♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, a major dam breach in ukraine endangers several cities and prompts evacuations as russia and ukraine trade blame. amna: former new jersey governor chris christie launches his bid for the republican presidential nomination, signaling he plans to take former president trump head on. geoff: and, the mayor of los angeles on her city's strategy to counteract the alarming increase in homelessness. >> we are not just pushing them away, we are getting them housed. the commitment to get to the underlying causes as well as put them in supportive housing. ♪

>> major funding for the pbs newshour provided by -- ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> actually, we do not need vision to do most things in life. it is exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. that is the most exciting thing. people who know, know bdo. ♪ >> the walton family foundation,

working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org . and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and i contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. water is pouring through a giant gap in a dam in southern ukraine tonight. it gave way early this morning, forcing thousands of people to flee and touching off competing claims about the cause. amna: ukraine accused the russians of blowing up the dam.

moscow charged that ukrainian shelling caused the rupture. neither side offered any direct evidence, but the results were catastrophic. reporter: the massive structure that sustained ukraine's largest reservoir now overtaken by a thick wall of water. satellite images show the ruptured kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the violent stream it unleashed. the torrent burst through the dam, down the dnipro river and toward the black sea. flooding threatened tens of thousands of residents of low-lying villages in the water's path. ukrainian police surveyed the kherson region by boat at times, wading through thigh-deep water to carry people to safety. >> our local school and stadium downtown were flooded, the stadium was completely under water and the floodwaters were reaching the school. the road was completely flooded, the bus was stuck. only one elevated point could be reached by the bus and this is

where we were taken from. reporter: in cupied nova kakhovka, russian officials said water levels had risen past 30 feet with more than 600 homes submerged. e soviet-era dam was captured by russian forces at the start of the war and is surrounded by major flashpoints on the frontlines. it spans the dnipro river, separating ukrainian forces from the russian-occupied south, including crimea. to the northeast, the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant sits along the kakhovka reservoir. and just downstream, kherson, the port city re-taken by ukraine last fall, which has seen some of the war's most intense fighting. both sides were quick to blame the other for the breach. moscow said it was ukrainian explosives. >> aiming to prevent the offensive operations by the russian army on this section of the frontline, the kyiv regime committed an act of sabotage. reporter: ukrainian president

volodymyr zelensky responded. >> it is physically impossible to blow it up from the outside by shelling. it was the russian occupiers. they blew it up and this demonstrates the cynicism with which russian -- russia treats the people whose land it has captured. reporter: at the white house they say they are still assessing who is responsible. >> we are working with the ukrainians to gather more information but we cannot say , conclusively what happened at this point. what is clear and what we absolutely can say is that the damage to the ukrainian people and to the region will be significant. reporter: some reports say russian mismanagement of the facility led to the incident. in recent days, high water levels suggest the reservoir could have been perilously overfilled, causing the dam collapse. whatever the cause, experts warn of a potential humanitarian and environmental crisis. the dam provides electricity and drinking water to a huge swath of southern ukraine.

and in zaporizhzhia the nuclear power plant relies on the reservoir to cool its systems. the head of the international atomic energy agency said its six reactors are in shutdown mode, leaving enough water to supply the plant for several months. while not presently in danger, he warned any further harm to the reservoir could be catastrophic. >> it is vital this cooling pond remains intact. nothing must be done to potentially undermine its integrity. i call on all sides to ensure nothing is done to undermine that. the consequences may be grave. amna: for more on the destruction of the dam and its impact on ukraine and the war, we turn to michael kaufman from the center for naval analyses, a federally funded organization that focuses on national security issues. the breach has impacted both

russian-controlled areas and ukrainian-held areas. as u.s. officials work to assess who is responsible, how do you see it? would this breach benefit either side? michael: unfortunately, this breach is an ecological and humanitarian disaster that is a losing proposition for both sides. the flooding will substantially affect the ukrainian controlled right side of the riverbank and damage even more the currently russian occupied side of kher because it iss on a loweron, down to russian occupied crimea. it is a disaster with long-lasting environmental and humanitarian issues for the region. it is unclear if the dam was damaged due to intentional attack or negligence.

there was significant rain and raising of the water level in the reservoir ahead of this over the past several months. it is unclear. either way, russia is responsible by virtue of action or the fact that controlled the dam. the outcome is a result of russia's actions in ukraine. amna: what is the military impact? you mentioned downstream crimea being impacted. could the loss of that water supply impact the rush -- the russian occupation there? michael: the impact is likely long term, but is still unclear. many models predicting what could happen in the fall did not predicted this high of a water level from the dam. i do not think this will affect ukrainian military prospects when it comes to their offense.

when you look along the dnipro river, it will damage defenses russians built, but it will make a ukrainian operation exceedingly difficult. it was always a high risk proposition to begin with. i do not think it will substantially shape outcomes when it comes to ukraine's operations. amna: what about the ukrainian counteroffensive? there is consensus it has in fact begun. what does that mean for both the direction and duration of the war? michael: it is fair to say the ukrainian offensive has begun and we are probably in the initial phases. the on what people might call shaping operations that were taking place over the last several weeks. there has been an uptick in

fighting and a limited ukraine offensive has made headway in one part of the region in donetsk. there is an increase in fighting. that said, the ukraine offensive is likely to proceed over months. i do not think we are seeing the main effort where the forces likely to be involved in the main effort. it is too early to make assessments, except that ukraine is taking the initiative and i am deeply skeptical what happened with this dam and flooding will affect military prospects. amna: on the long-term impacts of the flooding, you're talking about tensf thousands of people now deeply impacted being evacuated. the disaster on top of 16 months of war russia has been waging, what will this require from the international community so invested in helping ukraine? michael: a tremendous amount of

assistance. especially once ukraine liberates kherson. that part is substantially damaged. it will lead to lasting damage to agriculture, the provision of drinkable water, and wipe out entire communities. we will have to see what happens when the water levels recede. amna: disaster on top of disaster. that is michael kaufman, senior fellow for russian studies at the center for naval analyses. thank you. ♪ geoff: in the day's other headlines -- lawyers for ukraine branded russia a terrorist state before the international court of justice at the hague. they spoke during an initial hearing into russia's 2014 annexation of crimea. the kyiv government has challenged that move as well as

russia's arming of rebels in eastern ukraine. the ukrainians are demanding that moscow pay reparations. the war in ukraine shadowed ceremonies in france marking 79 years since d-day landings, the largest naval land and air operation in history, which liberated europe from nazi control. secretary lloyd austin met with aging veterans who fought on d-day and delivered remarks. >> oppression is a sin. human rights are sacred. they risked their lives for freedom then. surely, citizens can risk our comfort for freedom now. geoff: 4400 allied troops lost their lives on d-day, more than half americans.

atlanta's city council approved funding for police and firefighter training center that sparked sometimes violent protests. critics called the $90 million project cops city. city hall speakers spoke for hours. the city said it will improve training. republican discontent with last week's debt ceiling deal spilled over at the u.s. capitol. eleven far-right lawmakers blocked action on bills involving regulation of gas stoves. some of the same lawmakers have talked of targeting speaker kevin mccarthy, who negotiated the debt deal. and, on wall street stocks managed slight gains on a quiet day of trading. the dow jones industrial average added 10 points to close at 33,573. the nasdaq rose 47 points. the s&p 500 was up 10 points. and, a passing of note -- the french painter françoise gilot died today at a hospital in manhattan.

in her early life, she was best known as pablo picasso's mistress and had two children with him. gilot ended the relationship in 1953 and later wrote a celebrated memoir, "life with picasso." she also became a highly successful artist in her own right. francoise gilot was 101 years old. still to come on the newshour, the u.s. government sues two cryptocurrency exchanges for securities violations. golf's pga tour merges with the saudi-backed liv league following a protracted legal battle. and an educator gives her brief but spectacular take on teacher burnout. ♪ >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and from the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: the race to the republican nomination for president is picking up as a growing number of candidates jump into an already crowded field.

former new jersey governor chris christie filed his paperwork with the federal election commission today, becoming the latest to launch his presidential bid. tonight he kicks off his run with remarks at a townhall in manchester, new hampshire. laura baron lopez has more. reporter: chris christie has not been shy about his sour feelings for donald trump. >> donald trump is a tv star, nothing more, nothing less. we put him back in the white house, the reruns will be worst than the original show. reporter: the former two term -- the same state he finished in sixth place in the republican primary. in 24 hours, dropped his first bid for the presidency. then and now he positioned himself as a no holds barred candidate leaning into the tough talking reputation he had as governor. for two decades christie

considered trump a friend and advised him throughout his campaign and presidency. >> i am proud to endorse trump as president of the u.s. reporter: christie broke with him in 2020 as trump spread misinformation of a stolen election. he considers those lies a threat to the republican party. >> i got off the train when he stood up in the west wing of the white house and told us the election was stolen when he did not have one fact to back it up. reporter: christie also blamed the former president's rhetoric for the january 6 attack on the capital --capitol. >> it incited people to that level of anger. reporter: christie is now positioning himself as trump's foil. with a legacy of bipartisanship

and moderate policy position. >> i, pro-life governor in new jersey. i was very clear about my personal views. reporter: for -- from 2002 to 2008, he served as public prosecutor and then set his sights on the governor's mansion. elected in 2009. repoer: new jersey, we did it. -- new jersey, we did it. >> i want to let them know i am on the job and will continue to work hard. reporter: he went on to be reelected in 2013. his second term was marred with a scandal known as bridgegate. one of his aide's colluded to create traffic jams by closing lanes to the george washington

bridge, one of the busiest commuter bridges in the world. >> i have 65,000 people working for me every day. i cannot know what each is doing at every minute. but that does not matter. i am ultimately responsible for what they do. reporter: the scandal became subject of a federal investigation, ending in the indictment of christie's deputy chief of staff to the port authority. christie denied direct involvement and was never charged, but it cast a shadow on his time as governor. in 2017 he was unapologetic after being photographed enjoying a holiday weekend on an empty beach he had closed to the public after a shut down. >> he has a residence on the beach. reporter: he left office with a 15% approval rating, down from a peak of 17%, one of the lowest

of any governor in new jersey. but christie hopes to start fresh as he takes on his former boss in the process. for the pbs newshour, laura lopez. geoff: the securities and exchange commission announced today it is suing coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the u.s. it comes one day after the sec announced its lawsuit against binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of lying to american regulators and investors about its operations. stephanie sy has more. stephanie: these are big players in the crypto world. the sec is accusing coinbase of breaking federal law by act as an exchange broker and clearing agency without being registered as any of them. for more on the crisis in crypto, i'm joined by roben farzad, host of public radio's

“full disclosure.” it is good to see you. in the simplest of terms, please explain why the sec is suing coinbaase, and what it alleges. roben: coinbase was operating as an exchange, something which has been regulated intensely for 90 years. if they want to say we operate outside the system, that is a world they would like to occupy. you have the sec chair saying, actually, these should be regulated securities accompanied by offering statements, disclosures, strings attached. it is anathema to the crypto world. you want to exist in this wild west. i think the sec is finally putting regulatory contours around this. stephanie: it is a $2 trillion

industry that has been around 10 years. they said what coinbase is doing is like if the new york stock exchange was allowed to operate a hedge fund. could the outcome tame the wild west that crypto has been for the last decade? roben: the wild west aspects are the most profitable elements. coinbase has had a harsh two years. you really have to read the fine print. it is like lending out stocks if you are the client of a in. or getting things on margin. they do things like goldman sachs and others. coinbase is saying, if you regulate us, it will kill the whole thing. we are supposed to be deregulated. what is a token?

if it is not a commodity, it is a meaning of life question. are we an ephemeral asset, do we even exist? [laughter] in the case of the action you saw yesterday, the mysterious ceo says i do not have a headquarters, it is wherever i put my laptop. it is on brand for the crypto companies to say you do not understand us. but they are saying if you want to regulate us, give us a blueprint. so you see a game of chess between regulators and cryptos. stephanie: it does seem like smoke and mirrors to those of us who do not invest in crypto. he pointed out investors of all kind, especially amateur, invested a lot in crypto during the pandemic. have recent times showed they need the kind -- same kind of

texans investors insecurities would want? roben: yes, if you saw the implosion of ftx last year, these things run. not necessarily apples to apples, but you could have a situation where your liquidity is not available. you could say i want for lacks the markets and exchanges, but do not want it liquid. do you want to be protected in the event of a downturn? there has been tremendous hyperbolic upside for crypto assets over the last decade. but when things fall apart, mom and pop investors want protections as well. stephanie: what happens if you forget the password to your digital wallet. th said the digital asset industry lacks clear rules and they are preparing to defend

their plform vigorously against this lawsuit. how do you expect things to play out? roben: the best case scenario is if the sec gives them contours, can regulate them modestly, but not so much a completely harshes the mellow of what they have. without it being gummed up by offering statements and disclosures, it is so an anthem a to crypto. -- it is so anathema to crypto. being down 12% is not exactly end of times for them. stephanie: the stock is up 45% year to date. they think they can. roben, thank you. ♪

geoff: los angeles is home to the country's largest homeless population. new mayor karen bass promised solutions upon entering office in december. late last month, she signed a $13 billion city budget. 10% of it dedicated to addressing homelessness. much of the new investment is set aside for an initiative called safe inside, which aims to house the homeless and clear street encampments. los angeles mayor karen bass joins us now. welcome. karen: thank you for having me. geoff: let's talk about your strategy. this program has moved more than 1200 homeless people off of the streets and into interim housing. what is the plan to make sure

folks find their way into permanent housing? karen: thank you for raising the issue. los angeles is the epicenter. we have over 40,000 people sleeping in a tents around the city. getting them off the streets immediately, into interim housing, hotels and motels, addressing why they were unhoused to begin with, and moving them to supportive housing. we actually have vacancies and some of our permanent supportive housing, but are dealing with bureaucratic barriers. we are tryingo address those. ose are on the federal level, county and city. geoff: so often the political solution to homelessness is to make it invisible, push people where they cannot be seen, how is your strategy different? karen: it is completely

different because we are not just pushing them away. we are getting them housed with a commitment to address underlying causes as well as put them in permanent supportive housing. what happened in the past is, the priority has been to clean the streets, and move them on. that does not do anything. when you reach critical mass like we have in los angeles, you cannot hide 40,000 people will. that is my commitment. i declared a state of emergency because i think we have an emergency in los angeles. 2000 people died in these tents last year. 22 died in the first month of this year on the metro line, the subways. i know that happens around the country where people who are unhoused started living in subway stations. geoff: people often fall into

homelessness faster than the system can help them. the social services system in los angeles has gaps. there is a major affordability crisis. how do you address this urgent need when it takes time to build or acquire housing and time to rule -- roll out new social services? karen: my biggest concern is, since the covid protections like the moratorium and rental assistance, since those programs went away, i am worried we will have another increase of homelessness in los angeles. there has to be a comprehensive approach. we need to prevent homelessness. our city council passed tenant protections. we need to know the public knows

about that. we are doing outreach. again, putting people into temporary housing, hotels and motels. one thing we have not encountered at all are people refusing housing. that is one of the biggest myths around. that people are on the street because they choose to be there because they are strung out on drugs. we have had the opposite problem. when we move people out of an encampment. we have learn to rent additional rooms. we have had some refuse, but it is extremely rare. geoff: you talked about how you were raised in los angeles and how your father was able to own a home and raise a family on a single income. he worked for the postal service. that version of l.a. is unrecognizable, that dream out of reach for many.

big picture beyond the homelessness crisis, what is your vision for the future of housing in los angeles? karen: if you went to the toughest neighborhood in town, you are not going to find a house below $400,000. a one million-dollar home in los angeles is not a mansion. the only solution is to increase supply. there is a cultural shift, to move up. we are a city spread out with single-family homes. taking a second look at our commercial areas and outdoor malls that are underperforming, we have to change some of our cultural norms in the city to accommodate 500,000 units that we need in the next 10 years. geoff: how do you change the minds of residents who do not

want multifamily housing in their neighborhoods? karen: in one of the neighborhoods where they are most resistant, they support the idea of housing on commercial strips. this problem has become so massive in los angeles that a few years ago where people would have said not in my neighborhood , they are now going, what is my choice? on the streets or in housing? in addition to tents, we have a problem with recreational vehicles and people living in cars. at the end of the day it is all homelessness. geoff: i would like to ask about policing. over the last four years, the los angeles police department is down 1000 officers. they have had to ask former officers to come out of retirement. how do you recruit and retain officers while putting a premium on quality, not just quantity? karen: in my budget i am calling

to expand the police department to offer signing bonuses, to offer raises to officers who have been there a few years. we have taken a member of the police department and put them in the personnel department because it is not just a recruitment problem, it is a bureaucracy in city hall that it takes so long to go through the hiring process. we are trying to address that. in addition, i am committed to preventing crime in the first place. we are opening an office of community safety to focus on unarmed and alternative responses, especially on calls for mental health crises. there are a variety of ways we are approaching this. my job as mayor is to keep the city safe. geoff: you have been an

activist, served as speaker of the california state assembly, served in u.s. congress. you have tried to affect change at different levels of government. what is different and distinct about being mayor? karen: everything. what i enjoy most is the instant gratification. you are working with legislation, which i also enjoy, but it is 30,000 feet up and takes years. to be able to go to a person in a tent and get them out and into a motel the same day, that brings me tremendous joy. you can see the change happen at the moment. geoff: karen bass is the mayor of los angeles. thank you. ♪

amna: the pga tour is merging with the saudi-backed liv golf tour. the stunning announcement ends months of bitter legal fights between the rival groups. the pga says the move will quote "unify the game of golf.” but critics and human rights activists argue the merger will stain the legacy of the tour, given liv's close ties to the saudi royal family. for a closer look, i'm joined by brendan quinn, a senior writer at the athletic who has covered this story from the outset. this seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise. did you see this merger coming? brendan: i did not. typically it is the media or fans caught off guard. rarely do you see tour officials, the most prominent players in the game, the most

powerful agents in the game that have no idea. zero indication. the pga often refers to itself as player-run and operates differently than traditional sports leagues. in this instance, the players had no idea this was happening. their reactions were everything from confusion to anger and reacting in real time since 10:00 a.m. this morning. amna: it is stunning. what does that how you -- what does that tell you about how this deal was crafted? brendan: between two very small groups. the pga tour commissioner jay monahan and the governor of the

public investment fund of saudi arabia, mbs' personal anger and the director of liv golf. overseas liv golf has been those two parties going at each other in terms of finding who has more leverage to get the best players in the world. over the last seven weeks according to jay monahan, the two have been talking. they met in london, played golf, had lunch, hammered out a deal. for everything that has happened in the past two years, to suddenly get wrapped up between two people in seven weeks is unthinkable. no one would have considered a scenario like this. amna: we need to remind people liv golf is bankrolled by

mohammad bin salman, linked to the murdering of journalist jamal khashoggi. they have a terrible human rights record with their treatment of women and lgbtq folks. some called this sports washing, pouring money into a sport to distract from those other issues. does this merger suggest that that work? brendan: one thing saudi arabia has been looking for is twofold. it is legitimacy and power. i remember speaking to graham would -- wood. he had met with mbs multiple times and studied saudi arabia at length. he said, it would be something the saudis would think of, why

buy a sports team when you can buy a league? there is that degree of ambition. in creating liv golf, it was an entirely new entity to take over a sport and gain leverage as much as possible. two years ago if it could have, the public investment fund would have bought the pga tour outright if it would have sold for how many billions. but the pga tour would not sell. now it is the influx of cash that the pga tour is getting from the public investment fund that is bolstering the tour and giving the saudi government a controlling share. amna: part of the statement from

the 9/11 families they put out today after the merger they said, now the pga and monahan appear to have become just more paid saudi shills taking billions of dollars to cleanse the saudi reputation. has the pga commissioner addressed any of these concerns? brendan: he spoke with the media half an hour ago. his message was that the long-term threat of the health of the pga tour and needing this cash to get out of litigation -- there has been a drawn out lawsuit with liv golf. their tax-exempt statuses are being investigated. basically, they had to get out of that situation and this is the only way. the pga tour used a lot of ideas

of morality and ethics to keep its best players and stand in stark contrast to what liv golf is. at the end of the day, chose its own financial security over concerns of morality. amna: brendan, thank you. ♪ geoff: the nation is in the midst of a teacher shortage, and at the end of another school year, burnout is causing many more teachers to call it quits. micaela desimone is a 6th grade english teacher in a charter school in queens, new york, and explains how the past few years have changed her views on what was once her dream job. she shares her brief but spectacular take as part of our open call for stories. >> i don't know a teacher right

now that's not struggling and i know a lot of teachers. my father was a guidance counselor for 30 years. we had a family of five on just his salary and he got the summers off. he got to coach and be with people. it looked like a joyous, fulfilling, satisfying, and sustainable life. so i just knew from an early age i wanted that. so i teach at a charter school in long island city, queens. we serve grades six through eight. so i'm at a middle school. the biggest perk is you get to see these people and experience these important life events with them. i work with some of the most brilliant, incredible educators that you'll ever meet. they are open-minded, they are creative, they're collaborative, they are hardworking and they are tired. during covid, teachers really had to learn a new job. to teach over a screen was unbelievably infuriating and demoralizing. nobody turns their cameras on.

so you don't know if they're listening, you don't know if they're there. again, i work in the midst of one of the largest housing projects in the country. so my students absolutely did not have access to this technology. and that was during the phase, the pandemic where everyone was like, oh my god, pay the teachers millions of dollars. how are they doing this? and that did not last long. once we finally figured out how to teach on zoom, they shove us back into the classroom. without ppe. i had 25 kids in a room. how am i supposed to keep them six feet apart? so what we saw when we got back to the classroom is number one, your teachers are exhausted. but also the kids are exhausted. and a lot of my students had been home for a year, a year and a half without adult supervision. the apathetic nature was frustrating and infuriating and demoralizing. it's demoralizing because when we asked for help, we didn' receive it. so now i am running on a very

low empathy tank and a very low resource tank and my funds are being cut. i'm not asking for more money for crayons, i'm asking for another special educator in the room because my classroom is mandated to have one. hotspots for my students who don't have access to internet, multi-language learner specialists who can come help us with the immigrants that are being dropped off at our schools. i've decided to leave teaching after this year because it is at the point where my mental and physical health can't sustain this profession anymore. it's a grieving process. i'm mourning the loss of a life i expected. and i am mourning the loss of a future i'd always imagined for myself. so at the same time, i'm 30 years old and i'm basically like a 22 year old college graduate because the only experience i have is in this very niche profession that nobody really knows what we do every day. we're smart and we're capable and we manage 25 to 30 people at a time.

and yet the positions that i am qualified for are that of an intern. so as hard as it is to walk away from this, another even harder element is figuring out what to do next. my name is micaela desimone, and this is my brief but spectacular take on teacher burnout. amna: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/wshour/brief. and we'll be back shortly with a look at an academy training up the next generation of musicians. geoff: but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. ♪ amna: for those staying with us, we spend a great deal of time

looking at the impact of climate change and how it's changing our weather and environment. that, in turn, can have an impact on how pathogens and disease could spread as well. our science correspondent, miles o'brien, has this encore report. miles o'brien: dawn in the high sierra, 50 miles northwest of reno at the clover valley ranch. >> remember to check every trap. walk the line. miles o'brien: the hunt is on once again. brian bird: make sure you take the boxes, open, closed. they're empty if there's no animal in it. miles o'brien: for clues linking a changing climate and the worsening spread of disease. that is ranch owner brian bird, a veterinarian, virologist and director of the one health institute laboratory at the university of california, davis. brian bird: good hunting. miles o'brien: overnight, 47 of their quarry took the peanut

butter, oats and bacon bait. now it's time to retrieve the traps. brian bird: i believe that's the most we have ever captured here. miles o'brien: and gather some data. for three years now, he and his students have been systematically trapping deer mice that live here. they're hoping to better understand hantavirus. the rodents are the primary reservoir for this pathogen. miles o'brien: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a so-called zoonotic disease, meaning it is spread by pathogens that spill over from one species to another. this is the primary cause of pandemics throughout human history. human encroachment and global travel hasten these spillover events. and it appears the climate crisis is making matters even worse. brian bird: so, as the animals get more and more stressed, they're more likely to shed a particular virus or a pathogen. there's also the impact on the animals themselves. so where do they live?

as those environments change, well, those animals will move. they're adaptable at a species level, certainly. but those changes occur very gradually, over perhaps millennia. but now we're looking at rather dramatic, fast-paced changes on the time scale of hundreds of years, if not even faster. miles o'brien: in september of 2021, he learned just how fast. so did the fire come through here? brian bird: it did. so you're working on burned area here. miles o'brien: it was the dixie megafire amplified by a historic drought linked to climate change. it burned nearly a million acres over three months. so you had been working in this spot prior to the fire? brian bird: yes, exactly in this spot prior to the fire. miles o'brien: yes. wow. brian bird: and we had two seasons of sampling data here before theire. miles o'brien: bird expected it would take years, even decades, to connect the dots. but in his blackened field, he saw opportunity. brian bird: so, we thought, well, this would be a great time to continue that sampling and then see, well, how do the rodent populations respond to pretty much a complete destruction of their habitat?

miles o'brien: they're now finding active hantavirus in 8 percent of mice they're trapping. in the unburned control site, it is 4%. bird says the mice are fighting to establish turf. brian bird: the primary method of transmitting the virus amongst the rodents is when they fight and bite each other. so they could be transmitting the virus at a heightened rate, compared to a control site that wasn't burned. miles o'brien: so, climate change worsens a drought that triggers a megafire, which wipes out a habitat, causing a rodent rumble, a virus super-spreader, a nuanced link, to be sure, but not new. the historical evidence linking the climate to zoonotic disease is growing. biologist camilo mora is a professor at the university of hawaii at manoa. he led a team that pored through no less than 70,000 scientific studies dating back to the end of the roman empire. >> over 58% of those pathogens

that have impacted humanity anywhere in the world are already affected by climatic changes, but those are the ones that we already know. the scary things are the ones that we just don't know about. miles o'brien: at georgetown university, global change biologist colin carlson is working on a way to take the surprise out of this. so, colin, what are we looking at here? >> we are looking at the pathogen harmonized surveillance system. miles o'brien: he is trying to meld existing climate and disease data in a way that allows epidemiologists to see the big picture. colin carlson: so let's go to berlin. so, each of these points is somewhere that they have tested a fox for distemper virus. what if we knew this much about viruses everywhere in the world? what if we knew this about the diseases that we were worried about jumping into humans, right? we can literally know within a city where spillover risk is the highest. miles o'brien: he's building an open-source tool to forecast an outbreak sooner. he foresees the ability to predict disease, as well as the weather.

colin carlson: if we want to get really good at predicting spillover, we need to know what the dynamics of these viruses are when we're not watching them. miles o'brien: so can technology make it easier for public health professionals to monitor disease in wild animal populations? epidemiologist christine johnson is also a professor at the u.c. davis one health institute. she is testing new ways to monitor one of the most prolific spreaders of zoonotic disease, bats. miles o'brien: she and her team are testing thermal cameras, as well as audio devices able to record what bat echolocation sounds like. christine johnson: we don't like to go into bat caves for so many reasons, especially because they're very dark. we're able to see them much more clearly with thermal cameras than we could just see with our own eyes. the techniques that we're developing could be used to do that remotely. miles o'brien: she is collaborating with the engineering department, seeking ways to monitor and test bat populations remotely. christine johnson: and so that's

what we're seeking is, with the innovative technology that we're using to try to bring much more feasibility to wildlife surveillance. miles o'brien: there are more and more zoonotic diseases coming. the climate crisis makes it unavoidable. a greater investment to protect public health with some 21st century tools, along with the risky, laborious field work, might be the only way to stop a spillover from boiling over, shutting down the world once again. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien, near portola, california. ♪ geoff: at the stax music academy in memphis, students learn the fundamentals of music, building on the long legacy of r&b and soul artists who emerged from their local communities. this piece comes to us from the newshour's student reporting

labs and is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ >> i'm going to stay in this key. [drumming] >> here, the students learn what were the elements that went into songs of the past in order for them to create those songs of the future. >> i sing everywhere. [choir singing] >> me being at stax academy, now i feel more confident because i'm learning how to like breathe and stuff like that so now i can do my singing to the fullest. >> ♪ sing on i'll be at home yes i will

i'll be at home ♪ >> this is an r&b institution that teaches kids the basics about rhythm and blues and soul. >> we have alum who are playing with bruno mars and silk sonic and this last grammy cycle three of our alums were on grammy nominated projects from gospel to pop. >> i heard stax has a lot of genres. when it is fast, you want to dance to it. when it is slow, you smooth dance with a partner. >> we have many long conversations. >> blues can make you feel sad, but it can also make you feel good. and but then pop can make you feel sad, but then it can also make you feel good. it is how you receive it, really. i mostly receive it just as music. >> this is a musical place. all of them are great examples of students who have found a

space where they can be creative. >> when i got in, like you're automatically being accepted into a family that cares about you and cares about music the same as you do. sitting in the -- you do. >> ♪ sitting in the morning sun ♪ >> dealing with a lot of self-doubt, it was tough to fit in with school. i just knew i loved to sing. performing has become a thing i need to do. >> ♪ watching the tides roll awa y ♪ >> music is an outlet to help kids stay focused, determined. they come in with ideas of what they cannot do. and they walk out, they can do. >> i believe that i was created to do great things and to do it

through the world of acting, theater, music. amna: that is the newshour. i am amna nawaz. geoff: i am geoff bennett. thank you for sharing your evening with us. >> funding for the pbs newshour provided by -- >> you do not need vision to do most things in life. yes, i am legally blind, and yes, i am the sponsor bowl for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving technology forward. that is the most rewarding thing. people who know know bdo. ♪ >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist. a raymond james a financial

advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life -- tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the investment of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ >> this program made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

introducing a technological achievement so advanced... it rivals the moon landing. wow! ok. rude. that's one small step for man.

one giant leap for mankind. . hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> i think the ukrainians are very well prepared. as you know, the united states and other allied companies have provided training, munition and advice. >> america's top general says ukraine is ready to roll as both sides contest whether a large scale offensive has begun. cory shacky with the fog of war. >> the fact is, i'm just hearing their stories. they're the ones living them, so for me to cry, it feels like, i don't know, a bit of a self-indulgence. >> the listener, a new film directed by steve yosemi looks at america's mental