>> tonight on pbs news weekend. a new study looks at the link between higher life expectancy for black americans and access to black physicians. what montana is doing with the teacher shortage crisis. >> when folks asked me the teachers of tomorrow, i often say they are in the classrooms, you just have to get them started. >> an expert says why this spring's allergy season is so bad, and what you can do to breathe easier. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by.

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

the pace of the mass departures from the unrelenting fighting in sudan stepping up. the state department says the first overland convoy organized by the u.s. government safely delivered about 300 americans from khartoum to port sudan on the red sea. it took about 24 hours for the convoy to make the journey. armed american drones overhead on the lookout for threats. americans went to saudi arabia where other nations have already evacuated citizens the u.s. airlifted diplomats out of the country and helped some americans get seats off of flights organized by allied nations. smoked out of the skyline and gun and artillery fire heard. a shaky 72 expected to endeirhour-fease sus done little to interrupt fighting. those remaining are sheltering with water and supplies running low as the violent conflict between two rival generals

enters a third week. more than 500 people dead. nearly 5000 wounded. russia says ukrainian drones struck a fuel depot in the illegally annexed territory of crimea. it ignited a massive blaze. ukraine would not claim response ability, but an said the strike was god's punishment for a russian missile strike on a ukrainian apartment complex a day ago. at least 23 people including several children died in the attack. a manhunt underway in texas for a suspect police believe used an ar-15 style rifle late last night to kill five of his neighbors, including an eight-year-old child in a community outside of houston. the family had asked the suspect, their next-door neighbor, to stop firing a gun in his yard because they were trying to sleep. >> the united states is on a record pace in 2023 for shootings with four or more

deaths. there have been 17 so far this year. an average of one every week. the mississippi river is threatening communities along its banks. rising to the highest levels in decades as the giant snowpack upriver in minnesota melts. across iowa from the quiet cities down to dubuque, residents are repairing for the worst as water spills into communities, forecast to crest monday morning. in california, much of the eastern part of yosemite national park is closed until next week due to flooding. the merced river which cuts through the park rising to dangerous levels as their records snowpack melts. still to come. the plan to ease teacher shortages in rural america. the science behind this particularly bad allergy season. >> this is pbs news weekend from

weta studios in washington. weeknights on pbs. >> as we have reported recently, life expectancy in the u.s. is at its lowest level in nearly two decades. the projected lifetimes of black and native americans are shorter than white americans. research offers insight on a potential factor driving this disparity. it finds black people live longer in areas with more black primary care doctors. michael deal is one of the authors of the study. the director of workforce studies at the association of american medical colleges which represents medical schools and training hospitals. how big a benefit, or how big a difference is there between life expectancy for black americans in a county with no black physicians, and counties with at least one black physician? >> what we found is for every 10% increase, they saw one month

increase in life it's pregnancy for black people in those same counties. >> they don't even have to be there patient? >> exactly. we were not looking at whether they were seeing the black people in the county, just if they are in the same county. >> this was a correlation rather than positive effect, but do you have theories as to why this is? >> there are any number of explanations. part of it is black primary care physicians and black physicians in general are more likely to work in under served areas. part of it is also that it improves provider choice. there is also research to show the community level access improves with a more diverse workforce. our research shows exactly that. my own primary care physician who is a black woman, set up

upright in an area that was very diverse specifically because she wanted access in that community. i think we are seeing some of that in our findings. >> i was interested as you began this research, you not down half of the counties in america because they don't have a single primary care black physicians. >> there are many explanations, but overall it is worth noting because we don't have enough primary black care physicians, there are not even nearly enough black doctors. the physician workforce in the u.s. is about 6% black physicians. whereas we know, the population as a whole is more than twice that. there are also some counties where there are not very many people. that is part of it, too. >> how can you get more black people to get into the medical field, to be a physician? >> there are multilayered barriers to black people entering the field of medicine.

we need to address all of those. our own institutions are constantly working on improving their admissions processes using more holistic admission, etc. but they also run pathway programs designed to introduce undergraduate students to the possibility of studying medicine. it goes farther than that, high school, middle school, primary education levels. even pre-k in terms of the educational pathway. we are focused at amc looking at k-12 and stem education and enhancing and supporting that any way we can. it really is a long-term endeavor to improve the representation of black people and other historically excluded groups in the field of medicine. >> there was no cause-and-effect in this study, it was a correlation. what lessons do you think the medical profession or public health experts should be drawing from this? >> i would say there are three

main lessons to be learned. one is jt overall inadequate number of physicians is crucial to the health of all. two is a robust primary care workforce is important for population health. three, a diversity within the physician workforce and health workforce overall is in everyone's best interest. >> michael deal, thank you very much. montana schools have faced us get staggering shortage of teachers for years, especially american reservations. the pandemic brought new urgency and ideas for how to tackle the crisis. stan parker of montana pd reports on a new program that hopes to inspire the next generation of teachers.

>> in her classroom, the students are learning what a career in education is all about. >> i really enjoy working with kids and helping kids. i just want what i do to make an impact. >> the program called teachers of promise pathways is run by montana state iversity northern. it allows high school students to earn college credit, putting them on a quicker path to get back in the classroom as teachers. >> here's what i would like you to do for a few minutes. >> her and her classmates are looking at the open jobs for teachers in the state. >> a lot of openings on the first page. you will see you can go to page 10 and beyond. that is ju for montana. >> like six openings here. >> it is a glimpse into the teacher shortage in montana and nationwide. those in education are calling it a crisis.

> we have empty classrooms in our building. not because we have fewer students. we have more than we have in years, but we don't have the during the pandemic, the number of jobs going on has skyrocketed. >> teachers said i cannot keep doing this. because there wasn't a clear end in sight. >> they want to retain teachers, something schools in rural and reservation montana have been grappling with for a long time. curtis shares the school board and helped put the program together. his goal is to get more school districts involved. >> when folks ask where are the teachers of tomorrow, i often say the high school principals and superintendents. they are already in your classrooms, just have tget them started on it. >> montana legislators passed a law to fund more programs like this one. the bill also let students get more college credits for free

while still in high school. once the students are in college, they will receive $10,000 in tuition reimbursement if they teach for three years in a high need area. >> we need the teachers, and we need them sooner rather than later. we also know most teachers will teach within about a 50 mile radius of where they themselves graduated from high school. >> classroom experiences is a key part. but some students have taken that step further by actually working as unlicensed staff in elementary schools. she works four days a week at a fourth grade classroom. giving students personalized attention when they need it. >> who wants to do popcorn reading? >> leading a reading group and getting a head start saving for retirement through the pension plan. >> gives me something to look forward to. i'm always excited to come here. >> they either realize they want to be a teacher or not. why spend four years inking i

want to be a teacher and realize we don't. >> he's the principal at sunnyside. what is it like keeping the school fully staffed? >> it is difficult. right now, i'm short one special education teacher. every building a short a special education teacher. my day is doing a lot of covering. i average just over a day per week where i'm in the classroom as principal. >> still lagging 30% behind other educated professionals. a wage gap that has grown steadily over the past 10 years. >> you think about paying the bills and the price of gas, homes, mortgage and rent, teacher salaries are not keeping up with it. >> job-related stress for teachers and principals more than twice of the average working adult. surveys since march 2020 show 25% to 50% of teachers and principals are thinking about leaving their jobs in the next year. what will it take to make sure montana students can count on

getting good teachers? >> there is no magic bullet to this. not only does pay have to be better, the closure of the school, treating people well. there is not only one, it is many. i think we have neglected that for many years. we have catching up to do. >> until then, jobseekers will enter a job market far different than the previous generation of teachers. >> when she was applying for her job, it was very competitive and she was competing against about 40 other people for one english job at the middle school. that is a good thing, because a lot of people wanted to be teachers. now we don't have to fight like that. >> for pbs news weekend, stan parker. ♪

>> if you have been sneezing and sniffling more than ever, you are not alone. allergy season started earlier and has been more intense all over the country. especially in the north and southeast. why it is so early and so bad, and what people can do to ease symptoms. >> you don't need to be a doctor or scientist tonow this allergy season feels particularly pernicious. all you have to do is step outside. every region of the country is experiencing growth in pollen production. the pacific northwest expected to see the largest increase nationally over the coming decades. to discuss the science behind allergy season and the medical remedies available, i'm joined by teresa, the director for the national for knowledge network which tracks and studies seasonal biological events, and dr. stanley feynman, editor-in-chief of the publication allergy watch. thank you for joining us. what sort of biological activity

does your groutrack to draw conclusions about how humans are experiencing allergies and what are you seeing this year? >> we keep track of seasonal events that occur in plants and animals across the country and the duration of the year. this spring, we have seen early activity in plants across the eastern u.s. that is basically because we had a very mild winter followed by a lot of warmth early in the year. and plants respond by blooming in response to the warmth. once they start flowering, they release pollen. >> what sort of symptoms are you seeing these days in your patients? are they worse than what you have seen before? >> yes. typical symptoms in a pollen allergy patient has nasal congestion, itchy nose, sneezing, itchy eyes. we have seen it start earlier this year because of the higher pollen count. patients are now having more

symptoms. they might have been able to tolerate it in the past. but because it has come earlier and is lasting longer, it is a farm not -- phenomenon called the priming effect, where they may have symptoms earlier in the season, and when the pollen raises again, they get even stronger symptoms. so we are seeing a number of patients because of that. >> when we talk about it in warmer early in the year, people's minds go to that is climate change. is there a link between climate change, human man-made pollution, and what you have been tracking when it comes to allergies? >> yes, there is, really. it traces back to the biology we learned in high school. plants need carbon dioxide to photosynthesize. and we are putting more carbon dioxide into the air. we have been for 150 years. as co2 levels have increased, we

are giving plants the ingredients they need to grow more robustly and more pollen. what we have seen in recent decades is a clear lengthening of the guarding season, and we think the seasons will continue to get longernd the pollen in the air -- it looks like it will continue to increase. >> sticking with you, if you look at the list of where it is worse to live when you have allergies, it is interesting. the top three, wichita, kansas, dallas, texas, and scranton, pennsylvania. what lanza city hig >> it has to do with whether they happen to be pollinated. specifically one of the things brought up recently is the male plants versus female plants. the pollen is generated by male plants. if we have more male plants being planted on the landscape, we might expect more pollen in

the air. back in the 1950's, there was a push toward planting more male trees in urban areas because female trees are the one responsible for generating fruit and fruits can be messy and create messes that have to be cleaned up. some cities seem to have a preponderance of male plants generating more pollen than would naturally occur. >> do planters need to be paying more attention to the type of plants going into urban areas? >> years ago in the new york city area, they try to eradicate ragweed. it did not work. microscopic pollen can travel 50 miles. can travel very far. even if you don't have an oak tree in your yard, your neighbor may have one and you can be allergic. >> how can people manage symptoms more effectively when allergies are really bad? >> they should see an allergist to get allergy tests to find out

what is triggering symptoms. once you know what is triggering, u can monitor it. you can follow on a regular basis what is in the air. when they do the allergy skin test, you get the management plan from the allergist. it can involve medications, allergy immunotherapy, allergy shots, or drops to help desensitize the patient so they don't have as much of a dramatic symptom effect when exposed to the high pollen count. >> if you can identify what your sensitivity is, you can track what is in the air and when it is, and that is what we do. we run a program inviting folks of all ages and backgrounds to track exactly what they are seeing happening seasonally. that program is a perfect opportunity for tracking when different plants are in flower in your area and you can impact your own health in that way.

>> what, if anything can be done to reverse this trend of allergy seasons seemingly getting longer and more intense. >> if we can curb emissions, it would slow down the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the air and thereby bending the curb in terms of the co2 we are feeding to the plants enabling them to continue to grow larger and more robustly and generating more poln. >> we know that patients who are exposed to higher autoignition rates and have allergies have more severe symptoms. those children who live near highways have usually more severe symptoms of asthma and whatever allergy problem they had, respiratory. >> therese clemens with the national for knowledge network and stanley feynman, an allergist and editor-in-chief of allergy watch. thank you for your time.

>> more than 3 million chilen in the u.s. have some form of disability. in recent years, alternative therapies have become increasingly popular to help with communication, socialization, and just to have fun. austin pbs brings us the story of one program using horse therapy to help people with disabilities, but is struggling to expd its footprint. >> the need for this type of program does not go away. but we need the space to do it. most of my day is spent in the office. i am in the middle of reports and bills, emails, all sorts of things. i can just get up and open my door and walk outside and pet a horse.

i'm stephanie powell, executive director here at help. help stands for horse learning program. we will partner people with certain disrepute -- disabilities with therapeutic riding. for example, somebody with cerebral palsy, that will challenge their core. but i will not make them feel so unstable that they will fall. it teaches all sorts of life skills. we learn boundaries, how to self advocate, how to work through emotions, express them in safe and efficient ways. that was much better. the need is huge. i have emails and phone calls just about every day from people seeking out this program. we want to continue, we want to grow, but we cannot do it without the space.

but there's not a lot of options. ideally, i believe they say half an acre to one acre per horse. the minimum would be 10 acres just for our program. we are sharing an eight acre facility. there is no opportunity to expand this necessarily. right before we came, a neighborhood built along the fence line. behind us, the school was built. this is our home, and we want to stay here. >> what game do you want to play? i will be in the middle of a day working on reports and it is time for a lesson. you see the smile of that rider who was able to trot for the first time on their own, or

simple as sat up for 30 seconds. it changes everything. the challenge is being able to grow. but when you see that happen, it is every thing. every thing else goes away. it pushes you through. >> that is pbs news week end this saturday. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. see u tomorrow. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has offered no contact wireless plans to help people get more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellularv.

>> 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.

[intriguing music] [arun] our whole lives and modern quality of life and our whole economy relates to energy. in the span of 250 years, which is a blink of an eye compared to our human civilization, our lives have completely changed and it's all really due to energy. that whole sector, it's going through what i call a once-a-century change that is happening. that's the magnitude that we're talking about. [chloe] this change is critical because science has revealed that the energy system created 250 years ago, which is dependent on fossil fuels, threatens our existence. however, today, we have the knowledge and the tools to create a renewable energy system...