just to mention one, barber shop, one of the products, one of the tools created by the web -- weta team, they can create realistic hair, moustaches, you don't just create it, there's physics behind it. it looks like a helmet of hair it doesn't look life light or real the sparkle in the eye the texture on the skin. getting that exactly right artists can't do that one frame at a time and produce a movie once every couple of decades these tools are massive enablers to content creators in gaming, design, architecture, engineering. and film where they have the most advanced film production in the world. >> john, i was thinking about you when i was out at nvidia with jason wong. we were trying to -- he was showing me things and i was trying to figure out whether they were real or whether they were not computer generated but unity kind of things john, i couldn't tell. and that's the holy grail because everything else doesn't have the right shading, it doesn't look realistic once you see the real deal that unity has with weta, you're never going to go back to the other stuff. >> yeah, i think t

. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta use adios -- news studios in washington and in the west from walter cronkite school of tourism -- journalism. judy: foreign policy, a trip to capitol hill and a covid response must some of the items on the president's agenda today almost 11 months into his first term. he kicked off the day speaking to leaders around the world about the importance of global democracy. president biden says needs champions. i wanted to host the summit because here in the united states, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy, strengthening our democratic institution, requires constant effort. judy: our white house correspondent joins us to talk about the president's agenda. hello. we know at this summit for democracy, the president certainly in the background having to deal with an array of foreign policy challenges. remind us what those are. >> as you said, this was a day that was a microcosm of the challenges president biden faces. his schedule today it laid out the biggest challenges of his presidency, the democracy summit, covid, is meeting with

. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington, and walter cronkite school and museuma state university. judy: it has been a week of setbacks for the biden agenda and for democrats in control of congress. a key piece of immigration reform hit a wall in the senate and voting rights bills have stalled. frustrated democrats today intensified talks of changing the 60 vote filibuster. we've been talking with key figures involved. lisa, you and i talked on the program last evening about immigration, where it stood, but shortly after that, we learned that the democratic hopes for immigration reform left a big wall. tell us about it. lisa: first a quick reminder that democrats have 50 votes in the senate, which usually requires 60 votes to get past a filibuster, which can block any piece of legislation to do that. to get past that, they are trying to use a budget reconciliation process to pass many pieces of the biden agenda. one of them is what you just mentioned, immigration reform. but last night, we learned that their plan is not going to pass muster for this budgetary pro

. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkiteool of journalism at arizona state university. amna: for the first time in nearly two months, the united states is averaging more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day every it this comes is roughly one third of states have detected the new variant, omicron. john yang has our report. >> delta continues to be the most dominant covid variant in the united states and around the world, but was overall cases on the rise, questions abound about the omicron variant. an epidemiologist at the university of texas health science center's school of public health and she writes, thank you for joining us. given what we know about omicron and what we don't know, how concerned should people be about it in america? >> what we do know is concerning. but we also don't know a lot. i think there is a lot of hope that we don't want to lose at the same time, so there is this balance between let's wait to see what the science is going to say and continue to be vigilant. our house is already on fire with de

weta srt with the roomicn variant.ho yshe t new strains i spreadating aunn precedented rate. moreha tn c75ountries have ses. inhe t., u.k t hopealth ofcifials say the anvarit is obprably the mostni sigfintca atthreha we vead h since the art of the pmiandec. braiitn has seen aor recd number of infectifoons r s aecond day in a. row >> what do you want for christmas? for millions, it is a booster. these people in wcneastle were epared to w faitorou hrs for a covid vaccina btionoo.st it w aas rord day foroo bster jabs, but also cidovas ces. osboters offer thees bt protonecti aingast omi, cronbut thisere unctaerinty whether they arelu bnt eednough to keep sphoital admissions below last year'aks pe. >> because it isce conntterad erov aho srt period, you could --ha tt isnt eirely possible. is certainly possible. theum nbersav he confirmed omicron patstien and hospital are stilw,l lo f norow. itil wl be weeksil unt we have ha erdvidence thatl wil showow h riseous the omi wcronavwie ll be >> we heav 250iv indidlsua in hospitale

. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and in the west at the walter cronkitel of journalism at arizona state university. judy: the u.s. senate is set to vote this evening on repealing president biden's vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. the measure, which needs 51 votes, is expected to pass after democrats joe manchin and jon tester announced their support. but the bill faces an uphill battle in the democrat-controlled house of representatives and president biden is likely to veto it, should it land on his desk. i spoke about this moments ago with senator john thune, the second highest ranking republican in the senate. senator, thank you very much for joining us. let me ask you flat out. what is the argument for not having the government require large employers to make sure that their employees are either vaccinated or are tested once a week? >> i think several arguments. one is the impact it would have on the workforce. all of a sudden heard from employers and our states. the number of south dakota is 30% of workers would not be able t

thank you. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at thee school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> you are watching pbs. -hola, tucson, i am back. as if i could possibly stay away from the best 23 miles of mexican food. my last trip here was a whirlwind culinary tour of tacos, hot dogs, chimichangas, and giant burritos. but i've come back to break bread with a new friend known to bread enthusiasts as one of the best bakers in america, known to friends as don. -oh, i love this. -isn't it fun? -these fresh-baked experiences, well... -and it's like...mmm. -[ chuckles ] -heaven. -and i need to know everything about the secrets to don's success. so, using tucson as my gateway, i'm heading south across la frontera to sonora, mexico, where miles and miles of wheat fields blanket lush valleys, the source of don's treasured grains.

. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkitel of journalism at arizona state university. judy: the cdc director said today the omicron variant could become the dominant covid strain in the u.s. this winter. she also said delta remains a major problem. i sat down this afternoon with dr. francis collins, the director of the national institutes of health, to talk about those concerns. dr. francis collins, thank you very much for talking with us. >> judy, i'm really glad to be here and welcome to nih. glad you came out here. >> very glad to be here. as we sit here on december 3rd, we covid very much still with us, is your greater concern at this moment, the cases, the variants that are still out there or omicron, which is now arriving in this country? >> well, the one we know about is delta, and delta is still very much with us. even though we've seen some decrease in the number of cases, it's still tens and tens of thousands every day. so while omicron, the sort of new variant that we're all focused on is a potential threat. delta

. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkitechool of journalism at arizona state university. judy: just before the boy scout settlement was announced, there was another major settlement today. after a five-year battle, usa gymnastics, the u.s. olympic and paralympic committee, and their insurance companies reached a settlement with the victims of former physician larry nassar. john yang has the details on the settlement, totaling $380 million, making it among the largest ever awarded in a sexual abuse case. john: judy, the money will go to hundreds of athletes, including olympic gold medalist simone biles, aly raisman, and mckayla maroney. they and others were abused by nassar when he was the u.s. women's team doctor. the two sides have been negotiating since 2018, when nassar was sentenced an effective life sentence and usa gymnastics filed for bankruptcy protection. christine brennan is a columnist for usa today who has long covered olympic sports. christine, thanks for joining us. this settlement has been a long time coming.