wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. on the news hour tonight, u.s. supreme court case pushes gender affirming care for transgender minors back into the national spotlight. >> being like a trans youth

member is like hard enough and you are hearing all of these sayings that lawmakers are saying about you and it makes you feel like there is no purpose. >> pete hegseth meets with senators in a bid to salvage his troubled nomination for u.s. defense secretary. >> on an historic trip to angola, president biden pledges more investment in african nations but is the u.s. effort to counter china and russia on the continent too little too late? ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by. >> in 1995, two friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all with no long-term contract, nationwide coverage, and 100% u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular, freedom

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you, thank you. >> welcome to the news hour. president-elect donald trump has nominated a key and controversial ally to assist him in his next term. peter navarro will return a straight advisor for he spent four months in prison earlier this year for defying a subpoena from the house january 6 committee. >> trump also named cryptocurrency advocate paul atkins to chair the security and exchange commission and daniel driscoll, an advisor to jd vance to serve as secretary of the army. >> meanwhile one of the president-elect's most embattled nominees, defense secretary designate pete hesgeth met with republican senators.

lisa joins us now from the u.s. capitol. where does that hegseth nomination stand right now? >> he is a precarious spot. our reporting is that this day and the next day are the critical hours for hegseth. a reminder to our viewers, that reports and also a police report have brought up a lot of allegations against hesgeth, including a sex assault allegation not charged previously and reports from the new yorker and new york times, allegations of mistreatment of women and including accounts of mismanaging two organizations he ran as well as reports of alcohol fueled bad behavior . he denies it. his lawyer has said that these reports are wrong, but today, he said that he is going to keep fighting for this nomination. i want to show you how he's

doing it. in the wall street journal he came out with an op-ed. he defended his record and he also went on megyn kelly's podcast and he said president-elect trump still supports him. >> so, lisa, when you talk to your sources, what are the key arguments that senators are looking at and how impactful are they? >> let's start by listening to what hegseth himself says. he was on not -- or he. was on megyn kelly's podcast. >> it's our turn, it is our time to stand up and tell the truth. and our side. and he knows that. so he supports me. i won't betray what we talked about specifically. but he said, you will meet those senators and i've got your back. tells you who that guy is. >> now, if just four republican senators wrote no --

vote no, this nomination is sunk and by my counting very six republicans senators who are no, or have grave doubts privately private about him. one of them that everyone is watching is joni ernst, a military veteran and survivor of sex assault. this is what she tweeted after meeting with hegseth. i appreciate his service and then she wrote, today as part of the confirmation process we had a frank and thorough conversation. he's -- that is the most brutal neutral statement you could see. as for other issues, the two i'm hearing the most from senators are about his alcohol use in his treatment of women. in that regard, email from his mother has come up a lot. she went on television today to say she regrets those words and that this is not the same man that she wrote about years ago. here she is. >> pete is a new person. he is redeemed, forgiven, changed. i think we all are after seven years.

i believe he is a man for the job. >> now, that's not a denial of what she saw at the time. but she's talking about him now. also, on alcohol, senators said that hegseth swore to him he would not drink on the job. senators have to decide. but there is in the air rumors of others under consideration, senator haggerty and some trump world sources is also talking about florida governor ron desantis for the defense secretary position. >> trump continues to work to build his cabinet. we also now have the final numbers for the house of representatives. the last race has been called. bring us up to speed. >> ok, let's go through this. there are two races that have been called recently. one of the last day in california's 13th district. democrats have picked up this seat. adam gray winning. another in orange county, california's 45th district, that was a big pickup for democrats.

now, here is what the house will look like next year. 220 republicans, to 215 democrats. but a reminder that three of those republicans are leaving to join the trump administration, that is 217 to 315. -- 217 to 215. democrats kicked up one seat over where they are at this moment. it will be another very very tight congress. it is going to be difficult. and maybe one of the most close margins we have seen in recent history. >> this congress has a lot to get done, including funding the government. where does that stand? >> we will talk about this more but right now things seem to be moving in the direction of a short-term extension of that funding. maybe into march. that means the trump administration and congress would have to do with it again. >> lisa desjardins reporting from capitol hill tonight. thank you. >> welcome. ♪

>> the supreme court heard arguments today in a landmark case on transgender rights. the justices are weighing whether a tennessee law barring gender affirming care for minors violates the equal protection clause of the u.s. constitution. >> 300,000 young people identify as transgender in this country. and a decision in this case would have major implications for them, their families and medical providers. laura lopez reports. >> eli has been camping outside the supreme court since late last night. >> hi, all. eli reporting and from the supreme court. >> joined by other advocates, he's urging the conservative dominated court to protect the rights of transgender youth like himself. >> many kids just like me have had such a difficult time making

it to 18. many of us will not make it to 18. >> inside the court, justices heard arguments in the most significant trends rights case to ever reach the been spared the question at the heart of today's arguments -- whether a tennessee law banning gender affirming care for transgender people younger than 18 like puberty blockers and hormone treatments and surgery violates the import-- the 14th amendment. the tennessee law also allows people to take legal action against medical providers. since 2021, 26 states, including tennessee, have banned or restricted access to gender affirming health care for minors. a wave of laws enacted by republicans that affect roughly 40% of the nation's trans youth. >> the only gender is recognized by the united states government are male and female and they are assigned at birth. >> n ow, after an election in

which donald trump and republicans promised to roll back protections for transgender americans, the supreme court is waiting into -- -- wading into the issue. it could dramatically alter the lives of youth like givens who underwent chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery. >> for me, it was a very slow process. of making sure that this is what i want to do and this is who i am. >> surgeries among transgender youth are very rare. and breast reduction among minors is more frequent among non-transgender males. but if givens had waited just one more year, they would have been blocked by tennessee. >> surgery has saved my life. being a trans youth member is like hard enough, but when you have so much pressure from legislative politics and you are

hearing all of these things that lawmakers are saying about you without ever even speaking to you, also refusing to speak to you, it really come it makes you feel. like thereis no purpose . and you cannot grow older or you will who deal with hardship for the rest of your life. >> today the court, challengers asked them to look at the law. >> the problem with tennessee's law is not that it is a little bit over underinclusive but it is a sweeping categorical ban where the legislator to not take into account the significant health benefits that can come from providing gender affirming care, including reduced suicide attempts. >> conservative justices pointed out medical and scientific disputes around gender affirming care in other countries. and asked if the asked you is better sent back to the states.

>> doesn't that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to the legislative bodies, rather than try to determine them for ourselves? >> elizabeth -- the solicitor biden general, representing the biden administration acknowledge there is some debate but argued there is a consensus that such care is medically necessary for some minors. >> you say there are benefits for allowing his treatments but there are also harms, rgith, from allowing these treatments. including lost fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later changed their minds. and want to de-transition. which i don't think we can ignore. >> if you're thinking about this from the standpoint there is no harm in making them wait until they are adults, but this what this law is doing is saying we will make auto lessonss develop -- adolescents develop all of their characteristics, even

though that can worsen increase gender does for an increase the risk of suicide and make it much harder to live and be accepted in their gender identity as an adult. >> gender affirming care is endorsed by every major u.s. medical association, including the american academy of pediatrics. he was joined for arguments by the a.c.l.u. lawyer, the first openly transgender lawyer to present the case. for the state of tennessee, solicitor general matt rice argued that the ban is based on medical purpose, not a patient's sex. >> just as using morphine to manage pain differs from using it to assist suicide, using hormones and puberty blockers to address good physical condition is far different from using it to address psychological distress associated with one's body. >> but liberal justices questions tennessee's premise. >> the whole thing is imbued with sex.

it's a dodge to say this is not based on sex, it is based on medical purpose when the medical purpose is entirely about sex. >> we don't think it is actually drawing on line based on sex. the only way my friends can point to a sex based line, is to conflate the use of puberty blockers with the use of peabody blockers to transition, and those are fundamentally different treatments. >> coming out of more than two hours of arguments, my sense is that the tennessee law will be upheld, primarily by at least five conservative justices on the supreme court. >> an analyst says the justices appears at to take partisan lines during questioning. >> there was sympathy among the liberal justices that this is discrimination on the basis of sex and transgender status. but there are only three on the liberal side of the court. >> conservative groups who wrote

amicus briefs in support of tennessee claim gender affirming care bans are about protecting children. mark, who is legal counsel for one of those organization, advancing american freedom, says being transgender is "an ideology." >> in the case of puberty blockers, hormone therapy, uh, uh, surgery that mutilates the body, what you have is something where the children are not, uh, sick with a physical ailment. this is a mental and psychological issue. but on the, on the other side of the balance, what they lose is their ability to procreate, uh, girls will not be able to breast feed their babies. they may not be able to conceive. a boy may not be able to find is on family. >> for the mount sinai center

for transgender surgery in new york, he says gender affirming care is as medically necessary as other forms of health care. >> our approach for youth is already very conservative with a lower case c. and the guidelines that we follow are quite conservative. already. so, just as you would expect they would be, across all of medicine, part of our conservatism in the health care community is that we don't give medicines to anybody under the age of 18 without their parents consent. >> though it is unclear how the justices will rule in this case, the stakes are higher than ever for transgender youth. >> it's a mystery to me that people would want to make a political issue out of other people's health care. and to deny people health care , it is cleart that they will

suffer. we even have data, increased mental health disease, increased suicidality and increased suicide when people have been tonight health care in the past in situations where there is still -- where there is still -- were there still tonight health care. >> for transgender youth, the parents and the doctors treating them, a decision will not come till the new year. i'm laura lopez. ♪ >> i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. new york city police are investigating the brazen targeted killing of a major health insurance ceo in the heart of midtown manhattan. 50-year-old brian thompson chief executive of united health care, one of the largest health insurers in the nation was shot and killed just before dawn outside of a hotel. investors had gathered for a conference there. investigators said the master suspect waited several minutes

for thompson's arrival before shooting him and fleeing on a bike. there is no known motive yet and no arrests have been made. in south korea, opposition parties moved to impeach president yoon suk yeol one day after he ordered a brief but chaotic period of martial law. the declaration came without warning late tuesday. yoon said it was needed to quash anti-state forces. lawmakers climb walls and scuffled with soldiers to get back into the building where they voted unanimously to lift the order. today members of opposition parties and their supporters gathered across the capital seoul to demand that yoon resigned. lawmakers spoke of the seriousness of the moment. >> impeaching a president is not really a fun thing to do. not even for a lawmaker. but this person yoon suk yeol has done something crazy that violates the constitution. he basically committed a coup d'état.

impeachment is not a choice anymore. it is a must. >> in gaza, palestinian officials say 21 people were killed in the nighttime israeli strike on a tent camp along the southern coast. a humanitarian zone where thousands of displaced people were seeking refuge. the israeli military says its targets were senior thomas militants involved in terrorist activities. more debbie strikes early in central gaza killed eight people including four children. amnesty international has accused israel of committing genocide against palestinians in the gaza strip. and report released today, the prominent rights group cited israeli attacks that killed civilians, the demolition of vital infrastructure, and the prevention of humanitarian aid deliveries. the report says the actions are not justified by her -- hamas's attacks. the group says the united states is complicit and called for a halt of arms shipments to his

repair the head of nato is urging the alliance to ramp up its defense spending weeks ahead of president elect's return to office. mr. trump has threatened not to defend nato members who he says are delinquent in meeting spending targets of 2% of their gdp. about a third of the alliance nations fall short. and the secretary-general said that 2% level may not even be sufficient. >> i believe strongly and i know many allies believes strongly that 2% is simply not enough. to keep our deterrence at the level it is now. now it is ok. and we can now defend ourselves. and nobody should try to attack us. but i want that to stay the same and for five years. >> police in the country of georgia arrested in opposition leader today in an apparent attempt to stamp up political dissent ended days of mass demonstrations. the pro-western coalition for

change parties share this video of authorities dragging -- amiya into a car after raining its offices in the capital. that did not stop thousands of demonstrators from flooding the streets for seventh straight night. georgians are protesting their largely pro-russian government's decision to suspend negotiations to join the european union. more than 300 protesters have been detained. millions across cuba are without electricity yet again after one of the island's major power plants failed. as the sun rose over havana this morning, the buildings remained dark. it is the third massive blackout in just over six weeks. but other smaller outages have been frequent. most have been caused by fuel shortages as well as cuba's aging infrastructure. the minister of energy says power should be fully restored by tomorrow. two children, ages five and six, were wounded today and is shooting at a small religious school in northern california.

the shooting occurred at the feather river school of 7th day adventists in the town of palermo, 65 miles north of sacramento. the sheriff said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot. the suspect did not appears to have a connection to the school. authorities have not yet identified a motive. still to come on the newshour, why president biden is visiting africa in his final weeks as president. a a federal reserve official on the central bank's efforts to keep inflation in check. and the push to make one of america's most revered symbols the national bird. >> this is "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >> the white house said today that a broad chinese hacking

operation had infiltrated eight american telecommunication companies and that none of them have managed to remove these chinese hackers from their systems. nick schifrin has been following this and joins us. what did the white house say today? >> they gave new details on what is believed to be the largest hack on american telecommunications firms in u.s. history. chinese hackers infiltrated at least eight communications firms in the united states and over the last one or two years, dozens of tele-communications companies across asia and europe and the hack was ongoing. deputy national security adviser for cyber -- said today. >> the affected companies are all responding. right now we do not believe any hacks have been removed from these networks. there is a risk of ongoing compromises to communications. until u.s. companies address the cybersecurity gaps the chinese are likely to maintain their

access. >> today intelligence officials were on the hill briefing all 100 senators and a classified hearing about the chinese hackers. lisa desjardins caught up with texas republican john cornyn. >> the chinese communist party has infiltrated the tele-communications systems in the united states, with an unprecedented sort of way. it is something of tremendous concern. i'm sure you will hear more about it. because it affects a lot of people. not just in this country but around the world. >> yesterday a senior fbi official admitted the bureau still did not know how deeply the chinese hackers had penetrated even though the bureau had been investigating since the spring. it could take years to know the truth -- the true scope what the heck. >> do we know who has been targeted? >> they described three groups of targets, number one, a large number of users whose phone metadata was stolen.

number two, a small group whose audio calls and text messages were specifically targeted, and successfully intercepted a number three, the portal the law enforcement uses to submit court orders to internet service providers. i want to keep that list up. on the first group whose metadata was stolen, a senior administration official said today it was "a large number of americans but would not provide the number and it had a regional focus suggesting it was designed to find -- define numbers, members of the second groups included senior members of the trump and harris campaigns. a former intelligence official described to me that this is so hard because these are incredibly sophisticated state actors with limitless budget and limitless time. they are extraordinarily difficult to detect because they enter networks with stolen credentials, so as not to set off alarm bells, and if they detect any surveillance by the americans they stop moving. they can sit there and take as long as it takes. therefore, avoiding detection. >> how has china responded?

>> a chinese embassy spokesman told me that the u.s. claims were " disinformation. china firmly opposes and combats all kinds of cyber attacks. the u.s. needs to stop its own cyber attacks against other countries and refrain from using cybersecurity to slander china." the u.s is believed to conduct the same surveillance around the world. and i do use that term surveillance. u.s. officials use that term because this is not designed as far as they can tell to destroy any critical infrastructure. it is instead designed to conduct espionage and collect information. no signs that any of this is being leaked online. as for solutions, neuberger said the only solution was to require companies to meet minimum cybersecurity guidelines. right now those guidelines are optional for these companies. >> thank you for this reporting. appreciate it. >> thank you.

>> president biden returns today from the first u.s. presidential trip to the continent of africa in more than a decade. mr. biden visited angola to further u.s. investments on the continent but the americans are playing a game of catch up with the chinese who have spent decades and billions investing, extracting and some say exploiting developing countries. in angola this week, new u.s. commitment to africa's future as president biden promised $600 million in funding for multinational railway project linking zambia, the democratic republic of the congo, and angola. all part of the trans-africa low bito core door railway a hub for minerals. >> the united states is all in

on africa. the future of the world is here in africa. in angola. >> that $600 million u.s. investment is small potatoes compared to china which invested 21 point $7 billion in the continent in 2023 alone. this railway will not only speed up the economic development of two of the world's most underdeveloped countries, but also change local people's lives. >> over the last 20 years, china has become sub-saharan africa's largest bilateral trading partner, accounting for 20% of the region's exports. the main commodities exported are heavy metals, minerals and fuel. in exchange, china has provided billions in infrastructure investments in the region. in almost 24 years, china has invested over $182 billion in loans to 53 african nations. china's belt and road initiative launched in 2013, $1 trillion

plus global infrastructure investment, has sent over $90one billion into africa, building transportation, energy and mining infrastructure. at the forum on china africa cooperation in beijing in september, president xi jinping promised an additional $50one billion to the -- to invest in the continent. >> china is willing to deepen cooperation with africa in the areas of industry and agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investments. >> but all of this comes at a cost. some of the projects built are not economically sustainable and sub-saharan african nations are now over $134 billion in debt to china. china has also been accused of bribing local officials to secure contracts. and to further understand the rays for influence in africa, i am joined by -- the director of the africa program at the center for strategic and international studies. thanks for being here. >> thank you very much.

>> biden's visit to angola marx's last big trip as president, the first visit by a sitting u.s. president. how big a deal is that, what message do you take away? >> it is a big deal. and, notwithstanding, this signals that the u.s. is committed to continuing good relationship with african countries. he made a statement today, a new commitment ,$600 million investing in this project, particularly to the corridor. for eight years, since president obama left, no african, no u.s. president went to africa. and, even though president biden hosted the u.s.-africa leaders summit in the middle -- and made a commitment that did not translate rate so people have been wondering if africa still matters. and the fact that he made the effort to go 50 days before he steps down, that is very impressive. people take it as such. >> africa met us to the u.s. but

you saw the report, how dramatically different the level investment from china is versus what the u.s. has been investing. how much of biden's visit is fueled by this need or want to try to counter chinese influence, and is the american effort too little, too late? >> i think it is a little late but late does not mean never. you can catch up. th eu.s. spent the last 35 years, not taking africa seriously after the collapse of building the wall, the u.s. was the only superpower. they could restructure and reframe the world. and that was a missed opportunity. 30 years of this. so now that you have china seize that moment, investing over $170 billion in various projects, china has planted its flag. >> how is that going down? you visited angola and the officials at the port terminus, what are they telling you? >> they are excited about this.

when you talk to the officials, they are very excited about this project because to them it shows to the population they are doing something. the challenge is the average angola and was not aware of this. if you talk to the farmers, along railroad, they didn't know anything about it. so, i think the work has been cut out for both angola and the u.s. to try to translatethis so that they-- the angolan particularly feel invested. >> we know this is critical when it comes to the u.s. need for the minerals we are talking about exporting from african nations to fuel the technology future the u.s. is trying to build. these nations are much more than just exporters of these minerals. you're talking about a continent that is home to 1.5 billion people. so, to have superpowers competing to some degree for resources, for partnership, and alliance, what does that mean for a country like angola or zambia or kenya?

>> for angola, it is about options and choices. african countries on average welcome great power competition because it gives them a chance to choose who they want to deal with. and angola is at the epitome of this. you find russian, chinese, brazilian, everybody in angola pit however, the big challenge for the u.s. will be because the u.s. sees china as an adversary and vice versa because they cannot come neither china nor the u.s., can afford to do this thing without collaborating. china controls the minds. so if the u.s. will get these products out of congo to this railroad, if the chinese control the mines, the chinese still have leverage and they can block the mines and push her towards the indian ocean which is a traditional way they have been taking the resources. so, you cannot avoid this collaboration. in fact when i was in angola, just a quick story, i was talking to the board of the angola railroad.

they told me recently we ordered 100 locomotives from china. why not america? they said, we asked the chinese to put g.e. engines in those locomotives. that is a prime example of collaboration. the g.e. engines cannot get there without approval from the department of commerce. >> as you know, these investments the president is making now only really make a difference if they are continued by the next administration. the incoming president, trump, has a very different worldview than the outgoing president, president biden. do you see those investments like this railway being continued by the next administration? >> that is the question we are all asking. we know a couple of things about president trump. he is keen on contracting china. so this is an opportunity for him to do that. the challenge as i said is not going to be easy because china is deeply involved in these countries. but then too, the question that we ask also is when president

trump chooses to counteract china, will be punished on or will he punish the africans for partnering with china? time will tell us what president trump does. but we know that he definitely will take this seriously. >> time will tell us, indeed. from the center for strategic and international studies. great to have you here. >> thank you, amna. ♪ >> the federal reserve may cut interest rates for the third straight time when it meets later thism month. inflation has been running above the targeted rate recently and other economic indicators have remained strong leaving some worried that progress on reining in prices has stall. we are joined by someone familiar with these challenges. mary daly, president and ceo of the central reserve -- the federal reserve bank of san francisco who will have a vote

this month. >> glad to be here. >> jerome powell said today that the strength of the u.s. economy means that the central bank can show some restraint when it comes to cutting rates. is that how you see it? >> we do not to be urgent. there is no sense of urgency but we do need to carefully calibrate our policy and make sure it is in line with the economy we have today. and the one we expect to have going forward. >> do you favor a rate cut at the december meeting? >> i'm going to wait until i get to the december meeting and do all of the analysis. i talked to a lot of my contacts on the way up to the meeting. not only looking at the published data but also getting the real-time data on the ground from people who are doing business, working in the economy, leading their communities. i will bring that information with all of my other colleagues, 19 of us, and discuss and debate what the right calibration of policy is to support both the decline in inflation, which we need to have, and the health of the u.s. economy..

>> how do you interpret the signals you are seeing right now? >> so, there is really multiple signals. this is an economy where the data often looks really good. but the lived experience of individuals, it is not meeting those data. i would not characterize the lived experiences feeling very good. so we are balancing all of those things paid ultimately what people want is price stability, lower inflation, bringing it fully back to target. and an opportunity to catch up from what inflation took from them when it was so high and wages were not keeping up. so there is a lot more work for us to do. and balancing policies so that we deliver on that price stability, 2% inflation, and we deliver on the durable expansion that gives people that opportunity to catch up, and return to what they want to do which is families, communities, careers. >> an interesting point. we reported on this extensively on the program last night. this disconnect between the

strong economic indicators and a significant portion of americans who say the economy is not working for them. that raises the question -- given the delta between the two, do you think the mechanisms for measuring how the economy affects everyday americans is adequate? >> i think it is but i think it is often mischaracterized as we only look at the published data. but policymakers at the fed have really for 20 years of broadened their lands, and importantly, the reserve banks, there are 12 of us, across the country, are most of their, our jobs are out in the field, so to speak, talking to our communities, businesses of all sizes. community groups, workers. i have the nine states in the western united states. that is all of your intermountain states, idaho, nevada, arizona and alaska and hawaii. what i hear from each one of those wherever i travel is that inflation is still the number one challenge that people are facing. and what they are hoping for and what we are trying to accomplish

as a fed is bringing inflation down, giving them back that two percent price stability, and doing it in a way that supports the economy. and because they are not done with digging out of the hole that inflation cost and they just want an opportunity to do that and go back to the business of living. >> why do you think inflation has been so sticky in recent months after a significant progress on it? >> no, it is a great question and everyone is asking it. but ultimately, the expectation i had was inflation would be bumpy on the way down. and it has been bumpy. remember, the early part of this year, there was even concerns that was re-accelerating. if you unpack inflation, you see that, you know, the core services, ex-housing have been stickier and then they reserved. ultimately, what we do at the we look at the fundamentals.

what are the fundamental features that drive inflation? the biggest one is supply and demand. and right now supply and demand are in better balance. that is true in the goods market and true in the supply, the labor market and that ultimately puts downward pressure on inflation. so, those of the things you have to look to to really project how inflation is, because monetary policy works with lags. if we are only looking at the last three months we are behind. >> many economists think that president-elect donald trump's policies, the sweeping tariffs, the mass deportation of immigrants, that those policies could kickstart inflation. does the awareness of his plans, does that figure into the decision-making of fed officials as you think about how you were going to cut rates moving forward? >> the first thing to understand about the fed is we don't deal and speculation paid we deal in evidence and facts and data. the president-elect has not even come into office yet.

it is right to let him come into office, work for this team, propose the slate of policies that he has in mind, like any incoming administration, and then start to unpack and understand better the impact we are going to have in the economy. i think out of due respect, it is just a lot of speculation right now. again, policy is not made a speculation. it is made unnatural projections of how the economy will evolve. and today, my focus is entirely on is inflation coming down woke -- like we needed to do and are we doing it in a way that supports growth in the labor market? >> donald trump also frequently pressured and attacked the fed, the fed chairman during his first term. in an interview today, jerome powell acknowledge the pressure came not only publicly on social media but also privately. what concerns do you have about the pressure that the fed can face and a second trump term? >> one of the things that is really important when you are under, whatever pressure, is to do your work well. so, i think returning to what we

have always done and our goals are the same regardless of what administration is in place. we've had a history of being pressured but ultimately, the work we do is important to every american. and that is what matters. again, restoring price stability, that has to be top of our list. and doing that in a way that doesn't unnecessarily slow the economy or the labor market. that is ultimately what americans want. and i feel confident if we do our work well, we will have good relationships with whoever we work with in the public sector. >> mary daly, president and ceo of the federal reserve bank of san francisco. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> and we will be back shortly with a story about an effort to make the bald eagle the national

bird. >> take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. a chance to offer your support which helps to keep programs like this one on the air. ♪ >> for those of you staying with us, we take another look now at a part of southeastern louisiana known for its petrochemical production and its high rates of cancer. >> a recent study documents how the risks may now be falling on the next generation. >> all right. >> not long ago, keisha could not imagine making memories like this with her son. she was born prematurely, almost two months early weighing just four, pounds he had to live in this incubator had a slow heart rate, and sometimes stopped breathing entirely. >> my first time seeing him

after birth, i was holding him and he looked so peaceful. i was like, he's so peaceful and i took a picture and seconds later his alarms went off. he had stopped breathing. and -- and, of course, just me being new to the experience, it was very overwhelming. >> keisha, who asked we not use her last name for privacy reasons, has lived in louisiana st. john the baptist parish most of her life. the community sits within an 85 mile stretch of land home to some 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical operations. >> growing up, we knew nothing about how those things were affecting us. >> researchers at tulane university found that in louisiana's most polluted areas, pregnant women had a 25% higher risk of low birth weights, and a 36% higher risk of premature births.

prematurity is the leading cause of death among infants in the u.s. black and low-income women in those areas face the highest risks. >> it is a wake-up call in terms of how we think about the consequences of industrial pollution. and what you emit today, affects the health of somebody who is going to be born in six months or nine months, right? it is not decades from now. >> kimberly terrel is a scientist at tulane's environmental law clinic. >> what was really surprising was the proportion of adverse birth outcomes that could be attributed to pollution exposure in louisiana. our study suggests that a third of the cases of low birth weight and half of the cases of preterm birth in the state can be linked to pollution exposure. >> the mississippi or is full of petrochemical plants. because they are truly the gateway to the world. >> louisiana republican state

senator eddie lambert shares the environmental quality committee which oversees the agency that regulates the chemical industry. i'm sure your committee has seen a number of studies that have linked living in these areas to disproportionately high and negative health outcomes. you don't accept that as a promise. >> i don't accept that -- as, as a complete truism. i mean, there may be some, some correlations. i'm going to tell you. let's start looking, you know, vaccines. you know, we have had an explosion of vaccines in the last, you know, 20, 30 years. now you have autism. is there a connection there? i don't know. >> there is a lot of people think there are but there is no good evidence they are connected. >> you know, economically depressed, their health, what kind of prenatal care they are doing.

there is all kind of factors. >> but terrell argues those factors were accounted for in and they're not exclusive. >> they are compounding. it does not make sense to say we're just going to ignore pollution and focus on poverty or healthcare access. if we know pollution is a risk factor, and we do. we absolutely know that pollution is linked to low birth weight and preterm birth, across, why aren't we addressing that? the deq needs to take an unbiased approach to environmental justice analysis in its permitting decisions. and what that means is when a facility wants to build a new plant, in a community of color, deq needs to say, what is the existing burden of pollution? and is this community overburdened? >> two years ago the environmental protection agency open to civil rights investigation into whether state regulators and louisiana were

allowing oil and gas and petrochemical companies to build and pollute in a way that disproportionally harms black communities. in response, louisiana's then attorney general and now governor jeff landry sued the epa and the agency dropped the investigation. the e declined to commentr. >> we're going to focus on mitigation and climate change. >> in ascension parish, another community with concentrated petrochemical plants, ashley is counting on a younger generation to enact change. she founded rural routes louisiana. to teach kids about environmental issues. >> that creates another generation of awareness. it preserves our land, because if we do not start preserving it, industry will buy out every piece of clean property they can. >> all three of her children were born premature and with low birth weights. she says at the time, she did not connect her babies for

health through the air she breathed. >> my son born with an undeveloped lung. he's had horrible asth all his life and to have a good get totally -- can't take recess. when you have formaldehyde and bethel ethylene in the air and all of those chemicals have affects on your respiratory system. you get angry. >> back in st. john the baptist parish, keisha says even now she worries about how the air could be harming her son. if you could, would you move far away from here? is that something you thought about? >> it is something i thought about but i love here. i don't want to be anywhere else. i want to be home and i want my baby to know how men love home the way that i do. so, what do you do when you need to be home and home is unfortunately where the problem is?

♪ >> finally tonight, we take a closer look at one of america's despite centuries -- america's most revered, the bald eagle has never officially been designated as the u.s. national bird. the effort to change that and why it matters. >> along the mississippi river commission about 80 miles south of minneapolis, a bald eagle glides high above the water searching for prey. this area is home to more than 50 nesting pairs of eagles, one of the highest concentrations in the country. why tiny -- minnesota is the eagle capital of america. who cannot love that big massive beek, the yellow feet, the

black talents? it is awe-inspiring. scott is the education director at the renovated national eagle center in the heart of waukesha. 15,000 square feet entirely dedicated to the stately creature. everybody has a story. >> they want to come and share the story. >> people can learn all about the eagle from its size, diet and habitat to its central place in american history and culture. a trove of the center's memorabilia was donated by retired real estate investor cook. i was asking an ornithologist friend of mine from canada what he sees when he sees an eagle. and he says i see an eagle. but when an american season people, we see something a little bit different. we see the freedom, the liberty, the independence, the power. we see all of those things. in this bird that represents

america. >> cook is perhaps the world's foremost collector of eagle related items. >> obsession is probably a good word for what i have done. i have got the buttons. >> it began with the brass buttons that adorn his military uniform as a young man. now his collection has more than 40,000 items, filling floor to ceiling shelves next door. >> i never tire of looking for eagles or watching eagles. i pull my car over when i'm driving when i -- when i see in people, i am in all continually. >> around 2010, as cook was doing research for american eagle, he tried to nail down exactly when it became the u.s. national bird and found out that it wasn't. research at the national archives confirmed his finding. the second continental congress put the bald eagle on the national seal in 1782, but there had never been a law designating

it as the national bird. cook drafted legislation to do just that. he took it to amy klobuchar and bradford instead whose district includes waukesha. >> it does matter. it gives us a higher status, the assumption has been with us for 240 some odd years. >> the senate passed a bill without opposition. if approved by the lame-duck house and president biden signs it, the eagle would join the rose, the national floor, the oak, the national tree in the bison, the national memo. >> the eagle has a left wing and a right wing. and it has a body middle. so it really represents all americans. >> the eagle center says it is important to keep educating america about its soon to be official bird. >> it is just an opportunity for people to be aware of this bird that still needs recognition. i think that is the cool part is

that people are able to come here and recognize this small town in minnesota has that opportunity to do something major, really to set the world straight that the bald eagle, yes it is our nation simple but it was not designated as our nations bird. >> until now. i'm john yang. ♪ >> remember there is a lot more online including the story about st. louis becoming the latest u.s. city to recommend reparations. you can read that it pbs.org/news hour. >> and that is a news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. >> on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour

including jim and nancy biltner and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. 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. ♪

this is pbs news hour west from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪ >> you are watching pbs.

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