♪ amna: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm jeff bennett. "the newshour" tonight. americans get some much needed relief from rising food and gas prices, but uncertainties persist in the u.s. and global markets. amna: the environmental protection agency paves the way for more electric vehicles by proposing strict limits on tailpipe eiomiss it'n''s a drear those of us who know we need to decarbonize our our society and certainly our cars and trucks. geoff: and president biden visits ireland to promote peace, push for economic growth and celebrate his own ties to the region. ♪

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>> the walton family, working for solutions to protect water so people in nature can thrive together. pported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation . more information at mac found.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. >> this program s made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: good evening and welcome to "the newshour." inflation cooled last month to its lowest level in nearly two years, the ninth straight month it has done so. geoff: u.s. inflation rose 5% in march, compared to a year ago. the price of groceries dropped

.3% last month, marking the first decline in that index since september 2020, but core inflation, which does not include food and gas prices, remains high. gita gopinath is first deputy managing director of the international monetary fund. thank you for being with us. inflation has ticked down to its lowest level in almost two years, still above where the fed feels comfortable, but showing -- do we know when prices will fully level out or whether the economy can slow down enough without tipping into a recession? >> inflation indeed has come down from its real highs last year. so we think that it peaked sometime last year and now it's been coming down. the issue of course is that it still sts very high. and especially if you look at the components of inflation that exclude energy and food, which is critical for figuring out how much of an underlying inflation there is, that stillemains high. now it's coming down.

we've seen progress, but it is still slow and there is some ways to go on that. now the question is, what does it take to bring it down? it requires slowing the economy. it requires slowing, growth and demand, which is what the fed is trying to accomplish with this interest rate increases. we'll see how much more is needed on that front. ordpa touo y ref adrt rightwh t you have different sectors moving in different directions. energy prices have dropped, food prices continue to decline, it's -- it costs more to buy new car and airfares have soared. what accounts for that? >> it is typically the case when you look at inflation, that you see different inflation readings in different sectors. and we've seen many changes over time. for instance, if you look at during the pandemic, goods, inflation, you know, things that you were buying in terms of furniture, and laptops and all of that just soared because

everyby was home and working from home and that's the kind of thing they need. now you see goods inflation has come down. but you see stablish is inflation because people are now going out to restaurants and taking leisure of other kinds. because of that, are you seeing prices go up? an energy prices which soared right coming out of the pandemic and russia's war in ukraine has now come down again. so we see very different trends, again, depending upon people's consumption behavior, and also, you know, geopolitical events. geoff: the imf warned of an anemic outlook for the economy due to higher interest rates, turmoil in the banking sector, the war in ukraine, yet treasury secretary janet yellen yesterday rejected pessimism about the overall economy, and she said i , wouldn't overdo the negativism. why the disconnect? what accounts for that?

>> firstly, we all recognize even the imf recognizes that the world economy has shown a lot of resilience against some very hard shots in the pandemic, the war with energy prices soaring. so despite all of that, the labor market is tight, consumion spending is high. so there are bright spots, right. i mean, this is clearly the case. but at the same time, we have to recognize that policymakers are trying to bring inflation down, which means they're raising interest rates, which is what you need to do to bring inflation down, the economy should slow. and you saw in march, the banking stress that triggered more financial tightening. so therefore, i think the baseline is that we continue to have some growth, even if it's not the highest growth numbers, but the risks are weighed to the downside. we could see much more financial stress than we've seen. the war is not over energy prices could go back up. so we just want to be cautious about you know, just declaring victory and saying that we're all in a good spot. geoff: it is safe to say though,

that the era of easy money is over at least for now. i mean, the average interest rate for a 30 year fixed is 7.2%. what does that mean for the way that we live in work? >> so indeed, after a decade of very low interest rates, we are now in times where interest rates are much higher, which means mortgages are much more costlier, taking on car loans are much more costlier. that, of course has the effect of slowing demand for housing, slowing demand for cars. and that's the channel through which we expect to see demand slowing and then inflation coming down. now the question is and once we bring inflation down are we going to be that in this environment of high interest rates? and there, our analysis shows that if you start looking about four to five years out, we do actually think you're going to return back to an environment of low interest rates and the kind we saw pre pandemic. now ere's no certain around it, but that would be our best

estimate at this point. geoff: thanks for your time and your insights. ♪ geoff: in the day's other headlines, county commissioners in memphis, tennessee voted to return a second black democrat to the state legislature. the republican-led house had expelled justin pearson and colleague justin jones for joining gun control protests on the chamber floor. today, hundreds of supporters marched with pearson to the commission chambers. the panel voted unanimously to reinstate him, sending him back to his seat as ely as this week ahead of a special election later this year. former president donald trump is suing his former attorney michael cohen, for more than $500 million. cohen had testified before a grand jury in new york that indicted mr. trump in a hush-money case.

the federal lawsuit contends he violated attorney-client privilege and fabricated conversations. michael cohen's attorney, in response, accused mr trump of again using the judicial system as a form of harrasment and intimidation against his client. up to 2000 people in eastern indiana were under evacuation orders today, as a fire burned piles of plastics. the blaze erupted tuesday, sending dark smoke billowing over a recycling site in richmond, indiana. this morning, crews were still dousing the flames, and health officials warned the smoke could be harmful. >> these are very fine particles and if they're breathed in, can cause all kinds of respiratory problems, burning of the eyes, tightening of the chest. it's for your safety that the evacuation zone is there. if you can see the smoke, you're in the smoke, get out of the smoke. geoff: the epa says so far, air samples show no sign of toxic compounds. the mayor said the old recycling site

has long been cited as a fire hazard. mexico's top immigration official will face charges in a fire that killed 40 migrants last month. officials say he should have addressed problems at the facility in ciudad juarez, across the border from el paso, texas. security camera video showed detainees trapped as smoke and flames engulfed the cells. most of the dead were from central american nations. in ukraine, the government in kyiv is vowing to investigate a gruesome video that apparently shows russians beheading a ukrainian soldier, with a knife. the video has been circulating online. its authenticity cannot be confirmed, but ukraine's president volodymr zelenskyy says the act will not go unpunished. >> there is something that no one in the world can ignore -- how easily these beasts kill. this video, the world must see. everyone must react, every leader. do not expect that it will be forgotten, that time will pass. we are not going to forget

anything and forgive these murderers. geoff: moscow today called the video horrible, but said it needs to be verified. supporters of russian opposition leader alexei navalny report he's being poisoned in prison, again. his foundation says navalny has lost 18 pounds in 2 weeks and suffered acute stomach pains. it says allies believe jailers are giving him low-dose poison. navalny was poisoned in 2020 with a nerve agent. back in this country, a top banking regulator says tougher banking rules would not have saved silicon valley bank in california. the bank's collapse last month sent shock waves through the industry. today, travis hill, vice chair of the fdic, blamed management failures for what happened. he called for adjusting existing rules instead of imposing broad new regulations. on wall street, stocks slipped on news that federal reserve economists expect a mild recession. the dow jones industrial average

lost 38 points to close that 33,646. the nasdaq fell 102 points, nearly 1%. the s&p 500 was down 17 points. and buckingham palace announced britain's prince harry will attend the coronation of his father, king charles, in may. his wife, meghan, will stay home in california with the couple's children. their participation had been the subject of speculation amid an ongoing public rift among members of the royal family. still to come on "the newshour." the white house response in the legal battle over an abortion pill. how local public health efforts have been politicized in the wake of the pandemic. and the hit songs, a video game tune, being inducted into the national recording registry. >> 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: the recent dueling court

decisions on the use of the abortion pill mifepristone have ignited a new debate over women's health. and with future access in limbo, some states are stockpiling the medication. but, the biden administration has asked an appeals court to overturn the controversial texas ruling to suspend the fda's approval of the drug, that decision is expected as early as this week. jennifer klein is the director of the white house gender policy council and she joins us now. welcome back to the newshour, and thanks for joining us. i'm going to begin with the administration's announcement today on strengthening privacy protections under hipaa. explain what y been seeing in the antiabortion movement that says this move was necessary now. jennifer: one of the things we have been seeing is that states are moving to criminalize mostly health care providers and what this regulation would do, today the department of health and human services put out a notice of proposed rulemaking so there's a chance for comment, and then the rule would ultimately be finalized.

but that would do is protect sensitive health information under what is called hipaa. while there are exceptions for law enforcement, we would narrow that exception to law enforcement for legal reproductive health care. so for example, you've seen women traveling out of state, from one state where abortion is banned to another state where it is legal, and the lawful health care that you got in the state that you travel to, the discussion she has with her doctors, the care that she receives in that state where the care is lawful would not be available to law enforcement if the rule is made final. amna: this idea was raised a few months ago. a number of senators sent a letter to president biden in september of last year, asking him to use hipaa in this way. could this have been done sooner?

jennifer: initially the department of health and human services put up guidance very early on to make clear what the protections are under hipaa, and we were waiting to see that if this continue to happen and if we saw states passing laws that would criminalize health care, lawful health care, we were ready to take action, and that's what the department of health and human services did today. amna: i know we are awaiting the next step from the appeals court, but there are all ready some advocates and some democrats even saying the ruling was unfounded and the administration should just ignore it. do you think we should do that? jennifer: this decision in texas is dangerous, but the department of justice feels that it is also dangerous to ignore a binding legal decision. but what is really at issue here is that we now have two cases. we have the case in texas, which

it would be a nationwide injunction that would prevent mifepristone from being available across the country, but we also have a case in washington that is proceeding. the department of justice filed a motion for clarification to better understand how those two cases would interact. so we're using the courts, we are confident that we have both the law and the facts on her side, and we will prevail in getting a stay and ultimately succeeding in these cases. amna: if that legal process does not go your way, what is the plan? could you be stockpiling medication, or other -- are there other law -- lawsuit you could file? jennifer: the governor of connecticut said it well today. if the drug is illegal, stockpiling it doesn't actually help. as i said, we are pursuing an aggressive court strategy, and we believe that we will prevail,

and that is the answer in this case. amna: what about the other drug in this two drug protocol. the ruling applies to mifepristone payment is there anything else you could be doing to protect future access to the other? jennifer: this case in texas does not speak to that drug. it remains available, it can be safely used. amna: are you anticiping that could be challenged as well? is there anything you can do to preemptively protect access to it? jennifer: there's nothing to do preemptively. but again, we don't see any reason for a very illegal drug to be challenged in court. the drug has a lot of uses. we will be prepared for anything, but we don't see that

as a concern at the moment, anyway. amna: the reason i ask is it gets to a larger frustration i've heard from some advocates and some progressive democrats, the frustration that the administration has move slowly or not been as creative or aggressive as they would like to see. the argument is the urgency of the moment requires the administration to meet that's moment. that go ahead and get caught trying, in other words. what would you say to that? >> i think we have. this case is a perfect example of getting caught trying. the president -- issue two executive orders to ensure access to abortion, to contraception. we are protecting the physical safety and security of patients, health care providers, pharmacies. this administration has worked quickly and aggressively. just this afternoon the third

meeting of the task force that's designed to bring everyone and government together. we've heard about other things the department of justice is doing. we heard from the secretary of the department of health and human services about this announcement on privacy and other things. the department of defense, the department of veterans affairs, any insinuation that we have not acted quickly, decisively, and aggressively, is just not there. amna: jennifer klein, thank you. always good to see you. jennifer: thank you. you too. ♪ geoff: today the biden administration rolled out its most aggressive effort yet to combat climate change, with tougher emissions limits for cars and trucks. but a number of challenges remain, includinthe cost of electric cars, the batteries,

and how to charge them on the road. william brangham has our report on the administration's latest move. william: cleaner cars, cleaner air, as quickly as possible. that's the stated goal of the environmental protection agency's new proposed emissions standards for tailpipes. if enacted, these standards could mean that, in less than ten years, as many as 2 out of every 3 new vehicles sold in america would be all-electric. it's the nation's most ambitious effort yet to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. niadthmistratirg this shift to zero emission vehicles would help the u.s. meet its pledge to cut overall emissions in half by 2030. epa administrator michael regan laid out the plan this morning. >> this is historic news for our children, it's historic news for our climate, it's historic news for our future. william: the epa laid out two

sets of proposed rules today: one governing cars and light trucks, the second for heavier vehicles like buses and trailer-trucks. if enacted, the epa says emissions from those small and medium vehicles would drop by 44 to 56%. >> as a father of a nine-year-old, i can assure you that there is no greater priority for me thanrotecting the health and well-being of our children, and ensuring that they have a safe, healthy and reliable future. william: transportation is the largest source of america's greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 27% of the u.s.'s carbon pollution. supporters say this move by the epa is a welcome addition in the fight to curb the worst impacts of climate change. >> it's a dream come true for those of us who know we need to decarbonize our our society and certainly our cars and trucks.

william: fred krupp is president of the environmental defense fund. >> epa has the authority to reduce the amount of tailpipe pollution. and when you reduce it enough, the way to meet that is through zero emitting vehicles like electric cars. and that's the mechanism. if a company can do it with a hydrogen fuel cell or an electric vehicle, they're allowed to do that. but in reality, the electric vehicle is the answer that not only tesla, but gm, ford, stellantis have all chosen as the best way to clean up that tailpipe. william: this shift would require automakers to dramatically ramp up production of electric vehicles. last year, evs were roughly 5.8% of new cars sold in the u.s. right now, they are about 7%. but epa administrator regan said the industry is ready for this surge. >> over the last two years over , $120 billion of private sector investment in electric vehicles and batteries.

i believe it because when i look at the projections that many in the automobile industry have made, this is the future. the consumer demand is there, the markets are enabling it, the technologies are enabling it. william: the effort to transition to electric cars is already underway in this country. and almost all automakers have rolled out new electric models, with a few even pledging to go fully carbon neutral soon. but still, there are some real challenges ahead on the road to an all-electric future. one is about the batteries for these cars. the minerals currently needed for them, lithium, nickel, cobalt and others, are primarily produced in china, and some are mined in dangerous, inhumane conditions in parts of africa. but there are other issues. john bozzella is the president of the alliance for automotive innovation, which represents carmakers. >> when you talk to consumers, what you often hear is how far will this go on a charge and

where can i charge it? and so that raises two immediate questions. do we have sufficient charging infrastructure? are there high speed chargers available on interstates between metropolitan areas so that it can take a longer trip as opposed to just moving three or four miles around my my hometown? william: there are roughly 53,000 charging stations currently in t u.s., compared to triple that number of gas stations. president biden has pledged construction of new charging 500,000 stations nationwide by 2030, and set aside 7.5 billion in the 2021 infrastructure law to pay for it. >> charging stations are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. in the last few days, 7-eleven announced that they will have charging stations at all their locations. you'll be able to drink a slurpee while you're charging your car. and walmart, which already has 1300 charging stations, has announced they're going to build

thousands more at every single walmart and sam's club. william: another impediment is cost. the current average ev costs about $65,000, roughly $17,000 more than the average gas powered car. even with the federal tax credit of $7,500, which not all ev's qualify for, plus the longer-term savings of never having to buy gas, that initial sticker shock has kept some buyers away. >> right now the average transaction price of an electric vehicles is is substantially higher than the average transaction price of an internal combustion engine vehicle. will that change over time? of course it will. william: because these epa rules are an expansion of existing statutes, it's likely they'll be challenged in the courts. for "the pbs newshour," i'm william brangham. ♪

amna: today president biden began a 4-day tour of northern ireland and the republic of ireland by marking an anniversary. 25 years ago this week, parties in northern ireland ended decades of conflict known as the troubles, by signing the good friday agreement. but as nick schifrin reports, president biden arrived in the city of belfast, at a moment of political and economic uncertainty. >> thank you for hosting us today on this beautiful campus. nick: president biden today urged fractious politicians to once again defeat their divisions. >> the enemies of peace will not prevail. northern ireland will not go back, pray god. nick: but in belfast, peace did not end all violence. just two days ago, dissident nationalists who want to reunite with the republic of ireland, set fire to a british police

car. violence the good friday agreement was designed to end. >> i'm pleased to announce that the two governments, and the political parties of northern ireland, have reached agreement. nick: 25 yes ago, with us mediation, the british government and northern ireland's political parties ended 30 years of conflict known as the troubles. they were europe's longest running conflict w aldheerarrion army, mostly catholic, fought to reunite with the republic of ireland, sometimes using terrorist attacks against british leaders and citizens. british soldiers and their mostly protestant allies, fought and sometimes killed, to keep northern ireland in the united kingdom. today, some neighborhoods are still separated, between mostly catholic nationalists who want to reunite with ireland, and mostly protestant unionists who want to remain part of the unitedingdom. the divisions are also political. pro-uk unionist politicians refuse to re-enter a power sharing agreement in northern

ireland's assembly created by the good friday agreement, because they fear brexit erodes northern ireland's connection with great britain. they see president biden as pro-irish. >> he is then the most partisan president who has ever been when dealing with northern ireland. he hates the united kingdom, i don't think there's any doubt about that. nick: biden's aides denied that today, but the political paralysis has left northern ireland's legislative and executive branch, not functioning for more than a year. today president biden met with leaders of northern ireland's 5 political parties, to urge compromise. pres. biden: i hope that the assembly and the executive will soon be restored, that's a judgment for you to make, not me, but i hope it happens. nick: residents in northern ireland also hope it happens. many say they don't have the economic or education opportunities, that the good friday agreement was designed to create. >> wdo need help right now to get things in order and maybe this will give people the push that they need.

nick: today president biden was optimistic, that peace would produce prosrity. pres. biden: the simple truth is, peace and economic opportunity go together. nick: for more on president biden's trip to belfast, we turn to duncan morrow, a professor of politics at ulster university, where president biden spoke today. he has written extensively about the conflict in northern ireland. thank you very much and welcome to the newshour. has the good friday agreement led to the kind of peace that it's signers hoped it would? >> probably not, to be honest. i think 25 years ago hopes were higher at something more cooperative and collabative would emerge. persistent issues have come up, not the least of which is brexit seven years ago, but even before that, some of the issues about how we actually deal with some of the changes empowerment here have always cause trouble. at the same time, no one is

saying you should get rid of it simply because the level of violence is so much less in life is so much easier for this generation. nick: let's go through some of those concerns. as you said, the level of violence is much less, significantly so, yet at the top of the story, we did see some violence just a few days ago. how often is that happening? >> this is the 25th anniversary, this was their chance. on the same level though, in some communities there is no doubt whatsoever that there are still paramilitary organizations and we've not been able to squeeze that down. policing in northern ireland is in a much better place, probably one of our best successes in the course of the last 25 years. so it is not perfect but cou do better. nevertheless there is always that risk for these agencies to still exist. nick: we showed a wall that divides a catholic neighborhood

and a protestant unionist neighborhood. >> the community screwup because they feared their neighbors. taken the wall down is not just taken a wall down, it's opening yourself up to those fears again. i would say we have not made enough effort, not enough emphasis on taking the walls down and building communities where people can live together. i think if there has been a failure here, it is a failure to really prioritize the policies, not just saying goodbye to violence but constructing a better future. nick: pro u.k. unionists are concerned that brexit is eroding northern ireland's connection with the rest of the united kingdom. why haven't those concerns been assuaged, despite an agreement between u.k. and that you known as the windsor framework that was designed to address those very concerns? >> the brexit crisis has already

been for seven years. the second thing to say is that it put onto the table the question of where do you put a border? do you have a hard border in ireland that might regenerate some of those issues? but they came to was a trade barrier between great britain and northern ireland. the unionists have not really liked that. the british government and the european union have seen it as an example that takes away most of the practical issues. the unionist are saying they still feel they are in a different regime than the rest of great britain, but they are isolated. what president biden's visit said they are isolated from global affairs. do they continue with the boycott or try to find their way back in, even though they are not that happy? nick: it plain -- six lane the

political significance of president biden's trip? >> i don't think anyone expects his visit will do what it has done and underline a number of things. first of all, america is actually a player here and is committed to what we call the open border in ireland. i also think he says there's a possibility of a greater push and advance. nick: the special envoy to northern ireland who is supposed to pick up on trade and investment. >> to pick up on the issue that is the cause of the agreement, northern ireland is a place where you can export into the european union and uniquely in europe. the third thing, we support the windsor framework, and although he didn't push anybody particularly hard on politics, he made very clear that america is standing there, and that is a declaration that makes a

difference. nick: after his visit to belfast, president biden visited the republican -- republic of ireland. he visited -- visited a castle from which his ancestors left to immigrate to the u.s. he was called too irish and anti-british. is that fair? >> no, i don't think it is fair. is definitely an irishman. on the other side, president biden is well aware of international diplomacy. he knows that britain is very close to america in terms of the ukraine crisis. so he won't go too far away from trying to balance those things. but for unionists in northern ireland, they are aware that this is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, and that has been a bit of a boost. nick: duncan morrow, thank you very much. ♪

geoff: the covid pandemic highlighted the power of agencies like the cdc and local health departments. and brought backlash from people who said those authorities were overreaching. in the wake of this turmoil, many public health departments have been overhauled, having an outsized impact on rural parts of the country. with support from the pulitzer center, and in collaboration with the global health reporting center, special correspondent dr. alok patel has the story from colorado. it's part of our ongoing series, rural rx. dr. alok patel: emily brown is busy with chores on the family farm, where they raise cattle and grow potatoes. it's a big change from her six years running the rio grande county health department. emily: my role as a local public health director previously had been pretty low on the radar. and then covid came along.

>> covid meant long days tracking cases, announcing business closures and travel restrictions. >> covid was hard. >> and then, two months into the pandemic, the county commissioners fired her. i think it was a culmination of just a lot of different tensions that sort of maybe came to a head. brown was the first but not the last. fully half the public health directors in colorado have quit or been fired since march of 2020, a turnover rate that is alarming to tista ghosh, the state's former chief medical officer. >> i would call it a nightmare for most of the public health community. it's been a very difficult time and a lot of people have left. >> the controversies did not end with covid. until late january, kayla marler was public health director in fremont county. she says her downfall came after she tried to launch a family planning program.

>> when it comes to prevention, especially when it comes to birth control, it is something that is needed. >> in these small mountain towns, options are few and far between. >> and it was really disheartening as a public health director, that i would have to tell my staff, you're gonna have to let them know they're gonna have to go to a neighboring county. >> marler secured a grant to start a program that would offer birth control, test for sexually transmitted infections and treat patients who needed help. >> october of this last year, brought it to the board of health, and it was turned down. >> so, after they rejected your proposal, what happened then? >> what pretty much happened is i was pushed out, i was pushed out of my position. dr. alok patel: county commissioners say marler was let go due to staff morale and financial incompetence, not family planning. but marler denies any management problems, and showed us letters of support she got, from current staffers.

and it all came down to the vote by three people. >> so i had one female and two males on my board of health. the two males voted against it and the female voted for it. the three individuals you also have to understand are politicians. they are in their position because they are elected by their constituents. they had absolutely no medical background. >> i think the debate continues now over whether public officials should be scientific experts who determine policy, or if that should be left to elected officials. >>hat question is playing out right now in the southwest corner of the state, where two counties that have run a joint health department for the past 75 years, are going through a divorce. >> it's just like any relationship, whether it's a marriage or not, it takes trust.

>> marsha porter-norton is a la plata county commissioner, who voted to stand up a new health department. and end a long-standing relationship with neighboring archuleta county. the soon-to-be dissolved organization is san juan basin public health, where liane jollon has been executive director for 13 years. >> we do everything from restaurant inspections to childcare inspections to tracking exposure to lead for children. we do things like ensure that people have access to family planning and contraception. we do breast and cervical cancer screenings. we do lots of family formation and early childhood programs. we have a water lab that tests drinking water. >> when the pandemic came, san juan basin jumped right in. >> we went into that response

mode in the first week in march, which was extraordinarily early for a local public health department. >> but the response wasn't popular with everyone. protestors returned to the home of the executive director of the san juan basin health department, liane jollon. >> and then the cops moved them to that hillside, and now they are saying the public health director who's taking away your freedoms lives right here. and that was difficult. >> at first, it was protestors in archuleta county who wanted to break up the department. but ultimately, it was officials in la plata county who pulled the plug. >> i thi the pandemic laid bare a lot of differences in values. i failed to see how we were going to go forward in the future and have the kind of public health that i expect, which is what san juan basin is delivering now. they're delivering really good public health. >> shere byrd is a biology

professor at ft. lewis college. she sits on the board of health, which recommended the split. people in archuletta county came to meetings with guns on their hips. it was just an untenable situation. >> but standing up a new health department comes with a big price. a consultant hired by la plata county released a report last month, which said this county of 56,000 people will have to find nearly a half-million dollars year to maintain the same services, on top of the trantion cost -- nearly a million dollars. the report suggested staff would be cut by more than a third. >> if you're talking about 40% fewer people, it's gonna have an impact. >> can you tell me how you felt when you first learned about the vote that san juan basin was gonna be dissolved? >> well, we were devastated. >> dr. rhonda webb is chief executive at the pagosa springs medical center, in archuleta county. the only hospital for re than 50 miles around. >> people in rural areas just don't have as good of access of

healthcare, right. they, they just, they don't. so public health has to step in for those people and be there for them where they need to be. >> archuleta county, like much of rural colorado, has a shortage of primary health providers. and webb says rural counties have a lot to lose, if public health funding is cut back. >> hospitals take care of your wellness overall. they take care of people with individual health conditions. but the public health takes care of the health of our whole community. the center for disease control and prevention is advising that cloth-based coverings no longer, >> she says the community isn't fully aware of what's at stake. >> it's like, oh fine, masking and vaccines. but what about sewers and restaurant inspections and all air quality when there's a fire? who's doing that? it's the public health department. >> the current arrangement funds the department through december, when much of the staff might join kayla marler, on the

sidelines. marler sheays that subsequent events have proven she was on the right path. >> family planning got approved by the board of health. it was no longer than two weeks after that i was notified, we have a huge syphilis outbreak. we are needing to do something. and i'm sitting here like oh , yeah, we need to do something in an back of my mind knowing we had a plan in place and that was family planning. >> who or what is affected when politicians get to make these public health decisions? >> the people that are impacted are the residents. there is no room for politics to be in public health. >> but with memories of the pandemic still fresh, the trendline may be moving in the opposite direction. for "the pbs newshour," i'm dr. alok patel, in rural colorado. ♪

amna: in the wake of former president donald trump's indictment, there's been an explosion of foreign interference aimed at dividing the american electorate and sowing distrust in institutions. laura barron lopez brings us this exclusive data. laura: new research, shared first with newshour, shows a covert effort by russian and chinese-backed actors to interfere with american news and opinions about trump's arrest. the analysis comes from the global security and intelligence firm, soufan center, and the data science firm, limbik. here is what they learned: as news of the indictment broke and trump was arraigned. the volume of online posts about the former president spiked, going from the typical 26,000 posts every day to more than 448,000. helping drive that engagement were automated, fake accounts known as 'bots'.

these accounts are closely linked to the russian and chinese governments, operating with the tacit approval of the state. they share russian and chinese state media articles across multiple platforms or retweet them. and on twitter, they amplified support for trump during the arraignment. to unpack what this means and what we can do going forward, i'm joined by two of the experts behind these findings: colin clarke of the soufan center and zach schwitzky of limbik. thanks for joining. millions of people across the world post on social media about news every day, all the time. why should people be alarmed about these findings? >> i think there's a couple of reasons and i will give you two in particular. one is the intent behind the actors. these are russian and chinese linked actors that are seeking to divide the united states. they want to weaken the u.s., and they do that by driving debate on divisive topics.

also the political environment we are currently in, the current climate is highly partisan and polarized. so it is tailor-made for these type of interventions. the second is that they are pushing their own narratives. they are attempting to achieve their own directives and are doing so by spreading false information that gets picked up by american citizens and passed along. laura: here is one example of what you guys found. you point to a russian backed bought, d account -- a bot that is posting about trump's dodgy indictment. explain what is happening here. >> it is interesting to look at this because it is a symptom of what we are seeing more broadly. this is a good example, you see the image that the profile has used is from american media. there is no biography. a lot of what we are seeing from

this account in particular, which is consistent with a lot of the inauthentic activity is posting or re-tweeting from publications like rt and platforms like bk. normally what we have seen in previous news cycles focused on trump was it was very positive for the former president, and in this case in this example, we started to see state backed or state affiliated accounts like this one sort of playing both sides of the former president. laura: this has primarily been a russian playbook so far, dis-information warfare. are the chinese getting in on a new element here? >> they are. the russians are in the lead, and they do this for a number of reasons. return on investment for them, it cost pennies on the dollar and there are more kinetic

options, and china is noticing. they are seeing it is effective and cheap and they're not only helping promote russian disinformation online, they are honing their own skills and attempt to copy the russian playbook as they roll out any use this in tandem with a more aggressive foreign policy. laura: we saw a pressure, as i just said, do this in 2016. specifically, senate intelligence found that in 2016 that russia targeted african americans on social media to create racial divisions. but now some of these accounts appear harder to attribute directly to russia. so how has this social media information warfare evolved since 2016. >> it's a great question. if i can take a step back just for a the work we do at limbic, second, really, first and foremost, focuses on our their narratives related to a particular issue. like you know, this trump indictment or the election in 2016 that are resonating with

different audiences across the country. and if the answer to that is yes, then we start asking, what ould we do about it? who should take that responsibility. where these narratives originating and whose amplifying them and one of the really interesting things that we've seen from 2016 to, you know now in 2023 is, as you mentioned with that senate intelligence report. the senate, you know, was able to attribute thousands of artifacts back to russia, and what we're seeing now is a lot of what appears to be russian activity is actually originating out of what we call proxy countries where we can attributed as far to a country like nigeria, for example, um, where it very much looks like a russian information operation. but it's difficult to make that direct connection from nigeria as the country of origin to russia, even though on the surface, it appears to be very much aligned with russia's interests.

laura: another take away from your research, you say to expect more attempts by these foreign actors to use social media to create chaos and anger among americans heading into 2020 four, into the election cycle. your research specifically shows that the arraignment wasn't as big of an event as january 6 in terms of the sheer volume, but both created an environment or foreign actors to exploit. so what can be done about all of this? what can the government actually do? >> we are absolutely going to see more opportunities between now and the election of 20 between four and before the primaries there's going to be some kind of contentious issue that gets a ton of media attention, and that offers opportunities for our adversaries, particularly the russians and the chinese, to get into the mix. can do things like we are doing

now, having this conversation, informing the american public and becoming more aware about it. i think the government can get more involved in terms of funding digital literacy, and lastly, there is outreach to the private sector that can enhance our ability as american citizens to know with confidence that the news we are consuming on a regular basis is rigorous and sound. laura: thank you so much for your time. geoff: it's called the national recording registry. every year the library of congress makes 25 recordings of cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance. tunes for the history books, for the memory banks, or just to hum or dance along to. this year is no different. jeffrey brown is our guide for

our arts and culture series,canvas. jeffrey mariah carey put 'love' : on her christmas list. madonna had love of a different kind on her mind. ♪ this year's national recording registry features a number of powerhouse women. including queen latifah, the first female rapper to join the registry. and the sounds go back much further back in time. to the first recording of mariachi music in 1908, and 1922's st louis blues by w.c. handy. ♪ if you're into shaking your wang dang doodle, there's koko taylor

from 1966. and if you're into musical mysteries, what did billie joe mcallister throw off the tallahatchie bridge in bobbie gentry's 1967 hit? ♪ for classical music aficionados, there's a concerto by ellen taafe zwillich, and for jazz lovers, there's black codes by wynton marsalis. and for margarita drinkers, well, you know. ♪ >> consider again that.. that's here. that is home. jeffrey you can reach for the

: stars with an audio recording by carl sagan. or take the direct 'stairway to heaven' with led zeppelin. feeling a bit of deja vu yet? enjoy sweet dreams with eurythmics, travel country roads with john denver, shake whatever you've got left to daddy yankee's smash hit, gasolina, the first reggaeton recording added to the registry. and, if you're thinking of all-time great songs, you can only 'imagine' what has to be on the list. ♪ for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. geoff: and apparently for the first time, a videogame tune was

inducted, the theme to mario brothers. amna: that's right, we all know it by heart. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz geoff: and i'm goeff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular skull has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contact plans. our service team can help find one that fits you. visit consumerellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support

of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪

>> what are we fighting for? we are fighting for liberty, we are fighting for justice. >> as president biden visits northern ireland to celebrate the peace process, we dig into the existential challenges facing his party at home. from guns to abortion rights to the judicial system. i speak to katie porter about all of this and her run for senate in 2024. the united states and china conduct was very exercises in asia. we will have the latest. also ahead. >> this health care crisis manifested in so many ways we did not tnk