♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the “news hour” tonight, louisiana becomes the first state to require the 10 commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.

we take a closer look at the implications. >> we have so many religious differences, and yet we have managed to negotiate them, live together, peaceful coexistence, mainly because we kept the government out of the religion business. geoff: divisions between israel's military and political leadership, and a diplomatic spat with the u.s., lay bare rifts over the war in gaza. and how republican disinformation is sowing doubts about the legitimacy of the 2024 election. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information 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 “news hour.” russian president vladimir putin picked up more support today during his trip to asia, signing a series of deals with vietnam. but his visit to the region is as much about the war in ukraine, as it is about bilateral agreements. earlier this week, putin was in north korea, where he and kim jong un pledged to come to each other's aid. that led south korea to say it would consider supplying arms to ukraine. putin told reporters in vietnam today that the country's leaders would be making a big mistake if they did so. meantime in washington, senate republicans and democrats banded together in pushing to designate russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. >> in my view, this message to the world is as important in a

moral sense as any practical consequence. russia deserves to be in this small, selective club of atrocity committing killers. geoff: also today, the white house said it would re-direct deliveries of air-defense missiles to ukraine, instead of sending them to other u.s. allies. a spokesperson described the decision as quote, difficult but necessary given russia's ongoing attacks on ukraine. dutch prime minister mark rutte is all but certain to be the next nato secretary general, after his last rival for the job, romanian president klaus lohannis, withdrew from the race. rutte would succeed current nato chief jens stoltenberg in october. he's a long-time supporter of ukraine's war effort against russia. rutte's selection would allow nato leaders to put up a united front when they gather in washington in july to mark the

75th anniversary of the military alliance. the trial of a russian-american woman accused of treason started today in moscow. ksenia karelina was born in russia but lives in los angeles. she was arrested in february while visiting family in russia. russian authorities accuse her of raising money for ukraine. but her boyfriend says it was a single donation of about $50. in a statement, he told the "news hour," she is full of compassion and donated a small amount to a u.s. nonprofit to help people in need. she is not an activist for any cause. karelina faces up to 20 years if convicted. today, a state department spokesperson warned all americans to avoid going to russia. >> you run a tremendous risk by traveling to russia of being detained, being imprisoned, being convicted. and so we continue to make clear to every american do not for any reason travel to russia.

geoff: karelina's trial is taking place behind closed doors in the same court where wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich will face espionage charges when his trial starts next week. tropical storm alberto was downgraded to a tropical depression today, as the first named storm of the atlantic hurricane season made its way inland over mexico. alberto brought heavy rain and sustained winds of 35 miles per hour. three people have died. parts of southern texas were also hard hit. rain is also in the forecast in new mexico, where two massive wildfires have burned more than 35 square miles and destroyed 1400 buildings. at least two people there have died. residents are hoping the rain will help the firefighting efforts, which have been unrelenting. >> it's been nonstop planes, nonstop sirens, almost felt like being in the middle of a war zone with all the smoke surrounding our little calm area right here in the middle. geoff: meantime, the eastern great lakes and new england baked today under this week's unrelenting heat wave.

the mid-atlantic and ohio valley are next. the national weather service expects heat index readings to surpass 100 degrees in many areas, possibly setting new records. crew members from the cargo ship that crashed into baltimore's key bridge in march will finally be allowed to return to their home countries of india and sri lanka. attorneys for the city of baltimore had said they should stay in the u.s. to be deposed in ongoing civil litigation, but a u.s. district judge confirmed they can go home, so long as they are still available for depositions. e dali for weeks after thed on deadly collision, even when experts carried out a controlled demolition of the bridge to free the vessel. treasury secretary janet yellen announced new sanctions today against eight members of a mexican drug cartel, as part of the biden administration's broader push to address the ongoing opioid crisis. the group is notorious for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl, as well as other illegal drugs. speaking in georgia today, yellen said the treasury department is treating the

cartel like it would a business, freezing its members' assets and cutting them off financially. >> they rely on access to banking systems and to the u.s. dollar to make payroll and finance purchases. and this means the treasury department has a unique ability to disrupt and degrade their operations. geoff: at that same appearance, secretary yellen defended president biden's tariffs on chinese goods, including electric vehicles and semiconductors. and she criticized former president trump's tariff proposals as being too broad, saying they would hurt american consumers and businesses. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average added nearly 300 points to close above 39,000. the nasdaq slipped from its recent records, giving back 140 points. the s&p 500 gave back nearly 14 points. and actor donald sutherland has died. jeffrey brown has more on the career of one of the industry's most versatile actors.

jeffrey: donald sutherland's career spanned six decades, with appearances in nearly 200 films and tv shows, and the widest possible range of characters. >> i'd rather be a civilian, sir, jeffrey: he first made his name in the 1960's, playing an army misfit in "the dirty dozen." >> i think you'll find these accommodating, they're quite dry. jeffrey: in the 1970's, he broke through as a leading man, as a wise-cracking battlefield surgeon in robert altman's film "mash." he could also be twisted and menacing, as in fellini's "cassanova," or a murderous nazi spy in "eye of the needle." a seminal role, the emotionally wounded father in robert redford's 1980 film, "ordinary people." one of hollywood's most prolific actors, sutherland maintained a constant presence on screen and never retired, taking on more supporting, character roles as time went on. >> for you, ms. everdeen. jeffrey: among the best known, as president snow in the popular film series "the hunger games." despite his critical acclaim and

popularity, sutherland never received an academy award nomination. but, he said, the privilege of working with acclaimed filmmakers was enough of a reward. >> i have made films for fellini, and for bertolucci, for chabrol, for werner herzog, for rebecca horn. these people i love, and that love is the greatest award you could ever have in your life. jeffrey: and in 2017, at age 82, he received an honorary oscar for lifetime achievement. >> i wish i could say thank you to all of the characters i've played, thank them for using their lives to inform my life. jeffrey: sutherland's death was announced on social media by his son and fellow actor, kiefer, who wrote of his father, never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. he loved what he did and did what he loved. donald sutherland was 88 years old. for the "pbs news hour," i'm jeffrey brown. geoff: still to come on the “news hour,” a community in new

mexico offers a unique model on how to live off the grid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. how some scotch whiskey producers are aiming to go carbon neutral. and new book recommendations to add to your summer reading list . >> this is the “pbs news hour” from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: louisiana will now require the 10 commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom, the only state in the country to do so. the state's republican governor jeff landry signed the bill into law yesterday. >> this bill mandates the display of the 10 commandments in every classroom in public elementary, secondary, and post-education schools in the state of louisiana. [applause]

because, if you want to respect the rule of law, you got to start from the original law giver, which was moses. geoff: under the law, the posters must be no smaller than 11 by 14 inches and the commandments must be the central focus of the poster and in a large, easily readable font. they would be paid for through private donations, not state funds. it comes as similar bills have been proposed in texas, oklahoma, and utah. all of this raising questions about the constitutional separation of church and state, with civil liberty groups pledging to sue. we're joined now by charles haynes, senior fellow for religious liberty at the freedom forum, a nonpartisan foundation promoting first amendment freedoms. thank you so much for being here. governor landry said he cannot wait to be sued. does he have reason to feel confident given the changing composition of the court? charles: he will be sued, he can be sure of that. well yes, because this is a

climate in which the supreme court has moved the establishment clause interpretation considerably, and i would say lowered the wall of separation until there is a must nothing less. so they think this is our time, we can get the rings -- get things through. geoff: legal battles over the 10 commandments in classrooms is not new. in 1980, the supreme court ruled a similar law in kentucky was unconstitutional. does louisiana's rationale and approach change anything in the eyes of federal judges on this? charles: i don't think so, but they do. and so they are betting that the last big case from 2005, when the supreme court upheld the 10 commandment monument in statehouse park. they felt that reasoning gives us support for putting it in every classroom. i don't see how they are going

to make that case. it is a very different kind of case. in the same day in 2005 you supreme court struck down two kentucky -- saying they promoted religion. i think the court in ordinary times would be more likely to go with the kentucky decision. but they don't think so. geoff: there is similar legislation that pertains to the 10 commandments proposed in texas, oklahoma, utah. they have not been successful yet. could this change how these other states proceed, especially as the religious right steps up its effort to amplify expressions of faith in the public square? charles: i think those other states are going to wait and see how it fares in the courts. if it is struck down in the lower courts, and it does not go far, or forgets to the supreme court and they strike it down, then they will stop this movement. on the other hand if it makes it to the supreme court and the court changes the rules of the

establishment clause, which it has already done recently, it is allowing more government aid to go to religious institutions for example, which used to be unthinkable. so who knows. the establishment clause is erased pretty much. then governments can promote religion and say that it is history or for whatever reason. and i think that is going to be very difficult for the future of the united states. geoff: the groups that are opposed to this, what is their argument, and how much precedent to they have on their time? charles: they have a lot because the court has always been very careful to require neutrality by the government in a public school. impressionable young people, a captive audience. the government cannot impose religion on young kids. and that side says the establishment clause is why we have peace in this country. we have so many religious

differences and yet we have managed to negotiate them, live together, peaceful coexistence, mainly because we have kept the government out of the religious business. what happens when the government has the power like they are asking louisiana to promote a religious message in every classroom? they call it a history message but the 10 commandments, as the court said in 1980, read it. it is definitely a religious message. geoff: one of the coast ponders said the 10 commandments in her view, she views it as a historical document and says this might not work in california or new york but in louisiana it does. charles: it is popular, but the first amendment is not a popularity contest. it is meant to protect the conscience of every individual. if there are only 10 people in louisiana who don't want the 10 commandments promoted, they have the right to make their case,

and i think they might even win. even a conservative court is going to think long and hard about wiping away barriers to government promoting religion to young kids. that just seems unthinkable. but the court changed how they interpret the establishment laws. it used to be neutrality. now it is history and tradition. we are not sure what they are going to do with that. if they say well yes, it is tradition we have the 10 commandments and so forth. legislatures in louisiana are betting the court is going to say we have talked about the 10 commandments all of these years and so why not put it on the wall? geoff: charles haynes, thank you so much for your insights. charles: thanks for having me. ♪

geoff: today, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu repeated criticism the biden administration calls untrue and unfair, that the u.s. has withheld weapons israel needs to fight the war in gaza. the diplomatic spat between the prime minister and the biden white house comes as simmering tensions between netanyahu and his own military boiled over. nick schifrin is here with more. nick: for months, even years, military officials in israel have often disagreed with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. but most military criticism of israel's longest serving leader is made anonymously or after retirement. this week, the israel defense force's top spokesman made public the military's concerns about netanyahu's repeated claim of total victory over hamas. >> the political echelon has to decide, and the israel defense forces will implement, but this business, this business of destroying hamas, making hamas disappear, it's simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public.

if we don't bring something else to gaza, then at the end of the day we will get hamas. nick: so how significant is this public criticism by the military of the prime minister? and how does it play into the diplomatic tensions between netanyahu and the biden administration? for answers we turn to laura blumenfeld, a former senior policy advisor on the state department's israeli-palestinian negotiating team, and currently a senior fellow at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. thank and welcome. so how significant is this public military criticism of the prime minister? laura: i think it is very significant it i think the idf recognizes while they may be winning militarily they are losing morally and that has long-term strategic implications for israel's security. this idea of indecision, what they're saying to the prime minister's take a position and defendant. the prime minister cannot be an undecided voter. we need you to support our ask for ultra-orthodox fighters. our forces are depleted.

number two, we have a political horizon we are looking for that we can aim for militarily. and we do not want to occupy the gaza strip after the war. i remember spending time with the last military commander of gaza before israel withdrew, and he wore what i recall was a gaza mask, a combination of dust, sweat, and the smell of regret. he ran around in a jeep while kids threw stones at him and he said this is the most morally corrosive thing for our state and security. nick: for netanyahu this not only about what is now a puppet spat with the military, it is also tensions within his coalition. and this week he released a statement saying quote, i demand that all coalition partners a hold of themselves and rise to the importance of the hour, put aside every other consideration, put aside all extraneous interests, line as one together behind our fighters. how fractious is this coalition and how important are those tensions? laura: he needs the coalition in

order to exercise what he calls the cease-fire deal which is the most important priority for the israeli public. and to get to that deal he is going to have to keep his coalition together. there are some behind the scenes assurances from the u.s. that may be lapid and some other opposition members will support him, but he has to be able to pull this through for the israeli public. that is the number one demand and he is trying to respond to it. nick: the latest draft of a cease-fire proposal was made public by president biden a few weeks ago. let's turn to u.s. israeli relations right now. on tuesday, prime minister netanyahu posted this video. >> it is inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to israel. nick: withholding weapons and ammunitions. today john kirby called that statement quote, not accurate and deeply disappointing and vexing to us.

u.s. officials insist there is one and only one weapons transfer that they have frozen back in may of 3500 unguided bombs. but netanyahu released another statement in response and said quote, i am ready to suffer personal attacks provided israel receives the ammunition it needs. so why would netanyahu post this video which u.s. officials insist they did not know about ahead of time, and how significant is this public rift? laura: this is very significant and theories have been flying. everything from maybe it is a fist bump to trump, to he's become completely unhinged. it is kind of a preamble to his speech he is planning on visiting -- delivering to congress and coordinating with the republicans lining up against biden. but it violates all the rules of no daylight between israel and the united states and ultimately undoes what was his key strengths.

if biden has your back, why would you stick a knife in his? nick: u.s. officials insist privately and publicly they are still negotiating fine with the prime minister and his staff today is meeting with his equivalent from israel. but you mention former president trump. do you believe that netanyahu is extending the war in either -- in order to either stay in power or weight for a possible trump presidency? laura: i also wonder if he is waiting for a trump presidency and are the saudis waiting as well. because there is this grand prize of the normalization deal with israel and a security pact with the u.s. you can see america's potential allies hedging as we get closer and closer to the election. that is why unfortunately the only person who is in a rush here to clinch the cease-fire and move forward to regional integration and economic prosperity is the united states. one thing i learned in the state department is you cannot want

that more than the parties. they also have to have incentive. nick: and finally, u.s. officials are very worried about an unintended conflict between israel and hezbollah and they say unintended because they believe the leaders of israel and hezbollah actually do not want that war. but how high are the risks of war between israel and hezbollah? laura: for the idf, for the generals i have been talking to for years, this is the war they expected. in some ways they think of the gaza war as the warm up in the real war is the war to the north. precision guided missiles are in one word what has given them night sweats for years. and they are worried because the war in gaza is a slog. one in the north is more of survival, and that population centers, easily rearmed over the land from iran. so i think if they could have a mini winnable war, which is what they are looking for before july

24, they would have the win they would be looking for ever since october 7. ever since then they have been trying to prove they can be the strong israel everybody recognizes from the past, masters of the preemptive strike, rather than the catch-up battle they have been struggling with ever since october 7. nick: laura blumenfeld, thank you very much. laura: thank you. ♪ geoff: it's been more than three years since baseless claims about a rigged 2020 election inspired an attack on the u.s. capitol, but the lies haven't stopped. laura barron-lopez is here with more. laura: before and after the 2020 election, donald trump repeatedly sowed doubt about the legitimacy of the u.s. election system. now, less than five months to go before november, he's doing it again. here he is in the swing state of wisconsin this week. >> the radical left democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020. and we're not going to let them

rig the presidential election in 2024. and every time -- we're not gonna let him do it. laura: and much like last time, the former president has help from right-wing media. >> what is up the dems' sleeve to drag that body back into the white house? what's the dog that's not barking? and then let's say, by some weird, miraculous chance that we didn't see coming, given that trump is ahead, has a 66% chance of winning, looks like he's going to get the electoral count, and he joe still wins. well, then what do you do after you win? how do you convince anyone that's real? have they even thought of that? like, even the dems behind the scenes better hope he doesn't win, because no one's going to believe it. laura: to separate fact from fiction, i'm joined by david becker, executive director of the nonpartisan center for election innovation and research. thank you so much for joining us. those two examples were just

from recent days. the fox news host repeated his claim, saying that if president biden wins in november he will only win if there are, quote, shenanigans, aka, cheating. debunk this for us. david: our elections by every measure are more secure and verified than ever before. we know this because we have more paper ballots than ever before. over 95% of all voters in the u.s. will vote on verifiable paper ballots this fall, the highest percentage ever. those ballots are audited, the machines are audited to make sure they were tabulated correctly. voter lists are more clean than ever before. and we have more litigation both before and after the election to confirm the results. our elections are very, very good in the u.s. people should and can know that we will know the winner, and that winner will be correct. laura: that spreading of

disinformation by republican politicians, americans across social media, and right-wing media, is it worse this election cycle than previous cycles? david: i think it is worse because of the cumulative effect we have seen over about four years. of course we had disinformation in the 2020 election cycle, especially during the pandemic where people were isolated in a learn, when people had strong opinions about the election. we saw a record turnout, 20 million more ballots in 2020 then we had ever seen before. there was a lot of disinformation spread particularly after the election by former president trump after he had lost. but that election in 2020 was the most scrutinized election in american history. roughly 20% to 30% of the american public still thinks the most secure, transparent, and verified election we ever had, that there was something wrong with it. that could be problematic. laura: there is another big election conspiracy theory being spread by republicans right now. >> he's going to let everybody come in. because you know what they're trying to do?

they're trying to sign these people up and register them. they're not citizens. they're not allowed to do it. it's illegal as hell. so what they're trying to do is they're trying to use all of these people that are pouring into our country to vote. what other reason? laura: trump is not the only person saying this. this week in response to president biden's action to streamline a pathway to citizenship for undocumented spouses of u.s. citizens, house speaker mike johnson posted on twitter, quote, this is proof positive of the democrat's plan to turn illegal aliens into voters. and fox news hosts also claim to this week that 49 states are providing voter registration without showing proof of citizenship to undocumented migrants. what is the reality here? david: the reality is that again, this is a misstatement of what the law and the facts are here in the united states. first, it is against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and it has been for decades. it is very clear.

it comes with criminal penalties. second, every singer in the -- every single voter in the u.s. has to provide i.d., almost always a drivers license number. thanks to real id and other things, go into your drivers bureau's website and see we need to bring. you have to bring proof of legal presence, which will either prove you are a u.s. citizen, or a non-citizen here legally, in which case you should not be registered to vote when checked against the database, which it is. we know this has been very successful. very, very few noncitizens ever vote. we know this because georgia did a complete audit of their voter list as recently as 2022. looked at all of those he could not find proof of citizenship for in the database. it was only about 1500 state wide out of millions of voters. the total number of those who had voted in previous elections was zero. this is how incredibly successful we are in terms of keeping noncitizens from voting. very, very few noncitizens vote.

laura: zero in georgia. you work with republican and democratic election officials who administer elections and who oversee them. is this disinformation directly impacting them? david: yes. their jobs are much harder now. they are having to face disinformation all the time. they are getting it in your offices, they are getting it at election meetings that are public. they are getting it through public records requests. they are requesting duplicate of things that are sucking up their bandwidth. i have heard from republican election officials that they are getting it in their communities. when they go to the grocery store or their children's school or even places of worship, people are accusing them of being engaged in a massive conspiracy with millions of people to overturn the will of the voters. laura: what are the two big disinformation waves you think are coming? david: those waves are really divided by the close of the

polls on election night we are going to see a wave before then it tries to influence voters and make them think voter -- voting is rigged or hard, or that voting might not be available to them together -- them to get them to not vote. people should be very skeptical and only rely on official sources of information in their locality or state. after the polls close it is likely we are going to see a very dangerous wave of disinformation that makes -- that is going to be focused on the candidate that thinks he is losing and is designed to make his supporters feel as if the election has been stolen. this could lead to a lot of instability and chaos in the postelection period, and potential violence like we saw on january 6. laura: david becker, thank you for your time. david: thank you. ♪

geoff: this summer's extreme heat and the demand for air conditioning are putting a big strain on the electricity grid in many parts of the country. but for more than 40 years, a pioneering architect in new mexico has been building a unique kind of home that can be heated and cooled without using any electricity at all. special correspondent megan thompson reports. megan: five years ago, empty-nesters jess and brian johnson decided to leave colorado and move south to just outside taos, new mexico. a place they'd loved visiting, and where their dollar could go further. >> this is a two bedroom, two bathroom, 2000 square foot home. they have an open living area, a fireplace, and a sauna with views of the southern rockies. but the more unique features are harder to see. the home is off-the-grid, meaning it's not connected to power, water, or sewer lines. their water comes from snow and rain. electricity from the sun. >> we're not crazy

conservationists, you know, we take showers every day and run the dishwasher and the washing machine and everything. the only way we're radical, really, is that we don't pay utility bills. megan: the johnsons' home is called an earthship. there are around 200 in northern new mexico. >> these are the same drawings i made for the front ace. megan: michael reynolds came up with the idea as a young architect. >> ever since college, i have looked at the world around me and been disturbed by it. megan: in the early 1970's, reynolds was especially disturbed by the growing garbage problem in the u.s., before recycling was widespread. >> so i started addressing it just for myself. and, then people started relating to it and wanting me to do it for them. megan: reynolds began experimenting with building off-grid homes partly from aluminum cans. he came up with a model that began to get attention. >> i have six things that i've determined are necessary for human sustenance.

it is comfortable shelter without use of fossil fuel, electricity, water, food, treatment of human waste, and treatment of garbage. anywhere anybody lives, those six things must be addressed. megan: reynolds started a company to build and sell his homes, and to teach people how to build their own. today, more than 200 students and interns come here each year to learn earthship building techniques, which have been incorporated in some 3000 homes around the world. >> when i came across this, it just made sense to me. megan: deborah binder manages construction for mike reynolds. she's also in the middle of building her own earthship. recycled materials are still a key building component. >> at least, here in taos, glass bottles aren't recycled anymore. and you use less cement by using them, and you end up with these really beautiful walls. megan: earthships' side and back wallare made from about a

thousand old tires, 300 to 400 pounds of dirt are rammed by hand into each one. the tire walls are built into a mound of earth to create an extremely dense and insulating structure. >> it's almost like if you're inside a cave. so caves usually stay at about 63, 65 degrees all year round. and so then it's a lot easier to cool or to warm up that space. megan: in the winter, brian and jess johnson's home is warmed up by sunlight streaming in through the southern wall of windows. in the summer, a system of tubes and vents brings cooler air in from the back of the house. >> you open that vent, the hot air rises and pulls cool air through the rest of the building as it goes out. >> we'll maintain 70 to 73 degrees fahrenheit whether it's 110 degrees outside or negative 10 degrees outside. megan: the johnsons' electricity comes from 14 solar panels. brian says they've learned how to avoid draining the batteries. >> we don't run our dishwasher and our washer and dryer at night.

so, there are little trade-offs like that, but it's never going without. it's just going at the right time. megan: the main hallway that connects all the rooms doubles as a greenhouse, where the johnsons grow bananas, figs, and grapes. back outside, the slanted metal roof also doubles as a water catchment system. >> all the rain or snow that falls on our roof gets collected in cisterns behind our home. we have about 8000 gallons of storage. megan: the water is filtered and first flows to the sinks, showers, and laundry. then it drains to the greenhouse to water the plants. from there, it flows to the toilets. then finally, it's flushed outside to a septic system that waters another garden. >> so one, two, three, four uses for every drop of water in this house. megan: the earthships' ingenuity, unusual designs, and down-right quirkiness have made them a tourist attraction. >> this is just one of five properties that mike's developed. megan: you can rent one on

airbnb, or buy a new, 1600 square-foot, two-bedroom for half-a-million dollars. this larger model is $1.7 million. but building earthships on a wide scale outside of a community like this is challenging. for one, they're so unconventional that obtaining building permits and financing can be difficult. >> unless you've got the time and the inclination on your own to do it, or can afford a tremendous amount of labor costs, it just doesn't make any sense. megan: sustainable home builder kim shanahan is the former head of the santa fe area home builders association and was active with the non-profit green builder coalition. he says those tire walls are the biggest problem. >> each little step of the wall is a lot of labor, and it's simply not something that a production builder or even a small builder could ever imagine doing. and that's why it never really could be done at scale. megan: but shanahan says mike

reynolds' other ideas helped inspire an entire generation of green home builders. >> self-sustaining power and warmth, and electricity through solar panels, roof water capture and reuse. this is the future, not necessarily tires in walls, but all the other principles that that mike reynolds has taught us about what a house can and should be. >> i think we need to start rethinking our buildings. megan: brian and jess johnson figure they're saving around $500 a month on utilities compared to what they were paying back in colorado. but, they say, it's not all about the money. >> once you start looking at these homes differently than traditional construction in the country and in the world, it becomes really hard to even think of those buildings. these just make so much more sense. >> it feels good to be part of that. you know, you're just a little bite, but part of some something special, i think. megan: for the "pbs news hour," i'm megan thompson outside taos, new mexico. ♪

geoff: the u.k. became the first country with a major economy to set a deadline to become a carbon neutral economy, with zero emissions greenhouse gases. britain's target is 2050. scotland's is even earlier, by 2045. as fred de sam lazaro reports, one industry is already trying to clean up its act, one responsible for scotland's best-known export. fred: scotch whiskey is a $7 billion a year export, reaching the farthest corners of the world. with scores of well-known brands, full white label to black label. >> distilled and blended in scotland. fred: the marketing, especially on more expensive labels, evokes the pristine scottish countryside and its distinct whiskey regions. less well-known is that whiskey

making is a dirty business, producing as much carbon dioxide as it does alcohol, and using a lot of fossil fuels. >> it is an energy intensive process. this is our stillhouse. fred: anna pilkington -- with brands like glenlivet. some 3400 gallons of alcohol equal to about 13,000 one liter bottles are distilled each day after the barley is mashed, washed, and distilled into enormous copper stills before being poured into wooden barrels to be aged. >> we have many different shapes of stills and they will all produce a different character because it all depends on how much time they had in contact with the copper. fred: there is nothing better or worse, it is just a matter of individual preferences you are

trying to cater to? >> exactly. we are in safe side today and they are known for lighter, fruit year my flavor profiles. however if you went to isla, they are known for heartier, richer spirits. that's all to do with their malt, water, and the shape of their stills. fred: the concern of this distillery goes beyond the whiskey pallet to climate change and its potential impact on business, a concerns shared by scotland's government which subsidized the installation of an elaborate system of pipes, condensers and compressors to capture and reuse much of the heat used in the distillation. >> we have seen a 48% reduction in overall energy consumption. but in terms of heat energy and therefore carbon, we have reduced it by 53%. fr has the equipment paid for itself yet? >> yes.

fred: there are other plans to help reach zero. it might seem like a no-brainer but for many distilleries, such retrofits are not easy. many are smaller, in old buildings on the historic register, and lack the physical space. and critically, they are loathe to mess with the time-honored way of doing things. >> people are very nervous about changing the way the process works. fred: ronald is an executive with the distillery's parent company. >> because it has been done this way for sometimes hundreds of years. especially if you are a smaller distiller. imagine if you only have two stills, one wash, on e spirit. how do you do a trial? fred: big and small, he says distillers are working with competitors to reduce their carbon footprint. >> we also need to appeal to the

consumers of tomorrow and increasingly they are making decisions based on not just, do i like the brand, but you are like what it stands for. fred: making things that much trickier is that tomorrow usually a long way off. it takes just three ingredients to make whiskey. barley or a cereal grain, water, and east. distillation takes a few days and then the long wait begins before payday. in the case of this distillery, the stuff will remain in casks before 18 years before it is bottled and sent to the store shelf. this distillery is a startup, its start date was either 2013 or arguably about a couple of centuries earlier, says ide marco mash. >> the distillery was in the field there in 1794. we pick up on that in our branding and marketing. fred: resetting any storied

history, the farm that surrounds the new incarnation is owned by a family with deep roots here. it willoon brg online a wind turbine and unlike multinationals with far-flung supplyhain erythiny urced. today it sells and serves tourists vodka, gin, and a rye whiskey, things that need less aging, all to keep the lights on until the big release in 2033 of its single malt whiskey. >> we will always be able to tell you when this multi-whiskey is bottled and sold. that the crop that was distilled was prisma barley and grown in the castle field. fred: that is important for what reason? >> i think it is an interest in the quality of what we eat and drink and therefore the providence of what we do and what we make. it is very individual. sometimes people ask me what my

favorite whiskey is. my reply is always asked me what mood i am in. mood, 18 years after pouring tr their malt and a lot of faith into these tasks. for the pbs newshour, and a very good mood, this is fred to sam laszlo. geoff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. ♪ geoff: whether you're on vacation, at the beach, or find yourself with a little more time for reading, summer is always a good time to pick up a new book. jeffrey brown gets recommendations from two "news hour" regulars, for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeff: and to talk about summer books and reading, i'm joined by

ann patchett, author and owner of parnassus bookstore in nashville, and gilbert cruz, editor of the new york times book review. ann, you want to start with fiction? ann: sure thing. i am very excited about "sandwich" by katherine newman. if you want a book that has you from hello, this is the one. family goes to the cape every summer for two weeks. they have kids in their 20's, they have elderly parents and they eat sandwiches, they are very near sandwich and they are of the sandwich generation. jeff: that's a summer book, isn't it? ann: it is the ultimate summer book. and also, if you're feeling a little stressed, get a copy of "sipsworth" by simon van boy. this one has been flying off the shelves. this is an elderly woman who's very isolated. she meets a mouse, and the mouse ople into her life. wonderful

it sounds hokey. it'not. it is a really terrific book. and for something a little darker, "bear" by julia phillips, which has the whole fairy tale vibe. two young sisters working so hard in a very tough existence on an island off the coast of washington. it all changes when a bear comes to their neighborhood and it drives the sisters apart. i also want to give a quick shout-out to something that just came out in paperback, "crook manifesto," colson whitehead. love this book so much. if you want some mystery, some cops and robbers, some corruption, some great writing. jeffrey: gilbert cruz, what do you have for us in fiction? gilbert: the first one is "swan song." ellen hildebrand, she is a writer who puts a book out every summer. they're all about nantucket. they all have drama. they all have romance. and somehow i have found myself reading one book of hers this summer, for the past decade.

i've only been to nantucket for two hours on, like, the coldest day that i can recall, so i have no idea what it's like to be there in the summer. but i sort of do, because i've read a dozen ellen hilderbrand books. so, i'm a big horror person. there's a book called "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and there's some people who save their scary stuff until october, until the fall. i'm not that person. i like it all year-round. and i think there are many people like me. this is about, essentially, an independent horror movie that was made years and years ago. a bunch of tragedies happened. it's become a cult film. and the only person left from the production has started to encounter some weird things. so that's "horror movie" by paul tremblay. and then finally, another genre of book of fantasy, "the bright sword" by lev grossman. if you've heard of lev grossman, it's because of his "magicians trilogy," which were a set of books that essentially imagined what if harry potter, but with older people and cursing and all

the all the stuff that older teenagers get into. this new book imagines the days and the months after the death of king arthur. there have been many retellings of the king arthur legend, books, movies, musicals. this one is sort of a sequel. jeffrey: you went right to all the genre books for this summer. ann, what about nonfiction? ann: hanif abdurraqib, "there's always this year," which is on basketball and ascension. this is a collection of essays about family and love and grief and fathers. but most importantly, it's all woven together through the lens of basketball. hanif abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers, and just someone i learn from every time i read one of his books. brilliant. "my black country" by alice randall, which is a journey through country music's black past, present, and future. alice is a fiction writer and a

scholar. this is a story of all the people who have been erased in country music's past, and she is restoring them into the landscape. a terrific book. and "consent" by jill cement, a very slim little memoir. jill cement was 16 years old when she first kissed her art teacher, who was 46. they got married and they stayed together until he died at 86. and it is her looking back on her life and thinking it was a happy marriage, but knowing what i know now, maybe there was something a little wrong about that. and a great book that just came out in paperback that could be -- you've got a book club. read these two together.

terrific. jeffrey: gilbert cruz, what do you have for nonfiction? gilbert: well, if i sort of went genre with my fiction, choices, i'm also going to go a little pop culture with my nonfiction choices. so the first book i'm going to talk about is the "future was now" by chris nash zadeh. i love movies, and i think for a lot of people my age who love movies, the summer of 1982, if you care about science fiction, fantasy, stuff like that, was one of the biggest summers of all time. so it had "e.t.," "poltergeist," "blade runner," "tron," a "mad max" sequel, a "star trek" sequel, and this is essentially a history of that summer, a history of those movies, so i'm looking forward to reading that one. another pop culture nonfiction book that's coming out later in june is called "cue the sun," the invention of reality tv. this is by emily nussbaum. she's been a tv critic for many wonderful publications. and this is a history of modern reality tv. i don't watch reality tv. i never really have. and that means that i am out of

the mainstream. from "cops" to "survivor" to "the bachelor" to "the apprentice" to "big brother" to "love is blind," these are some of the most popular shows of the past several decades. and emily nussbaum does an amazing job of sort of sketching that whole history and what they're billing as sort of the first comprehensive history of this very important genre. jeffrey: ann, you have a bookstore, you've got a lot of young readers, and i know you wanted to present some offerings for them. ann: i never want to miss a chance to plug some great kids books. jarrett and jerome pumphrey, two of their classics have just come out in board books. so these are good for babies, for little kids. you can chew on them. "the old truck." "the old boat." beautiful, simple, terrific illustrations. great clear story. if you have a slightly older kid, absolutely you want to buy a copy of "ahoy" by sophie

blackhall. this is a book about imaginative play and how you can have a summer adventure, no matter where you are or what you've got to work with. i adore this book and everything sophie does. and america's favorite author for young people, kate dicamillo, has a new novel out called "ferris." it's about raccoons, chandeliers, snh green stamps, grandmothers, love, and happiness. it's a story about a happy family. call me crazy, my favorite. jeffrey: ann patchett and gilbert cruz, thanks very much. ann: thank you. gilbert: thanks. ♪ geoff: before we go, we mentioned it last night but it's worth repeating, we heard from some of you that your dvr recordings of the "news hour" have mysteriously stopped.

we've ever so slightly renamed the program "pbs news hour," with a space between "news" and "hour," as part of our recent rebranding on air and online. this change is throwing off some scheduled dvr recordings, so please do reset. our apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for your online feedback. and that is the "news hour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the “pbs news hour,” thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "news hour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned.

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