PBS NewsHour full episode, Feb. 27, 2024（PBS NewsHour full episode, Feb. 27, 2024）

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GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Congressional leaders meet President Biden to negotiate a spending
deal and try to avoid a government shutdown in days.
GEOFF BENNETT: Michigan Democrats wonder how many will vote uncommitted in the state's
presidential primary tonight to protest President Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
AMNA NAWAZ: And outrage over the alleged murder of a university student by a Venezuelan migrant
fans the flames of immigration politics.
CHARIS KUBRIN, University of California, Irvine: We need to pay attention to broader factors
that contribute to this kind of senseless violence, rather than simply aiming our targets
at immigrants.
(BREAK)
AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
The top four leaders in Congress met with President Biden in the Oval Office today to
discuss how to fund the government and what should happen next for U.S. support of Ukraine.
GEOFF BENNETT: Congress faces a number of crises this week, as leaders race to meet
deadlines, including one that could spark a partial government shutdown.
Funding runs out for parts of the government late Friday.
And, as we have been reporting, Ukrainians say, without more U.S. support, they will
lose the war.
Lisa Desjardins has been following it all and joins us now.
So, Lisa, this meeting was significant, especially for House Speaker Johnson, who, of all the
people in that room in the Oval Office, is likely the one who determines how things progress.
Give us a sense of what happened.
LISA DESJARDINS: Well, it was significant.
You're right.
And what happened here was a meeting that was serious.
We know all the leaders came out.
They said it was positive discussion, but it was in some ways intense.
It wasn't a classical meeting, in the sense that it was a little bit lopsided.
You have the Democrats in that meeting, including the president, and Senate leader for the Republicans,
McConnell, almost on the same page, that they want a quick funding solution this week, and
they also want to fund Ukraine.
On the other side is Speaker Johnson, who, whatever he personally thinks, has a problem
that his conference hasn't decided what they want to do in the House.
So, you could hear that optimism, but also complicated tone as the leaders walked out.
SEN.
CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I have ever encountered
in my many meetings in the Oval Office.
The overwhelming sentiment in that meeting is, we have got to do Ukraine now.
There are other issues, including border, which we should address, but not now.
We want a fixed border.
But it was also clear the speaker did not make -- didn't give a reason why you had to
do one before you did the other.
REP.
MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The other big priority for our country, of course, is the funding
of our government.
And we have been working in good faith around the clock every single day for months and
weeks and over the last several days, quite literally around the clock, to get that job
done.
We're very optimistic.
I hope that the other leaders came out here and told you the same.
LISA DESJARDINS: You can hear in that that they're sort of testing each other.
These are new relationships.
But one thing they have that they're going up against is the history here.
Let's look at the last year with the funding problems.
Here's what's happened just in September.
In September, they passed seven weeks of funding in Congress.
November, they split up the bill, so nine- and 11-week extensions, and then, in January,
some more, five- and six-weeks extensions that brought us to here.
While there may be hope that these leaders can pass through bills this week to avoid
that Friday deadline.
I don't know.
By my count, they don't have enough time.
They have to pass a short-term resolution, or we will have a partial shutdown.
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, what is preventing Speaker Johnson from moving more quickly?
Is this all tied to pressure from Donald Trump and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party?
LISA DESJARDINS: Absolutely.
It is not just Trump, but it is Trump, along with the hard-line conservatives, and the
fractured nature, not just divided, of House Republicans.
They are in several groups.
We talk about House Speaker Johnson, who's just trying to keep his speakership going,
could be ousted by any member bringing up a resolution to the floor.
He has the trust and integrity portions with his conference, but they are not united.
Let me show you what I mean and what he's up against in terms of the different demands
of House Republicans right now in this current negotiation.
There are some House Republicans, Freedom Caucus members especially, who want border
changes in any deal this week.
There are others who oppose any short-term funding patch.
There are still others -- listen to this, Geoff -- who oppose the opposite.
They don't want full funding bills, because, without those, maybe there will be an automatic
cut.
And there are some that I have spoken to who do want a shutdown.
They think that is good leverage for them.
House Speaker Johnson is trying to negotiate all of this, but he's got to make a decision
in the end.
GEOFF BENNETT: We heard the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, say that the exchange
over Ukraine aid was one of the most intense scenes he's ever witnessed in the Oval Office.
Where do things stand there, Lisa?
LISA DESJARDINS: Yes, and he's a New Yorker.
GEOFF BENNETT: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
LISA DESJARDINS: So I have a feeling that that tells us a lot.
House Speaker Johnson, when he came out said essentially that Ukraine is not his priority.
He may agree in theory that it needs to happen.
But he has said, America first, we need to deal with our problems first.
That is a problem for Ukraine specifically.
But there are some in the House trying to work around him.
Specifically, I want to look at these two representatives, Jared Golden, a Democrat
of Maine, and then also Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania.
They are right now working on a work-around to get a bill that would have about $50 billion
in aid to Ukraine in it.
They believe it has the two-thirds support needed, but they would probably have to do
that and go around Speaker Johnson.
The question is, would that topple his speakership or not?
They say they're serious.
When is Johnson going to take action on Ukraine?
He said they will move in a timely manner.
I had to look that up in the dictionary because who knows what that means.
It means not now.
GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.
Well, finally, Lisa, we expected action this week in the impeachment trial of Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
At one point, the plan was for the Senate to get the articles of impeachment delivered.
They have to be walked over from the House chamber to the Senate chamber.
That didn't happen.
Where do things stand?
LISA DESJARDINS: This is another thread tied in with everything else.
House Republicans are pushing that back, because they could have a partial shutdown this week.
They think an impeachment of an officer of the United States, Cabinet officer, would
not look good.
However, there are some Senate Republicans saying they want to make sure there will be
a trial.
Here's the number two Senate Republican, John Thune, today.
SEN.
JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I believe the Senate needs to hold a trial.
I think this is such a miscarriage of the law.
And it is important that the United States senators sit and hear and the American people
hear about this incredible crisis at our southern border.
LISA DESJARDINS: Now, you hear him saying this is about the crisis at the border.
Mayorkas and Democrats say he has done nothing wrong, that there is a crisis.
But the issue here is, I think Democrats, my reporting is, want to move to not have
a trial.
They do not think there's reason for one.
We're going to check in with that maybe next week, maybe the following weeks after we get
past the other crises.
GEOFF BENNETT: All right, Lisa Desjardins, following it all for us, thanks so much.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: The people of Michigan took their turn weighing
in on this year's presidential field.
They cast ballots in the last primaries before the Super Tuesday contests next week.
President Biden and former President Trump were expected to win again.
Still, the president faced a protest vote over the war in Gaza, and Mr. Trump faced
questions about broadening his base.
Israel and Hamas cast doubt today on President Biden's suggestion that a Gaza cease-fire
deal could be reached by Monday.
Israeli officials said the remarks came as a surprise.
Hamas insisted it has not backed off its demands.
But, at the White House, national security spokesman John Kirby defended the president's
statement.
JOHN KIRBY, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications: He certainly shared with you
his optimism that we can get there in hopefully a short order.
But he also said it's not all done yet.
And you don't have a deal until you have a deal.
We don't have one right now.
But we believe that we are getting closer.
And while we don't want to sound too sanguine or Pollyannish about it, we do think that
there's been some serious negotiations.
AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, more food, medical supplies and other relief were airdropped
into Gaza.
The packages floated down to the Mediterranean shore as crowds of Palestinians ran along
the beach to grab them.
Communities across Israel held local elections today, despite the ongoing war.
Voters chose mayors and city council members in most places.
But evacuated towns near Gaza and Lebanon had to postpone their elections until November.
In Ukraine, the military has retreated from more territory in the east after intense battles
overnight.
Government troops withdrew from two villages outside of Avdiivka, a larger city captured
by Russian forces earlier this month.
The Russians have stepped up their push as Ukraine runs short of weapons and ammunition.
A veteran human rights activist in Russia was sentenced today to 2.5 years in prison
for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
Oleg Orlov co-chaired the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group Memorial.
In his closing statement, he said he did not regret speaking out against the Kremlin and
he denounced the war again before being led away.
OLEG ORLOV, Russian Human Rights Activist (through translator): We live in the 21st
century.
Those guys are going backwards to 20th, 17th and even 16th.
Unfortunately, they are dragging our country with them, but we will win anyway.
AMNA NAWAZ: Orlov's sentence is the latest in Russia's efforts to quash dissent over
the war.
Back in this country, a federal jury in New York convicted two men of murdering hip-hop
deejay Jam Master Jay 22 years ago.
Born Jason Mizell, Jay helped propel the group Run-D.M.C. to stardom and into the pop music
mainstream in the 1980s.
He was shot and killed in his music studio in 2002.
Prosecutor said the motive was a drug deal gone bad.
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors apologized today to Black residents and their descendants
for racist laws and policies over the years.
It was seen as a first step in the process of considering financial reparations.
San Francisco joins Boston in apologizing for its past treatment of Black citizens.
And on Wall Street, stocks mostly searched for direction.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 96 points to close at 38972.
The Nasdaq rose 59 points and the S&P 500 added eight.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": an IDF soldier's video diaries offer a unique perspective on
Israel's war in Gaza; skepticism grows over tech billionaires' plans to ease the Bay Area's
housing crunch by building a new city; the story of an African American woman who helped
take down one of America's most notorious mob bosses; plus much more.
GEOFF BENNETT: Today, voters in Michigan are casting their votes in that state's presidential
primary.
And some Democratic activists say they are hoping to send a message to President Biden
by voting uncommitted.
It follows growing frustration among some Muslim and Arab Americans over the administration's
handling of the war in Gaza.
MARIAM MOHSEN, Michigan Voter: Four years ago, I voted for Joe Biden.
It was important that we vote to get Trump out of office.
And, today, I feel very disappointed in Joe Biden, and I don't feel like I did the right
thing last election.
GEOFF BENNETT: For more, we're joined now by Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora
Barnes.
Welcome to the "NewsHour."
LAVORA BARNES, Chair, Michigan Democratic Party: Great to be here.
Thank you so much, Geoff.
GEOFF BENNETT: So, this push by some Democratic activists to urge voters to vote uncommitted
in this primary, this has really picked up steam since it was launched earlier this month,
to the point where now even Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is saying that she expects,
in her words, a sizable number of protest votes against President Biden's handling of
the Israel-Hamas war.
Do you agree with that?
And what's your level of concern?
LAVORA BARNES: I am so thrilled that so many folks are participating in this process.
We fought hard to be an early state and to have our voices heard early in this primary
process.
And that's exactly what's happening.
Over a million folks grabbed ballots early on and voted.
And I am happy that these folks are reaching for the Democratic ballot and participating
in this process.
And I'm looking forward to taking this enthusiasm and interest in the process into November,
where the question is Joe Biden versus Donald Trump.
And we know the answer is Joe Biden.
GEOFF BENNETT: They might be taking the Democratic ballot, but they're not voting for the Democratic
candidate.
LAVORA BARNES: They're making their voices heard, Geoff.
And I am pleased that they're able to do that.
That's part of this process.
We have a big tent.
And part of the reason we built this tent and part of the reason we wanted to be part
of this process was to make sure that the voices of Michiganders were part of the overall
conversation.
And that's exactly what's happening right now.
And this president's listening.
We're listening.
You heard the president yesterday say that he's expecting to have some news about a cease-fire
probably as early as next week.
That's great news.
And that's a sign that he's been listening to these folks here in Michigan.
And that's what we wanted.
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, as you said, Michigan Democrats pushed for the state's primary to
be earlier this year to give the state a greater voice in the overall electoral calendar and
to really highlight President Biden's perceived areas of strength, with Black voters around
Detroit, with union workers.
But there's a survey from Detroit News and WDIV-TV last month that showed President Biden
really has weak support from nearly all of the Democrats' key constituencies.
That's Black voters, voters between the ages of 18 and 29, and those holding college degrees.
How is the party aiming to turn that around?
LAVORA BARNES: So, that's -- you have exactly described my job, right?
I am organizing our team, our volunteers, our staff, and our leaders across the state.
We have been talking to voters and we will continue talking to voters at their doors,
on their phones, wherever we can find them, even in their social media, to make sure we're
telling the story of the Biden/Harris administration and what they have done on behalf of Americans
and Michiganders.
Think about the manufacturing jobs they have brought back to this state, the good union
paying jobs that have come here, and, of course, the protection of reproductive rights.
We're going to continue to have that conversation and also talk about the contrast between the
choice which they will have in November, which is either Joe Biden or turning back the clock
to Donald Trump.
And Donald Trump's been very clear about who he is, what he's done.
We're going to tell the story of his record.
We're going to tell the facts of who he is, what he has said he will do.
The man wants to be a dictator.
He calls people of color poison.
He is not good for America and absolutely not good for Michiganders.
GEOFF BENNETT: Can President Biden win Michigan without the support of those Arab American
and Muslim Americans who say they are profoundly unhappy and disappointed with what they see
as his unwavering support of Israel?
LAVORA BARNES: We're going to continue having those conversations.
The president's going to keep listening to folks.
And we're going to win in November, building that coalition that we have had in place for
several cycles now and making sure that folks turn out and support the president, recognizing
that otherwise we may end up with Donald Trump, which is unacceptable to these communities.
GEOFF BENNETT: Lavora Barnes is the Democratic Party chair for the state of Michigan.
Thanks for your time.
LAVORA BARNES: Thanks for having me.
AMNA NAWAZ: The murder of a college student in Georgia and the immigration status of her
alleged killer have thrown new fuel into the heated debate over the U.S. southern border
and the government's policies.
At the University of Georgia, grief hangs in the air after last week's death of 22-year-old
nursing student Laken Hope Riley.
Students, including her sorority sisters, gathered yesterday to remember Riley.
CHLOE MULLIS, President, Alpha Chi Omega: She showed incredible wisdom throughout her
friendships.
Many sisters have shared that she was the best listener.
She would allow you to ramble on about how your day was or how your life had been lately.
And she soaked it up intently.
Her wisdom flowed throughout all aspects of her life, and she had an eye for those who
were secretly struggling.
AMNA NAWAZ: Riley's body was found in this wooded area on campus last Thursday.
Her roommate had reported her missing after she failed to return from a mourning jog;
26-year-old Venezuelan citizen Jose Antonio Ibarra was charged with her murder.
Immigration officials say, in September of 2022, Ibarra was detained in Texas after illegally
entering the U.S. from Mexico, but then released for further processing.
Students returned to classes this week, but the community has been shaken to its core.
Riley's death is believed to be the school's first homicide in nearly 30 years.
BETHANY BATEMAN MCDONALD, University of Georgia: I'm a mom.
And as a mom, I couldn't imagine, I couldn't imagine something like this happening to my
children.
AMNA NAWAZ: Beyond campus...
JESSE WATTERS, FOX News Anchor: A dangerous foreign national broke the law and suffered
no consequences because of fringe policies the far left claims are compassionate.
THOMAS HOMAN, Former Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: This
is another senseless, preventable death because of this open border.
AMNA NAWAZ: Conservatives and right-wing media link the Biden administration's immigration
approach with Riley's death.
GOV.
BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Laken's death is a direct result of failed policies on the federal level.
AMNA NAWAZ: Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp pointed to record high numbers
at the U.S. southern border.
GOV.
BRIAN KEMP: It is an understatement to say that this is a major crisis.
And because of the White House's failures, every state, as I have said repeatedly, is
now a border state.
And Laken Riley's murder is just the latest proof of that.
AMNA NAWAZ: On social media, former President Trump said -- quote -- "Biden's border invasion
is destroying our country and killing our citizens."
And he reiterated his campaign pledge to -- quote -- "seal the border and deport illegal criminals."
The White House has expressed condolences to Riley's family, but has not responded directly
to the Republican accusations, all this as both Biden and Trump plan dueling border visits
to Texas on Thursday of this week.
And to help with some context around these questions around immigration and crime, I'm
joined now by Charis Kubrin.
She's a professor of criminology, law, and society at the University of California, Irvine,
and co-author of the book "Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock."
Professor, let's begin with the obvious here.
Our thoughts are obviously with the family of Laken Riley and her friends, the senseless
loss of a young woman's life.
Authorities also today just revealed her death was due to blunt-force trauma.
And the man, we know, accused here is an undocumented immigrant.
Those are all facts.
What do you make of the larger conversation around those facts right now?
CHARIS KUBRIN, University of California, Irvine: When I heard about this tragic event, my heart
went out immediately.
That is, of course, the first reaction I had.
But the second one is, uh-oh, I hope that this is not used as -- this awful event is
not used for political advantage.
And it appears that that is what is essentially happening.
We see a tragic event become a sparking point for really restrictive policies aimed at immigrants.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, I know in your work and in your book, you look exactly at this issue
going back even to the early 1900s about the intersection of crime and immigration.
Broadly speaking, what have you learned?
CHARIS KUBRIN: So, there's been so much research that's been done on how immigration and crime
are related, both among immigrants, are immigrants more or less crime-prone than their native-born
counterparts, and does immigration to an area cause crime to go up or down?
And more recently, there's been an explosion of research in this area because of public
perception and interest.
And what's pretty amazing is, across all this research, by and large, we find that immigrants
do not engage in more crime than native-born counterparts, and immigration actually can
cause crime to go down, rather than up, so quite contrary to public perception.
AMNA NAWAZ: And does any of your research examine any differences between an undocumented
immigrant and those who are legally here in the United States?
CHARIS KUBRIN: Right.
That's become an increasingly important question that we have sought to answer.
There are a handful of studies that have begun to do this using pretty sophisticated estimation
techniques to identify the number of undocumented individuals.
And what those studies find is, similar to the research in general, there is no criminogenic
impact among undocumented immigrants.
In other words, undocumented immigrants are not engaging in more crime, contrary to public
perception.
And the presence of undocumented immigrants in an area does not correlate with higher
crime, particularly violence.
AMNA NAWAZ: Professor, I'm sure you have heard this argument before.
We're hearing this again, which is that if this man had not been allowed to enter into
the United States, if he'd not been allowed to stay, he couldn't have committed this crime,
and this young woman would still be alive today.
Are people making that argument wrong?
CHARIS KUBRIN: Well, it's not that argument's wrong, because, essentially, that is true,
but I think it's misplaced, because, at the end of the day, if we really do want to cut
down on crime in general, absent this one horrific incident, making restrictive, exclusionary
and harsh policies aimed at immigrants is really not going to yield the benefits of
reductions in crime that many people believe, largely because, as I just mentioned, immigrants
are not the ones engaging in crime.
I would point out also that there's been a lot of instances of violence on campus with
young individuals getting killed, tragic events, most of which are occurring by native-born
Americans.
And so I think we need to pay attention to broader factors that contribute to this kind
of senseless violence, rather than simply aiming our targets at immigrants.
AMNA NAWAZ: So that leap from the crime of one person catalyzing to fear of an entire
group or population, we don't really see that, as you mentioned, with native-born Americans
or white Americans more broadly.
Is that something unique to immigrant populations?
CHARIS KUBRIN: So that's the interesting thing.
I have never seen a headline, not once in my life, that has read native-born American
has engaged in this crime or that crime.
And so what happens is most of the stories identify a person's immigrant status and link
it with crime in headlines, in social media, in the news.
That essentially reinforces the public perception that both go hand in hand, when in fact the
data show just the opposite.
So it's an uphill battle in terms of public perception.
AMNA NAWAZ: What should we expect to see in the months ahead?
We are in an election year.
Immigration is a top issue for voters around the country.
Do you expect this conversation to continue at this kind of heated level?
CHARIS KUBRIN: I think it will, unfortunately, for the exact reasons I mentioned early on,
which is that this is an opportunity, an awful opportunity, to seize on a political advantage.
What I hope happens is that we identify places where we can improve things when it comes
to immigration, but also do so in a way that makes smart policy, policy that will help
things more broadly, rather than simply use a scapegoat moment to make more restrictive
policies that are not going to do much in the end for crime.
AMNA NAWAZ: Professor Charis Kubrin from the University of California, Irvine, thank you
so much for your time.
We appreciate it.
CHARIS KUBRIN: Thank you.
GEOFF BENNETT: Now for a rare view of the Israel-Hamas war from an Israeli infantryman.
Sam Sank is a British Israeli whose period of service has just ended.
In normal life, he works in information technology.
For his months of fighting in Gaza, he carried a small video camera.
And special correspondent Malcolm Brabant sat down with him in London.
MALCOLM BRABANT: This is the video diary of the soldier behind the officer on point.
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK, Israeli Defense Forces Reservist: Together, with my brothers in arms, we're
part of history.
This will probably be a very significant event in the history of the Middle East, let alone
Israel.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Master sergeant Sam Sank.
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: It's also good for the world to see as well, and it shows the true experience
of a soldier on the front line, and maybe shows a different side to what one sees through
propaganda or social media as soldiers.
And, actually, as you can see now, I'm a real person with real emotion and real thoughts.
Yes, yesterday was awful.
This place stinks, smell of dead bodies everywhere.
Not a great start.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Sam Sank went to war on October the 7th, immediately after the terrorist attack
by Hamas.
After training in Northern Israel with his company, or pluga, Sank entered Gaza several
weeks into the conflict...
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: We have just entered Gaza.
MALCOLM BRABANT: ... and spent nearly two months there.
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: Here we go.
Here we go.
Yesterday was a really, really bad day.
Two guys from our pluga got injured, one quite seriously, was in a helicopter to the hospital.
Both were shot in the back.
Man, two secs.
Just going to check out this pier.
MALCOLM BRABANT: As second in command of his platoon, Sank ventures forward to examine
the entrance of a Hamas tunnel beneath Khan Yunis, once home to a quarter-of-a-million
Palestinians.
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: Gaza is arguably one of the most dense places in the world, and Hamas has decided
to use that as a battlefield and to use human shields to protect themselves and to put all
the civilians above the ground and all their ammunition and terrorists below the ground.
A few Israeli soldiers were killed at that specific spot, so after weeks of fighting,
we were able to locate the tunnel entrances.
MALCOLM BRABANT: People who are watching that might think that you are cheering Palestinians'
homes being blown up.
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: So, the context of that video is the tunnel being destroyed.
And, for us, it was a sense of achievement, knowing that we had killed Hamas terrorists
that were still hiding underneath, and we had eliminated a big threat to our soldiers'
lives.
We're in Central Khan Yunis, Eastern-Central Khan Yunis, in a new house, sitting here on
guard duty with my main man, Leshem.
Here, you can see close to big a mosque, very urban area.
This is going to be our new home for the next few days, but feeling good, liking the new
area.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Sank's war is over.
He's returned to his civilian job in I.T. and now has time to reflect.
How can you justify all those thousands of women and children being killed during this
conflict?
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: I don't think I can justify the numbers, but I can explain why that's happened.
We are dealing with an organization that has decided to put civilians at the forefront
of their bases, of their battlefield.
Welcome to Southern Khan Yunis.
We're in a house.
Look at the lovely Jerusalem -- Jerusalem decorations on the wall.
Arrived here yesterday.
Crazy, crazy dissonance coming into a more urban area like this.
It was insane, honestly, at night, seeing -- going through the city, seeing destroyed
buildings.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think there might have been a better way of fighting this war
to really more accurately target those people who were responsible for starting it?
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: I think, if there was a better way of doing it, then it would have been done,
because I trust in the strategic command of the IDF in Israel to make the best decision
to protect its soldiers and to protect the Palestinian civilians as much as possible.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you feel as though Israel has fallen into a trap created by Hamas, because
they knew that Israel would come in and, in the end, if it kept going, would end up perhaps
losing world opinion?
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: Yes, for sure.
Hamas set the trap up.
It's the ploy that Hamas and other terrorist Palestinian organizations have been using
for many years.
Unfortunately, Israel doesn't have a choice and has to move into that trap, because if,
again, we want to defeat the enemy, destroy the terrorists and bring our people back,
we have to go into Gaza.
The world, as I see it, will always be against Israel in this conflict.
There is an underlying antisemitism that exists.
This is just our generation's persecution of Jews.
Hopefully, it will be a couple quiet days before we're eventually supposed to leave,
final Shabbat in Gaza.
Can't wait to go home.
Can't believe how long it's been.
I'm just counting down the hours, literally.
Everyone's making fun of me, but I'm counting down the hours.
But I'm desperate for this all to be over.
I just want to get back to normal life.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think you could ever live side by side with Palestinians?
MASTER SGT.
SAM SANK: A hundred percent.
You look at conflicts that have existed over the history of the world, people that hated
each other with a passion and are now living together in peace.
Whether I think it will be a happy peace, maybe not.
But even a cold peace is better than what exists today.
And, yes, I truly believe that it can happen.
And if the Palestinians love their children more than they hate ours, there will be peace.
If they start celebrating life, rather than celebrating death, there will be peace.
MALCOLM BRABANT: For now, such a peace remains in the realm of dreams, despite suggestions
that progress is being made.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.
AMNA NAWAZ: Cities worldwide are overcrowded, overpriced and a source of global warming.
The dream?
Build a livable, affordable, eco-friendly community.
Paul Solman went to California to see the plans for one of those big dreams.
But there's plenty of skepticism about that vision and the developers behind it.
NARRATOR: The Line will be home to nine million residents.
PAUL SOLMAN: Want a brand-new dream city built?
How about The Line in Saudi Arabia?
NARRATOR: The Line is 500' meters tall, 200' meters wide.
PAUL SOLMAN: No cars, no carbon emissions, designed to host a population of nine million.
Well, maybe someday, maybe not.
But a lot closer to home and perhaps to reality, there's now California Forever, a planned
cutting-edge community that has gobbled up 60,000 acres of farmland in Solano County,
an hour north of San Francisco.
JAN SRAMEK, CEO, California Forever: We're building a new community in the Bay Area.
PAUL SOLMAN: CEO Jan Sramek.
JAN SRAMEK: That's going to make it possible for a new generation of Californians to realize
the California dream, the way that prior generations have been able to do it.
RONALD KOTT, Mayor of Rio Vista, California: This is the footprint that they're presenting.
PAUL SOLMAN: Here's how the new community depicts itself in the plans it showed Ronald
Kott, mayor of Rio Vista, population 10,000, which borders the 60,000 acres.
RONALD KOTT: Surrounding communities kind of come here, do other restaurants and shopping
and that kind of thing and...
PAUL SOLMAN: Pedestrians.
RONALD KOTT: Pedestrian, but everything is walkable.
PAUL SOLMAN: Housing for 50,000 to start, as many as 400,000 people eventually, with
condos a lot cheaper than anything you can get in and around San Francisco, 18,000 acres
for the town, another 21,000 for a solar farm to power it with energy to spare.
BRONSON JOHNSON California Forever: We're in the heart of the new community.
This will be medium density, urban form blocks of housing and our downtown will be just a
little bit this way from where we're standing today.
PAUL SOLMAN: Bronson Johnson of California Forever.
BRONSON JOHNSON: When you're starting from scratch and you're building new water recovery
plants and new energy plants, this can be entirely renewable and a sustainable model
for the rest of the world to follow.
PAUL SOLMAN: In order to expand the project eventually, the group has made a series of
legally binding promises, to create 15,000 new jobs, spend $30 million to protect local
ecosystems, and allocate $400 million for housing assistance.
JAN SRAMEK: Homes that families can afford in safe and walkable neighborhoods.
PAUL SOLMAN: Moreover:
PRINCESS PALMER, Real Estate Agent: It gives people a chance to build generational wealth.
PAUL SOLMAN: A historical problem for Black people, says local real estate agent Princess
Palmer.
PRINCESS PALMER: A lot of times, it's the down payment and the closing costs that prevent
people from being able to buy here in California.
So that would be an amazing opportunity that you just don't see right now in California.
PAUL SOLMAN: Another local, Alix Pate, likes the project for a different reason.
ALIX PATE, Solano County, California, Resident: I have small children, a 3-year-old and a
1-year-old, and I have these concerns of, where will they live and is there going to
be housing for them when they are ready to buy?
PAUL SOLMAN: So, the project seems pretty unobjectionable, right?
Well, of course not.
There have been objections galore, like at this town hall meeting.
MAN: How do you expect anyone in this room or the county to believe what you're saying?
PAUL SOLMAN: For years, a firm known only as Flannery Associates quietly amassed tens
of thousands of acres in Solano County, and no one knew why.
Only last August did The New York Times report that Flannery was backed by Silicon Valley
billionaires, which CEO SRAMEK now acknowledges.
JAN SRAMEK: Our main investors are a group of Californians who have decided to double
down on the state.
They include Laurene Powell Jobs, John Doerr, Michael Moritz, Marc Andreessen, and the venture
fund Andreessen Horowitz.
PAUL SOLMAN: And Sramek only first appeared before locals in November.
Locals didn't like the secrecy and also worried about the strains that come with development,
like water depletion.
CATHERINE MOY, Mayor of Fairfield, California: Every drop of water in this county is taken.
PAUL SOLMAN: Catherine Moy, mayor of Fairfield, abutting the project:
CATHERINE MOY: They do have some water that they have from the land that they bought,
OK?
It's not enough for a city.
It's not enough for that.
So they say they're going to buy water from elsewhere.
OK, well, I bet they might.
But I don't think it's going to be enough.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, says CEO Sramek:
JAN SRAMEK: We have a water guarantee for every single building we build, whether it's
an office building or a manufacturing facility or a home.
We have to prove that we have enough water for many, many decades, including through
drought periods.
KATHLEEN THRELFALL, Solano County, California, Resident: This is my grandfather and one of
his pals.
PAUL SOLMAN: A little ways down the highway, rancher Kathleen Threlfall now tends the property
purchased by her great-grandparents.
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: When I come down the road, it's what everybody in the world wants.
It's like the whole relaxation experience.
I'm home and this is my place.
PAUL SOLMAN: And how long are you going to stay here?
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: Probably until I drop off the tractor or something.
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL SOLMAN: So offers to buy her 243 acres, starting at $2 million, now up to 4.5, were
nonstarters.
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: They have tried to buy my land.
I have said no.
PAUL SOLMAN: Why?
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: Why?
PAUL SOLMAN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: This is my spot.
PAUL SOLMAN: There's the phrase we all know, NIMBY, not in my backyard.
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: Right.
God, I hate the idea of being a NIMBY.
I really do.
PAUL SOLMAN: Well, but that's what you are, no?
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: But that's what I am.
That's what I am in this case.
PAUL SOLMAN: Yes.
KATHLEEN THRELFALL: I mean, this case, I'm saying, this is not a good idea in this particular
place at this time.
CATHERINE MOY: I don't like being called a NIMBY either.
PAUL SOLMAN: Again, Mayor Moy.
CATHERINE MOY: I'm just a person who grew up here, love this area, and this is upending
all of that.
PAUL SOLMAN: There's one other big issue, the lawsuit.
IAN ANDERSON, Solano County, California, Resident: We have spent more on this lawsuit than what
it would cost to get our kids through school.
PAUL SOLMAN: That's a half-a-billion dollar suit against landowners who refuse to sell,
claiming they colluded to inflate the price.
Ian and Margaret Anderson and even their distant family members have been forced to defend
themselves.
MARGARET ANDERSON, Solano County, California, Resident: They just pulled those family members
in as well, I think just as a strong-arm tactic to frighten people to sell their land.
PAUL SOLMAN: The CEO's version:
JAN SRAMEK: We made an offer to the Andersons.
They made a counteroffer where they asked for a very high price.
We said, no thank you.
We don't want to buy the property at that price.
And the lawsuit alleges that, after that, they organized this price-fixing conspiracy
in order to force us to pay the higher price.
PAUL SOLMAN: So have you guys been colluding with other people to jack up the price?
IAN ANDERSON: I have been a farmer in this area for 67 years, and I have never done any
colluding in that realm any way, shape or form.
PAUL SOLMAN: As to the discussion of selling, given the cost of the suit, it was and remains
a painful one.
MARGARET ANDERSON: It's amazing what a person considers doing when they are being asphyxiated.
And that's what we felt was happening.
There were many discussions between us about what's the right thing to do.
Do we do what's right for us and plant our heels?
Or do we think about the possibility to provide for our son in the future?
PAUL SOLMAN: And to keep the tradition going?
MARGARET ANDERSON: Keep the family operation going.
PAUL SOLMAN: But there must be a price at which you would sell, no?
IAN ANDERSON: I will take a little bit of offense to that, because I wake up each morning
looking forward to the farm day growing crops.
RONALD KOTT: I think there are some opportunities for our city.
There are some warning signs for our city too.
PAUL SOLMAN: As mayor, Kott is in favor of economic growth, as a resident who treasures
where he lives, not so sure.
But in November, he and his fellow citizens of Solano County will have to vote on preserving
their backyard as is or opening it up to others.
For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.
GEOFF BENNETT: And we will be back shortly for the story of a woman who helped take down
one of America's most notorious mob bosses.
AMNA NAWAZ: But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.
It's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air.
GEOFF BENNETT: For those of you staying with us: In the 2,000 years since the Chinese invented
paper and paper cutting, artists around the world have developed their own unique styles.
Earlier this year, special correspondent Cat Wise visited an artist whose work is inspired
by the natural beauty and people of the Pacific Northwest.
CAT WISE: Every morning, artist and author Nikki McClure takes a long walk in the woods
surrounding her home in Olympia, Washington.
She feeds the birds and wildlife that dwell here, and spends some time on the beach just
steps from her front door.
Inspiration for her art is everywhere.
NIKKI MCCLURE, Author and Artist: By the time I have taken that walk, an idea or a story
will have shown itself to me.
And then I sit down and work.
CAT WISE: McClure begins with a sketch, which she transfers to black paper, and then begins
to work her magic with her knife.
Cut by tiny cut for nearly 30 years, McClure has revealed the world she sees and the creatures
in it.
NIKKI MCCLURE: My work is usually all one piece.
It's all connected, because we all are connected.
CAT WISE: McClure is the author and illustrator of 15 books, and she has collaborated on several
more, including The New York Times' bestseller "All in a Day" with author Cynthia Rylant.
She also sells her original paper cut art, prints, and a yearly calendar.
McClure's deep connection to nature and her surroundings can be traced to her early years
in Olympia, when she studied natural history at the Evergreen State College.
NIKKI MCCLURE: I just kept drawing and drawing and drawing and drawing every stick, every
leaf, every insect, every bird.
It focused and trained my eye to see details, and then trained my hand to draw those details.
CAT WISE: After graduating in 1991, she began working at the Washington Department of Ecology
and was immersed in Olympia's vibrant music and art scene.
NIKKI MCCLURE: We all lived downtown, and these apartment buildings kind of all together,
it was so spontaneous and alive.
And the way that you communicated was through song or through art.
CAT WISE: For a time, McClure also wrote and performed music and lived next to one of the
most famous musicians to come out of Olympia during that era, Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana.
NIKKI MCCLURE: So, I moved into this house, and Kurt lived behind, and I shared the wall,
and I could hear him play his songs through the wall.
Seeing them play, there was this strong connection in this house.
CAT WISE: After deciding to become a full-time artist, McClure began experimenting with paper
cutting.
She self-publishing her first book, "Apple" for children in 1996.
NIKKI MCCLURE: I found that making art was a more calming way to communicate.
I am singing my songs still, but there is a child in a lap, in a home, and it's ultimately
like, that's where I want to sing my songs.
They call these X-Acto, knives, but they're not really exact.
They have this a mind of their own sometimes.
CAT WISE: On a recent morning, I joined McClure at her desk as she worked on a piece that
might end up in a future calendar.
NIKKI MCCLURE: This was this one morning where I was swimming, and I had my arms in front
of me.
The way that the water was making my arms was that they were all squiggled.
They were no longer solid, even though I knew they were solid.
CAT WISE: How do you know where to cut to make the image reveal itself?
NIKKI MCCLURE: I don't.
You just have to trust it.
What I really like about this process is that there are so many mistakes made.
CAT WISE: Really?
NIKKI MCCLURE: And that you are making mistakes over time, in the sense of like, oh, that,
I don't quite work out.
But you just keep going.
And, really, it's just a piece of paper.
CAT WISE: But, oh, what she can do with a piece of paper.
Many of her works are focused on her experiences as a mother and raising her son, Finn, with
her husband, Jay T. Scott, a woodworker in Olympia.
NIKKI MCCLURE: It is such a remarkable gift to participate in this life as it developed
and formed and grew and started asking questions like, "Mama, is it summer yet?
Mama, is it summer yet?
Not yet little one, but the buds are swelling.
Soon, new leaves will unfold.
Mama, is it summer yet?
Not yet, little one, but the squirrel is building her nest.
Soon, her babies will be born."
CAT WISE: In "What Will These Hands Make?"
released in 2020, McClure highlights a family and their community as they prepare for a
celebration.
NIKKI MCCLURE: This is the center map spread from the book "What Will These Hands Make?"
And it basically tells a story of this family, and here they are right here.
They are going from grandma's house -- there's grandma baking -- all the way across town
to this cake, because there's going to be a big party at grandma's house later.
CAT WISE: The community, filled with people who make things with their hands...
NIKKI MCCLURE: Here's my friend Mariela's (ph) pottery studio.
CAT WISE: .. is fictional, but many of the characters and businesses are inspired by
our mutual hometown, Olympia.
NIKKI MCCLURE: Sometimes, I would row into town, and I would row over and go to the Browsers
bookstores here.
CAT WISE: The real Browsers Bookshop is one of the local businesses McClure hand-delivers
her calendars to each year.
NIKKI MCCLURE: Hey, Andrea.
I brought you more calendars.
Andrea Griffith is the store's owner.
ANDREA GRIFFITH, Owner, Browsers Bookshop: Nikki's work, it feels like Olympia.
It's so tied to the natural world and she's -- I think she teaches us how to see things
here.
CAT WISE: Like many in Olympia, Griffith says she feels a connection to McClure and the
life experiences she reveals through her art.
ANDREA GRIFFITH: Last month's calendar was an image of her son's boat sailing kind of
away because her son was going to college.
He's leaving, so I think we're all a little sad.
NIKKI MCCLURE: I guess what I want people to come away with or to feel when they look
at my work is a sense of place and to calm down and slow down and to just take a moment.
Our lives are so fast.
Everything's just, you know, now, now, now, now, now that we forget even what time of
season it is.
The picture can transport them to a quiet, slow, still moment just for a brief second.
CAT WISE: McClure has been working on illustrations for a new book, which will be released in
March.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Cat Wise in Olympia, Washington.
AMNA NAWAZ: And now to the story of an African American woman who helped take down one of
America's most notorious mob bosses.
John Yang has this report that originally aired on "PBS News Weekend" as part of our
Black History Month series "Hidden Histories."
JOHN YANG: Eunice Carter always understood the power of public service.
When she was 7 years old, her parents, both social activists, fled the South after the
1906 Atlanta race riots, moving the family to Brooklyn, New York.
SHAKALA ALVARANGA, Director of Public Programs, The Mob Museum: She was ahead of her time.
JOHN YANG: Shakala Alvaranga is the director of public programs at The Mob Museum in Las
Vegas.
SHAKALA ALVARANGA: Her father, William Hunton Sr., he founded the black division of the
YMCA.
And her mother was a social worker, an activist, and a political organizer.
And she also worked for the YMCA's war efforts during World War I. And she was one of the
women assigned to work with about 200,000 segregated black troops who were stationed
in France at the time.
So her family history holds a lot of depth and a lot of history when it comes to civil
rights.
JERMAINE FOWLER, Author, "The Humanity Archive": So, this is the example that Carter is growing
up in, and this is who she looks to for inspiration.
JOHN YANG: Jermaine Fowler is the author of The Humanity Archive, which highlights the
achievements of black Americans that history books have long ignored.
Her family also made sure she got a good education.
JERMAINE FOWLER: She went to Smith College.
She was only the second black woman to receive a bachelor and a master's degree in four years
in 1921.
And then she entered Fordham Law School as the first black woman to graduate from that
school.
JOHN YANG: She became an assistant district attorney, mostly working at what was then
called Women's Court, prosecuting sex workers.
Her talents came to the attention of Thomas E. Dewey, then beginning his rise to national
prominence as a New York State special prosecutor going after organized crime.
Carter joined his otherwise all white, all male team.
SHAKALA ALVARANGA: They, you know, kind of had this unconventional relationship, but
Dewey clearly knew how talented and how educated Eunice Carter was.
She was out in the community, and a lot of people were talking to her, and they may have
not felt as comfortable talking to the men about, you know, what they were doing.
JOHN YANG: She was paid less than her male counterparts and passed over for promotions.
But her experience in women's court gave her knowledge they didn't have.
JERMAINE FOWLER: She noticed that women being arrested for prostitution from all over New
York City were being represented by the same lawyers and the same bails bondsman.
JOHN YANG: She meticulously followed the connections back to the reigning boss of mafia bosses,
Charles "Lucky" Luciano.
JERMAINE FOWLER: Luciano is this very savvy businessman, but he's also a ruthless mafia
also.
And what we know of as the mafia today was started by Luciano, who consolidated these
blood feuding gangster families during the Prohibition era into one centrally supervised
criminal syndicate.
SHAKALA ALVARANGA: After months of interviewing and wiretapping, Carter and her colleague
at the time, they convinced Dewey that organized crime essentially controlled the brothels.
They would pocket about $40 of their $200 weekly earnings.
And in contrast, Luciano earned millions every year.
JOHN YANG: Carter spearheaded an investigation that included raids on brothels across New
York City.
The evidence gathered led to Luciano's 1936 conviction on more than 60 counts of forced
prostitution.
He was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison.
This episode really helped establish Thomas Dewey nationwide ran for political office.
He was a presidential candidate.
How much credit did Eunice Carter get in all of this?
JERMAINE FOWLER: We kind of see her overlooked, and it's really just within the last few years
that we're recovering her legacy and her contributions to this case and this grant end place that
she holds in American history in terms of prosecution and going against organized crime.
JOHN YANG: After leaving the government, Carter entered private practice.
She was active in the YWCA, the NAACP, and was an adviser to the United Nations.
But it was her work in the Luciano case, helping get justice for the women he abused that cemented
Carter's legacy and earned her the title Lady Racketbuster.
SHAKALA ALVARANGA: She was able to really hone in and really put this case together
in a way that only she could do.
GEOFF BENNETT: And join us again here tomorrow night, when we will have a look at how some
governors are trying to solve their states' problems at a time of intense political polarization.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.