geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the “newshour” tonight, israeli forces close in on gaza city as fighting intensifies and calls for a humanitarian pause go unheeded. tensions flare in congress with

lawmakers divided over aid to ukraine and israel, the fate of congressman george santos, and senator tommy tuberville's block on military promotions. and a running club inside a california prison becomes the focus of a new documentary. >> i'm an ambassador for lifers like incarcerated men and formerly incarcerated man. and what i experience and what i go through can help change policies and the way people are being treated, even from the outside or the inside. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? this is pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, thought i'd let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day.

>> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public

broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the "newshour." more americans are leaving gaza as evacuations pick up speed following complicated negotiations. aid deliveries to the more than two million civilians in gaza are still trickling in, but the need is far greater. and, as leila molana-allen reports, israel is continuing its airstrikes and ground campaign in northern gaza. leila: israel intensified its ground operation today, releasing this video it says shows troops operating deep inside northern gaza. israel defense forces chief of staff herzi halevi confirmed soldiers are now engaged in urban warfare. lt. gen. halevi: idf fighters have been operating in gaza city for the past few days, encircling it from several directions, deepening the entrance of the idf into gaza and deepening our achievements.

leila: as israel advances -- >> mr. president, if you care about the jewish people, as a rabbi, i need you to call for a cease-fire right now. leila: president biden appeared last night to call for a -- quote -- "pause" in the fighting to facilitate aid deliveries after he was interrupted at an event. national security council spokesperson john kirby clarified today. john: what we're talking about are temporary, localized pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals, as i said, get aid in, get people out. leila: and before leaving again for the middle east, secretary of state antony blinken spoke to the enormous civilian death toll in gaza. sec. blinken: when i see a palestinian child, a boy, a girl, pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in israel or anywhere else.

so this is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will. leila: gazans desperate to escape that fighting crowded the rafah border crossing again today. more foreign nationals were allowed to leave. suzan finally got out. this was her fifth attempt. but she left with mixed feelings. suzan: right now, i'm between ice and fire. i don't know if i'm ever going to be able to see the family that i left behind or the friends that i left behind. people are dying. leila: as people went out, aid trucks came in, also running low, fuel. the hamas-run gaza health ministry says the main generator in gaza's indonesian hospital failed today. israel claims hamas is diverting fuel from the hospital. today, israeli authorities released what they say is an intercepted phone call, where the hospital's manager talks about giving fuel to hamas.

the "newshour" could not verify the authenticity of the recording. israel defense forces chief of staff herzi halevi expressed willingness to supply fuel to gaza under strict supervision. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said later that was not yet a commitment. and as gaza continues to be pounded by airstrikes, the army signaled today that it's ready to step up its attacks against hamas, saying that israel's air force is currently only using half of its aerial capability. the idf's bombardment already seems unrelenting on the ground. aerial footage showed massive destruction at the al-barij refugee camp after a strike on residential buildings today. meanwhile, residents in the al-maghazi refugee dug through this pile of debris that was once a home. abdal was with them. abdal: this house was bombed, including residents, civilians, children, and the elderly, without any warning. leila: the fate of those civilians, unknown. for the "pbs newshour," i'm

leila molana-allen. geoff: israel says many of its airstrikes target hamas commanders and hamas' extensive network of tunnels. that network is making the fight for gaza city deadly for israeli troops, 20 israeli soldiers have died in just the last three days. nick schifrin reports on hamas' tunnels and why they pose such a major challenge. nick: they emerge from the darkness into the light only long enough to strike. hamas propaganda videos show fighters exiting tunnels to fire at nearby israeli tanks. these are guerrilla tactics, small hamas teams sneaking up on israeli soldiers with far superior technology, or using drones to drop mortars, helping make israel's gaza ground invasion deadly and difficult. buried deep underground, hamas has built what israel assesses is a tunnel network 200 to 300 miles' long. dug by hand, it's called the metro, where hamas fighters can move weapons and themselves safely.

the tunnels have ventilation, electricity, and are hamas' single most important asset. maj. spencer: hamas has built for decades tunnels leading under, integrated in to all the gaza cities. nick: john spencer chairs the modern war institute's urban warfare studies at west point and has visited tunnels in israel. maj. spencer: they use them for every thing you can imagine to smuggle all the rockets and weapons technologies they currently have, to infiltrate israel, to include on october 7, to place rockets that don't need people in hidden little openings of the tunnels. pm netanyahu: israel will stand against the forces of barbarism until victory. nick: israeli leaders have indicated their goal is the destruction of hamas militarily and politically. that will require the destruction of hamas' tunnels, says spencer. maj. spencer: they can't accomplish their political goal without fully destroying all hamas' tunnels, so they can never be used again.

that's a military capability that can't be allowed to exist, because it's how hamas did october 7. it's how it was able to launch 2000 rockets in a single day. nick: but that goal is incredibly challenging when tunnels are difficult to detect, let alone eliminate. and israel says they are located under heavily populated civilian areas, including gaza's largest hospital, shifa. maj. spencer: they built many of their tunnel entrances and exits and passageway underneath protected sites like hospitals, schools, mosques, because it restricts the use of force that the idf can take without going through the -- all the laws of war calculation. nick: the u.s. has faced the challenge of urban warfare in the past, fighting al-qaeda in iraq and fallujah in 2007 and leading a coalition that liberated mosul from the islamic state 10 years later. do you believe that those are good models?

joe buccino is a retired u.s. army colonel. col. buccino: the better historic parallel is the vietnam war. nick: in the cu chi district outside saigon, the vietcong created more than 100 miles of tunnels to survive u.s. airstrikes, resupply fighters, and sneak up on american troops. col. buccino: the first implication of the cu chi tunnels was psychological. the vietcong fighters were popping up out of the ground almost like they were mystical creatures who didn't -- who could bypass the laws of physics. nick: and the last thing u.s. troops in vietnam wanted to do was enter the tunnels. col. buccino: the defensive unit, the unit in the tunnels, has every advantage, awareness, speed, intelligence, ability to withdraw. it's very hard fighting. this is claustrophobic. this is a war in a phone booth. nick: buccino most recently served in central command, responsible for the middle east. col. buccino: the idf anels invg sufficient intelligence to

target the generators and ventilation systems. furthermore, by cutting off fuel into gaza, they feel they can choke out those tunnel systems, in so doing, shutting them down without having to send large forces into the tunnels. nick: but palestinians point out blocking fuel and electricity blocks hospitals from saving lives. and israel continues to bombard civilian neighborhoods like the jabalia refugee camp in the name of destroying tunnels and killing hamas leaders. palestinians say hundreds of civilians died and will continue to die in a war that israel warns will be long. col. buccino: the idf would like the fighting in gaza city to take 30 days and then turn to the south. the fighting in the south is going to take months. so this is going to be a very long process. nick: a process that will see heavy fighting above and below the gaza strip. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪

vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." here are the latest headlines. crypto-currency mogul sam bankman-fried was convicted this evening of fraud. a federal jury in new york found him guilty on all seven charges, including conspiracy. prosecutors say he stole as much as $10 billion from ftx, his crypto exchange, before it failed last year. sentencing is scheduled for march 2024. he faces a maximum of 115 years in prison. former president trump's adult sons denied knowing about financial documents at the heart of a civil fraud trial in new york. a judge has already ruled they inflated the values of trump organization properties. donald trump junior testified for a second day. he again placed blamed on accountants. afterward, his brother eric denied knowing that the documents in question even existed. that's despite receiving emails asking him to weigh in.

an extreme storm hit western europe today, claiming at least seven lives and leaving millions without power. waves pounded the isle of jersey in the english channel, and smashed the rocky cliffs of southern england. in western france, winds gusted to nearly 130 miles per hour, the strongest in generations. the u.s. is targeting russia's war effort in ukraine with a wave of new sanctions. the penalties imposed today affect more than 130 companies and individuals from turkey, china, and the united arab emirates. u.s. officials say they've helped moscow obtain tools and battlefield equipment. chaos along pakistan's border with afghanistan deepened today as thousands of afghans crowded the main northwestern crossing. they're being forced out as pakistan cracks down on illegal migration. relief agencies sa24,000 re-entered afghanistan at a single crossing on wednesday.

but they say conditions on the afghan side are dire. >> when you have thousands of people who have nowhere to sleep and have nothing to eat, that is going to be the priority in the next coming weeks and probably months, so finding shelter, food, health care. vanessa: some 1.7 million afghans could face deportation from pakistan. a former memphis police officer pleaded guilty to federal charges in the fatal beating of tyre nichols. nichols died last january, three days after a traffic stop. desmond mills jr. admitted to using excessive force and obstructing justice. he's agreed to plead guilty to related state charges. mills is one of five former officers charged in nichols' death. all initially pleaded not guilty. the ride-share apps uber and lyft will pay a combined $328 million to settle wage theft claims in new york state.

they also agreed today to set minimum hourly rates and pay for sick leave. and what's billed as the last beatles song ever is now available. today's release, titled "now and then," is based on a demo tape the late john lennon made years after the beatles broke up. the new song uses artificial intelligence to isolate lennon's voice. it adds music from surviving band members paul mccartney, ringo starr, and even george harrison, recorded before he died in 2001. ♪ vanessa: still to come on the "newshour," the biden administration promises a

strategy to combat islamophobia. a new documentary tells the personal stories of inmates who join a prison running club. and the controversial legacy of hall of fame college basketball coach bob knight. >> 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: today has brought news on both sides of the u.s. capitol. new house speaker mike johnson passed $14 billion in aid to israel, but the bill faces problems ahead. and senate republicans took on one of their own over top military promotions. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is live on capitol hill to unpack the latest on the domestic policy. so, lisa, let's start with the debate over aid to israel and ukraine. what's the latest on those two issues?

lisa: this is a fiery debate, but, just in the past few minutes, geoff, the house did in fact pass that $14 billion aid package to israel. it was largely a partisan vote. the way republicans in the house did it, they would fund that money by cutting money to the irs. now, the cbo and others have said that that actually would increase the deficit because less money for the irs means less revenue for the united states. republicans dispute that. but the point is that republican speaker mike johnson has really passed his first at least initial test, passing through a bill that was not clearly -- its fate was not assured earlier today. white house -- members of the white house staff, i'm told by democratic sources, in fact, made phone calls to try and defeat this bill today on the house floor, to try and keep democrats from voting for it. in the end, 12 democrats did support this bill. now, as you say, there's trouble ahead, because, over on the senate side, they would like a bill that includes ukraine money. and they do not want it offset in this way. president biden has said he will veto this particular bill.

so those are going to be the much more difficult tests for speaker johnson coming up ahead. but, for now, one aid package has moved through one chamber. geoff: well, as you tick through the tests facing the new house speaker, you can also add avoiding a government shutdown. congress has two weeks to hash out a deal. what's it look like? lisa: that's right. now, tonight, the house is going to stay in late because the idea is that these house lawmakers say they're going to stay to try and make up the time they lost for the past three weeks. you can see, on the house floor, they're still there right now. it is not clear, however, despite all this time that they may be spending here, if there is a plan going ahead to avoid a shutdown yet, geoff. right now, the house speaker has yet to really formalize what he wants to have happen. it looks like he wants a short-term funding bill probably through january, and we're not quite sure what the senate is going to do. i guess the tone is good, is what i would say, but until we see real plans move forward, there is still the possibility of a shutdown in two weeks.

geoff: and, in the senate, lisa, there is a renewed bipartisan effort to break the blockade that senator tommy tuberville has put on these top military promotions. and there's pressure coming not just from democrats, but i was watching the floor action last night. it was republicans, many of the military veterans, and it's clear that their patience with him has run out. tell us more about that. lisa: that's right. well, today, something new. we saw three confirmations. let's look at the list of the military commanders confirmed today. one, the chief of naval operations, the air force chief of staff, and the assistant marine commandant. that's important, because the marine commandant himself, eric smith, is in the hospital. so the marines have been without a number one or number two until that vote today. all of this riled up republicans at their own member, tommy tuberville, whose holds really opened up this situation. and listen to this extraordinary sound last night from republican lindsey graham talking again about a fellow republican, tommy tuberville.

sen. graham: there's a reason this is -- this has not been done this way for a couple hundred years. no matter whether you believe it or not, senator tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military. i don't say that lightly. i have been trying to work with you for nine months. folks, if this keeps going, people are going to leave. lisa: geoff, you know what a rare situation that is in either chamber, but especially in the senate, where both parties stick together. but, here, republicans really, most -- many of them have reached a boiling point at senator tuberville, but he's not moving. he still says he will not allow military promotions, now hundreds of them, to move in large blocks. geoff: and, lisa, while we have you, the house yesterday took a rare vote to expel the new york congressman george santos, but he managed to keep a hold of his job. how? how did that play out? lisa: this was a fascinating vote. new york republicans brought up this resolution to try and expel this member, george santos, over lies, deceptions, and, of course, the 23 felony counts he is charged with.

i want to play some of the sound from this debate, first from mike lawler, one of those republicans leading that move to try and expel mr. santos. rep. lawler: there is not enough time to go through the litany of lies that mr. santos has engaged in during his campaign and during his time in congress, including just recently a claim that his five-year-old niece was kidnapped by chinese communist party spies. lisa: that was something that santos had said to a times reporter, and it was not verified by police. police said that was not true. but santos made an argument that he is innocent until proven guilty, that he needs due process, and that his case should move through the courts, not through the house floor. and making that argument did win over members. it takes a two-third vote to

expel a member of congress. again, it's only happened in five -- five times in congressional history. but santos did -- not even a majority voted to expel him, so he survives. geoff: lisa desjardins, thanks, as always. ♪ this week, the fbi director warned of a heightened risk for potential violence against arab, muslim, and jewish americans in the wake of the israel-hamas war. laura barron-lopez starts our conversation about the rising threats with a look at a new white house effort to counter islamophobia. laura: geoff, the white house is working on a first of its-kind strategy to protect muslims and those perceived to be muslim because of their race or ancestry. and it says the plan will be drafted by white house officials in coordination with community leaders. rami nashashibi, founder of the inner-city muslim action network, joins me now to discuss. rami, thanks so much for being here. first off, what's your reaction to this announcement by the white house to craft a national plan to counter islamophobia?

rami: the announcement is actually one that the community completely can understand and appreciate. the timing, though, was one that i have been on record for challenging, only because, at this moment, so much of the time the anti-muslim hate and islamophobia is directly associated with the dehumanizing language that unfortunately has become part and parcel of this really just absolutely terrible bombing on gaza in the last few weeks that has led to a child being killed every 10 minutes. laura: and speaking of that, rami, last week, when i asked president biden about the death toll provided by the hamas-controlled gaza health ministry, which is a figure that state department officials also go by, he cast doubt on it.

pres. biden: i have no notion that the palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. i'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war. laura: you were in a meeting with the president right after -- not long after he made those comments. did he say anything that reassured you during that conversation? rami: well, i directly, in fact, addressed that quote with the president. i told him how unacceptable and atrocious it was, quite frankly, for so many that have associated him with a person who can really identify with human suffering, which i think he has done fairly well for communities across the globe and certainly with people who have suffered from individual tragedy. he acknowledged that. he received it. he also gave us a form of apology. what i was hoping to hear from the president and from the white house, quite frankly, which we have not heard since our meeting last week, was a much more explicit, forceful retraction of that type of language, because it is precisely that type of language, coupled with the silence on language that has

been used by israeli war ministers, like the defense minister, who called all palestinians human animals, that has perpetuated this form of utter dehumanization of palestinians that completely is associated with much of the spike in violence that many people in the community have unfortunately had to endure in this recent set of a few days and weeks. laura: rami, since that meeting with the president, president biden has called for a humanitarian pause. he did that just yesterday. do you agree with that? rami: i think we are -- we asked him to call for a cease-fire. we are very grateful. i live in a state where senator durbin has become the first high-ranking senator to call explicitly for a cease-fire. really, at this point, we need the president, we need anybody of good conscience to realize that, when we have escalated to

the point where a young -- a child is dying every 10 minutes in gaza, where water, electricity, fuel, generators are being shut off, people are dying in hospitals, that whatever you want to call it at this moment, it can't just be a temporary pause. we need to get people who are brave enough and courageous enough to call for a cease-fire. he also called for the release of the hostages, which, of course, makes sense if there's a real peaceful resolution to address some of the systemic structural injustices that continue to stand in the way of a meaningful, peaceful resolution for palestinians and israelis. laura: rami, in the last 24 hours, we have heard more and more islamophobic language from the muslim, conservative, public figures like fox news' jesse watters, as well as congressman brian mast of florida. take a listen. rep. mast: arabs that live next to jews that will only live next

to them so long as they can plan a way to behead them, murder their babies, burn them alive. some of the folks that have said, well, it's not all palestinians. well, the fact of the matter is, i think it's a lot more palestinians than what they're giving credit for. jesse: i want to say something about arab-americans and about the muslim world. the west and western technology have created the middle east. we respect their kings. we kill their terrorists, ok? but we have had it. we have had it with them. laura: are you worried that language like this could result in violence, in the 30 seconds or so we have left, rami? rami: absolutely. and that's why i think the undergirding call for a conference on islamophobia and linking it to, of course, even the rise of antisemitism, these things are absolutely interlinked, and we have to be explicit in our condemnation of both. i stand with the call for that and the creation of it, but we have to address also the current political realities that are

animating so much of this. and our communities have to see that our fate are absolutely interwoven together. and that is happening right now. there are courageous jewish community members every single day that are calling for a peaceful cease-fire, alongside muslims and people of all faith. and that is a, i think, illustration of how our communities can come together. laura: rami nashashibi, thank you so much for your time. rami: thank you. geoff: in addition to the spike in islamophobia, a wave of antisemitic incidents has swept the world since the start of the israel-hamas war. ambassador deborah lipstadt is the biden administration's special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and she joins us now. thanks so much for coming in. deborah: thank you. thank you for having me. geoff: so, as i mentioned, incidents of antisemitism have surged globally since the october 7 by hamas on southern israel. and putting some numbers to it, in this country, the adl reports

antisemitic incidents have risen by about 400% in the two weeks following the attack. london's police force say they have seen a 14-fold increase, a 240% year-on-year increase in germany. and, of course, we all saw what happened in russia as that angry crowd searched for jews to harm after a plane had arrived from tel aviv. how is the administration confronting the scourge of antisemitism and hate, given the severity and the scale of it? deborah: the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, to whom i report directly, have been absolutely unequivocal in their condemnation of this. this is something separate and apart from what's going on in the middle east. i mean, of course, it's tied to it. but to attack jews -- i mean, i just came back from paris. in france, they have seen more antisemitic events in the past three weeks since october 7 than they saw in all of 2022. to attack jews, jewish institutions is not to take a

side in the middle east conflict. it's to be antisemitic. and the administration has been unrelenting in condemning this, and i have gotten very strong support from my colleagues. geoff: are the condemnations, the denouncements of antisemitism -- in some cases, officials are stepping up security -- is that sufficient to meet the moment, or is more required? deborah: it's not sufficient. i mean, i don't know -- there's a limit to what official -- government can do. you really need a whole of society approach. that's one of the reasons why i and so many of my colleagues and colleagues in other countries who deal with this issue have asked leaders, government leaders, civil society leaders to speak out and condemn this. this is unacceptable. it is -- i used to talk about a surge in antisemitism when this first began. and then i talked about a storm. now, this past week, i have been talking about a tsunami. you see it.

you see it on university campuses. and i have been to rome. i have been to paris. i'm off to germany in a day, in two days. we see it in this country, expressions, unrelenting expressions of jew hatred. we talk about antisemitism, but really a strong word is pure and simple jew hatred. and that has nothing to do with the middle east. it's like people just felt -- the cover is off, i can say whatever i want. geoff: well, when it comes to the anger over the deaths of what are believed to be thousands of palestinians as a result of israel's bombardment of gaza, what's the difference between legitimate criticism of israel's government and anti-israel rhetoric that translates into antisemitism? deborah: i think they're very different. look, in democracies -- in israel, take israel, for example. the national sport is not football. the national sport is criticism of the government. every israeli knows what its government should be doing better. so it's not a matter of

criticism of government or even criticism of policies. it's when you justify hatred. so many instances -- in many instances in that -- you mentioned the incident in russia, in dagestan, when the plane -- they were saying, where are the jews? they weren't saying, where are the israelis? where are the jews? in australia, we saw a demonstration, "gas the jews." we have seen that in berlin. we have seen similar things in paris, in london, and in this country. that's not about the middle east. that's about antisemitism. that's about hating jews. geoff: is there a difference between right-wing antisemitism and left-wing antisemitism? does the political ideology warrant different approaches to combating it? deborah: i think -- you know, it's ironic. antisemitism is ubiquitous. it comes from every place on the political spectrum, as we have seen in the past couple of weeks. and, as i said in my confirmation hearings before the senate, it can come from

christians. it can come from muslims. it can come from atheists. it can come from jews. it comes from everywhere. and on some level, the far, far right and the far, far left often meet on the issue of antisemitism. you need different tactics to address these groups, but i don't know if you can really change those people on the extremes. the people i want to reach when i'm going overseas, when i'm speaking to different groups, to different governments, civil society, are the people who might say, well, there's something to this. i want to expose them to what this hatred can do. no genocide ever began with people picking up guns or machetes or creating gas -- it begins with words, and it escalates from there. and words "death to the jews," "jews should die," "we need a jew-free society," which you hear in this country and you hear abroad, are just fodder for

that hatred and doesn't go away. it just builds and builds. geoff: ambassador lipstadt, thanks so much for coming in. it's a real pleasure to speak with you. deborah: well, good, even on this topic. thank you very much for having me. ♪ geoff: thousands of runners have been training for this sunday's new york city marathon. and one of them is representing a running club inside california's san quentin prison. the group is featured in a new documentary playing on the state's prison tv network and for its parole board. special correspondent mike cerre has the story of the film "26.2 to life" for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> knowing you are going to be locked up for the rest of your life, you got to have ways to cope. mike: the new documentary "26.2 to life" chronicles san quentin's 1000 mile running club

training for its annual 26.2-mile marathon inside the prison's exercise yard. >> it allows you to feel like you're doing something normal, that you're doing something that's not prison. mike: first-time film director christine yoo wanted to break down the viewers and her own preconceptions of inmates serving indeterminate and in many cases life sentences. christine: i really only knew about prison life from what we see in hollywood movies and tv series and popular culture. so when i first walked into san quentin, my initial perception was really off. mike: christine yoo spent six years visiting, volunteering, and documenting this inspiring rehabilitation program started by veteran marathon runner and coach frank ruona. frank: we named the club the 1000 mile club. the idea was to have the inmates run 1000 miles while they were at san quentin.

hey, we're going in 10, nine, eight. mike: the culminating marathon held each november since 2008 is only one of the film's story arcs and more of a backdrop for the equally dramatic backstories of the runners. let's talk about the three characters that play the most prominent roles. christine: markelle was somebody that i met on the first day that i visited san quentin, because he was the fastest man in the club. he was the gazelle. and i was immediately struck by his very gentle and soft-spoken manner. markelle: they have a lot of programs here, and you got a lot of outside people here, but this is still prison. it gets violent. frank: markelle looks awesome. he's got a nice drive going. christine: even though this was a film about running, i wanted to look at the club and prison life from a more diverse perspective.

so, while markelle was the fastest runner, rahsaan was the slowest runner. this guy has a 55-to-life sentence, but has an incredible sense of humor and a different way of looking at things. rahsaan: i decided to put in something positive and, like, not let these people think they're right about me, not let my son grow up thinking that his dad is a loser. mike: tommy wickerd is serving a 57-year sentence for murder and gang-related activities. tommy: this doesn't happen in every prison. you got to remember, all i did was hang around gang members and do drugs and sell drugs and hurt people. now i'm around coaches that are just like my mom and dad growing up with good people. christine: i originally met his wife, marion, and so i thought, wow, this is an -- would be an amazing opportunity to show what being a father or a husband from prison is really like. mike: despite the prison marathon's six 90-degree turns, markelle "the gazelle" taylor

wins the race in little over three hours. tommy wickerd completed his 105 laps around and through the crowded prison yard under four hours. >> no one said it was going to be easy. you're doing great. mike: and rahsaan "new york" thomas predictably finished last. rahsaan: i'm supposed to be miserable. >> making the final lap here. rahsaan: i'm supposed to be a failure. i'm supposed to give up. i'm supposed to die in here. mike: the film doesn't overly play up the race for its primary drama or conclusion. the rest of the story is even more inspiring. markelle: my goal is to run under three hours, maybe qualify for boston here, be the first one to do that. christine: i knew that he had been denied parole twice, but sort of shame on me for thinking that dreams don't and can't come true. so, to have that goal and to maintain that dream from inside, i think, says a lot about his mental and spiritual fortitude. mike: markelle was paroled on his third attempt, after serving

17 years of his 15-to-life sentence for second-degree murder. he has since run the boston marathon twice, once under three hours, and has been sharing his story and the film with juvenile offenders around the country. markelle: i'm an ambassador for lifers, life-incarcerated men and formerly incarcerated men, and what i experience and what i go through can help change policies in a way people are being treated, even from the outside or the inside. mike: markelle works full-time at a local supermarket while training for new york and other marathons, and spends evenings back inside san quentin, now as one of the 1000 mile club's volunteer coaches. california's governor newsom commuted rahsaan "new york" thomas' sentence after serving

23 years in prison. tommy: here in san quentin, we call this the bottleneck. you have -- you go from dirt to asphalt, and if you step on a rock at 22 miles, it's going to get your attention. mike: tommy wickerd is the current president of san quentin's 1000 mile club. his release date is 2045, unless he gets paroled sooner. christine: i didn't want to make an issue film. i would like for the audience to, after having seen it, for them to decide if they think that our approach to incarceration is -- can be improved or not. mike: perhaps its most captive and important audiences have been at the first san quentin screenings. the film is renewing the conversation about sentencing and rehabilitation, starting with the director of california's adult prisons, ron broomfield. ron: and i think your discipline and your honesty and your commitment is going to inspire people to really look at incarcerated in a different light. christine: people who are at the

highest levels of the department of corrections and in the state government can see the potential, that rehabilitation does work and hopefully that the film can be used as a tool to advocate for more of that. markelle: not only is it helping you from a mental aspect and a physical. it is also spiritual. and it's all everything combined. and it's more hands-on with people involved with helping you to reach your goals in life. mike: for the "pbs newshour," mike cerre in san quentin, california. ♪ geoff: two major sports stories now, the death of a legendary basketball coach and the texas rangers' world series win. our correspondent john yang has more on both. john: geoff, as the rangers won the franchise's first world series last night, the sports

world lost a complicated and polarizing figure. basketball coach bobby knight, known as much for his courtside tantrums as for his team's more than 900 wins and three ncaa national championships. kevin blackistone is a journalism professor at the university of maryland, an espn panelist and a sports commentator for the washington post. kevin, i think you covered -- as i know, i think you covered knight when he coached at texas tech. kevin: absolutely. john: what are your thoughts? what do you remember about him today? kevin: well, the first thing i remember is, he's the greatest coach i have ever been that close to in any sport, period. i remember, when he got to texas tech, they were coming off a 9-19 season. they hadn't been successful in a couple of seasons. he came right in, put his imprint on the team. they went 23-9 and went straight to the ncaa tournament. i remember he also altered the uniforms a little bit to look like the old indiana hoosiers, who -- where he made his fame. but he could put his imprint, his mark on a team just amazingly.

and he ran this motion offense, which meant he didn't have to rely on any particular player to be a scorer. everybody became a scorer. he ran a great defense. he was just a genius of a basketball coach. there's no question about it. john: what made him so successful? kevin: i think his ability to make people believe in his system. and it had been so successful for so long, how could you say otherwise? remember, this is a guy who, in all of his years, racking up all those wins at army and then for the longest at indiana and then finally at texas tech, in all those years, he had one nba all-star player, and that was isaiah thomas. that's how good of a coach he was. that season that he went 32-0, the other season right next to that, they went 31-1. so that's one loss in two

straight seasons. he was just a tremendous motivator. obviously, you could say he was a bully. and we know about that, but enough players hung around long enough and put up with his often-boorish behavior to make him a winner and to make themselves winners. john: i want to talk a little bit about that behavior. when he was at texas tech, we have a tape of him after a 2006 game when, as the texas tech athletic director said, knight quickly lifted a player's chin. let's take a listen to that. bobby: i have said nothing publicly about it, nor do i intend to. and that's the attention that it deserves. now, does anybody else have a question about basketball? this is a press conference for a basketball game. john: what does that tell you about him? kevin: he ran the show. he also intimidated those of us in the media.

he got his way with everyone and everybody. boorish behavior was something he saw in others. he never recognized his own. but i will tell you a story. when he got to texas tech, i got a call from his secretary. and she said, "coach knight wanted to talk to you." and i said, "sure, put him on." i knew him a little bit. he got on and he said, "i just want to let you know i'm out here in lubbock. and any time you want to come out and take in a practice, just let me know." and i said, "coach, i'd love to be able to do that, but your practices are closed to the media. and things have happened in your practice before that i would have to report. so i would have to violate your code of secrecy for your practices." and he just said, "ok." and we finished the conversation, and we both went on. he ran the roost. there's no question about it. and even when he was at texas tech, there's an infamous, kind of comical incident with him

involving the chancellor of the university, who he chased down at a salad bar in a grocery store because he was angry about something that they -- that he had perceived that the chancellor said about him. so that's just the way he was. there's no apologizing for it. but that made him as much the coach off the floor as on the floor. john: commanding presence. let me -- i want to turn to the world series now. kevin: of course. john: texas rangers, first world series in their franchise history, which goes back to being the washington senators. they -- two years ago, they lost 102 games. how did they turn this around so quickly? kevin: wow, how did they do that? and, by the way, that's hope to everyone else in major league baseball that you can microwave a championship in just a couple of seasons. they did it mainly with offense. this is one of the more prolific offenses that we have seen in

major league baseball maybe in the last 10, 12 years. number two, they did it by getting healthy at the right time of the year. they only won 90 games during the regular season, which is one of the lowest totals ever for a world series championship. but they had a lot of players banged up during the season, all of whom, it appeared, became healthy during the postseason and certainly during the world series. so they were able to do that. they made the right moves at the trade deadline, getting montgomery as a pitcher, who filled out their roster, their rotation fantastically. and they believed in themselves. and they also were able to take advantage of this new postseason, which is expanded, and really which gives everybody an opportunity to kind of pull off the miracle win. so you think about what they did with the defending champions just down the highway from them, the houston astros, who they lost to during the regular

season, but who they were able to sweep in the astros' home park during the postseason in order to get as far as they got. so they got everything right at the right time of the season. john: what does it tell us about money, about the payroll? they had the ninth highest payroll in baseball, which is high, but there were still eight teams above them that didn't win the world series. kevin: you can't necessarily buy a championship in baseball, if in any sport anymore, because of the way the seasons are, because of the way injuries crop up, and because the talent pool, i think, is a little bit deeper now. so they didn't have to rely on high-paid talent from some other team. and some of the guys that they had really came to the fore, like carter, who was a rookie who played very well, and, of course, garcia, who became a postseason hero with the home runs that he was able to hit. he was a guy that they brought

along, and he's a two-time all-star, and he showed out during this world series. john: kevin blackistone covering the horizon on sports for us tonight, thank you very much. kevin: thank you, john. ♪ geoff: after it first debuted on tv more than half-a-century ago, the o.g. nature show is back airing on nbc. stephanie sy has a look at the return of "wild kingdom." vanessee: she was standing perfectly still. stephanie: it was fourth of july weekend, when vanessee lindo made a surprising and most patriotic discovery -- this. vanessee: there's an eagle in the yard. stephanie: lindo of yakima nisqually descent thought the eagle's presence was auspicious. vanessee: we believe that the eagle flies highest to the creator, so the eagle takes our prayers to the creator and delivers blessings back to us.

stephanie: but she soon discovered this eagle couldn't fly. vanessee: when she raised her wing, i could see blood on her, and i knew she wasn't going to leave. she needed help. stephanie: lindo drove the bird in a crate to paws, an animal welfare organization north of seattle. vanessee: i talked to her the entire time. i was saying, i'm going to help you. it's going to be ok. stephanie: her bald eagle encounter is featured in an episode of "wild kingdom: protecting the wild." it's a reboot of the original nature show first broadcast 60 years ago. marlin: welcome to mutual of omaha's "wild kingdom." stephanie: naturalist marlin perkins and zoologist jim fowler got up close and personal with endangered wildlife, bringing far-flung habitats into americans' living rooms. peter: it was a template that many other wildlife shows followed. stephanie: peter gros joined the show in 1985 and returns for the reboot. peter: i thought it would be an opportunity for me to be able to affect as many attitudes about conservation as i could and had

no idea that i would be standing here with you now hoping to influence attitudes of the next generation about conservation. stephanie: the next generation includes his new co-host, wildlife ecologist rae wynn-grant, who was inspired by the original program. rae: i used to sit on my grandparents' living room floor and watch these shows, and i would tell my family i want to be a nature show host when i grow up. stephanie: wynn-grant says filming "wild kingdom" has come with some unexpected animal encounters. rae: i can now say that i have been bit by a bat inside of a bat cave. stephanie: the show returns at a time when wildlife is more threatened than ever. today, an estimated 40% of animals are at risk of extinction. rae: human development has bisected so much of their habitat. that's the main thing. vanessee: she was right over here. stephanie: for now, the crew is

focused on stories right in our backyard in the united states, with hopes to highlight wildlife abroad in a future season. peter: now that you have turned off the anesthesia. stephanie: gros wants to educate viewers about what they can do. peter: this is such a good example of why people should put stickers on their glass windows to prevent birds from flying into them and getting these serious injuries. this generation of ours has grown up hearing so much gloom and doom about the state of our natural world. i think the message is, it is not too late, if we all become proactive and see what we can do to participate in conservation, and some of these species will be resilient with our help and can make a comeback. stephanie: take the bald eagle. once threatened with extinction and protected by the endangered species act, its populations have since recovered and are growing. peter: i think the fact that we're now talking about a highly endangered species that almost disappeared that is off the endangered species list now is a great story for us to be telling. stephanie: but the story of the eagle vanessee lindo found in her yard shows that threats remain.

dr. rosenhagen: there was a wound on her left shoulder, and there were metallic fragments, so she had been shot. stephanie: dr. nicki rosenhagen is a wildlife veterinarian at paws. dr. rosenhagen: where you can see that bright white, that's metal, and these are bone fragments. stephanie: linda couldn't believe it. vanessee: it really made me angry to think about our national bird being shot on independence weekend, nonetheless. stephanie: according to dr. rosenhagen, shootings are all too common. what would have happened had she not been brought in? dr. rosenhagen: she wouldn't have been able to survive, right? she can't feed herself. she can't avoid predators or humans, dogs, anything like that. so she probably would have succumbed to the injury. stephanie: rosenhagen and her team were able to treat the wound. they cleaned the gunshot site and removed bone fragments. the eagle's wing was immobilized in a wrap. she was also treated for lead

poisoning. dr. rosenhagen: in almost all cases, they're ingesting it, and so the most common reasons that there's lead ammunition, an animal that comes along, especially like an eagle, they're a scavenger and they're going to ingest that. we're also just seeing it in the soil. stephanie: in the months that followed, the eagle did physical therapy. as she recovered, the team studied her flight and stamina. dr. rosenhagen: we were looking to see, can she fly from the ground to the highest perch? and she finally did that last week. stephanie: so, early one recent morning at a park south of seattle, with "wild kingdom" cameras rolling and lindo on hand to watch. rae: all right, well, i'm ready. are you all feeling ready? peter: let's do it. stephanie: wynn-grant and gros opened a crate holding the fully rehabilitated bald eagle. this national symbol of freedom soared back into nature. vanessee: it's like my girl is free and she's back where she belongs. so i'm just thrilled. i'm happy. stephanie: gros hopes stories like this spur the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts into action. peter: each person can make a change personally to preserve our natural world.

stephanie: the threats to wildlife are very real, but the message of "wild kingdom" is, there is hope. for the "pbs newshour," i'm stephanie sy in seattle. geoff: such a great story. and that's 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. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour." >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live

your life. life well-planned. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i'm legally blind, and yes, i'm responsible 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 the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front 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

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