lisa: good evening. i'm lisa desjardins. geoff bennett and amna nawaz are away. on the newshour tonight, a new report shows a dramatic rise in

homelessness across the united states with the increase being especially high among families and then, syria's future remains uncertain as the forces that overthrew the assad government must deal with those loyal to his regime and risk further sectarian rifts. >> these patrols deploy every night in an effort to consolidate control over the city of latakia, which used to be assad's bastion of support and the situation here remains quite tense. lisa: and we examine the rising dangers of house fires and how to prevent and counteract them - especially at this time of year -- counteract them, especially at this time of year. >> 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 the robert and virginia schiller foundation, the judy and peter bloom coble or foundation, promoting freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> the john s james l knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program is made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers

like you. thank you. lisa: welcome to the newshour. homelessness in america reached record high numbers earlier this year. a government report out today reveals that last january, the number of people experiencing homelessness shot up by 18% to roughly 770,000 as counted on a single night. the annual survey published by the department of housing and urban development pointed to a list of intensifying economic problems -- rising housing costs and the migrant influx in some cities among them. to understand more about what's behind this rise,i'm joined by shaun donovan, ceo and president of enterprise community partners and former secretary of the u.s. department of housing and urban development. this is an eye-popping report in many ways. it is about where things stood earlier this year and i want to start with one particular dynamic, the role of the migrant crisis.

how and where did that affect homelessness in this country? shaun: thank you for having me on. and it is tragic news. the largest increase we have ever seen in homelessness since we started recording these numbers, and specifically to your question, there is no question that the rise in the number of migrant families in the u.s. did contribute to this, particularly when we saw the biggest increases, places like new york, massachusetts, chicago, denver, but what is stunning is how broad the challenge is. we saw 18 states reached record levels, including places like kansas, alaska, utah, places -- idaho is another 1 -- places where there is not a significant influx of migrants and so there's a bigger story here about record levels of housing

costs both for owning and renting, higher than somebody like me, who has been doing something for a long time, has ever seen. lisa: one thing that stands out in this report is a vulnerable population, kids. they found that for families and children, one of the largest increases in homelessness, families a 39% spike in 2024 from 2023, and on that january night they surveyed, they found 100 50,000 children experiencing homelessness, and in shelters the number of unaccompanied children has reached record numbers. why is it you think that our nation's children are being disproportionately affected and seeing this rise in vulnerability to homelessness? lisa: as you can imagine, as a parent myself, families will do everything possible to try to

avoid ending up on the street. they will do anything they can. i think this 39% increase in families with children is the single most tragic part of the report and it's a reflection that increasingly in this country you can hold down a full-time job or even in a couple two full-time jobs and still not be able to afford housing. estimates are that about half of all people experiencing homelessness are working and so we have to recognize that this is a housing crisis that is affecting everyone in our society, but most acutely, those of our neighbors who end up sleeping on the streets or in shelters. lisa: there are some real sirens in this report, as you are saying, but these were numbers from january. can you talk about what may have happened since then that kind of puts these numbers in a different perspective? shaun: well, lisa, the first

thing i would say is it isn't just this year. this was an 18% increase but it comes on the heels of a 12% increase last year in these numbers, so roughly a third increase over two years, both of those record increases in homelessness that we have seen, so what i think has begun to change in this country is two things. one is that we had a supreme court decision this past summer in a case that for the first time really allowed communities to criminalize homelessness and i am deeply concerned about this. we know that ticketing someone, putting them in jail because they don't have anywhere to go, not only is counterproductive in the short-term. in the long term, it actually increases homelessness because, as you can imagine, if you have

a criminal conviction, it's harder to find housing and find a job and we know from the evidence that this is counterproductive, but i'm concerned the frustration levels are rising, more communities are seeing increases in homelessness. on a more hopeful note, our housing crisis has reached such a scale of proportion that we are seeing more and more bipartisanship around the need to solve our housing crisis, to build more affordable housing, to build different kinds of housing, from homeownership to rental and everything in between, so that is a hopeful sign. we know how to solve homelessness. we have made progress in this country, and in particular, even among these bleak numbers this year, we saw a 7.5% decrease in the number of veterans sleeping on our streets or in shelters, and so we can take that example of what works and we can scale

it and really began to reverse the tide of these tragic numbers. >> and i know from those who put the report out that they think that the migrant surge has in fact quelled since the biden administration's policies have changed over the summer so we will see what next year's report looks like. shaun donovan, thank you for talking with us. shaun: thank you, lisa. happy holidays. ♪ lisa: we start the day's other headlines with the deepening political crisis in south korea. the country's parliament has voted to impeach acting president han duck-soo. today's vote is the nation's second impeachment in just two weeks. it comes after han decided against appointing three judges to the court reviewing the previous impeachment of his predecessor.

president yoon suk yeol was impeached on december 14th after his decision to declare martial law earlier this month. the decision set off a series of events that has left the nation in turmoil. and it leaves the deputy prime minister and finance minister, choi sang-mok in charge. the white house now says it too sees indications that a russian air defense systems may be to blame for an azerbaijani airliner crash this week, echoing preliminary findings by azerbaijani officials. the flight was heading from azerbaijan's capital of baku to the russian republic of chechnya when it turned towards kazakhstan and crashed while trying to land. in azerbaijan, the first funeral took place today for one the 38 people killed. 29 others survived with injuries. for its part, russian officials say fog and the threat of ukrainian drone strike prevented the flight from landing at its initial destination. turning to the middle east, palestinian health officials say israeli soldiers raided and burned one of the last functioning hospitals in northern gaza today after

forcing many staff members and patients from the facility. the kamal hospital is located in beit lahiya where israeli soldiers have been fighting an offensive against hamas militants. this footage shows the hospital earlier this month. israel claims militants were using it as a base. staff members deny that, and say the hospital been hit several times recently by israeli strikes. also in northern gaza, u.s. officials confirmed they pushed for a retraction of a recent famine warning from the area. it was issued by the u.s. funded famine early warning system this week and blamed israel's "near total blockade of food and water." the ambassador to israel criticized the report, saying it didn't account for rapidly changing circumstances on the ground, and included out-of-date numbers. the u.s. agency for international development -- which funds the group -- said it found discrepancies in the data and asked for greater review.

meantime, yemen's main international airport reopened today after israeli airstrikes hit the facility. at least three people were reported killed in yesterday's attack. israel says it was targetting infrastructure used by the iran-backed houthi rebels, who had been firing projectiles at israel for several days. the head of the world health organization had been about to board a flight when the missiles struck. one member of his plane's crew was injured. meantime, in tel aviv -- rocket sirens rang out early this morning as the houthi's responded to israel's attacks. the israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired by the group. in new york, word of an indictment in a disturbing crime, the death of a woman who was lit on fire and burned to death in a subway last weekend. police say sebastian zapeta identified himself in photos and surveillance video of the incident during questioning. prosecutors say he lit the woman

on fire at brooklyn's coney island station on sunday morning and then watched as she burned. zapeta was indcted on multiple counts of murder as well as arson. prosecutors said the charges were the toughest they could bring. >> murder in the first degree carries the possibility of life without parole. it's the most serious statute in new york state law. and my office is very confident about the evidence in this case and our ability to hold zapeta accountable for his dastardly deeds. lisa: federal officials say the 33-year-old is from guatemala and entered the u.s. illegaly. he remains jailed. the victim has not been identified. on wall street today, stocks ended lower to wrap up the holiday-shortened week. the dow jones industrial average snapped a five-session winning streak, falling more than 300 points. the nasdaq sanks nearly 300 points on the day. the s&p 500 also ended firmly in

negative territory. and we have two passings to tell you about. the first, legendary sports anchor greg gumbel has passed away. in a statement released by cbs, his family said he leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the industry and has iconic voice will never be forgotten. he was best known for his work as a play-by-play announcer and host over a career that also included a stent at nbc. he covered basketball, the nfl, the olympics among others. and the oldest living survivor of the japanese attack on pearl harbor has passed away. when he was 22 years old, warren upton was stationed aboard the uss utah on that fateful morning of december 7th, 1941. years later, upton told the associated press that he was shaving when he felt the first torpedo strike. he then swam ashore to safety.

his passing leaves just 15 military personnel still alive who were there that day out of an estimated 87,000. warren upton was 105 years old. still to come on the news hour, david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the week's - and the year's - political headlines. we explore beyonce's foray into country music, which has deep african and african american roots. and a look back at 2024 through the camera lens from photographers whose images defined the year. >> this is the pbs news hour from the david and rubenstein studio in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. lisa: unrest is brewing in syria's coastal plains, home to the fallen assad family's alawite sect. earlier this week, a group of

regime loyalists staged an ambush on the now-governing rebel forces, killing 14. with the islamic shia alawite sect making up only 10% of the population, the local officials are trying to keep tensions from boiling over. simona foltyn reports from the coastal town of latakia. >> a show of force in the city in the heartland of bashar al-assad's a la white sect. these fighters are from hts, the rebels turned rulers of syria, part of general security, a police force whose job it is to take areas. the former government was quickly toppled with scores of loyalists remaining on the run. these patrols deploy every night to consolidate control over the city of latakia and the situation remains tense.

assad's enablers are often arrested on these missions. abu ayoub leads these sensitive operations, and didn't want to reveal his face nor his real name. >> we arrest them immediately so that there's no sabotage and panic. we are working with the people to arrest them and bring them to account. we are following up on any tips and act on anything that threatens our security, people and lands. god willing, we will deal with it. simona: abu ayoub's men are treading a fine line. on the one hand, they must heed people's calls for justice, and arrest those with blood on their hands. at the same time, they must shield the alawite minority from arbitrary retaliation. already, videos of revenge attacks have stoked fears that sectarian tensions are beginning to spiral out of control. in this video, a sunni fighter appears to threaten the alawite community, calling them shabiha, the word for assad's shadowy militia.

>> to the alawite shabiha in latakia, the land is not yours, either you defect or we will rip you apart. simona: we couldn't independently verify the man's affiliation, but showed the video to abu ayoub. >> this is individual behavior. maybe he doesn't even belong to any faction. alawite -- simona: the commander is adamant that hts general security is not responsible for acts of sectarian violence. >> there are some criminals who try to spread panic among the people so that it reflects badly on us. they say we've come to kill the people here, take the people's houses and wealth. but it's not like that. to the contrary. we are trying to ensure people can live in safety, so that they feel reassured. simona: despite these efforts, tensions are boiling over. one night, gunfire echoed through latakia's streets, spreading fear of escalation.

the next morning, we found dozens of spent bullet casings scattered across a square in the azhari neighborhood. a restaurant was ransacked in the attack. its manager, nabih badour, told us it all began when fighters cursed a man for being alawite. >> the problem began when they asked a young man on the street, are you sunni or alawite? he said he was alawite. they said screw you and the alawites. simona: an altercation followed, and minutes later, a heavily armed force stormed the restaurant. >> after five minutes, they came with machine guns, with live bullets, they entered the restaurant, they arrested three people, covered their heads and packed them into cars. we tried to ask who they were, but it was forbidden to speak. they put them in cars and took them. simona: this is one of the men taken into custody. he asked us to hide his identity in fear of retribution.

>> at gunpoint they took us out of the cafe, they beat us, they blindfolded us and made us lie down, face to the ground. they beat us and called us pigs. simona: bassler used for assad's -- a slur used for assad's supporters. he was then taken to a base for a few hours, accused of selling alcohol and drugs and questioned about his sectarian identity. bruised, humiliated and angry, he no longer feels safe in his own city. >> we are a minority and we are being targeted. they are always provoking us and coming at us. after what i saw yesterday, the way they came and pointed their guns at us, the way they insulted and beat us, i don't feel safe at all. simona: witnesses we spoke to pinned the blame on hts general security and before long, that's exactly who turned up to mend the riffs. while we were reporting, a commander arrived to assess the aftermath and offer compensation. we were granted permission to film the meeting.

>> whoever did this doesn't belong to us. there are people who use the name of general security and do things in our name. we have arrested those responsible and they will be brought to account. simona: the crowd listened politely, but it's clear that many here eye their new rulers with apprehension. with every new security breach, the window of opportunity to build trust is closing. pleas for cooperation may soon fall on deaf ears. >> we don't want what happened yesterday to be repeated, not -- repeated. in the armed groups you see that are the police or general security, notify us. simona: we cannot individually confirm who carried out the specific attack. whether or not the transgression came from within hts' own ranks, the incident raises questions

whether syria's new authorities can impose order. >> after the fall of the regime, many civilians took hold of the weapons in the city and they dressed in military clothes, and they are exploiting the security situation and speaking on behalf of the military factions. simona: rebel authorities want to get these weapons off the streets and they want it to happen fast, before elements of the former government can mount an insurgency. they have offered a general amnesty to former soldiers and police men. hundreds line up every morning as part of a demobilization process. they patiently wait their turn for a chance at being absolved of the regime's crimes. the process runs like a well oiled machine. names are recorded, photos taken, old ids and weapons confiscated. >> the applicants come here, we receive the weapon, we write down the type of and the serial number of the weapon. >> the names are entered into a database. the men receive a new, temporary id card, confirming their

dismissal from the former security forces. it allows them to move freely through checkpoints. anyone who doesn't voluntarily submit to this process could potentially become a wanted man. >> whoever doesn't come to take the temporary id bears the responsibility for that decision. maybe he has perpetrated crimes and is hiding from being pursued by authorities. so we advise anyone who hasn't committed crimes to do the settlement. simona: but temporary id card holders are still subject to investigation. the more complicated process of separating war criminals from ordinary foot soldiers has yet to begin. >> every person who is proven to have committed crimes against the syrian people will be punished. simona: only a few alawites benefited from assad's rule. the majority were deliberately pushed into abject poverty, which left them little choice but to join the security forces to feed their families.

tens of thousands of men who used to work for the former security forces have been left without a job and without an income. they've come here to clear their names in hope of being reappointed to their former positions. but what will happen to them remains very much uncertain. many here see their dismissal as an injustice, one they expect to be rectified. qahtan salameh served as a doctor in the police for more than 20 years and wants his job back. >> we want to rebuild our country of course. we were technicians. we had nothing to do with military operations. we were doctors. we remained far from these matters. simona: hts is short on manpower and desperately needs to boost its ranks to secure and govern the country. but vetting former regime members will take time, a luxury the new government does not have. for the pbs newshour, i'm simona foltyn in latakia, syria.

♪ lisa: if you are not sorry to say goodbeye to 2024 and its turbulent politics, you are far from alone. new polling shows that americans are feeling deeply fatigued. to take a look back at this week's news and the political year, we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart, new york times columnist jonathan brooks and david capehart of the washington post. let's start by the clemency by president biden earlier this week. he reverted the sentences of 37 death row inmates. david, at one point, you are a defender of the death penalty. david: i used to be a police reporter and the families of the victims wanted it and i thought they should get the satisfaction

but i have since become an opponent in part because of the many cases of wrongful conviction. there was someone executed for our sin that was probably wrongly convicted. i'm glad president biden did what he did. what he did was a little broad. one of the worst judicial scandals in pennsylvania, of a who took bribes from for-profit prisons and sentenced children to those prisons, did not deserve clemency, but in general i think biden did the right thing. jonathan: david: -- jonathan: i agree. one thing people should understand, he did not set them free. they are still in jail for life without the possibility of parole. they are still enduring a harsh sentence. lisa: we had a big conversation about immigration.

this is now a conversation within the trump universe. ramaswamy took the social media in a post talking about immigrant values, the values of his family, defending them and saying they were better than some of the other american values. now, this took off and lit a fire in the maga community over immigration. this is an example of the republican party at a crossroads. you said you think trump has some good and -- some good and stinks about immigration. will the party have to shift? david: this is the core tension in the movement. they took a party that was adina missed -- that was a dybnamist party and imposed upon it a reactionary let's take care of ourselves so there are two impulses within the party and a

lot of the people who voted for trump have been left behind by the changes of the last 20 years to see you see within the party -- see these two tendencies within the party. this is the central split. i more on the ramaswamy/elon musk side, but i have to say they are unbelievably condescending in the way they express themselves, calling people ignorant, ramaswamy saying you don't know how to raise your kids basically, and making the cardinal error of saying more math tutors, list sleepovers -- less sleepovers. if you want to give your kids something cognitively demanding, send into a sleepover. jonathan: i will not defend him but i think he has ignited a bigger conversation. there is that but there's also this -- i think what has erected

is a conversation about experts and expertise. for the longest time, we have seen those two things downgraded, you know, and it reminded me of something president clinton told me. he said politics is the only business in which you can prove your authenticity by not knowing anything. and so if vivek has a problem with where our culture is, perhaps he should look in the mirror. maybe the way to solve some of the problems that he is talking about is if they actually start talking more genuinely from a policy perspective about the issues facing the country, and expertise who come to this country, get a solid education, and then because of our broken system, have to take all the knowledge they learned here and bring it back home. lisa: you said this sparks an

even bigger conversation. what do you mean? jonathan: leaving aside the cultural issue, immigration, we need more people in the country who are able to do the jobs that are here and bring the values that reinforce american values. lisa: how do we get to a point where we have a labor shortage, declining birth rates, and we have this force that is opposed to even legal immigration? >> we have had record numbers of immigration for 20 or 30 years. lisa: you think that is what it is? >> if you want to be an american populist that supports immigration, you have to control your borders. we have seen that all over the world. so the fact that it seems out of control, a lot of people say what's going on here? a lot of people were working and competing for those jobs. they feel we are ignoring the plight of them as other people take their jobs. so there's a class angle here.

you have to secure the border. >> i hear that but what we are about to see, if you listen to the incoming borders -- border tsar for donald trump, part of that is separating families again. lisa: he's saying he would give them the choice, either you are in detention together or choose to separate. >> that is no choice at all, not for those families. that's why they are living in fear. lisa: this is a difficult discussion after a turbo -- a turbulent year. we had an associated press poll that found -- you will be shocked -- two thirds of americans are downshifting and moving away from how much attention they are paying to political news right now. jonathan capehart, you are not only an important broadcaster on this desk but also host your own show on msnbc. what do you think this means?

is this a change in how people may approach trump 2.0 or just a normal postelection mental health break? jonathan: let me tell you, as an expert, we also this coming. we went through it in 2016 and 2020. we knew after the election that no matter what happened there ratings would fall. might have followed. i'm not ashamed to say that. we talk it up to exhaustion. it's been a long two years. we chalk it up to people needing a break. to your point, people need a break. they will come back after inauguration day. that's guaranteed because there will be a lot happening that will demand their intention -- demand their attention. >> i also have a newsletter called here is the deal. overwhelmingly the choice was exhaustion as word of the year. what do you think the political word is for you as we look back in our last few minutes? >> i'm thrilled by the decline

in viewership for political news. we are over politicized in this country. people go to politics for a sense of belonging and righteousness. you asking more politics than politics can bear. my word of the year is chastened. if you are a worshiper of the european social welfare model you should be chastened because that is falling apart. if you hated netanyahu you should be chastened. there's a lot of reason for humility at the end of this year. jonathan: i have no word because there are too many words. lisa: you can give us several. jonathan: humility, which i have used a couple of election nights, saying we need to humble -- to be humble. after this last election i'm not wild about what the voters had to say but chastened is a good word.

exhausted is a good word. lisa: we gave our readers a choice. exhaustion was one. and i think we talked a lot about men as a voting group in a way we have not before. in the end, i am not shocked that exhaustion was in fact where our readers ended up, but no one is exhausted from this conversation. thank you for joining us and i hope you have a wonderful rest of your holiday. david: nine minutes of us a week is enough. jonathan: that's a word, enough. ♪ lisa: this is a time of year when families gather from across the country, but with that also comes a heightened risk of fires inside the home. there are more home fires in december than any other month. the vast majority of those blazes, though, can be prevented with some simple steps like the kind you learn from firefighter

and paramedic jason patton of riviera beach fire rescue in florida. he runs the wildly popular and irreverent youtube channel fire department chronicles. jason: making sure that your family knows what to do in the case of any emergency but especially a house fire is just as important as anything we can talk about. and by the way, you actually have to practice it. lisa: william brangham spoke with him to get some fire safety tips. >> pleasure to have you on the news hour. why is december such a big month for fires? is it because we are dragging dry flammable trees into our houses and putting the next to fireplaces? >> that does not help. it is mainly because you are having more people together, more cooking, and it is getting colder sir --cold or so people are bringing heaters into the

house and sometimes we don't create the best practices when it comes to those. lisa: what are some best practices? when you are looking around the rims and thinking about that what are best practices? william: anytime you have space heaters in the home make sure there is nothing next to it, no blankets, it's not close to couches or anything like that. if you are going to cook in your home make sure you have some type of fire extinguisher in the kitchen. we encourage that on every floor because fires can start everywhere. and smoke detectors. they are massive. fires spread so quickly through homes today that it is important that you are alerted, especially if you are sleeping, as quickly as possible so you and your

family members can get out of the house. william: i have read that the amount of time you have to get out of your house when the smoke detector goes off is shorter now than 20 or 30 years ago. why is that? jason: because of the types of items inside of homes. 30 years ago, most items, most of your furniture, were made of your typical flammable items, but now plastics and polyesters have infiltrated our homes because they look great and tthe made of petroleum. william: what about those fire blankets i have seen all over instagram, people recommending them? are those a good idea? william: --jason: absolutely. especially when it comes to kitchen fires.

the best thing to do is smother those. the worst thing to do with a grease fire is water. once it hits that it instantly boils and expands, so you essentially make a small bomb inside your kitchen and throw flammable grease balls all over the place, so a fire blanket or putting the lid back on the pot and wait for it to cool down. william: is there a general rule you would counsel people to say fire has broken out in my house. i myself can deal with this with an extinguisher or when should i say this is beyond my pay grade and get out? jason: i would say for anybody, if it any point you think you can handle it, call 911 and get out as fast as possible. it spreads incredibly quickly even when it comes to dry trees, christmas trees.

if you are ever bored, google that. but when it comes to these kitchen fires or any fire in your house, if you think i cannot do this, grab your family and get out. the average response time for fire fighters is four to six minutes, so we have enough time to get there and hopefully stop the fire, but you are the most important thing. william: you would often talk about the fire escape plan. what is that and why is it important and how does a family make one? jason: it is something you do on a normal day without an emergency. it is finding a place, teaching your young ones or whoever it is how to get out of the house as safely as possible and think of multiple scenarios. i live in a three-story townhome. if the second floor is on fire, how does my daughter get out of the window? the most important thing is practicing it, having somewhere

outside to meet, because when we show up as firefighters, the first thing we will ask dispatch is is there anyone left in the home? it's easy to point at a mailbox and a tree outside and say everybody is out. practicing it is important. william: what about those holiday decorations crowded into our house? beyond those incredibly flammable christmas trees, which if you have seen them on youtube going up, it's tremendous pyrotechnics. what about those other things we have got in our house? anything else we should be worried about? jason: it is christmas lights. that is the big thing. candles as long as they are not next to anything will be fine. if the number one thing when it comes to christmas lights, don't overload extensions, don't overload any plugs you are plugging into. they are safe nana 9% of the time -- safe 99% of the time but

will be overload them there's a lot of additional current and that tends to catch them on fire. make sure you don't have blankets or anything laying on top of the courts themselves. william: that is jason patton of the wonderful fire department chronicles youtube channel. thank you for all this great advice. jason: thank you. ♪ lisa: the audience ratings for netflix's christmas day football games peaked during the halftime show. no coincidence, that show featured a peformance by beyonce, proving her massive audience appeal. earlier this year, she became the first black woman to hit number one on billboard's country music list with her line-dance-worthy bop texas hold 'em. the song brought a new audience to the genre, and as amna nawaz explains in a story we first

aired earlier this year it reminded music fans of country music's deep african and african-american roots. amna: like many looking for a connection during the pandemic, marie took her love of dance to tiktok despite the protests of her daughter. >> hopped on tiktok after my daughters told me not to because it was from the younger generation but i had to prove them wrong. amna: mother and daughter soon teamed up online. tell me about the typical dances you do. >> upbeat, funky, move your body in this rhythmic fashion, old-school kind of 1990's hip-hop. amna: last week, the duo stepped into a new genre, a country song courtesy of beyonce. amna: i said we are doing country now? amna: amna: the song is one of two new country singles she released on her upcoming album.

>> why not country? i started thinking about my mother and grandmother and great-grandmother who are all in texas and gave me an upbringing in the country. to hear that cowgirl attitude made me want to jump into it. amna: can i tell me -- can i tell you my favorite part of your dance? >> tell me. amna: finger pistols. >> ey. >> i don't know how you dance to country mus s subreddit, a

message board dedicated to theic

genre that he moderated. response was positive mostly, some questioned why she would step in the country and why the songs were getting so much attention. would you expect to see some kind of backlash? country music is famously, modernly, overwhelmingly white, largely male. >> there's been a little bit of backlash which is more gatekeeping than anything but there are always people who think she is in trading on white music as a black woman and i have seen posts like that. >> without black influences, country is full can music. amna: alice randall is recognized to be the first black woman to write a number one country hit. >> black people have been in country a bitingly since the beginning of the genre. the banjo has a long and complex history that begins in africa. the kind of bent note, open threaded singing we hear and -- throated singing we hear in

country, even the sound of the guitar, these have their aesthetic origins in africa. amna: randall spent over 40 years as a songwriter in nashville. her new book discusses the music's black roots and the industry's exclusion of black artists for decades. even today, a country music station in oklahoma refused to play beyonce's songs. >> she blasted through the intended and unintended boundaries, the cultural redlining, and she has ascended to a height no other black women has ascended to in country. this is a tribute to her own genius and it spotlights the genius that came before. >> a path forged by trail blazers like charlie pride and more recently darius rucker and britney spencer. work that randall argues allows

the music to reach a wider audience, an audience that now includes them. >> we have been digging into country music. >> does this mean we will see more country music dances? >> i'm invested. >> i was just about to say we went to the target, got our country had, boots, tights, so we are ready for anything. ♪ lisa: as 2024 comes to a close, we take a look back now at some of the years biggest stories through the images of photojournalists. we spoke with four photographers who documented the presidential

campaign, protests over the war in gaza, the paralympics and more. >> this year, when i think about my coverage, i think about the people, the faces that come to mind. my name is brandon bell, and i'm a staff photographer for getty images based in austin, texas. >> my name is martin bureau. i'm the photo editor in chief for agence france presse for france. >> my name's evan vucci. i am the chief photographer for the associated press in washington. >> my name is gabriella gregor splaver, and i am a freelance photojournalist. i graduated from columbia, where i was a student photojournalist for the columbia daily spectator. shortly after october 7th, there were immediately protests on our campus. literally, it was wake up, go cover the encampment as long as i can. go back home, go to sleep and do it again. we were able to like navigate certain parts of the encampment and cover things in ways that i think a lot of the outside press were there couldn't or couldn't see. what can i bring to the table that all of these other

experienced photojournalists around me maybe can't? so for me it was i know this community and i know the difference between what is happening right now and all these other students that are walking to class or what it was like two weeks ago. on the one hand, as a photojournalist, you're supposed to be covering these things, unbiasedly in what's actually occurring. but at the same time, as a student of columbia, you know, i know the person who's sitting in that tent. i know the person who's in that building. and i'm surroundedy a certain c?

how are they feeling? you know, someone once told me, don't show me what they are doing. show me how they're feeling. a lot of my mentality and focus has been, what does it mean for me as a journalist to put aside my own biases and thoughts at times and just focus on what's before me? i can humbly look back now and say that my assessment of the outcome was completely wrong. when i was at harris events, they were electric. at the concession speech, it almost seemed like people had come together to accept the fate to be together. even as a journalist, it was it was hard being around the weight of emotion and feeling of so many people just in unity kind of have like their dreams almost kind of just snuffed right beneath them. >> i was part of the organizing team of the olympic games in paris 2024. those ones were the 10th edition for me. we'd been working hard for more than a year before, especially for the opening ceremony,

and usually we cover a ceremony, we have a dozen photographers. for this one, we have 48. the pressure was high and we were playing at home so we couldn't fail. this old city was wrote in our pictures. beach volley, when you have the eiffel tower in the background, it's completely different. to have the equestrian in versaille with the castle in the backdrop, it's fantastic. to have the bmx, it's fantastic. to have the road cycling coming up in montmartre, riding in front of the moulin rouge, it's fantastic. to have the the swimming in the seine was a real challenge. i was very happy to see this ment. and it was quite a difficult moment for me, but a nice souvenir. moit was nice to cover. with fantastic images that will stay longer. >> covering the border.

it can be very easy, i think, for me and for others to be tempted with trying to photograph in a way that that meets the current story but -- the story but my job is rather to show people the reality from all sides of what's happening on the ground and allow them for themselves to look at the emotions, the feelings, look at the truth and decide what's true for them and versus not. >> i always kind of assumed that things that were happening in the world were like always completely covered and because there's so many, not only, you know, photographers, but also like people with cell phones that nothing gets missed or lost in between the lines. but covering this, i think, kind of showed me that like, you know, that's not always the case. >> things are so incredibly busy that we haven't had a chance to really exhale and think about the coverage of the last year. because as photographers, we're still out there doing the job. we're still out there working every day and planning and getting ready for what is sure to some in the crescent city for

his dogged desire to remain free. one of the last times he was seen in this unverfied video from this week, which was posted on instagram. scrim was last captured in october, briefly, before leaping out of the second-story window of his shelter home in mid-november. a nest doorbell caught the renegade in the act. he's been on the run ever since. >> i'm pretty good at what i do, but scrim has proven to be the best that i have ever seen and i would venture to say the best out there as far as escaping

capture goes. lisa: it was michelle cheramie's animal shelter where scrim was last kept. she and others have relentlessly pursued the dog. some have employed thermal sensors, night-vision, nets and tranquilizers. but, scrim, the houdini hound, has escaped them at every turn. in doing so, he's inspired tattoos, merchandise, and even a song for his fighting spirit. rescuers are concerned for his safety, though, and we hope he's okay, too. remember, there's a lot more online including a special holiday edition of pbs news weekly. we revisit some of our favorite pieces from our art and culture series, canvas, from 2024. that's on our youtube page. and be sure to watch washington week with the atlantic tonight on pbs. award winning journalist george packer joins moderator jeffrey goldberg for a special conversation about the future of the american democratic experiment. that is the news hour for tonight. i'm lisa desjardins.

on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided chae and nature can thrive together, the william and flora hewlett foundation, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org, and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour & company. here's what's coming up. we look ba at a ye of unprecented weatr evts and climate solutions. first, my conversation with the atlantic's george packer