i'm lisa

desjardins. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. a grand jury in newport ne, virginia indicted the mother of a first grader who shot his teacher. deja taylor is charged with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor firearms count. the teacher, abigail zwerner, was shot in her classroom last january. nashville, tennessee's governing metro council reappointed justin jones to the statehouse today on an interim basis. the vote was unanimous. majority republicans had expelled jones and fellow democrat justin pearson last week after they joined a gun control protest on the house floor. pearson may be reappointed to his seat in memphis on wednesday. both men would still face a special election later this year.

thousands of israelis, including at least seven cabinet members, marched today to an evacuated settlement in the occupied west bank. the crowd was led by ultra-nationalist jewish settlers. they support speeding up settlement building at a time when support for israel's hard-line government is falling. china's military says its forces are ready to fight after finishing large-scale combat exercises around taiwan. state-provided video today showed chinese warplanes practicing air strikes and ships simulating a blockade at sea. beijing said it shows that china will never ge up its claim to taiwan. >> we hope the international community will fully understand the essence of the issue, firmly abide by the one-china principle, and firmly oppose all forms of taiwan separatist activities. taiwan independence is incompatible with peace and stability in the taiwan strait.

stephanie: the exercises are retaliation for taiwan's president meeting with house speaker kevin mcrthy last week in california. in eastern ukraine, there's word that russian forces have turned to scorched-earth tactics in the grinding battle for bakhmut. ukraine's ground commander says buildings there are being systematically leveled by air strikes and artillery to rob his forces of any cover. new russian videos show whole blocks reduced to ruin. a top pro-russian official in the region says moscow's forces now control 75% of bakhmut. also today, the state department formally designated american evan gershkovich as wrongfully detained in russia. the wall street journal reporter is charged with espionage. an independent review concluded today that election day ballot delays at some phoenix area polling locations were in fact due to printer problems. investigation spearheaded a retired arizona supreme court

justice found that longer ballots on thicker paper caused older printers to malfunction. some republican candidates claimed wrongdoing without evidence and blamed their losses in part on the printer issue. president biden has indicated again that he'll run for re-election. he told nbc's today show that he plans on running, but that he's not ready yet for a formal announcement. later, the president and first lady hosted the white house easter egg roll, a tradition for kids and families dating back to 1878. still on the newshour, conflicing rulings by federal judges leaves the state of a commonly used abortion pill in limbo. amy walter and tamara keith return with analysis on the latest political news. and the masters golf tournament shows off the strength of a new controversial saudi-backed league. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

amna: it's being described as the most serious intellince leak in years. dozens of pages of classified material are spreading online, after being originally posted on a gaming platform. u.s. officials are investigating the origin of the leaks and the impact of information meant to be secret about the war in ukraine, russian forces, and even u.s. spying on american allies. nick schifrin is here to give us details. good to see you. let's start with what we know. what is in the documents and how concerned are u.s. officials? nick: there is serious concern about the u.s.'s relationship with allies that are mentioned in the documents and about the front line in ukraine. let's talk about ukraine first. we reviewed 53 of these documents dated from late february and early march mostly. we will not provide all the details, but slides that seem to be prepared for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff reveal

an extraordinary level of detail about ukraine's coming counteroffensive. which ukrainian brigades will be ready for the counteroffensive, when, and with which weapons, by date. many of those brigades will be trained by t u.s., by allies, on that vehicle there. th is the bradley. the level of detail is what is concerning u.s. officials. it could give russia information about these brigades that are being trained on the bradley and others that russia could convert into some kind of battlefield advantage. although there are former generals that doubt that might happen. the second thing that concerns officials are about ukrainian shortages. again, with great detail, these slides detail exactly when ukraine will run out of soviet-era air defenses. and that is why u.s. officials are rushing a constellation of western air defenses, u.s., german, and swedish air defenses. in response ukrainian officials have been largely vague about

these leaks, as you would expect. but an advisor to zelenskyy ys our strategic decisions have already been made, but we could adjust tactics if we need to. amna: what to these documents show about what the u.s. knows about russian capabilities? it does not exactly paint a great picture. nick: not at all. it reveals how much information the u.s. has about russian war plans. one details as the u.s. shared with ukraine details of an upcoming russian offensive before russia launched that attack. intercepted communicions reveal especially about bakhmut. the private military contractor wagner waging war in bakhmut. the u.s. intercepted communications in bakhmut that revealed they were going to nato ally turkiye to ask them for weapons and also asking -- offering haiti security assistance.

one slide reveals russian casualties killed and wounded could be 230,000. we largely knew that, but some versions of that particular document online have a lowered number, revealing that somebody, perhaps russia, was doctoring these documents after they were leaked. amna: you mentioned information about the u.s. spying on our own partners. what do we see in these documents? nick: that u.s. spies on some of its closest partners. so let's take a look at some examples. one, ukraine. it definitely surveilled ukraine's leadership. two, the u.s. intercepted conversations within south korea's national security council about whether he will send artillery to ukraine. and the u.s. intercepted communications with mossad, israel's spy agency, and that israel has been asking the u.s. to conduct joint operations against iran, something that at least publicly we did not know until now. amna: what about the origin of the leak, what do we know? nick: the u.s. offials say they do not know much.

take a listen to john kirby, spokesman of the national security council, earlier today answering a collection about the leak's seriousness. >> we do not know what is out there. we do not know who is responsible for this. and we do not know if they have more that they intend to post. so we're watching this and monitoring it as best we can. but the truth an honest answer to question is we do not know. is that a matter of concern to us? you are darn right it is. >> independent investigators believe they know how the leak spread. they found the first leak on a small channel on the gaming platform discord. >> just a bunch of mostly teenagers, mostly young men who just like to play call of duty and halo and stuff together. the documents that have surfaced are just the tip of the iceberg.

i do not know exactly how many is out there, bui have heard the word hundreds, that there are hundreds of other documents that were taken by the leaker. and put on this small discord server. nick: investigators will also take a look at documents themselves. they are photographs of documents. on these papers you can see the top the level of classification. also an object apparently on the desk behind. already defense officials are looking at restricting some of the people who have access to this. amna: a lot more questions to answer. nick schifrin, thank you. so, how damaging could the release of these secret documents be on the war effort in ukraine, and on u.s. military cooperation with allies around the world? for that, we turn to retired lieutenant general doug lute. he served on the national security council staff during both the george w. bush and obama administrations. he also had extensive experience

on the joint staff at the pentagon where many of these documents originated. you have been in countless briefings were this kind of information has been handled coming from the intelligence arm of the joint staff. how tightly held is that information? how easy is it to print it or move it off the premises? gen. lute: typically they would be produced by intelligence staff in the pentagon and reeve to the chairman of the joint staff on a routine basis. even five days a week. especially when there is an ongoing conflict. it is exceptionally unusual that they would be disseminated in official channels beyond that. so, this is a set of documents which appears to be those that are most tightly kept within the pentagon itself. amna: does the fact it is so tightly kept make it easier in some way to figure out the origin of the leak? gen. lute: perhaps. but i think it is too early to tell. amna: i want to ask you about

some of the comments that -- about some of the contents. could this give russian forces an advantage in the war? gen. lute: nick outlined well the tactical iact and damage that is done by these documents. and in particular i would be concerned about the level of detail for the units that are being prepared with new equipment, fresh training and so forth. being prepared for the upcoming ukrainian offensive. and if the russians are able to piece together which units with which equipment, and eventually, locations insidekraine, they might be able to detect, essentially deduce, conclude the main attack, the main effort of the upcoming offensive. that would be very tactically damaging. amna: you also heard nick's reporting about the degree to which the u.s. has been spying on its own allies and partners, information on president zelenskyy, conversations between

the u.s. and south korean officials, intelligence reports about israel. could those damage the relationship the u.s. has with those nations and intelligence sharing efforts with them? lt. gen. lute: i think most of our allies and partners understand that we collect on a broad range of intelligence targets, to include in some cases, them. i do not think that will come as a big surprise. however, i thi the damage here is the loss of trust and confidence among allies and partners. so, will the ukrainians, for example, be reluctant, or less revealing to us because they fear that such documents could be linked? what about others who are providing support tokraine? some of them do not wish their support to be made public. so this lack of trust and confidence, this erosion among allies and partners, could be

the big strategic impact of the leaks. amna: how worried are you there could be more sensitive information that u.s. officials have not yet detected, published out there somewhere else? lt. gen. lute: i think they simply do not know what they do not know at this point. these documents were dated, as nick said, some weeks ago. so it's difficult to know whether they are in the interim period they had been additional leaks. so i think the investigation will just have to play itself out. amna: what about the possibility of someone inside the pentagon providing that information? is that a concern? lt. gen. lute: i think it is a concern because this is where the documents originated. but it is too soon to lay any blame or point any fingers. amna: retired lieutenant general doug lute. always good to see you. thank you for your time. ♪

geoff: it's the latest flash point in the fight over abortion rights -- dueling decisions. in texas, a federal judge is halting the fda's more than 20-year-old appral of the drug mifepristone, one of the main medications used to provide abortions. but less than an hour later, a confliing court ruling out of washington state. a judge there ordered the federal governnt to protect access to the drug in 17 democratic-led states and the district of columbia. thtwo decisions are the most significant abortion rulings since the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade last summer. for more on the legal path ahead, we're joined by my ziegler. she's a law professor at the university of cafornia, davis. her most recent book is "roe: the history of a national obsession." thank you for being with us. in these competing orders, it signals this issue is almost certainly bound for the u.s. supreme court. we could be waiting for another potentially seismic ruling on abortion. walk us to the next steps.

what is the timeline? mary: the government has sought a stay of the court's ruling and tried to buy more time essentially before anything happens for the parties to fully air this out before there is a decision on whether the approval of mifepristone will be suspended. of course the fda is seeking clarification from the washington court about what exactly the fda is being asked to do doing the jue's ruling. there are a lot of filings being fired off. we think ultimately we are going to need to get clarity both from the fifth circuit court of appeals and the u.s. supreme court, given the fda is being given these conflicting instructions. geoff: you wrote a piece for the atlantic recently and he said this unprecedented ruling by the judge in texas is not just a bid

to block access to abortion pill's. you wrote quote, it's an invitation to use the comstock act, a law passed 150 years ago and rarely enforced the past century. tell us more about how this law from the 1870's has to do with acce to abortion pills. mary: this is a strategy we have seen crop up a lot recently but in this suit the alliance for hippocratic medicinessentially argue this 1873 law, the comstock act, makes it a federal crime to mail mifepristone. the language of the act is pretty broad and covers not just drugs intended for abortion but also adapted for abortion, which as you can imagine can be extraordinarily broad. judge kaczmarek said the text means what it means, we don't need to worry about the fact that federal courts have not interpreted the act this way since 1920's. so going forward if the language is that broad we are likely to see challenges to other abortion drugs and devices as well.

geoff: in the meantime, what does this mean for states where abortion is still legal, states like washington, california, where officials have said they are now stockpiling mifepristone? mary: we are likely to see more legal uncertainty. obviously in the short term we have this order from judge rice telling the fda to preserve access to mifepristone in those locations but judge kaczmarek's ruling says there are strategies available to the antiabortion movement that could block access to mifepristone in all states. so you are seeing preliminary steps by blue states really to stockpile mifepristone and take other steps. a lot will also depend on how the fda uses its discretion and how much it goes after mifepristone, if that is ultimately the conclusion that the u.s. supreme court reaches in terms of whether it was properly approved or subject to the comstock act. geoff: the fda does not target every unapproved drug on the market, and therare some democrats and legal scholars who

say that the administration should basically ignore the texas ruling, and that given the conflicting order from washington state fda should use its discretion and not go after manufacturers that continue to provide mifepristone. is that a viable option? is there any precedent for that sort of thing? mary: often if you think of prosecutors, we are familiar with the idea of prosecutorial discretion, the idea being if you have a bunch of people violating the law you only have so many time and resources. so you allocate those resources towards what you think of the biggest threats. and i think the fda would be within its rights to say mifepristone is not dangerous. so while it is not approved we are not going to prioritize violations involving mifepristone in ght of that. i think that discretion is used by the fda somewhat often. i think ignoring the court is a very different thing and i think democrats advising that are on dangerous territory.

discretion is different, because the fda, like a lot of other enforcement bodies, uses discretion all the time. geoff: this texas case has drawn scrutiny because of where and how it was filed. when antiabortion groups wanted to challenge the fda's approval, they did not file the lawsuit in maryland where the fda is based, that did not file a lawsuit in any of the states where abortion is legal. they filed it in amarillo, texas because they knew it would end up before this particular judge. this idea of forum shopping, or in this case, judge shopping. how common is that, and is this a tactic we should expect to see more of? mary: forum shopping has been around for a long time, and is not unusual at all. what makes this judge shopping more unusual is the way texas has organized district courts. if you filed a lawsuit in dallas, you would not know which judge you would get. you might think he would have a more favorable outcome in dallas than maryland, but beyond that you could not predict exactly who would hear your case.

the only district judge in amarillo is judge kaczmarek. that meant this suit was filed pacifically with him in mind because there was a belief, correctly, that he would be the most sympathetic federal judge in the country at the district level to these arguments. i think that is a little worrisome, just because you have not only forum shopping, but suits resulting in nationwide injunctions being filed before judges who are believed to be political, or to have certain biases that will slant them one way or another. that is not good for the system, and it is not good for the perceived legitimacy of the court's, which has taken a hit. geoff: mary, thank you so much for your time and for your insights. mary: thanks for having me. ♪ amna: north carolina is now the 40th state to expand medicaid under the affordable care act.

the bipartisan expansion, signed into law last month, comes after a decade of republican resistance in the state. as john yang reports, it will be life changing for some uninsured north carolinians and their providers, but not all. john: tucked away in a shopping center on winston-salem's southwest side, nonprofit united health centers is a lifeline f its patients. >> so we have about 10 exam rooms. john: pediatrician veronica wiltshire, the center's chief medical officer, says acro three locations it serves 6000 patients. most are black, hispanic, or latino. the nearly 80% of patients who don't have insurance pay on a sliding scale. in one place, patients can see a doctor, get prescriptions filled, and receive dental care. they can even enroll in medicaid, the federal and state health insurance program for those with low incomes. >> our patient population, it's

all about easy access. so if we can prevent them from going one other place, because a lot of them have to take a bus. john: accesso health care has been a challenge for low-income residents of north carolina, one of 11 states that hadn't expanded medicaid coverage under the affordable care act, until now. last month, governor roy cooper, a democrat, signed a bill passed by the republican-controlled legislature expanding medicaid access in the state. >> we have a medicaid expansion bill. john: when it's implemented, the program will be open to families and individuals whose inmes are lower than 138% of the federal verty line, about $20,000 for an individual. before expansion, most adults without children or a disability weren't eligible at all, no matter how low their income. >> patients are going to be able to come to see their doctors without having to worry about health care costs. a lot of times in the population of patients we serve, it's either, should i buy food for my

family, should i pay my rent, or should i buy the medication? john: it's a dilemma uhc patient twakeena simmons, a nursing assistan knows all too well. her employer-provided health insurance is inadequate, but she'll qualify for medicaid under the expansion. >> the dentist, you know, they're kinda pricey, and then the doctor, pricey. medicine, definitely pricey. john: and clinics like uhc will benefit, too. in all, the expansion, and a one-time federal bonus, is expected to bring in $8 billion a year for the state's health care providers. the state government's contribution to the cost of expanded coverage will come from hospitals, not taxpayers. >> hello, hello, hello. john: just days after the bill was signed, doctor wiltshire was part of an advocacy day at the state's capitol. >> can i please give you a hug? >> sure. i love hugs. john: the key message to lawmakers? thank you.

>> i know you've been working on this for many, many, many years. john: state representative donny lambeth is a former hospital executive. since 2017, he'd been trying to get his fellow republicans, who controlled both legislative chambers all those years, to pass expansion. >> early on people just did not understand it. we also had changes in attitude towards obamacare and medical expansion. john: so it was an education process to get your from the republicans on your side? >> exactly. when you first talk about expansion it is like -- and this is what they said to me -- oh no, we're expanding another government entitle program. but this does not cost the state any money. john: and some republican lawmakers say they were were persuaded to vote for expansion because most of those o will gain coverage are employed. like evita bass, who works in child care in hillsborough and didn't qualify for medicaid under the old rules. you're an assistant director here? >> i am. john: work full time? >> i do.

john: but no health insurance. >> no health insurance. john: are you constantly worried about, what happens if i get sick? what happens if i have an accident? >> yes, it is a constant worry. life for me, when i was growing up, my mom always preached about going to your annual visits, making sure that you get checked out. and working in daycare, you can probably imagine we come across a lot of germs, so it's very hard to keep yourself up there. but i do what i have to do so i don't have that doctor bill. john: last year, bass, who is 30, had emergency surgery that left her out of work for a nth, and stuck with more than $36,000 in debt, an expense medicaid would have helped pay. >> one thing i've always live by, better late than never. you kind of just gotta roll with the punches. granted, i wish it would have came a little bit earlier. john: if bass qualifies under medicaid's new income requirements, as she believes she will, she says she'll enroll as soon as possible. and then how quickly are you

going to make that appointment for a checkup? >> as soon as they approve me. i already have my primary care doctor that i want to go back to. and i'm excited. john: when north carolina's medicaid expansion is fully implemented, an estimated 600,000 will gain access to health coverage. but that doesn't mean there won't still be people in north carolina without insurance. >> there's still going to be a huge need for safety net organizations. john: krista woolly runs the community care clinic of rowan county in the piedmont region of central north carolina. >> a lot oour patients will come in here and go to the dentist, they'll go to the doctor, and they'll pick up their prescriptions. john: it's a totally free clinic for county residents who don't have insurance and make less than three times the federal poverty line. >> we have 1.1 million uninsured folks in north carolina. what we hear is that medicaid expansion will cover about half of that. so we'll still have 600,000, 700,000 people without insurance

and without the ability to afford aca. john: kenneth small is one of them. he is the entire staff of the salisbury, north carolina landscaping business he owns. >> i have been to actual insurance groups that try to find you the best deal that they can. you can't afford to pay the premiums that they want. john: so he relies on the clinic for health care and for most of his prescriptions, including insulin for his diabetes, and five cholesterol medications. after quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2017, the clinic also helped him lower a nearly $70,000 hospital bill to $6000. >> i've never paid out of pocket to come here. anything. so they they're filling a large gap between people who are making too much money to qualify for medicaid and can't afford insurance. and that's where i fall in. john: because everyone thinks

that, well, with obamacare and with expanded medicaid, we've taken care of the uninsured problem. >> yeah, no. there's still a bunch of uninsured out. >> we sent you for the stress test to get a better idea of your heart. john: dr. amy wilson is the clinic's medical director. with the expansion of medicaid, you may lose some patients. >> yes. and that's great. i would love for there to not be a need for me still, but unfortunately, i think there is still going to be. john: back at uhc in winston salem, dr. veronica wiltshire also knows that not all the clinic's patients will qualify for expanded medicaid. >> did she start school already? john: but she says the increased revenue from medicaid will help all the clinic's patients. >> just to build up a mental health department or hire more dentists in our clinic. we can hire a patient navigator who will be able to help our patients fill out their forms, you know, educate our patients. in health centers, all the

revenue that we receive goes back into the health center. john: north carolina could start enrolling new patients later this year, a step, supporters say, toward improving the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of residents. for the "pbs newshour," i'm john yang in winston-salem, north carolina. ♪ geoff: abortion, guns, and democracy. three big issues that have reached a fever pitch in recent days, which brings us to politics monday. as many of you in our loyal audience have noted, we hit pause on this segment at the start of the year, but as the 2024 campaign begins to heat up, we decided it's time to return to it with our friends, amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter, and tamara keith of npr.

it is great to see you both. amy, let's start with the political impact of abortion restrictions. republican senator lindsey graham yesterday was asked whether the gop's position on abortion is costing the republican party after a string of electoral defeats. >> we can win this issue at the ballot box if we show up with reasonable positions. if we have our head in the sand, we're going to lose. geoff: so, do republicans have reason to be concerned about a potential abortion ban backlash? amy: that is a very good question. i reached out to a republican strategist who does a lot of work in swing states asking the same sort of question. what do you think this means? the reply was a big sigh. because as we learned from 2022, the issue is not so much about abortion, about the medical procedure. one democrat said to me abortion was not the issue as much as

dobbs was the issue. in other words, it was the overturning of a right that people felt was enshrined, something that was around for 50 years. even republicans acknowledge this turned off voters, the sense that the rug could be pulled out from under them at any moment from unelected judges. so the fda decision, which has been in effect for 20 years, getting basically pulled out from under women because of the decision of one judge, fits into that same narrative. so when you talk to republican strategists who have to do this work in swing states, they acknowledge this is a challenge. but the reason for the big sigh is because the legislators and the judges doing this work, they are not in swing states and not accountable to the kind of voters that determine who wins and loses in these battleground areas. geoff: on that point, you were just in wisconsin and we saw how

abortion access, reproductive rights was a decisive issue in that key supreme court, wisconsin supreme court election, where e liberal won. what did you hear? tamara: admittedly i was at uw madison, so this is a liberal campus where young people were voting. but i was there, they were lining up to early vote. and i was talking to people coming away from voting, what these young people said -- and it was not just the girls, it was young men as well -- said that the reason they were driven there to vote, abortion, the issue of abortion. it was a mobilizing issue for them. and there in wisconsin it was a particularly live issue, because like many states around the country there was a trigger law. and so when dobbs happened, then a state law that dated back to 1849 banning abortion was

triggered. and so something was taken away, as amy says. and that is extremely motivating for voters. and not just liberal voters. so, i thinthat what you saw there in the midterms, what you saw from democrats in swing areas saying, no, we are going to run on this, this is an issue. you saw someone like nancy mays, a republican from south carolina, congresswoman, saying maybe the federal government, the fda should ignore this ruling in texas. she is responding to her voters, which are swing district voters, who overwhelmingly support some abortion access. geoff: for decades, republicans have talked about abortion because it was a rallying cry, a way for them to identify with a

culturally conservative base. now that it is motivating voters against the gop, can republicans change the subject? amy: that is what many of them tried to do in 2022, to say the economy is the most important issue. even for voters who care about abortion, it is secondary because inflation is their top issue. but what we found in the election is yes, the economy is a very important issue, but abortion is right behind it, or in some cases that we found in postelection voting -- polling, for those voters who were not feeling so great about biden and the economy, they picked abortion as their top issue. you can both be upset about the economy and abortion. the one thing i will point out is the issue did not cut one way in every single state. a state like georgia, where the governor passed a six-week band, signed a six-week ban, he succeeded in winning election, which is senator graham's point. he won in part because he was talking about other things. he did not come across as unreasonable to voters.

i think another reason why he might not have come across as unreasonable to many swing voters is he also did something else, which is he did not get endorsed by donald trump, and in fact he defeated donald trump's henpecked primary opponent. so, in some ways, it was not just that they were antiabortion and did not have exceptions. it is also that many of them had been endorsed by donald trump, and those two gether i think were really problematic for swing voters. geoff: let's talk about what is happening in tennessee, because tennessee represented justin jones has been reinstated by unanimous vote by the metro nashville council. justin pearson could be reinstated as early as tomorrow, he represents memphis. tam, the white house has really aligned itself with this story, because there are so many themes and ises, advocating for gun

safety, preserving small d democratic norms. there was also a racial element to this, in that the two democrats who were ousted were african-american and the one who was not expelled was a white woman. take us behind the white house strategy to go all in on tennessee. tamara: it is also a guns issue, and that is very important to them. this white house is leaning in a lot on the matter of guns. there was just another mass shooting today. and what they saw in tennessee was a lack of due process for lawmakers who were trying to just get gun control measures a hearing. just trying to get some voice put to what the protesters were shouting from the rafters. and so, the white house does not really see a downside in leaning in on this. interestingly, the president's statement did not even mention the racial element, although it became quite apparent as the night went on that there was also this racial element, which is not necessarily something the

white house would shy away from. geoff:a my, will gun safety issues become a decisive factor in elections? amy: it is interesting the vice president went to tennessee, the white house talking about the issue. this is not just aimed at tennessee, it is a national issue aimed at the kind of voters that republicans have been bleeding in the era of trump. those suburban voters in and around fast-growing cities like nashville or atlanta, etc., phoenix. so, i think with the combination of younger voters, suburban voters, those voters that republicans are hoping to get back, this is just one more issue that makes it harder for them to bring them back into the fold. geoff: amy walter and tamera keith, great to have youack and look forward to seeing you more on mondays. ♪

amna: a history-making win for 28-year-old spanish golfer jon rahm at the masters tournament yesterday. in securing his second major career championship, rahm became the first european ever to win both the masters and the u.s. open. here he is on the moment he knew he'd won. >> when i hit that third shot on the green, and i could tell it was close by the crowd's reaction, just the wave of emotion of so many things just overtook me. never thought i was going to cry by winning a golf tournament, but i got very close on that 18th hole. amna: but the tournament was not without controversy, with several players from the saudi-funded liv golf tour competing, and performing well. for re on this, i'm joined by christine brennan, sportswriter and columnist for usa today. christine, welcome back. always good to see you. before we get into the politics and the controversy ofll this,

let's giveahm his moment. just tell us about him and why his win is so significant. christine: amna, he is one of the great young players on the pga tour and throughout the world of golf and a very popular player, the latest in a long line of great spanish male players. sergio garcia. and now, jon rahm. he respects that tradition. he actually won yesterday, on sunday. i mean, who knows that? what 20 something is talking about the birthday of a man who's now passed away? but that's the history and the tradition that matters to jon rahm. he's also just one of one of the great players and it's now number one in the world. amna: as you well know, among the top six finishers at the masters, there were three golfers who play on that saudi funded liv golf tour, phil mickelson, brooks koepka and

patrick reed. you wrote that the masters must be saying to rahm, thank you for saving us from ourselves. what did you mean by that? christine: the liv golf tour has been very, very controversial. and it is backed by mohammed bin salman. and he has a private investment fund. and of course he is the man who has by all accounts is responsible for the murder and dismemberment of washington post columnist jamal khashoggi in 2018. and of course the saudis and their connection to 9/11. and the saudi human rights record, which is abysmal, especially regarding women and lgbtq rights. so that's what has happened there. now, i know people have said to me many times, i've been i've been critical of course of the golfers who have left for the liv tour. they said, well, you pump gas in your car. you know, there are other sports events in saudi arabia. the difference for me is very

simple. these men, they're the big names. they had jobs. their jobs on the pga tour, and they left their jobs -- and by the way they had very good paying jobs. but they left their jobs to go into business with mohammad bin salman, and thsaudis and all of the terrible things that of course are alleged or are known about them. and this is a classic days in my humble opinion of sports washing, i.e. saudis are using these golfers and the golfers know they are being used to whitewash that record and try to make the saudis look good. even phil mickelson said that in comments that he knows that they killed khashoggi and the general record with lgbtq ople and yet mickelson signed out because the money is so massive, they're making hundreds of millions of dollars. and i think it's obviously something very worthy of conversation because it is such a remarkable difference from say a tennis player playing in saudi arabia for one week, or an

olympics being in beijing. very problematic, but not going into business with those people as these golfers have. amna: christine, phil mickelson was asked about that, asked about representing liv golf at the masters. here's part of what he had to say in response. >> i thought it was exciting that this tournament rose above it all to have the best players in the world here and lost all the pettiness. i thought that was great. there is going to a was be, and should always be a place for historical events like this, but it's ok to have a little bit of difference in variety in the game of golf. amna: christine, mickelson is 52. he surged in the final round to do much better than many people thought he would. do you think this earned him some redemption with the fans who were angry at him and others for leaving for the liv golf tour? christine: that's possible. when he talks about pettiness though, he has been the one who's been driving the

pettiness. i mean, he has been one of the chief organizers and the one who's been so critical the pga tour. obviously he is one of the greatest players ever, but he has certainly been a participant in all of the strife and the anger and the rancor between the liv golfers and their former colleagues at the pga tour, and their legal battles as well. so yeah, he had a great day sunday. and that's for sure. and it was remarkable. for a 52-year-old, almost 53, to be shooting a 65 and just having the time of his life out there. so yes, that was a great moment for phil on the golf course. i think his record remains in terms of his decision-making, and that's something obviously for the sports history books. amna: it's something of course, books. amna: it's something of course, we'll continue to cover, as i know you will as well. christine brennan, sports columnist for usa today. christine, thank you. christine: thank you very much.

♪ geoff: can motorcycles be works of art? well, they are at a place called madhouse motors. jared bowen of gbh boston went to see how the mechanics there are creating masterpieces in motion for our arts and culture series, canvas. jared: it is a rumbling repository for motorcycles. but also a coffee shop with middle eastern flayer. and to bike aficionados, it's eden. how do you describe displays? >> the coolest place i have ever been. jared: nick is the manager of madhouse motors in boston, a place for tuneups and repairs, but also much more than that. a place where antique bikes live, where they take on new personas, and where people like timney, who grew up riding dirt bikes on west virginia trails, are drawn to test their meddle. >> i would come in 8:00 in the

morning and work until 5:00 when i had to go to my bar job, work until 4:00 in the morning. two years of that. i think i proved myself to her and i became a mechanic. jared: she is the owner of madhouse motors and sculptor of motorcycles. >> yes, there's a lot of parts on both these bikes that are abnormal. everything from where you put your feet on these to the taillights. it functions, it has a purpose, instead of just being there for aesthetic appeal. jared: she and her team run the creative arm of madhouse motors like an artist workshop. a place of design, discussion, and experimentation with every bike. >> he wanted to be composed properly and be aesthetically beautiful and be able to carry a storyline. yeah, we do it like making a kinetic sculpture and if someone calls it art, we are all ecstatic about it.

jared: how much does it tell you what it should be? >> the whole time. i am not in as much control as i would like to be. jared: motorcycles are in her blood, an interest she inherited from her enthusiast father, and before that, her grandmother, seen here in lebanon. it is also an influence from her photography studies from the massachusetts art of design. >> i would hate bikes that smell like gas and oil. i did not enjoy it. when i got older, i realized that trained my brain to look at a machine or a motorcycle, a custom-built, and say, all right, this color palette is off, or their shape is wrong, or what is the pain of this. -- what is the point of this. the same way that, in our class, we would dissect and i just a piece of work. jared: 13 years ago named the shop after her family home, a madhouse, as she describes it. >> the community watering hole. people from all different walks of life would go there and have

meals and decompress, sleep there. >> if the soil is fertile, things will grow. this place is very fertile. jared: he's the shop's newest member. he arrived from beirut where he and his bike shop fell victim to the port of beirut explosion in 2020. >> the roof of my house caved in and my shop was destroyed. it was a very testing time. i have lived in a lot of places where there is war and conflict. this probably was one of the worst things i have experienced. jared: he rebuilt, but with lebanon's economic collapse and after a chance meeting with shia, he moved to the u.s. in his new job he is losing himself in a wonderland of motorcycles he has never encountered. museum pieces, he says, like this 1972 honda cb500.

>> when this hit the market, nothing was going as smooth, as reliable, and as fast. i know it does not look like it, but it's just poetry in mion. jared: he also has a formal arts background, designing fonts before bikes beckoned full-time. >> a typeface that works is the one you can't notice. if you are reading a headline in a newspaper, it is the headline, not the typeface. jared: so how do you apply that to motorcycles? >> they have to run. they have to work. and have a look and feel. jared: feeling, he says, may be the greatest measure of success. >> motorcycle is a collection of parts until you get on it and you start it, and the engine becomes alive, and it becomes an experience. now you are ingrained deep into the function of the motorcycle, and what feeling it will instill in you. jared: so it is here in this madhouse that ideas rev to fruition. where a saxophone can play the

exhaust. and where new beginnings are ahead for man and machine. for the pbs newshour, i am jared bowen in boston, massachusetts. stephanie: an update to our top story, police have announced another victim has died in louisville, kentucky. 57-year-old deanna eckert. that brings the death toll to six in the nation's latest mass shooting. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm stephanie sy. thanks for watching, and good evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. ♪ the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

more informaon 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 station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and from the walter cronkite school of broadcasting at arizona state university. >> you're watching pbs.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen", elle makes julia a milk chocolate crémeux tart, jack talks about different coconut products, and dan makes bridget sweet cream ice cream. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen".