♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the newshour tonight, donald trump says he's the focus of a special counsel investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, compounding the former president's legal troubles. the slow pace and minimal gains of ukraine's counteroffensive against russia prompt questions about military strategy. and despite legally owning rights to much of the colorado river, indigenous tribes in the west are largely cut off from accessing its water. >> we want to be able to have water rights that are secured, that we can be able to develop, to be able to close the clean water access gap. ♪

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♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening and welcome to the newshour. former president donald trump says he's been notified that he's a target in the special counsel investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, signaling that he's likely to be charged with federal crimes. in a post on his truth social account today, the former president said he received the notice sunday night from special counsel jack smith, who is investigating mr. trump's actions in the aftermath of the

presidential election, including the insurrection at the u.s. capitol on january 6, 2021. carrie johnson covers the justice department for npr, and joins us now. thank you for being with us. donald trump set on social media today that he was given what he called a very short four days to report to the grand jury for testimony. he said he expects to be charged because such a move "almost always means an arrest and indictment." is he right? what more do we know about this letter, what are the implications? carrie: most of what we know comes from donald trump himself. in many cases, targets of federal criminal investigations get the opportunity to present their own evidence to a grand jury before the prosecution asks the grand juror's to go out and indict an individual. it appears that is what is taking place here. trump's lawyers have got to notice, that trump, if he wants

to, can appear before the grand jury as late as thursday this week. otherwise, the doj will proceed and perhaps seek a federal criminal indictment of him for charges related to the january 6 insurrection. we don't know exactly what those charges are. we know the doj has been investigating classically these alleged fake slates of electors from seven different swing states that were supposed to replace the legitimate electors that would have cast their ballots for biden and harris in 2020. we also know the doj has been investigating fundraising based on bogus election fraud claims trump and his affiliates made. the nature of these charges remains unknown for now. geoff: what's the expectation for how the special counsel will handle both cases? the potential january 6 case in washington, d.c., we don't yet know that, and the classified documents case which is unfolding in florida? carrie: remember when the special counsel jackson it was appointed last november? he a two-part mandate.

that is where the two parts. smith largely absorbed ongoing investigations with prosecutors that had been on the job and agents that have been on the job for many months already. in large part, those same prosecutors and agents will remain on those investigations as the cases go to trial. jack smith has enough human beings to do his work in two places at once, both florida and washington, d.c. scheduling will be a complication, as we will learn more about in the coming weeks and months. geoff: on the classified documents case, there was a pretrial hearing today to -- where the parties involved discussed a trial date and how sensitive information would be handled. what did we learn from what transpired today? carrie: lawyers for former president trump basically wanted the judge, a judge that trump appointed to the bench during his presidency, to wait until after the election, after november 2024 to hold this

trial. whereas prosecutors for jack smith had been raring to go. they want to go to trial this december. the judge did not make a ruling from the bench. she seemed to signal the trial this year was too soon, given the complexities and volumes of classified information. she also did not seem to want to wait until november, december 2024 or even early 2025 to hold the trial. she's going to have to find a time next year that things will work out. geoff: you mentioned the potential, or the active doj in the fake electors scheme. we learned the michigan attorney general filed charges against 16 people who signed paperwork falsely claiming that donald trump had won the 2020 election as part of a scheme to overturn the results. what more can you tell us about it? carrie: these are very serious charges against republican party activists in michigan. they include conspiracy and forgery.

attorney general damon nessel says these defendants allegedly undermine the integrity of the electoral process, and broke state election law by meeting in mid-december 2020 two sign these fake certificates that they later transmitted to the congress and the national archives. nessel apparently made a referral to the federal justice department of the same conduct last year. because doj has not acted, she went and did this herself. there are at least two other states that were investigating similar accusations by these fake slates of electors. there could be more action to come there too. geoff: shifting our focus back to the legal exposure involving the former president, we have a presidential election roughly 18 months away, we have donald trump facing potentially multiple indictments in fulton county, georgia, the special counsel indictments. do you have a sense of how the timing will align, or is it too

early to tell? carrie: this is going to be a massive air traffic control problem for these judges in the federal court system, state court system. trump is scheduled for trial in new york in march 2020 four on those hush-money payments to stormy daniels. accounting allegations regarding those hush-money payments. we don't have a trial date as to the mar-a-lago classified documents charges, the fulton county grand jury in georgia is aggressively moving, acting as early as august. no trial date there. and we have to wait and see what happens in d.c. with this a federal january 6 case. it is possible the former president could be indicted four times this summer alone. whether those cases go to trial before the election seems hard at this point to predict. geoff: carrie johnson, a pleasure to speak with you. thanks for being with us. carrie: thank you. ♪ geoff: in the day's other

headlines, the heat that's been baking a huge swath of the country set a new record. phoenix sweated through a 19th straight day at or above 110 degrees, the longest hot streak ever for a major american city. with no relief in sight, salvation army members in phoenix have been handing out water and supplies at homeless encampments. >> people out here are struggling. and it's important for the salvation army to continue to provide this service because it's life saving. some ice cold water, a hat, some sunscreen, anything like that is a lifeline for people in need. geoff: in the east, search efforts in pennsylvania continued for a fourth day, for two children who were swept away by flash flooding over the weekend. meantime, severe heat gripped southern and eastern europe for another day. tourists in italy and spain braved the blistering temperatures with water and a un weather agency warned temperatures could hit a record

120 degrees in the days ahead. and in china, readings topped 95 degrees in beijing again today. that's happened 27 days this year. in greece, wildfires intensified overnight after forcing thousands of people to flee on monday. northwest of athens, high winds fanned the flames up and over hillsides as tanker planes doused the area with water. crews were able to tame one fire after it charred fields and devastated seaside towns. >> i only have my bathing suit which i swim in, and this shirt. i have nothing else. i don't even have other shoes. we were here 32 years. there isn't even a place to sleep. geoff: the extreme heat in southern europe has only made fire conditions worse, by drying out vegetation. an american soldier is being held in north korea tonight. officials say private second-class travis king had been jailed in south korea on

assault charges. he was being sent home to face military discipline when he escaped. from there, king made it to panmunjom, the truce village in the de-militarized zone between the koreas. he joined a tour group, then ran across the border. so far, north korea has been silent on the incident. israelis stepped up their protests today against taking power away from the nation's courts. thousands turned out for a so-called day of disruptn. they blocked traffic and set off smoke bombs outside the tel aviv stock exchange. the bill is slated for a final vote in parliament next week. amid that unrest, israel's figurehead president assured president biden that is really democracy is strong. the two met at the white house and discussed the judicial overhaul plan and more. president biden said america's friendship with israel is "simply unbreakable." the addresses congress tomorrow. on wall street, walls -- stocks moved higher on financial industry profits and advances in ai. the dow jones industrial average gained 366 points, 1% to close

near 34,952. the nasdaq rose 108 points. the s&p 500 added 32 for its best finish since april of last year. still to come on the newshour, the president of the actors' union fran drescher on the ongoing strike and the future of hollywood. the u.s. women's national soccer team gears up to defend their world cup title. and the first latino head of the american academy of poets works to bring poetry to the people. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: a tough and difficult fight. that's how the chairman of the joint chiefs, general mark milley, today described ukraine's effort to retake territory in the east and south. as william brangham explains, ukrainian forces have been slowed by minefields and intense

russian resistance. william: raining from the sky, onto ukrainian ports, is what the russians call revenge. >> the russian armed forces delivered a group strike of retribution at facilities where terrorist acts against the russian federation were being prepared. william: but ukraine claims its air defense teams shot down almost all the russian missiles and drones. falling debris did damage some port facilities and people's homes. in the port city of odessa, ukrainian police helped rescue an elderly man, injured and trapped underneath rubble. russia says they are exacting revenge for the alleged ukrainian attack on a key bridge that links russia to annexed crimea. and it came a day after russia suspended a deal that allowed ukraine to ship vital grain supplies from odessa to the rest of the world. meanwhile, the much larger

push against russia's invasion continues. with intense fighting along the eastern and southern fronts, as ukraine tries to retake land occupied by russia. five weeks into its counteroffensive, ukraine claims to have liberated several villages, including in the east and southeast, but so far, the gains have been small. one estimate says that along the 930 mile-long frontline, ukraine has only recaptured about 98 square miles of land. in an interview on russian tv yesterday, president vladimir putin said ukraine's advance is failing. >> all attempts by the enemy to break through our defenses have not been successful for the entire time of the offensive. william: and days before, president zelenskyy acknowledged that russian resistance was intense. >> we all need to understand very clearly that russian forces on our southern and eastern lands are doing everything they

can to stop our soldiers. everyone who repels enemy attacks, well done. i am grateful to every one of our soldiers. william: ukrainian soldiers are facing deeply dug-in russian forces who have constructed and fortified hard-to-overcome obstacles, including these so called teeth barricades, and miles of concentrated minefields that ukraine is painstakingly trying to remove. ukraine is asking for more u.s.-made tools for this job such as mine clearing line charges, or miclics, and bangalore explosives, which are used to detonate them. >> the casualties that the ukrainians are suffering on this offensive, are not so much from russian air power, they are from minefields. that's what the coalition is trying to provide them. additional mine-clearing, mclics, bangalores, that sort of thing in order to continue to make their way through the minefields. i'm confident that they can do this. william: last week the u.s. also

started sending the ukrainians clustered new nations, controversial weapons that can rain down multiple smaller bomblets over a wide area. but the u.s. has thus far not agreed to give ukraine long-range missiles like those that france and britain are already supplying. while the debate in the west continues over how best to help the ukrainians in their fight, the ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines have to make do with what they have, today. >> we shot at enemy positions so they don't accumulate their forces and think about doing something evil. we try to destroy as many enemies as we can. william: for more on the ukrainian offensive and its prospects for success we get two views. retired colonel gary espinas spent 26 years in the army focused on field artillery and was director for russia and the black sea in the office of the secretary of defense.

he's now a professor at the naval academy. and kimberly kagan is the founder and president of the institute for the study of war. a non-profit, noanrtn-is ore thank you to you both for being here. gary, we are several weeks into ukraine's counteroffensive. how would you assess that effort is going? col. espinas: i think it is clear there has been a slowdown in the counteroffensive. that should not be a surprise to anybody. this is a nation at war, and wars are characterized by tactical advances and defeats. you throw in a whole lot of uncertainty, something that the russian military theorists called the fog of war. it is not only the ukrainians that have been preparing for the counteroffensive but the russians have been preparing for that as well. they have had several months to dig in, they are highly entrenched. you have this 900 mile battle line at the front there.

in some cases, you have minefields going back 10 commenters or more. this is what the ukraine and are having to contend with. it is no surprise, certainly to the ukrainians or as who have been watching this, that we are not probably, given those circumstances the ukrainians are faced with, probably not going to see in the near term a decisive penetration or victory. this will not be a d-day penetration, in my opinion, anytime soon. william: kimberly, the same question to you. how do you characterize how the counteroffensive is going? kimberly: gary characterized this very well. the ukrainians began their counteroffensive only five weeks ago. they have been making adjustments in how they execute their tactics in order to adjust to the minefields and the russian defenses of their prepared positions. and the ukrainians are probing

along the line to find weak spots in those russian defenses. what we are observing is that the ukrainians are probing along the south, and they are also probing in the east around the flanks of bakhmut. in the east where the russians don't ve dug in prepared defensive positions behind them, the ukrainians are making gains. william: gary, help us understand the strategy that kimberly is describing their. is the idea that the ukrainians keep probing to find a weakness, and then punch through that and send troops into that opening? is that the plan? gary: the ukrainians are having to walk a fine line between minimizing their losses and exploiting vulnerability to their advantage. of course, there are limitations, given their current operation and having to contend

with minefields and dug in russian energy troops. that limits the freedom of maneuver. that is the challenge that they are being faced with now. william: you both have mentioned the difficulty the ukrainians are having with these minefields, which we have seen reporting of, incredibly concentrated, enormous amounts of minds across the battlefield. we heard millie talk about this as being a difficult issue for them. do you think the u.s. and the west ought to be doing more to speed the mineclearing equipment to the ukrainians? gary: just -- kimberly: yes, i do. the west should be equipping the ukrainians to make as many decisive gains as they can. and the mineclearing equipment that the united states is providing will not materially affect whether the ukrainians can actually move forward, punch through, and create a very

serious dilemma for the russians in that line. william: gary, we have talked a lot during this invasion of some weapons, some development being a "game changer" for the ukrainians. do you think there is something the west could realistically provide to the ukrainians that would be that? is there something that they need, that we could get to them, that would make it a difference? gary: i'm very skeptical about the word game changer. there's no magic pill that is going to win the war overnight for ukraine. i think the approach that the united states and the west have taken is the right one. we are day by day assessing how we can best support the ukrainians. i think that is what we have been doing. i think that is the more sensible approach. and i think we should also be clear that, as i said, there is no magic one key weapon system.

at the end of the day, what counts are the intangibles. and when we talk about the ukrainians morale and motivation, that means a lot more than anything at the end of the day. interact, what we can provide in terms of security assistance are those key enablers. at the end of the day, it is the ukrainians who are going to get themselves across the finish line, and we are positioned well to support them. william: if the americans were doing this, or similarly were well-equipped, they would not be trying to put trips directly on the frontline. they would be doing weeks of bombing behind the russian frontlines before they activated this way. isn't that right? kimberly: yes, it is. the united states would also have with it close air support, and attack helicopters to help make it easier for our ground

troops to advance. the united states also has aerosol troops who can come in behind the lines and help meet up with troops that are advancing. ukraine does not have any of this. the united states therefore needs to be patient with the amount of time that it is taking for the ukrainians to make advances, and recognize that it is important to compare the ukrainians to their capabilities and to the russians, not t they knighted states of america. william: gary, given what kimberly is saying, are we asking too much of the ukrainians to fight a ground war in a way differently than we would? gary: no, i don't. i think the ukrainians are certainly in a different position from the united states.

i completely agree with kimberly that the united states has the combat power that the ukrainians don't have. the advantage the ukrainians do have, specifically over the russians, is they have been in the process of military and defense reform well before this current war. it is an effort the united states, that the great britain and canada, as well as other european partners have been involved with since back to 2014. i think we are seeing, despite their relative weakness, i guess you could say, they are able to make up for that with initiative and the kind of training that is being brought to bear that we are not seeing from the russian side that is completely inept, led by poor leadership, and poorly trained. at the end of the day, what the ukrainians lack, they will make up for in their cunning. william: gary espinas and kimberly kagan, thank you both

so much. kimberly: thank you. gary: thank you. ♪ geoff: a little known fact about the colorado river is that american indian tribes own rights to about a quarter of the river. in reality for most tribes, they are only paper rights, not amounting to water they can actually use. now, as a megadrought afflicts the colorado and other watersheds in the west, stephanie sy reports on the opportunities and obstacles ahead. stephanie: in the vast gila river valley south of phoenix, ramona button and her husband terry inspect acres of thriving crops. ramona left her nursing career decades ago to carry on a tribal tradition and become a farmer. now her heirloom tepary beans can be found at stores and restaurants around the region. >> the people here knew the

white tepary bean, so they were very grateful that we brought it back. stephanie: the beans came back when the water came back. but that took more than a hundred years. in the late 19th century, upstream users had diverted the river to the point that it no longer flowed on the reservation. did you feel like the gila river was stolen from the tribes here? >> what i was told by my parents, it was taken cut off by a dam. and so many people starved to death. i guess you would say in the taking of it all, yes, it was stolen. stephanie: her late father ,who she describes as a seer promised the land would one day be green again. and today, it is. >> i remember my dad's words, bring back all the foods that you were raised on. >> it wasn't overnight.

it was a long process. it took until just now. we're within the last three years of finally finishing the delivery system to bring these waters to these lands. stephanie: the water and the canals that deliver it to growers like ramona would not have been possible without a landmark settlement in 2004 that gave the gila river indian community its water back. one of the largest indian water settlements in american history, the agreement granted the community a whopping 653,500 acre feet of water annually. that is more than a quarter of the amount all of metropolitan phoenix uses in a year. the community also received hundreds of millions of dollars for water infrastructure. >> all of the construction that you see here, some 260 miles of canal having been lined or pipe, all of that is emanating from the community's water settlement. stephanie: david dejong is the director of the pima-maricopa irrigation project in the

community, and a historian who has written on tribal water issues for decades. >> the federal government finally made right by providing funds for the community to bring its watehome and restore its agricultural economy. stephanie: rodney lewis, the tribal attorney who fought for the water rights settlement is the late father of the tribe's current governor stephen roe lewis. >> the senior water rights versus -- stephanie: building on his father's legacy means conserving the water, so he takes particular pride in this water recharge station. it allows the tribe to bank water they don't use. it's the only place where you can still see a slice of the gila river on the reservation. >> we have returned part of the flow of the gila river through this area. and it's become a riparian wetlands area that we're just so proud of. we have over 100 species of birds. when we brought the water back, it was almost like the land healed itself. stephanie: with the gila river no longer the main water source on the reservation, the

settlement granted the tribe a big chunk of arizona's colorado river allocation. in fact, the tribe of 21,000 members is the largest single entitlement holder on the colorado river in the state. it is a reversal of fortune that few other native american tribes have achieved. the much larger navajo nation is far from settling its water claims. never mind farming, many of the more than 170,000 tribe members who live on the reservation still have to haul water to their homes. >> upwards of 40% of people within the navajo nation don't have running water. stephanie: crystal tulley cordova is a navajo hydrologist. >> you think about it, our sparse population, our rural living, in addition to that, you include water quality challenges, water production challenges that exist across the navajo nation.

epste:gni worse. >> primarily the navajo nation historically has used groundwater. and when you think about climate change impacts on shallow aquifers, they're vulnerable. navajo residents are vulnerable. we want to be able to have water rights that are secured, that we can be able to develop, to be able to close the clean water access cap. stephanie: with a 17 million acre reservation that borders the colorado, the navajo also have senior river rights. but that's not the same as having access to water says navajo attorney daniel cordalis. >> the odds really have been stacked up against tribes since the outset to actually put this water to use. stephanie: so you have all these tribes that have rights, a yet a third of the navajo nation doesn't have running water. >> the existence of these water rights in itself does not actually transform into what we call wet water.

so a tribe can actually retain the right itself, but not have the ability to use it or to develop it and actually get water to our tribal communities. stephanie: in the most recent blow to the navajo nation, the supreme court ruled last month against the nation's claim that federal treaty law requires the government to secure water for the navajos. justice brett kavanaugh acknowledged in the opinion that allocating water in the arid regions of the american west is often a zero-sum situation. nearly everyone is losing water. the colorado is over allocated. two countries, seven states, 30 tribes, 40 million people rely on its precious waters. for many tribes in the river basin, water supplies have never seemed less certain. >> our goal is to do everything we can to start using that water so we have the capability to benefit from it on the reservation. stephanie: steven escobar is the tribal administrator of the

chemehuevi indian tribe on the california side of lake havasu, one of the colorado river's reservoirs. they don't have the infrastructure to divert or store all the water they are entitled to, so it just flows downstream. california is sort of getting your unused water and undeveloped water for free. >> that's exactly what it is. they're able to capture it and use it for free. so, yeah, they benefit financially and economically off of our unused water. and the tribe does not benefit in one bit. stephanie: escobar wants to be able to lease the tribe's unused allotment. governor lewis is aware of the special position he is in, the tribe's large allotment gives him outsized power in a time of scarcity, and he says, responsibility. how big of a challenge now is climate change for your whole vision? >> everything we're doing is critical at a time where we have

to continue to model this good behavior. when tribes are at the table and making decisions, when we're able to have the resources, we're able to bring very innovative solutions. stephanie: modeling good behavior has also meant allowing thousands of acres of farmland to go fallow. the tribe opted to leave over 100,000 acre feet of its annual colorado river entitlement in lake mead over the next three years. in exchange, it is getting $233 million dollars from the federal government. >> that's what our elders expect of us. that's what we want to teach our youth, is being caretakers. being stewards of the land and the water. that is how you live in a very beautifully harsh place, you work together and you respect each other. stephanie: respect for the land and cultural renewal are also terry and ramona button's mission. >> it becomes our responsibility to carry it on and apply it and

keep the agricultural industry thriving here. stephanie: do you feel like the wrong has been corrected? >> yes, i do. and we're very grateful that we were part of the system in promoting this, and going after our water rights. stephanie: and they are not taking them for granted. for the pbs newshour i am stephanie sy at the gila river indian community in sacaton, arizona. ♪ geoff: for the first time in 63 years, actors and writers are striking at the same time, bringing hollywood movie and tv production to a halt. the writers guild has been on strike since may and sag-aftra, the union representing tv and film actors, joined them last week after negotiations with studios broke off. two of the key issues at the

center of these strikes, how streaming and artificial intelligence are upending the industry, affecting income and profits. we should note, the newshour is in active negotiations with sag-aftra to represent some of the editorial staff. broadcast journalists are not covered by the same contract as the actors in sag-aftra currently on strike. let's turn now to the president of sag-aftra who joins us now. welcome to the newshour. fran: thank you so much. i am a proud supporter of pbs, and very happy to be here. geoff: we appreciate that. major actors guild strikes are fairly rare, especially recently. looking back at the contract was ratified in 2020 by sag-aftra, it was approved by nearly 75% of the voting membership. there were wage increases, improved residuals or continued payments for video streaming. fast-forward to the current moment, what happened?

why was now the right moment to go out on strike? fran: i mean look, i was not in leadership then. i don't know whether i would have been so quick to agree with that contract. but i think at some point, you reach across roads -- reach a crossroads. the saturation of streaming and how it has impacted our industry is exponential. and it is the risk -- it has disemboweled the old business model, which is the one that let's say, the nanny flourished in. and everybody up and down the ladder benefited by it, and made money off of it. to this day, they continue to get money from it. but that is not the case anymore. with streaming. and all of the programs that are made for the streaming channel, you exist in a box, in a vacuum, and there is no tail of revenue. and our revenue sharing that was

established in 1963, born 1960, -- or 1960, when we had the big strike with the wga and ronald reagan was president of sag. that business model was predicated off of television that ran as long as there were eyeballs and add dollars. longevity was the name of the game. that made sense. but now, longevity is not the name of the game. seasons are very short. 324, maybe, and then it is over. geoff: when you are starring in "the nanny," that was a season that started in september, ran through may, it was 22 to 24 episodes a season. now on streaming, a show is lucky if they have 10 episodes a season, and they are lucky if they get a second season. what does that mean in terms of take-home pay? fran: you can't make a living.

the economics have been changed so dramatically that we have to move over into the pocket where the money is. we have to follow the money. but even within the old stureoruplvee,ctthn ewi working in these limited series, they don't want to raise minimums. so they are expecting my members who earn minimums on their performance to earn less than they did in real money in 2020, all the way through to 2026. they refuse to give us what the economy demands. most of their labor unions get cost-of-living raises. geoff: we should say we requested interviews with studio heads and with the alliance of motion picture and television pervert -- television producers,

all of whom declined. but they did provide a statement, part of which reads this way. the deal that sag-aftra walked away from on july 12 is worth more than $1 billion in wage increases, pension, and health contributions, and residual increases and includes first of their kind protections over its three year term, including expressly with respect to ai. or artificial intelligence. why was this deal, as you see it, insufficient? what are you asking for? fran: first of all, don't believe a word of that. that is the first thing. the second thing is because the real question is those ceos are making $78,000 a day. and the majority of my members, like nine out of 10 of them, can't even qualifybenefits thatd of $26,000 a year. why would we go on strike if it

was such a fantastic deal? do you think we enjoy being out of work? don't believe a word that they say. when they offer as a deal and they say that a background person will get paid for one days work, we will scan their bodies, and then we can use their likeness in perpetuity, what is going to happen to that background person? he is out of work. he has been replaced by ai. that is unacceptable. that is a dealbreaker. geoff: you know the position of the studio chiefs to include bob iger, ceo of the ash of disney which owns abc, a number of cable networks, and streaming platforms. he makes the case the union is not being realistic. he does have a point, that the business has changed. linear tv is flatlining. streaming platforms are not profitable across the board. your ship habits have changed.

-- viewership habits have changed. setting assigned the messenger, but the underlying message. fran: first of all, how do you insult me by saying they are not profitable when you are sitting there making $50 million a year? where does that money come from? there are people way at the top that are getting richer and richer. and the first place they look to squeeze is my members. that's wrong. they have to change their culture. they have to start thinking, we are in partnership with these people. geoff: most sag-aftra members as you mentioned don't make enough money to meet the sag-aftra threshold to qualify for health insurance. how long can these folks stay out on the picket lines? how long will this go? fran: they are the ones that gave a historic strike authorization vote. 97.91%. that is how upset they are.

that is how marginalized they feel and disrespected. listen, most of my members are used to working other jobs. and if we have to, we will. i don't know what they are going to do without us, but we can survive without them if we have to. because at some point, you have to say, no. geoff: fran drescher, president of sag-aftra. thank you for your time in your insights. we appreciate it. fran: thank you. my pleasure. ♪ geoff: the u.s. women's soccer team is hoping to win its fifth world cup this summer and its third straight title. something no teen, men's or women's, has done before. despite being the favorite, the u.s. squad has a tough road ahead in the tournament that kicks off this week in australia and new zealand. as amna nawaz found out when she spoke with some of the players,

they are not taking anything for granted. >> and the whole world is wondering, what's it going to take to stop the u.s. team? >> easy, love. we mark alex. what about rose camara trinity >> or what about rapinoe? amna: the u.s. is ready, in forward megan rapinoe's words, to show up and show out in the upcoming women's world cup. and they know they have a target on their backs. >> always there. amna: before heading to the other side of the world, rapinoe and her teammates spoke with us and other reporters about the returning to one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. >> i can't believe we're back at the world cup again. it's kind of crazy. this is the best moment of our career. alec said it, it never gets old. there's always something incredibly special about being able to compete at the very highest level against the very highest level. amna: that sentiment was clear from the players reactions when

they were told they made the roster. from kelley o'hara's stream of tears. >> i don't take it for granted. i love the sport so much, i love this team so much. and you can tell that from my reaction. amna: to a flute celebration by defender crystal dunn. >> it doesn't matter if this is your second, your third, your fourth, i think every moment is that you get this call is incredible and you embrace it. amna: the 23 player roster includes longtime veterans like o'hara, rapinoe, and alex morgan, all playing in their fourth world cup. but a number of players who helped bring the trophy home in 2019 are sitting out because of injuries, including forward mallory swanson and defender becky sauerbrunn. that combined with a disappointing bronze medal finish at the last olympics prompted head coach vlatko andonovski to bring in new blood. over half of this year's squad,

14 players, have never played in a world cup before. coach andonovski says he's not worried about the inexperience. >> in fact, i'm excited about the energy and enthusiasm that the young players bring, the intensity and the drive as well. actually, i think that that will be one of our advantages. amna: it will also be andonovski's first world cup after he replaced jill ellis back in october 2019. the macedonian-american coach is no stranger to the game and the pressure that comes with it. he played for european clubs and in american indoor leagues before coaching in the national women's soccer league. in the coming weeks, there is only one goal on his mind. >> what i be happy with anything short of a third straight win? no. absolutely not. amna: to have the best chances of earning that coveted prize, the younger players tell us they are soaking up all the wisdom they can from the veterans. 22-year-old trinity rodman. >> cancel the outside noise and staying in your bubble.

amna: 18-year-old alyssa thompson, the team's youngest member. >> i went to lindsey for like, what's it like to have her travel and stuff because i did not know and i'm gone for two months, and i don't know how to pack for two months. so she just helped me a lot with that. amna: but 23-year-old sophia smith is not following all of the advice. >> talking to the other girls, people delete social media in general going into a world cup, because everyone is talking about it, good and bad. amna: you went to delete your social media? >> i say that now but it is hard for me to delete social media. we will see. probably twitter. twitter's pad. i will probably keep instagram. >> is wild there are players on this team that were not alive in 1999. i don't think that has sunk in for me yet. amna: 1999 was the year the u.s. hosted the world cup and won for a second time, bringing with it iconic images and creating a

tradition that players like o'hara have built on ever since. >> we have such a rich history and just try to convey that to the younger players. i think they know it but going to a world cup really helps you feel that. amna: what is this team up against? >> the most competitive world cup that we're ever going to see . amna: claire watkins from the media company just women's sports, says even though the u.s. has long dominated the world stage, their opposition is uhip. seen great strides worldwide just in the sport, in women's soccer, in support on the federation level and on the club level. in some ways, some of those advantages have disappeared in a way for the u.s., but in a way that i think is very exciting even for them because they're they're looking forward to kind of playing the best of the best. amna: who are some of the toughest teams the us has to beat? >> brazil is going to be fantastic. you've got england trying to do the back to back with the euros. germany is very strong. spain has very good players. but what's really exciting is it's more like there's no team that's going to be overall, there's no team that's going to

be overrun. amna: as for injuries on the u.s. side, watkins points out that all players are putting more wear and tear on their bodies with the rise of women's club teams around the world, so other nations have also had to rethink their rosters. >> no team is perfect. no team had a perfect run-up. no team is not dealing with injuries. no team has form issues or positional imbalances. every team is like a superpower, but they also have an achilles heel. amna: with no team having a lock on the trophy, this is poised to be the most-watched women's world cup ever. organizers are hoping to attract a record 2 billion viewers worldwide. and ticket sales already topping one million could make it the most attended women sporting event in history. it also comes on the heels of last year's historic equal pay settlement with u.s. soccer. rapinoe, who was announced she will retire soon after the world cup, says that makes this tournament particularly particularly -- particularly

important for women's sports. >> i feel like this is like a paradigm shift or a moment we'll look back to and say like nothing was ever the same after this women's world cup and what we're going to be able to do. i just think it's going to be an incredible event. i think everybody is thankfully pushing in the right direction and pushing in the same direction l. and the sky's the limit from here. amna: the united states's first game is friday when they will square off against vietnam. ♪ geoff: founded in 1934, the academy of american poets is one of the nation's leading literary organizations and the largest funder of poets. its new leader wants to emphasize and expand the linguistic diversity of poetry and boost interest in poetry by average americans. jeffrey brown reports for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: ricardo alberto

maldonado in english -- >> and in spanish. [speaking spanish] jeffrey: the puerto rican-born and raised, new york-based poet embraces the bounty and diversity of languages in his own life and work. and now he has an opportunity to spread the word and words more widely, as the new head of the academy of american poets. >> i want to be intentional as an administrator who is also a poet, who understands what it means to write in more than one language. we are in a unique position to reflect the diversity of the poetry field and the readers of poetry across america and across the world. jeffrey: at 42, maldonado has known the thrill of seeing and hearing his work in exciting ways.

including set to music and performed at the opening of the new geffen hall at lincoln center in new york last year. he has had an influential poetry platform as head of the prestigious program at new york's 92nd street y. on one occasion breaking into song. but he first came to poetry as a teenager in puerto rico through mourning the loss of his father. >> poetry came to me when i needed it. jeffrey: meaning what? >> my father had died, and i felt very much alone, even though i was supported by my family. but i felt like there were things i did not understand. my teacher gave me "to an athlete dying young," by a.e. housman. jeffrey: famous poem >> very famous poem. jeffrey: it's also one of more than 2500 poems that are part of the academy's popular ten

-year-old digital series poem a day. which highlights new work by contemporary poets. it has received -- it's received by more than 330,000 daily subscribers and read by tens of thousands more every year. the academy also offers a k-12 education program, including the "teach this poem series." the poem in your pocket day when people of all ages read, share, post, create art using poetry. and it gives $1.3 million a year to poets through prizes and fellowships. maldonado has taught literature in high schools in both puerto rico and new york. he first wrote his poetry in english. but watching from afar the devastation in his homeland by hurricane maria in 2017 changed his life. >> i wanted to write poems that would make my world legible to my family in puerto rico. i felt like i had to speak to them to say, if nothing else,

you are not alone, and i am living with you even from afar. jeffrey: and that had to be in spanish. >> it felt like it had to be in spanish. since then, i've realized that my poems in spanish have a deeper resonance than they would ordinarily in english. they just strike something very important within me that i cannot define. jeffrey: his bi-lingual book of poems is titled "the life assignment." many poems in english, others in spanish, only some translated to both. one important audience, his young nephews in puerto rico, who were excited to read recently of his appointment to head the academy. in his new position, he says, he wants to champion and celebrate the linguistic diversity of the country, through translation, grants and other programs. he himself is part of a group creating a bilingual archive of

puerto rican poets and poetry. you are the first latino to head this organization. what's the significance for you? >> when i was a kid, i never knew i would occupy a space like this. i knew that poetry meant something to me. what i'm hoping is 10 years from now, a young puerto rican poet on the island, or somewhere else, knows that this is a possibility. that living a life with and through poetry is an honorable way of engaging with the world. jeffrey: that young person could come to poetry in new ways, as maldonado himself has. >> it is often i go to twitter to find a new poet or a es.sepolv ng screenshots of the most recent poem they fell in love with. they embrace the limitations of a platform as a kind of

invitation. a poem can exist within the limits of twitter. a poem can exist within the visual limits of other platforms, such as instagram or tiktok. jeffrey: you are bullish on poetry. >> absolutely. jeffrey: i guess you have to be in your position. >> or as a human being, or as a former teacher, or as a poet myself, too. jeffrey: alright, ricardo maldonado, congratulations on this. and thank you very much. >> muchas gracias. geoff: that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. ♪

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