amna: good evening. amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, a jury convicts members of the far-right proud boys of seditious conspiracy in the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. amna: a republican mega-donor paid tuition for a relative of justice clarence thomas. the revelations adding to ethical concerns about the high court. geoff: and privacy advocates warn of the risks spyware poses to journalists, activists, and government officials, despite a push by the biden white house to limit its use. >> they felt violated. it's a feeling that many around the world have expressed when they've been targeted with these tools.

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proud boys and their involvement in the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. amna: a federal jury today found four members of the proud boys guilty of seditious conspiracy. that includes the group's former leader, enrique tarrio, along with members ethan nordean, joseph biggs, and zachary rehl. a fifth member, dominic pezzola, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy. but he and the others were convicted of obstruction and destruction of property. attorney general merrick garland spoke about the justice department's victory earlier today. >> the department has secured more than 600 convictions for a wide range of criminal conduct on january 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. we have secured the convictions of defendants who fought, punched, tackled, and even tased police officers who were defending the capitol that day. amna: npr's national justice correspondent carrie johnson has

been following all of this closely from the courtroom. let's begin with the sedition conviction. what did prosecutors argue they did and how did they prove the case? reporter: they argued the men lined up as a fighting force for donald trump and agreed to do everything they could, including force, to keep trump in power and basically over -- overturn the results of the election. that presidential debate where trump asked the proud boys to stand back but stand by was the start. then trump said it would be wild, to come to the riot, and then tracing to the chat rooms and podcasts. amna: henrique terrio was not even at the capital or in washington during the attack.

what did we hear from defense attorneys? reporter:'s attorney say he is a scapegoat for the former president and that it is too hard to charge trump with ranga -- wrongdoing so they went after henrique instead. he did watch the attack from a hotel room in baltimore, in part because he was in trouble for defacing the banner at an african-american church in d.c.. but he watched from afar and sometimes directed his troops on the ground. he posted, make no mistake, we did this. amna: the proud boys is a far-right extremist groups -- extremist group founded in 2016. how much did the trial reveal about the danger they still pose today? reporter: the proud boys call

themselves a chauvinist organization. they try to show themselves as a drinking club or party group but the government says it is a much darker group. they took a victory smoke after the seizure on the capital. -- the siege on the capital. the prosecutor save these defendants were bent on violence. amna: you have covered previous convictions of the oath keepers. did that trial and outcome relate to today's outcome? reporter: the justice department has successfully convicted leaders of both of the far-right

groups of seditious conspiracy. the most serious charge we have seen to come out of this investigation. it certainly is vindication of the justice department strategy. those charges are very hard to prove but now they have proved leaders of two different far-right groups played an enormous rolls on the ground and were engaged in violent efforts to overthrow the government. it is significant as part of the broader investigation that continues as merrick garland said today. amna: there was a mistrial declared on a few trials where a jury could not reach a verdict. >> the defendants were convicted on other pretty serious felonies. some of them carry a 20 year maximum behind bars so when sentenced in august they certainly all face a long prison term and it is unclear if the

justice department will retrial so it might be that they take the victory and go home. amna: will the men appeal? >> vittorio's lawyer says they are disappointed in the verdict and are placing hopes on the appeal court. there have been so many motions for his trials during this i can't even count. all lawyers have raised objections for the record. i think there will be a hearty appeal from all defendants convicted today. amna: carrie johnson joining us tonight. always good to talk with you. thank you. geoff: in the day's other headlines, the debate over the debt ceiling deadlock heated up in congress today. democrats condemned republican calls for demanding deep spending cuts first.

republicans argued the cuts are critical to curbing inflation. at a senate hearing, economist mark zandi warned the impasse could end in a federal default, and economic disaster. >> we need to end this drama as quickly as possible. if we don't, we're gonna go into recession and our fiscal challenges will be made even worse. geoff: zandi said if nothing anges, the government could default by june 8. leaders from both parties are set to meet with president biden on tuesday. police in atlanta are still trying to work out what led to wednesday's shooting attack in the city's busy midtown. 24-year-old deion patterson was captured last night and charged with murder. he waived his court appearance today and was denied bail. police say he opened fire in a doctor's office with a handgun, but it's not clear why. one woman was killed, and 4 others remained hospitalized today. in serbia, thousands of people turned out today to mourn 8 students and a security guard killed in a school shooting on wednesday. the shooter was a 13-year-old boy. in belgrade, people gathered to

lay flowers and say prayers. many expressed shock that it could happen in a country where mass shootings are rare. >> the overwhelming feeling i have is that this tragedy is of cosmic proportions. the horror of it is indescribable. we were aware that our society is capable of such events, but the possibility of such an escalation among elementary school children was unforeseen. geoff: police are now urging serbians to lock up their guns after it emerged that the shooter used his father's weapons. russia is accusig the u.s. of ordering what it says was a drone attack on the kremlin. the white house today called the claim ludicrous and denied any role in wednesday's incident. meantime, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy visited the international criminal court in the netherlands. he urged that russian president vladimir putin be convicted of war crimes. the u.s. ambassador to russia

visited jailed paul whelen in prison today. he is serving a sentence for espionage, which washington denies. the u.s. government will apparently continue to engage authorities so paul can come home as soon as possible. fiercely fighting raged around sudan's capital today as the army tried to push back paramilitary fighters. the smoke rose above the skyline. both sides agreed to a new cease-fire but the u.s. director of national intelligence told a senate hearing there is little chance of peace.

in a bid to stem the fighting, president biden signed an executive order authorizing possible sanctions on leaders of the warring factions. israeli soldiers have killed three palestinians linked to the fatal shooting of a british-israeli woman and her happed toy nabluin gun battle broke out during an army raid. later, hundreds of palestinians marched in a funeral to mourn the slain gunmen. the militant group hamas said they were members and vowed to avenge their deaths. back in this country, california and new york state announced investigations of alleged workplace discrimination at the national football league. it involves possible pay disparities, sexual harassment and racial bias at league offices, not specific teams or players. the nfl said in a statement that it does not tolerate discrimination in any form. on wall street, stocks struggled again amid worries that more bank failures are on the way.

the dow jones industrial average lost 286 points, nearly 1%, to close at 33,127. the nasdaq fell 59 points. the s&p 500 was down 29. and, on this may the fourth, "star wars" day, the late carrie fisher received a star of her own on the hollywood walk of fame. she played leia organa in six films of the franchise, starting out as a princess and ending as a general. co-stars harrison ford and mark hamill already have stars on the walk of fame. still to come on the newshour, india faces the challenge of feeding its people as it becomes the world's most populous nation. poor test scores reveal shortcomings in students' understanding of history and civics. and a story of forgiveness. a woman agrees to meet the man who shot and paralyzed her decades earlier. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

geoff: the billionaire gop donor harlan crow for several years paid the pricey boarding school tuition for a grand-nephew of supreme court justice clarence thomas. that's according to exclusive new reporting by propublica. thomas never disclosed in official filings that crow was paying tuition for the boy, who thomas at the time was raising as his son. combined with propublica's previous reporting on thomas and crow, it paints a picture of a billionaire political donor providing a supreme court justice with lavish vacations and purchasing a house where thomas' mother lives, apparently rent free. josh kaplan is among the propublica reporters who broke this story and joins us now. welcome back to the newshour. we should say this was nearly 20 years ago justice thomas says he was raising his grandnephew as his son because the boy's father at the time was imprisoned in connection with a drug case. walk us through your reporting about this tuition arrangement and justice thomas's failure to disclose it. >> so we found that this billionaire republican megadonor

harlan crowe secretly paid private school tuition for thomas's grandnephew, and as you said, i mean, this was not a distant relative of thomas's, he was his legal guardian. he had taken custody of him at the age of six. and he said in his own words, that he was raising him as a son . and then for high school, thomas sent the child to two boarding schools, one in georgia, one in virginia. and harlan crowe secretly footed the bill. we've been reporting on crows unusual role helping fund the life of thomas and his family. and this adds a whole new dimension to that. geoff: there is another unusual dimension here in that justice thomas did not disclose that crowe was paying for tuition, but he didn't disclose another much less generous payment of $5,000 by another friend that was paid toward the tuition and that raises the question, why

disclose one payment and not the other? >> yeah, we had that question too. and we asked thomas, he didn't respond. ethics experts told us this can be seen as evidence that he understood his legal obligation to disclose such gifts. so there's a federal law passed after watergate that requires justices and most other officials to report most gifts to the public. and experts told us that they believe thomas is required by law to disclose these payments. they said he could argue that the gifts were to the child, not to him, and so we didn't have to, but they said that was far -- far-fetched. children do not generally pay their own tuition, it's the legal guardians responsibility to do so. geoff: well, the supreme court did not immediately respond to our request for comment, but mr. crowes office told your publication in part in a statement that reads this way, "harland crow has long been passionate about the importance

of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at risk youth. it's disappointing that those with partisan political interests but try to turn helping at-risk youth with with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political." he is not disputing the facts presented in the story. >> no, he is not. a longtime friend of thomas who served as a lawyer for his wife apparently paid for two years of tuition, one at one school, one at the other. geoff: i think in general one of the things that gets lost is the ethics of such payments. how we should expect our public what gifts we think are ok for them to accept, especially in secret.

we talked to a former white house ethics lawyer for george bush who said this is way beyond anything he has ever seen and that when he was at the white house if an official had accepted what thomas had, he would have been fired. thank you for sharing your reporting with us. >> thank you for having me. ♪ amna: the use of commercially developed spyware that has allowed some governments to hack into phones is booming. earlier this year, the biden administration banned federal agencies from using commercial spyware that the white house says poses human rights or national security risks. but as nick schifrin reports, some of the most powerful surveillence technology has already targeted journalists, dissidents, and activists, around the world. nick: the saudi advocate who

thought the government to gain the woman's right to drive. the fight against corruption. the fiancé against a murdered -- of a murdered saudi critic. >> violation. a feeling many around the world have expressed. nick: those from commercial spyware that can secretly steal data from your phone, locations, messages, conversations, social media. they have been installed on the phones of dissidents around the world. if you want unfettered access to a device, there is no stone unturned for pegasus. this breaks through all the security. how can you tell if your phone has been infected?

>> i'm pretty sure i had not clicked on a link. nick: he moved to el salvador in january 2021. reported for el faro english, an

investigative news outlet. it revealed president nayib bukele's consolidation of power, alleged corruption, and a secret truce with criminal gangs. bukele and his government disparaged the stories and attacked the storytellers. an investigation by the organizations citizen lab and access now concluded “at least 35 individuals from media organizations and two independent journalists were hacked with pegasus.” the investigation also said “there is a range of circumstantial evidence pointing to a strong el salvador government nexus.” >> i definitely agree with the opinion of el faro's editorial board, which is that the salvadoran government is by any and all indicators responsible . >> this is, if you think about it, almost godlike powers that have been developed by these sophisticated surveillance firms and put into the hands of some of the most ruthless, despotic leaders around the world. >> ron deibert is the founder and director of citizen lab, the canadian cybersecurity research group that exposed the el faro and other hacks. u.s. officials say at least 50 u.s. government employees working overseas in at least 10 countries were targeted by commercial spyware. and a massive leak in 2021 revealed some 50,000 potential victims of pegasus, in about 50 countries. >> the use of spyware has really exploded over the last decade. one minute you have the most up-to-date iphone the next minute it is vacuuming up information and sending it over to some security agency on the other side of the planet.

>> but it's not only foreign the biden administration has governments. the biden administration has launched guardrails around the use of commercial spyware by the united states. >> taxpayer dollars should not -- should not support companies that are willing to sell their products to abet human rights violations. >> the march executive order bans u.s. federal agencies from using commercial spyware that has been employed against activists, used to track americans, or sold to governments that systematically repress. >> from the perspective of inmpo rainbow. this executive order really deals a significant blow to some of the firm's aspirations. nick: but other experts, aren't so sure. >> it's not a problem that can be solved just by the u.s. or even by the u.s. and a few like minded countries. nick: stewart baker is a former general counsel for the national security agency, with three decades of intelligence community experience. he says the executive order won't prevent authoritarian governments from using commercial spyware. >> there are countries who need

these tools, who think they need these tools, and are going to go looking for them. the chinese have plenty of people, plenty of companies that would be glad to fill any gap that is created in the market by a western companies getting out. ck: the u.s. has also imposed export controls to stop foreign spyware firms from using u.s. technology. and the intelligence community has now limited former intelligence officials' ability to work for foreign spyware companies. in 2021, former intelligence and military officials paid the u.s. government a fine for helping the emirati firm dark matter create spyware. >> you want to make sure that your investment in personnel and resources doesn't end up being used in ways that will contribute to human rights violations abroad, or more importantly, turn around and bite you in the back. nick: but what the executive order doesn't do: ban spyware,

or commit the u.s. to helping companies find phone vulnerabilities that spyware exploits. do you believe the administration should go even further and issue guidance that would require all agencies of the u.s. government not to exploit the vulnerabilities, but instead to help the companies patch them? >> i absolutely think there should be an obligation written into law that this is a requirement and then you can build in exceptions. nick: but the u.s. intelligence community uses those vulnerabilities in the phones' operating systems, to spy on enemies. >> they're immensely important because they get you into communications that are deeply targeted on a particular person. there are usually a lot of vulnerabilities to choose from. any one of them can be picked to turn into a kind of pegasus. if you're told, no, we can't use that pegasus because we've now

insisted on having that particular vulnerability patched, all that will happen with other countries is they'll say, fine, that was patched. but there were dozens of vulnerabilities. we'll pick a different one, and then we'll spend money to develop it into a full fledged piece of spyware. nick: as for gressier, he wants accountability against the commercial spyware pegasus, and the government that weaponized it against its critics. he joined the first case brought by journalists against nso group in a u.s. court. >> unless a court steps in to order them to take significant measures to investigate and rectify some of these harms, they will not do it. it's not an el salvador issue in particular. it is not even a central american issue in and of itself. it is a global issue, and it's one that we see ourselves as deeply embedded in. nick: one that experts call a pandemic of spyware abuse that's already spread across borders. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪

geoff: eighth grade u.s. history and civics test scores dropped last year to their lowest levels ever recorded by the department of education. these are just the latest declines among subjects tested since the pandemic. john yang has a look at what's behind the numbers. john: geoff, we've talked before about the drop in math and reading test scores during the pandemic. but this is our first look at eighth grade test scores in u.s. history and civics during that period. about 40% of eighth graders scored below basic in the subject. and a third of them scored below basic in civics. patrick kelly teaches advanced placement u.s. government in blythewood, south carolina, outside columbia. he sits on the governing board of the national assessment of education progress, which administers these tests.

mr. kelly, you had an op-ed piece in "usa today" the day these scores came out. you said you were not surprised by the results at all. why is that? >> yeah. i mean, it's one of those things where it's still disconcerting and disappointing to see the scores. but as the social studies teacher, i've been doing this for 18 years and what i've seen over the course of my career is what i would call marginalization of social studies instruction in the united states, where it's been pushed to the side to devote increased time and resources to subjects like math and reading, which of course are critically important, but when you marginalize a subject area like social studies, you can't be surprised when you see results like what we see this week on this exam. john: and what's been driving that shift? >> i think there's a lot of things that we can point to. i mean, one of them is very clearly around state accountability systems and education. we tend to value what we measure and both under no child left behind and the every student succeeds act, states in order to receive title i have to

administer assessments in reading and math in grades three through eight, as well as once in high school. but there's never been a requirement for social studies. and especially in the last decade, i've seen states, including my own state, walk away from prioritizing that. that shows that instructional time and access to high-quality curriculum matters when it comes to achievement. students need to have dedicated time every school year to have access to high quality social studies instructions, not every two or three years like often happens with u.s. history and civics instructions. they need consistency. and we need to really focus on recruiting our best and brightest in teaching to best serve our students, but especially in social studies. we need to have an urgent call to arms to get really talented individuals who are passionate about their suspect -- subject

to convey that passion to their students. john: given the drop in reading skills, a reading test scores, do you think that there's a link there? because obviously in history and civics you're reading it's critical thought you're reading a material and absorbing it. >> absolutely, especially on this nape assessment, cause to score nape proficient, a student really has to show command of content, but also command of skills, analysis of primary sources and being able to evaluate different perspectives. and those are things that are connected to literacy skills. i think it also gives us a unique opportunity when we think about enhancing social studies, curriculum to marry instruction of literacy and social studies. my students in ap u.s. government read what i consider to be some of the greatest works of american literature. it is not fiction, it is a letter from a birmingham jail. it's the opinion in brown versus

board of education. these are seminal literary achievements in american society, and if we infuse those into literary or reading instructional environments, we can help students find relevance in their reading instruction while getting social studies learning during their literacy block. john: there's been a lot of emphasis in recent years on the stem subjects, science, technology, engineering, math . in terms of preparing students for the workforce, high-paying jobs and industry that is going to lift the united states, what's the argument for why they should know history and civics? >> when we're talking about history and civics, we're talking about our collective trajectory as a society. on every syllabus i have ever handed out to my ap u.s. government students i lead it , with the james madison quote that a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge brings. we live in the longest running republican form of government in world history. but that's something that has to be sustained from generation to

generation. and if each subsequent generation has not armed themselves with the power that knowledge brings a collective , knowledge of our shared history and a collective knowledge of our institutions and political processes and how to engage in respectful civic discourse, then we won't be able to sustain into the future the gift that prior generations gave us of a democratic framework to govern our society. john: you talked about a collective knowledge of the history of the united states, but history and social studies have become very politicized in recent years and recent days. do you worry that some states will restrict what can be taught in the classroom? >> well, i think that what the survey data from the nape exam shows us is this is not the moment to be restricting history instruction we need to be going . the opposite direction. i think we need to realize that struggling with the hard parts of our history can also help us

struggle with the hard moments we face in society right now by not giving students the opportunity to wrestle with the challenging aspects of our history, we're not giving them a chance to exercise the muscles they need to take on the challenges they will face as the future leadership in our country. john: patrick kelly, a government teacher at blythe wood high school in blythe wood, south carolina. thank you very much. >> thank you so much for having me. ♪ amna: as india takes on the title of the world's most populous nation, one question that looms ever larger, thanks to climate change, is how to feed 1.4 billion people. small scale farming families, who account for the majority of india's people, complain of crops withering under record

fr de sam lazaro has ours of report from southern india. it's produced in partnership with the pulitzer center and part of fred's series, "agents for change." fred: the consultation is usually brief with a quick diagnosis and prescription for a new insecticide spray. this clinic is one of several so-called village knowledge

centers set up by a nonprofit. >> we used to have pests, but now the quantity or number we have to deal with is much higher -- higher. fred: like most small scale family farmers, k. subramanyan doesn't have irrigation systems, relies entirely on rainfall and must deal with increasingly unpredictable weather conditions. >> in the past we had clear seasons. now there is too much rain. fred it's been unseasonably hot : in mch and april, which he worries will add stress on the crop. but to protect his verdant paddy field from pests, it's ringed with rows of unrelated species to repel bugs -- like lentils -- an approach he learned after consulting with the swaminathan foundation, where veteran

scientist g.n. hariharan is a leader. >> it is a two way process. so by listening to them or sitting with them, we can understand where exactly the issues are. the goal, he says, is to help fredthe goal, he says, is to help farmers adopt sustainable : practices and develop hardier crops. one example: cultivating more saline-tolerant species of rice, a key staple crop in a country with 4600 miles of coastline. >> when sea level is increasing, most of our production system around the coastline across the globe are going to get inundated with seawater, and after that, the area will be salinized and our normal crops cannot be grown . >> the foundation has focused on resilience and adaptation. we know already there are changes that cannot be reversed. and therefore there has to be adaptation. fred: dr. soumya swaminathan is a pediatrician and, until recently, the world health organization's chief scientist during the pandemic. she now chairs the foundation set up and named after her father. >> the whole aim was to really take science to society. fred nearly 60 years ago, m.s : swaminathan used science to launch india's so-called green

revolution. it transformed india into one of the world's leading producers of major crops, like wheat and rice. however, the widesprea use, most experts say overuse, of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides has degraded soil quality. that's pushed farmers to use even more chemicals to sustain productivity and contain disease. climate change has further aggravated the problem. soumya swaminathan says the challenge now is to bring a balanced approach to india's food production. >> keeping in mind that you have to feed 1.4 billion people. so the changes cannot be done in a way that compromises food production and the self sufficiency that we have today. fred the foundation's approach : is to get critical information to farmers, sending audio text messages with meteorological data to help inform what crops or seed varieties to plant and the best time to plant. and how to diversify crops for income and improved nutrition,

adding protein and vegetables. >> today everyone has a mobile phone in their hands. we have artificial intelligence, for example, that offers a lot of potential. how do we see that those actually benefit particularly the most small and marginalized farmers? fred: arjunan jayaraman says he has benefited -- he grows okra alongside the family's rice fields and for years tried to control pests with chemical products today, he has an . today, he has anorganic approach. the crop is robust, protected, it turns out, by marigolds and sunflowers, flowers that take the brunt of a pest that attacks the okra. and now he has his own beehives. >> when i was using inorganic methods of farming, the honeybee population declined because we used more pesticides. fred: experts say the key challenge is to adapt and scale up such models across a vast nation with widely varied landscapes, soils, social mores

, and unpredictable weather. >> it is a real concern. fred abhishek jain is with the : delhi-based council on energy, environment, and water. >> almost eight in 10 indians are living in districts which are going to be climate vulnerable. areas which were traditionally flood prone are becoming drought prone, and areas which were traditionally drought prone are becoming flood prone. oindian districts are showing the swapping trend. fred: exacerbating the challenges for the agricultural sector, a lack of workers. to create employment for india's growing youthful population, the government has emphasized manufacturing, trying to lure multinational companies to build their factories in india. that's likely to accelerate the urbanization of this country, with profound impacts on rural, agricultural communities. arjunan jayaraman says farming is becoming increasingly lonely and devalued today. >> we used to have plenty of

people to work because in the home, the mother, the father, the child, all the siblings, they worked in the field. but today, they are going outside, working at companies. fred: dr. swaminathan says rural prosperity will be critical to india's future food security. >> young people growing up in rural areas, perhaps in agricultural families, they need to see hope in pursuing an agricultural profession. but at the same time, they also have good physical and mental quality of life. fred: that will require agriculture based industries, like food processing, which in turn require hefty investment in better infrastructure, storage facilities, roads and schools in rural areas. and, in a rapidly urbanizing country, jayaraman says he hopes people become more aware of where its food comes from, returning the traditional reverence he was raised with for

farm work. he cites a tamil proverb: "if you don't have mud on your feet, you won't see food on your plate." for the "pbs newshour," i'm fred de sam lazaro in pudicherry, india. amna: a reminder, fred's reporting is in partnership with the under told story -- stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. geoff: every week, it seems, we

cover america's epidemic of gun violence but we do not focus nearly enough on the victims living with the impacts of the violence. william reveals how an unlikely reunion recently came about in florida. it is part of our ongoing series, searching for justice. william: 24 years ago, then 17-year-old craig dean shot at another teenager who he says robbed him. >> so i got out of the car and went to shoot him and got back in the car and left. william: but he missed. the bullet hit then 13 year-old tiaquandra addison, paralyzing her from the waist down. >> my mom, she came in and she told me, baby i don't know how

to tell you, but you can't walk. william: 20 four years after the night that changed both their lives forever these two would , come back together again. were you surprised that she said, okay, i'm willing to meet up with him? >> yes. william what did you expect? :>> no, i don't want to meet him. i never want to see him. i'm in a wheelchair for life because of this person. >> it wasn't meant for me. that bullet. it wasn't meant for me. it was meant for someone else. not saying that it's right, it hit me, but it wasn't meant for me. it was an accident. we all make mistakes. william their tragic encounter : came back in april 1999, in miami's overtown neighborhood. >> it's bringing back nightmares from that day. i haven't been in this neighborhood or anywhere overtown since i've been out. william at the time, both of : craig dean's parents had died from heavy drug use, orphaning him and his older brother. dean started selling cocaine. >> you see stuff and, like, it is my only way of survival is selling drugs. it's all you know. william but after being held-up : by a rival, the 17 year-old went looking for revenge. that rival was the older cousin of tiaquandra addison. at the time, addison was a 13 year-old star basketball player. >> i used to say i was going to be the first woman to make it to the nba. that was my dream. i thought i was that good. >> the shooting took place right

there. william that fateful night, : addison was out riding a bike with that cousin. >> the minute i jumped off the bike, i just heard gunshots. so i went to run. and i just felt the impact of that bullet and i hit the wall and fell down. i landed on a crate that was sitting on our porch. i knew i was shot, but i didn't know -- william: how bad? >> yeah. william: after that night, she never walked again. >> i went through depression. every now and then, i still go through it, but it's not as bad as it used to be. william: craig dean was convicted of first-degree attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison. >> i honestly changed an innocent person's life, that was the hardest thing to like, live with every day.

william: tiaquandra addison is now 37, and lives in orlando near her mother. she has two sons, three-year-old nigel, and 17-year-old khaled. addison says these boys are the silver lining of this tragedy. >> had it not happened, i probably wouldn't have my kids. who knows where i would have been? i wouldn't trade them for the world. william: and in 2010, when the miami herald interviewed her for a story about lifers who'd been sentenced as juveniles, like craig dean, she told the paper she didn't want him to stay in prison. "everybody deserves a second chance," she said. >> it was no point of me holding a grudge against him. what would that do for me? william so you don't hold any : anger or resentment towards him and what he did? >> no, i really don't. i understood it was the environment that we grew up in.

i was mad at the situation, not him. >> when i read her words, it brought me to tears. that's the moment, like my whole life changed. because i feel if a person can forgive a person that took so much away from them, you can forgive anybody in this world. >> she was never someone that was vengeful, she didn't want revenge, she didn't want any of that. she just knew that her life had been changed completely. william: frank ledee was the prosecutor who put craig dean in prison for life. he's now a circuit court judge in broward county, florida. ledee says it was because of tiaquandra addison that, in 2012, when dean became eligible for a sentence reduction, he agreed. >> i deferred to her wishes because she was the one whose life was changed. and i think that he's accepted responsibility for his actions.

he has paid his debt to society and that he deserves a chance at a life. william so in january of this : year, craig dean got that second chance. after 24 years behind bars, he was released from prison. since he's been out, the 41-year-old has tried to rebuild a relationship with his old girlfriend, charmaine hampton. >> she understands that sometimes i just needed somebody to talk to. william and he's reconnected : with some family he lost touch with while locked up. but much of these first few months has been a struggle. he got a commercial trucking license, but his record has made it hard to land a job. he set up -- job. he set up a gofundme page, but with no income, he can't afford a home. more than anything, he says he wanted to meet tiaquandra addison.

>> that's the only way i feel i can move forward is let that person know how deeply sorry i am and grateful for the opportunity to meet 'em. william: so the "newshour" helped bring them together, and they allowed us to be present later.hey finally met, 24 ye >> ar it is good to meet you. can i say a prayer with you, please? i'm sorry. thank you for this opportunity. [sobbing] thank you, god, for this opportunity to be here, and just meet you. i know i did so much damage, words can never change what i did. and i am so sorry. i'm a totally different person, and i know ain't nothing i could do to change the path that i did, but the only thing i can do is not make the mistake i did. because i tell everybody i wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.

thank you. >> you're welcome. i just knew you needed it. craig: yes. tia: i didn't want this following you around. craig: yes. i had a mindset that i was gonna die in prison. and really, everything in my whole life changed for you to just forgive me the way you have. >> i was never mad at you. because i knew the environment we all grew up around, but for the most part, i wasn't mad at you. craig: i look at you as an angel. god sent you to be one of my guardian angels. and today i am here to meet an angel. i mean that. i really do. william: can i ask you what that was like when she rolled in , here? >> it was like breathless. i never thought the opportunity would come. and it was like, i just want her to know i was a different person

then the person i was 24 years ago and that we can change, and she believed that i can change. >> i could not let him carry that weight around. the weight of what happened to me. it happened, and there is nothing that nobody can do about it. i had to let him see that i am still living. i still got people in my life that love me. william: i noticed you guys are holding hands and have been holding hands for about 20 minutes. >> he is sincere. i can feel it. william: are you surprised how you feel? >> not really. i didn't think i would be this comfortable with him, but i'm comfortable with him. he has a good spirit. i like him. william: in the few weeks since their meeting, dean and addison say they've talked on the phone several times, and a friendship seems to be growing. they hope one day to go out and speak publicly, together, to

testify about the power of forgiveness and second chances. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. ♪ amna: since anti-government protests erupted in iran last year, people around the world have taken to social media to show their support. that includes an iranian-american ballerina who is tapping into her own heritage and her art, in solidarity with those pushing for more rights. the newshour's julia griffin reports for our arts and culture series, "canvas." julia: tutus and tiaras, penches and pirouettes, tara ghassemieh's instagram feed is filled with athletic feats of grace befitting a professional ballerina. but in the past year, her posts have also included advocacy. like these turns.

the high bar normally set in the ballet world is to perform 32 in a row, as iconically danced by the black swan in the classic ballet "swan lake." ghassemieh posted herself exectuing 50 to mark what was at the time 50 days of protests in iran following the death of masha amini while in the custody of the country's so-called morality police. >> knowing that social media has literally been the driving force in bringing awareness to what is going on in iran i needed to do , my part. julia: ghassemieh feels that need because she herself is half persian, born in california to an american mother and iranian father who left the country shortly before the 1979 revolution. now ghassemieh, who performs with golden state ballet in southern california, says she is the first iranian-american principal dancer in the u.s. >> to be the first iranian american principal dancer as it is an honor, it was actually a big sadness for me. because why i am the first is due to dictatorship and suppression of men and women and

the fact that they are not given the freedom of artistic expression. julia: following the revolution, western forms of art, like classical ballet, were banned in iran, which makes ghassemieh's passion a liability. >> my dad never let me go to iran. i was too well-known of a ballerina. and so that's really heartbreaking for me, because that's the only place i really want to be. julie: the strict artistic restrictions implemented after the revolution also led to the disbanding of the iranian national ballet, a fact she herself only discovered five years ago. >> i realized, wait a minute, they were the biggest ballet company in the middle east for 20 years. and then another moment, oh, my god, they were exiled from iran for being a ballet dancer. julia: using the hashtag #danceforiran, she dedicates posts to, and amplifying posts of, iranians arrested or missing for removing hijabs, dancing in

the streets, and other acts of defiance and self expression. like these teenagers in ekbatan, iran, who were arrested and forced to apologize for their now-viral video dancing in western clothing without hijabs. >> i had to scream in a pillow because i just didn't know what else to do with that kind of frustration and pain and just rage. and so the only thing i could do was do their dance. that was it. do a little bit of improv for myself in there because i'm not as good as them, but just to do it in pointe shoes. if we're all artists, all co-creating, this is about being able to just express your being freely, to be able to express who you are in a free world. and because my choice of expression is ballet, i'm using that medium to get that message

across. julia: for the pbs newshour, i'm julia griffin. geoff: and online you can learn more about ghassemieh's work, including a film she produced paying tribute to the iranian national ballet. that is at pbs.org/ newshour. amna: and join us again here tomorrow night, when we'll speak with the so-called godfather of ai about why he quit his job at google so he could speak out about the dangers of artificial intelligence. 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 -- ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma clorevine, and koo and patricia yuen. >> on a voyage with cunard, the

world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a wod of entertainment and british style, all with cunard service. >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. raymond james financial advisors tailor advice to help you live your life. your life, well-planned. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ and friends of the newshour.

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

>> hello everyone and welcome to come. here is what is coming up. >> we have to do this. the states for ukraine's much anticipated counteroffensive. the former nato deputy supreme l i do is be on where all this is headed. and then, the killing of the palestinian-american journalist. we examid that dark moment on this world press freedom day. also ahead. >> the reason i am here in north london today is because some white dudes came to india in the 17th century.

>> empire land