AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Ukraine signals it's open to a 30-day cease-fire after meeting with U.S. diplomats who were pushing to end the war Russia started.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump and Vice President Vance push lawmakers to get on board with a resolution that would avert a government shutdown.

GEOFF BENNETT: And months after the devastation of Hurricane Helene, many residents of Western North Carolina are growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of help from the federal government.

DEE DEE BUCKNER, Marshall, North Carolina, Resident: Well, I thought FEMA was going to step in and help us.

I mean, I thought they were going to offer us shelter.

I mean, listen, we had nowhere to live.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

After 10 days of U.S. pressure on Ukraine following a disastrous Oval Office meeting, today, the U.S. and Ukraine appear to be back in sync.

AMNA NAWAZ: Following a meeting in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. has restarted military and intelligence aid to Ukraine, and the U.S. will present a joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal to Moscow for a cease-fire.

Here's Nick Schifrin with more.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Saudi Arabia today, a breakthrough.

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. National Security Adviser: The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear, that they share President Trump's vision for peace.

NICK SCHIFRIN: National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, met with their Ukrainian counterparts for seven-and-a-half-hours, and after said the U.S. and Ukraine were on the same page.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: Today, we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a cease-fire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In exchange, the U.S. agreed to lift a pause on military aid and intelligence cooperation to the Ukrainian military.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It's a big difference between the last visit you saw at the Oval Office and this.

So, that's a total cease-fire.

Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That tone... DONALD TRUMP: You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: You think... DONALD TRUMP: You're gambling with World War III.

NICK SCHIFRIN: .. a far cry from and perhaps a rehabilitation after the February 28 Oval Office train wreck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke tonight.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through translator): Ukraine is ready for peace.

Russia must also show whether it's ready to end the war or continue it.

The time has come for the whole truth.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Later this week, senior adviser Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to present the joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal.

MARCO RUBIO: The best goodwill gesture the Russians can provide is to say yes, to say yes to the offer that the Ukrainians have made to stop the shooting, to stop the fighting, and get to the table.

If they say no, then we will unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And that was a crucial rhetorical shift today, acknowledging Ukraine's perspective and requests for long-term military assistance.

MARCO RUBIO: Real negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's acceptable to both sides, sustainable, and that ensures the stability and security of Ukraine for the long term.

JOHN HERBST, Former U.S.

Ambassador to Ukraine: As long as it's not undercut by the next step in Moscow, it's a good day which has historic significance.

NICK SCHIFRIN: John Herbst is the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the senior director of The Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

So far, Russia has shown no public willingness to drop its maximalist goals in Ukraine.

And, earlier today, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked Zelenskyy as a warmonger.

SERGEY LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister (through translator): Mr. Zelenskyy publicly declares that he does not want to truce until the United States guarantees that, in the event that something happens, they will bomb Russia with nuclear weapons.

JOHN HERBST: I don't think Putin wants to agree to the cease-fire.

He wants to take more Ukrainian territory.

He wants to establish effective control over Ukraine, which he cannot do if he accepts the cease-fire.

We will see if he crosses Trump now, and, maybe more important, what President Trump does if Putin obviously and publicly refuses to make peace on the basis of this proposal.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Guaranteeing that peace will fall mostly on Europe.

Today, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted military leaders who are developing plans to support Ukraine's military for the next 15 years, said French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

SEBASTIEN LECORNU, French Defense Minister (through translator): Since 2008, we saw the Russian strategy in action, with unfortunately cease-fires that haven't been respected.

We will refuse any form of demilitarization of Ukraine.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, until then, the war rages.

Overnight, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack into Russia in three years of war.

Ukraine's been trying to bring the war to regular Russians' bedrooms literally.Drones hit inside apartments in the Moscow suburbs.

But Russia is making its own gains, raising the Russian tricolor in the Russian region of Kursk, which has been occupied by Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Russian soldiers said they walked through a nine-mile-long natural gas pipeline in Kursk to surprise Ukrainian soldiers from the rear in now devastated villages.

This war has taken a terrible toll on land and lives.

And now there's a tentative step to negotiate its end.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: We start today's other headlines with the latest back-and-forth in America's trade war with its northern neighbor.

The White House says a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum will go into effect at midnight tonight for Canada and other U.S. trading partners.

That's after trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. will not be doubling those tariffs after all.

Earlier in the day, President Trump wrote on his social media platform that he's adding an additional 25 percent tariff on such products starting tomorrow.

Mr. Trump said this was in response to the province of Ontario raising prices for electricity coming into the U.S.

Following Mr. Trump's warning, Ontario's premier, Doug Ford, wrote on social media that the province had agreed to suspend its 25 percent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

All this back-and-forth added to the unease on Wall Street today.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 500 points on the day.

The Nasdaq slipped about 30 points, but ended off its lows of the day.

The S&P 500 flirted with correction territory during today's session before ending about 40 points lower.

The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending a ban on some helicopter flights around Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

It comes as part of their preliminary report on the January collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said today that, under current protocol, helicopters flying a certain route can come within 75 feet of aircraft landing at the airport.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, Chair, National Transportation Safety Board: Seventy-five feet is very close.

That is far too close of a proximity.

We have stated it's an intolerable risk to aviation safety.

GEOFF BENNETT: Federal aviation officials had restricted helicopter flights around Reagan Airport immediately following the crash.

Now flights are put on temporary hold when helicopters need to pass by.

In the U.K., police arrested a 59-year-old man on suspected manslaughter in connection with yesterday's collision between two ships in the North Sea.

One sailor is presumed dead, while the 36 other crew members were safely rescued.

Aerial footage showed the cargo ship a drift and still on fire in some places 24 hours after it rammed into a stationary tanker.

That vessel, which had been transporting jet fuel, now has a huge gash on its port side.

Its owner said it's unclear exactly how much fuel spilled into the sea.

Environmentalists fear the crash could have lasting effects on wildlife, including fish and seabirds.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been flown to The Hague, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

A jet said to be carrying Duterte was seen departing from the Philippine capital, Manila, after his surprise arrest by police.

The ICC is investigating the violent anti-drug crackdown during his time in office.

Thousands of people were reportedly killed by his police forces.

The 79-year-old has always defended his methods.

Today, he questioned the reason for his arrest in a video posted by his daughter on Instagram.

RODRIGO DUTERTE, Former President of the Philippines: What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?

So you have to answer now for the deprivation of liberty.

GEOFF BENNETT: Duterte himself withdrew the Philippines from the group of countries that recognized the court's authority back in 2019.

But judges at the ICC say their case is valid because their investigation involves killings that took place when the Philippines was still a member of the court.

In the Middle East, Israel has killed at least eight people in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, adding pressure to an already fragile cease-fire with Hamas.

The "News Hour" captured this footage from the Netzarim checkpoint where an Israeli attack killed five Palestinians while they were inspecting their destroyed home.

That's according to our reporter on the ground.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of militants -- quote -- "engaged in suspicious activity."

The cease-fire has held since January, but talks over entering a second phase of the truce have stalled.

In Greenland, residents there voted in early parliamentary elections today with President Trump's ambition to take control of the island firmly on their minds.

TUUTA LYNGE-LARSEN, Nuuk, Greenland, Resident: We don't want to be a part of the USA, for obvious reasons like health care and Trump.

GEOFF BENNETT: While they're not actually voting on joining the U.S., Greenlanders will choose lawmakers who will shape the debate on that issue, plus future independence from Denmark.

The self-governing territory is home to some 56,000 people.

Unofficial election results are expected tonight, but they won't be certified for weeks.

Most of the world's population is breathing polluted air.

That's according to a new study from the Switzerland-based monitoring database IQAir.

Out of 138 countries monitored, Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India have the most pollution.

Only seven countries meet the WHO's clean air guidelines.

They include Australia, New Zealand and Estonia.

And only 17 percent of cities meet that bar, with Los Angeles having the dirtiest air in the U.S. Air pollution is believed to kill an estimated nine million people each year.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the Teamsters union president on the new labor secretary and President Trump's economic agenda; we look back five years after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic; and taking stock of the cultural heritage lost in California's devastating wildfires.

President Trump's Cabinet is now complete.

The U.S. Senate late yesterday confirmed President Trump's final Cabinet secretary in a broadly bipartisan vote.

Former Oregon Congresswoman and now Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer picked up support early on in the nomination process from labor groups, including one of the largest unions, the Teamsters, with its 1.3 million members.

We're joined now by Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to talk about that and more.

Welcome back to the "News Hour," sir.

So let's start with the confirmation of Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary.

You have said that the Teamsters were largely influential in President Trump's selection of her.

Why is she the right choice to serve as labor secretary right now?

SEAN O'BRIEN, General President, Teamsters: Well, she's definitely the right choice.

I mean, she's always been pro-worker.

She's a daughter of a retired Teamster.

And she was the right choice, and she was the only choice.

We lobbied President Trump right after the election very hard, saying that -- stating our case that he made a lot of promises and commitments, and he lived up to his commitment as far as making certain that working people, especially union people, were taken care of and that we have a seat at the table.

And as a result of Secretary DeRemer's confirmation, we certainly do have a seat at that table.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, beyond having a seat at the table, how can she effectively champion what you would see as pro-union policy in an administration that has taken anti-worker stances, as many people see it?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Right.

Well, I mean, look, she's going to have pressure from the administration.

But remember one thing.

We rallied labor after the election to support her confirmation.

I think it was the second most bipartisan confirmation.

So we do have credibility and influence.

And I believe, through conversations, through her leadership and consulting with unions like the Teamsters union and other labor unions, that we will not only be able to work with her, but we also hopefully will be able to work with the administration.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, taking a broader look at our politics, unions have backed the Democratic Party for decades with a steady stream of money.

Voters and volunteers this last election saw a realignment.

Trump's winning coalition included a lot of rank-and-file union members.

I know you're in constant touch with your membership.

What do they make of these first two months of the administration so far and the response from Democrats as well?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Well, it certainly hasn't been a subtle beginning, but the reality of it is, the Democrats, as I have stated in many platforms, forgot who they represented.

I think the Democrats were too focused on social issues, which are very important, but our members were more concerned about the economic issues.

And the Democrats seemed to wanted to tell people how they should vote.

And my membership is very active, they're very intelligent, and people don't like to be told what to do.

So the Democrats have a lot of work to regain the confidence of working people, especially our members.

But the Republicans also have some work to do because they made a lot of promises during this election.

They made promises that they wanted to be the party for the working-class people.

So we're going to have the ability to work and hopefully rebuild a Democratic Party that once represented the core values of working people, and also work in conjunction with Republicans.

And look, I think, by the vote of Secretary DeRemer and the cooperation, I think we had 17 Democrats that broke ranks that were told to vote no, no matter what, so that's a good sign.

That's a great sign.

And, look, our goal all along is to get both sides to collaborate on behalf of working people.

There's going to be issues that we don't agree on, but there's going to be a lot of issues that I think we can work collectively on to effectuate positive change on behalf of working people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, one of those issues will certainly be tariffs.

The Teamsters is an international organization, as the name makes clear.

I know you have a Canadian branch as well.

But when you think about the domestic impact, how are you using your influence with the administration to mitigate the outcomes on the folks that you represent and those affected sectors?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Look, the tariffs are controversial.

There's no doubt about it.

But I think what's important, you can look at the good side of tariffs and the bad side.

I think what's important to us and to working people and the unions is to bring back manufacturing, bring back industries that were allowed to go to foreign countries, where we can actually put people to work, create a middle class and give people opportunities in industries that once thrived in the United States.

So that's a positive.

As far as the taxes in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else, China, look, it's going to be a wait and see in what effect it has on the economy.

And I'm confident that, if it's, as negative as people are portraying it, people should get back to the table and figure out what's in the best interest of the American people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, based on your experience, do tariffs represent the most effective strategy to reshore manufacturing to the U.S., which Donald Trump has said is a goal of his?

Is there evidence for that?

SEAN O'BRIEN: Well, I think, if tariffs are going to play a role where it's too expensive to import products from other countries, and it's going to be cheaper to manufacture them, but more importantly, create jobs that were lost as a result of bad trade agreements that were made in the early 90s, I think that would be a positive thing, creating jobs in America.

GEOFF BENNETT: Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, thanks for joining us.

SEAN O'BRIEN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Late this afternoon, the Department of Education announced plans to cut nearly half of its employees more than 1, 300 people.

It's the latest move by the Trump administration to dramatically reshape the size and scope of the federal government.

Lisa Desjardins has been tracking these late changes, and she joins me now.

So, Lisa, we know this is a huge cut for a department the president has said that he actually wants to try to eliminate altogether.

Where are those cuts happening, and what's the impact?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

Department of Education officials spoke to reporters a short time ago.

This is major news.

Now, these are going to be the largest cuts that the Department of Education has experienced since it was created.

So, let's take a look at what we know.

We are expecting 1,300 people to be fired, reduction in force.

That's a termination.

Now, that is in addition to more than 500 people who took different offers, for example, the fork offer to leave early.

So, when you put all that together, Amna, what you have is a Department of Education that will see a total work force cut of about 50 percent.

Now, this is -- it looks to be one of the largest cuts we have seen in reduction of force in federal history for one agency, of course, the USAID also having a major cut.

Workers today didn't find out about this directly.

Some of them may be learning about it right now as I speak to you.

But what they did receive was an e-mail telling them that they had to leave their offices in the Washington area by 6:00, that the doors would be shut, and that for security reasons, the e-mail said, they were not allowed to return tomorrow.

Offices here in the Washington area will be closed tomorrow for the Department of Education.

The official on the call with reporters said that's for safety reasons.

Now, they didn't take any questions, so we don't really understand.

They said that's for the safety of the workers that are remaining.

One other important note, they plan on closing Department of Education facilities in a number of cities.

I think they mentioned New York, Chicago, Boston, and in Washington, going from three buildings down to one, ultimately.

AMNA NAWAZ: The big news late today.

We're going to keep tracking that.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, another story you're tracking, of course, the House of Representatives passed its plan to avert a potential government shutdown, the funding bill later this week.

There were some Republican holdouts even as late as this morning who eventually changed their mind.

What happened?

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Kyle Midura, our producer, was in the halls this morning talking to a number of members who said, I'm still undecided.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Well, they had to get this perfect, and House Republicans did.

This was a very big victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump.

And it was Trump and Vice President Vance who helped secure this.

Vance spoke to Republicans in person at the Capitol today, put on the pressure, and got every single Republican, except for one, Thomas Massie, he was a guaranteed no, to push this through.

So, a big win for Republicans.

Now this goes to the Senate.

AMNA NAWAZ: This goes to the Senate.

We also know there was a lone Democrat in the House who voted for this bill.

What should we understand about that?

And what do we expect to happen in the Senate?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's notable.

Jared Golden of Maine is known as a moderate Democrat.

He is the only one who voted to pass this.

And he took to social media, and he said, he did not think this was a perfect bill, but he did not want to shut down government.

He also criticized Democrats, Amna, interestingly, saying that their messaging was inappropriate, and he felt like they were saying outlandish and inappropriate or inaccurate things about this bill.

He again said not perfect, but he doesn't want to shut down government.

As for the Senate, what the House is doing here, they're leading town, and they're daring Senate Democrats to shut down government.

I don't think they will.

This is jamming the Senate.

Usually, it goes the other way.

Right now, we're on track for this bill to pass.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Desjardins covering the late-breaking news here.

Lisa, thank you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's been more than five months since Hurricane Helene devastated several states across the Southeast.

And, in North Carolina, where Helene killed more than 100 people and caused nearly $60 billion in damage, many of the hardest-hit residents have grown increasingly frustrated with FEMA, a federal agency that's also been in the crosshairs of President Trump.

The president is also expected to sign an executive order that could reshape how disaster relief is administered by placing more responsibilities on states, rather than the federal government.

Here's William Brangham.

SAM SAUNDERS, Black Mountain, North Carolina, Resident: This is part of the roof from my house.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In Black Mountain, North Carolina, Sam Saunders returns to the scattered remains of his home.

SAM SAUNDERS: And right in front of us, that's more of my house.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And the memory of what Hurricane Helene did that early morning back in September is still fresh in his mind.

SAM SAUNDERS: I was asleep.

My bed was right about here.

And I was awakened by the sound and the vibration of the house being hit from behind, the mudslide coming down right behind the house, knocked me out of bed.

And the entire house with me in it went down the mountainside here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Saunders broke 18 bones, including 11 ribs, and punctured both of his lungs.

It would take about 30 hours before he was evacuated and flown to a hospital, where he spent the next several weeks.

SAM SAUNDERS: I built this with my own hands 28 years ago, but, anyway, we will start over.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But starting over hasn't been easy.

Like many of his neighbors, he didn't have flood insurance, so, within a few days of the storm, Saunders says his sister began reaching out to FEMA to help him apply for assistance.

SAM SAUNDERS: Basically, I went four months without getting one phone call returned from FEMA.

And they said, who are you?

Your application was withdrawn.

What do you mean my application was withdrawn?

Well, it shows here that you withdrew your application.

I said I didn't withdraw my application.

DEE DEE BUCKNER, Marshall, North Carolina, Resident: Who would ever thought that there would be a hurricane in the mountains of Western North Carolina?

I mean, who would ever thought that?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Dee Dee Buckner's home in,Marshall, North Carolina, was also inundated with floodwater and plastered with mud.

The storm destroyed almost everything her family owned.

While they did have flood insurance, she says the payment they received went to their bank just to cover their mortgage.

DEE DEE BUCKNER: The water in this room was about up to right here on this window.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She says she applied to FEMA for help and within a few days got a one-time $750 payment for immediate needs and later her family received another $3,000.

DEE DEE BUCKNER: Well, I thought FEMA was going to step in and help us.

I mean, I thought they were going to offer a shelter.

I mean, listen we had nowhere to live.

They did not even give us motel vouchers.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Helene damaged more than 70,000 homes in North Carolina.

And you hear frustrations towards FEMA from many in this sprawling rural stretch of the state.

Residents complain of a bewildering thicket of red tape just to get help.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: FEMA has turned out to be a disaster.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: FEMA has also been a frequent target of President Trump, who has pushed to reform or even eliminate the agency.

DONALD TRUMP: I'd like to see the states take care of disasters.

Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen.

ANNA STEARNS, Attorney: There was certainly an expectation among people in this community that FEMA assistance would do more.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Anna Stearns is a local lawyer in Black Mountain, North Carolina, who's been helping residents apply for FEMA assistance.

While she's heard plenty of anger toward FEMA, she says, because Helene delivered such a devastating blow to the region, it was incredibly difficult to reach people in need.

ANNA STEARNS: We had 2,000 landslides in Western North Carolina.

We were cut off by the interstate on all sides.

We had no rail.

For a short time, we had no access to even our airport because there were no communications.

Given the challenges that they were facing, I think FEMA's done a pretty good job.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Stearns says, sure, there are valid criticisms of FEMA, but she argues individual states cannot, on their own, cover the costs or the manpower needed to handle the growing toll from natural disasters.

ANNA STEARNS: North Carolina is not equipped to fund that recovery effort.

And we certainly don't have the ability to mobilize personnel to respond to a disaster of this magnitude the way that the federal government does.

BECKY LOFTIS, Marion, North Carolina, Resident: People were without Internet and power for days, weeks, some people even months without power and Internet, so it was almost impossible to go online and apply.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Becky Loftis and her husband had been away on vacation during Hurricane Helene.

When they returned home to the town of Marion, they found a tree had torn through their roof, causing what she says is more than $120,000 worth of damage.

Insurance covered her upstairs and roof, but none of the flood damage.

She applied for FEMA assistance and received $750 in hotel vouchers and has been fighting with FEMA ever since for more.

BECKY LOFTIS: Personally, I don't think FEMA needs to be abolished.

I think there are some good things that come from FEMA, but I think, as far as helping the citizens after a disaster, after everything is -- the storm is over and we're trying to get back into our normal lives, I think that's where we need some top-down reorganization.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: According to FEMA, the agency has helped more than 150,000 families in North Carolina.

And a spokesperson told the "News Hour" that over $800 million has been approved to support recovery efforts there, $167 million of which has come since President Trump took office.

Anna Stearns says some of the frustration towards FEMA comes because it's the main public face of disaster response.

Plus, she says, much of the agency's work is invisible.

ANNA STEARNS: Most people do not know what FEMA does to support the local government effort to respond to the disaster.

So, the laundry and shower stations, the debris removal, the road repair, the water system repairs, all of those things get reimbursed most of the time to the local government through FEMA.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Back in Marshall, North Carolina, Dee Dee Buckner and her family are now living in a donated R.V.

A local nonprofit has stepped in to help rebuild their home, and her anger towards FEMA has only grown with time.

DEE DEE BUCKNER: FEMA, that is the biggest joke.

I wish that President Trump would redo the whole thing to where everybody gets treated fairly.

There are some of us that need the assistance from FEMA that have gotten nothing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As for Sam Saunders, after months of waiting, FEMA accepted his application, and, last month, he moved into a trailer the agency provided.

It also gave him $56,000 for his losses.

SAM SAUNDERS: My opinion, and maybe I'm just different, is, at least it's something.

They don't have to give me anything, but if I'm getting that toward purchasing a new home as a down payment or whatever, I'm grateful.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today marks five years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the day everything changed.

In a quick succession of events, schools and businesses shut down, lockdowns were put in place, travel halted, and hospitals were overcapacity with sick Americans who hoped the virus would go away in a matter of weeks.

But it didn't.

Globally, COVID-19 has killed more than seven million people, including more than 1.2 million Americans, in the process leaving lasting marks on how we connect, work and live.

We're joined now by Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health.

He was the COVID response coordinator at the White House for former President Joe Biden.

Thanks for being with us.

We appreciate it.

DR. ASHISH JHA, Dean, Brown University School of Public Health: Thanks for having me back.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's so easy to think of COVID as something in the rearview, something that we have moved beyond.

And yet 6,500 Americans have died from COVID since the start of the year.

What questions remain about the disease, about the virus and effective treatment?

DR. ASHISH JHA: Yes, so we're certainly in a much, much better place than we were five years ago.

And while it continues to be around and affect us, right now, the population that's largely being affected by COVID are the elderly and the immunocompromised who are not staying up to date on their vaccine.

So I do think we have a strategy for how to manage this virus moving forward that leaves it not particularly disruptive and the one that doesn't have to cause a lot of serious illness and death.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about long COVID?

What progress has been made in treatment on that front?

DR. ASHISH JHA: Yes, I feel like this is something that we just have not made as much progress as we need to.

So let's talk about long COVID.

Most of the people who have long-term effects of COVID are people who got infected relatively early in the first or second year.

Thankfully, now people getting COVID infections are not likely or not very likely to end up with long COVID.

That's good news.

The problem, Geoff, is, we really have not figured out what is long COVID.

It's probably not one condition.

It's probably one of two or three different conditions.

And NIH, I think, has not done enough to test out treatments for these populations to really understand what we can do to help them get better.

GEOFF BENNETT: Five years on, when we think about what worked in terms of the response, what lessons carry forward, in your view?

DR. ASHISH JHA: Yes, what I look -- there's a lot of things that happened in the five years and a lot of things that we as a society got right, a lot of things we got wrong.

When I think about the big themes here, to me, when we leaned in on the scientific method and the scientific process, we did well.

We built a vaccine in very, very short time period.

President Trump deserves a lot of credit for that, and then got that -- those vaccines out to hundreds of millions of Americans.

President Biden deserves a lot of credit for that.

So we did that well.

We did therapeutics well.

We were -- clearly there were a substantial number of mistakes.

I think the way we handled schools was a disaster.

Most schools could have opened by the fall of 2020.

And they didn't.

And I think that it's going to have lasting impacts.

We have got to look back at this entire time period with a very clear eye about what went well, what went wrong, just so we make sure we do better next time.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about the vaccine mandates?

Was that the right approach?

DR. ASHISH JHA: I will be very honest, Geoff.

I thought initially they were.

I think it clearly saved lives in the short run.

We have very good data that, when mandates were put in, a lot more people got vaccinated.

It undoubtedly saved lives.

It also unfortunately sowed the seeds of distrust that we continue to see today.

And so, in retrospect, this is one of those things where I was very positive about that initially.

I have gone back and wondered, was that the right answer?

Was the long-term cost of those mandates worth it?

In the moment of the crisis, you want to save lives, and I understand why that was done.

I do think has had a lot of negative long-term effects as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, on that point, a Pew survey last month found big differences between Republicans and Democrats about how public health officials responded.

Just 35 percent of Republicans thought they did a good job.

Neither Presidents Trump or Biden received good ratings.

And then 55 percent of all adults felt the media exaggerated the risks.

What do you make of that?

Is the public trust broken for good?

How do we get it back?

DR. ASHISH JHA: Yes.

So, first of all, I hate the fact that it is has become partisan.

Public health has actually largely not been particularly partisan throughout American history.

So this is a this is an unwelcome change.

I do think we can get it back.

I think we get it back by, first of all, acknowledging mistakes that the public health officials made, public health experts made.

I think that's a really important start.

I also think we get it back by working in those communities to address the big public health issues of our time.

I think, if we work with trusted messengers, religious leaders, political leaders in those communities.

We can build back trust and convince people that public health has been this incredible boon for human longevity over the last 100 years.

It can and will be again.

GEOFF BENNETT: And yet there is the potential for a wider measles outbreak, worries about bird flu presenting in humans, the attitudes and approach of RFK Jr. as HHS secretary.

What are the stakes and what are the implications?

DR. ASHISH JHA: Yes.

I'm very, very worried about this.

I mean, Secretary Kennedy said he was pro-vaccines, and yet his, short tenure as the health secretary of our country has not been reassuring.

He has been incredibly -- I think the most generous thing we can say about the way he's talked about vaccines is that it's been confusing.

But the bottom line here is, we need a secretary who's really committed to modern medicine and vaccines to keep Americans safe.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Ashish Jha, always a pleasure to speak with you.

Thanks for making time for us.

AMNA NAWAZ: January's wildfires in Southern California killed at least 29 people and left thousands without homes, juggling insurance claims, and questions over whether to rebuild.

Another huge loss amid all the rubble, the legacy of historic buildings throughout Los Angeles County.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has this look for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: First, of course, come the individual lives, livelihoods and homes, an enormous devastation measured in thousands of very specific losses.

But the story of a community, a city, a region is also told through its cultural, historical and architectural heritage.

And here too the recent Los Angeles fires have been devastating.

Adrian Scott Fine is president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE, President and CEO, Los Angeles Conservancy: Los Angeles says many things, and certainly that is the case for the Palisades and Altadena.

It's not one thing.

It's layers of history.

You have to work for it a little harder to understand its story, its heritage, and why it's important.

But it's here, and I think, again, now we're understanding just how important it was and also so much we have lost.

JEFFREY BROWN: In normal times, the Conservancy works to bring out that story, documenting and preserving buildings and other parts of the culture.

Now it's a documentation of loss, just beginning to assess the possibility of rebuilding and restoration.

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE: Within a almost a blink of an eye, everything that really forms the ingredients of your community disappear.

Those places and spaces, I think people understand how important they actually are in our lives.

And we all, I think for myself and others, just understanding the losses here, also realizing that we take heritage and these places and spaces for granted, that I'm now lamenting that I didn't visit some of these places or I didn't, fully experiencing them before they're gone.

And I don't think I'm alone in terms of processing that right now.

JEFFREY BROWN: Major losses include structures within the Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades.

Originally built for the fame actor and humorist, it became a beloved getaway for generations to hike, picnic, enjoy movie nights, and even polo games.

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE: This is a seminal part of the story of the Palisades, a figure like Will Rogers, sort of this folk hero, actor, beloved figure for his time period.

And this was his ranch, his house.

The main barn burned and other buildings as part of that historic homestead.

And that was hugely significant in terms of the loss.

The land is still there, but the buildings that really helped tell that story are now gone.

JEFFREY BROWN: Also gone, buildings and housing developments that have made Los Angeles architecturally unique, the 100-year-old Nature Friends clubhouse in Sierra Madre, a Bavarian-style lodge that had been a sanctuary for nature and art lovers.

Tahitian Terrace mobile home park along the beach in the Palisades, an ocean view for hundreds without the multimillion-dollar price tag, 20 of the 28 so-called Park Planned Homes in Altadena, a groundbreaking social experiment of prefabricated homes for working-class families designed to foster a connection between nature and neighbors.

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE: Certainly, there's places that are the architectural icons, and those are the ones that are kind of easy to grasp and understand why they're important.

But it's also community churches.

We have a number of churches, synagogue that have been completely destroyed through this fire.

And those are community touch points.

Those are things that people are so incredibly connected to in terms of feeling like it's part of their home.

Same goes for schools that have been destroyed through this fire.

JEFFREY BROWN: Some architectural icons survived, including the Eames home in Pacific Palisades, designed and constructed in 1949 by husband and wife Charles and Ray Eames, two of the 20th century's most influential designers, to serve as their home and studio.

Also preserved, other of the so-called Case Study Houses from the 1940s, '50s and '60s originally designed to be models for affordable postwar homes for family living.

And the Burns House designed by famed architect Charles Moore.

What's the task now for your Conservancy?

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE: Our goal is to try to help the buildings that did survive that were only damaged and to bring in resources, whether it's a preservation architect or a structural engineer that can help an owner figure out how do they rebuild, what's the next step, how do they stabilize the building that's still standing?

The unfortunate reality that we're seeing is most of the buildings, the historic buildings or entire neighborhoods were completely decimated.

And so that is a much different concept in terms of what does rebuilding look like, in terms of how do we rebuild with heritage in mind, how do we rebuild with the people that were there before and allow and want to ensure that they come back?

And that is really built on that foundation.

I think that is something everyone is grappling about.

What does that look like?

How long is that going to take?

JEFFREY BROWN: Is it too early to think about rebuilding some of these cultural heritage sites, especially from a safety point of view?

ADRIAN SCOTT FINE: I don't think it's too early, but I do think we need to take a beat and really think through about what does this look like?

But it's also raising new questions about, in an environment that we're dealing with now and knowing that wildfires are likely in the future, how do we rebuild in a way that is safer, more resilient, more fire-retardant in terms of this?

So I think it's raising lots of questions that we need a thoughtful process.

JEFFREY BROWN: The Conservancy is just now starting to go into impacted areas and is working to create a complete map of heritage sites and resources.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we will be back shortly.

But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air.

AMNA NAWAZ: For those of you staying with us, we have a second look now at the growth of offshore wind farms and the questions surrounding their impact.

GEOFF BENNETT: Science O'Brien -- science correspondent Miles O'Brien takes us to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where local officials are trying to find a balance between greener renewable energy and the potential impact on the fishing industry.

MILES O'BRIEN: In the early 19th century, New Bedford, Massachusetts was one of the wealthiest cities in the country because of a grim industry.

It was the whaling capital of the world.

The oil produced from the carcasses lit the Eastern Seaboard before the transition to fossil fuels.

This city, ironically, is on the cusp of being a center of energy once again.

This time, the resource is blowing in the wind.

The tall pylons at the Marine Commerce Terminal are the most conspicuous features in an evolving harbor, an economic transition spurred by the energy transition.

There are cranes everywhere.

You're really remaking this port, aren't you?

JON MITCHELL, Mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts: Yes, we really are.

Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mayor Jon Mitchell took me on a cruise around the harbor.

You have got construction all up and down this harbor.

MILES O'BRIEN: So what's the total dollar amount right now?

JON MITCHELL: It's about $1.1 billion.

MILES O'BRIEN: Would that have happened without wind?

JON MITCHELL: A lot of it wouldn't.

In fact, most of it would not.

What we're doing is playing to our advantages.

That's what you see here.

MILES O'BRIEN: The mayor is on a political tightrope.

The wind industry that he's been courting for a dozen years is caught in a net of opposition from the economic engine that has propelled New Bedford for the last century.

CASSIE CANASTRA, BASE Seafood Auction: We don't know, are my scallops that I harvest now going to be there in 20 years in the same spot that they have always been?

MILES O'BRIEN: Cassie Canastra and her family run the largest fish auction the U.S. East Coast.

About 70 percent of all the scallops that land on your plate first land here.

New Bedford is the most lucrative fishing port in the U.S.

But scalloper Eric Hansen is very wary of what may lie ahead.

In raising your concern now, you're trying to get out ahead of this.

Is that the idea?

ERIC HANSEN, Owner, Hansen Scalloping Inc.: Get out ahead is an interesting way to say it.

I envision that we have a bunch of steamrollers coming to steamroll our fishery, and we're just trying to steer them.

I don't think we can stop them.

MILES O'BRIEN: He's asking the wind industry to slow down to allow some time for scientists to do some solid research to try and uncover the unintended consequences of wind farms in the ocean.

MILES O'BRIEN: Aran Mooney is a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is where I met him as he was pile-driving for data.

Beneath the surface, flounder, lobsters and scallops, bottom dwellers, are getting blasted with a lot of noise to see how they respond.

ARAN MOONEY: We have actually cameras and sensors on animals under this water, as we measure sort of their behavior and their physiological sort of responses to this.

MILES O'BRIEN: They have been conducting tests like these for three years.

They started with squid and black sea bass.

Can we say for certain that it causes stress in these animals?

ARAN MOONEY: So it really depends on which species and the context that they're in.

MILES O'BRIEN: And what they're doing.

ARAN MOONEY: So, resting squid were very sensitive to the sound.

Mating squid couldn't care less.

MILES O'BRIEN: Scallops close tight each time a pile driver strikes.

ARAN MOONEY: Those responses repeated again over hours and days could be really stressful for the animals.

So I think that may tire them out and make them more susceptible to predation.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mooney is hopeful his work will lead to a more informed construction strategy, things like limiting pile-driving to when squid are mating, avoiding scallop beds, and ramping up the sound gradually.

There are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle; 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Brendan Runde is angling for answers.

He's a fisheries biologist with The Nature Conservancy.

This is the site of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm.

When complete, it will be the largest in the U.S.

He and his team are catching sea bass and attaching acoustic tags to them.

BRENDAN RUNDE, The Nature Conservancy: This is the part that might be a little uncomfortable for some viewers.

MILES O'BRIEN: The system allows him to track the fish.

In addition, he has installed hydrophones to measure the underwater sound.

WOMAN: Awesome.

Away she goes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Comparing the spikes and decibels to the movement of the fish may fill in some blanks.

BRENDAN RUNDE: Maybe they will hunker down near the seafloor, and if that does happen, how long does it last?

Another possible response is that black sea bass and the other fish we're tagging might simply leave the area when pile-driving happens.

MILES O'BRIEN: But it's very likely they will come back.

Runde says these fish are actually attracted to the turbines, which become artificial reefs.

MILES O'BRIEN: While scientists try to get some real data, many opponents of offshore wind are peddling alternative facts.

Donald Trump is leading the chorus, vowing to try and stop offshore windmill construction.

This is why, in New Bedford, Mayor Mitchell has carefully tailored his pro-wind argument around economic development, jobs, not the climate emergency.

He thinks this has created a firmer foundation of support now that the political winds have shifted in Washington.

Are you worried at all that offshore wind is still, if you will excuse the expression, not on firm ground politically and otherwise?

JON MITCHELL: Yes, I think so.

I guess the question about offshore wind fundamentally is how rapidly it will deploy.

It is here in the United States.

It's here to stay.

The horse is out of the barn in offshore wind.

And it's a question of how rapidly that horse is going to run at this point.

MILES O'BRIEN: For now, it is a one-horse race.

Electric vehicles and artificial intelligence are fueling a dramatic increase in demand for electricity.

In September, Microsoft announced a deal to reopen a mothballed nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, to power data centers.

Besides that, here in the Northeast, there are no other renewable options on the horizon.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Miles O'Brien off the coast of Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: Now to a 20th century physicist who made enduring, but largely overlooked contributions to her field.

AMNA NAWAZ: John Yang has this story that originally aired as part of "PBS News Weekend"'s ongoing series "Hidden Histories."

JOHN YANG: Over the course of her trailblazing career, Chien-Shiung Wu was known by a number of monikers, the first lady of physics, the queen of nuclear research, the Chinese Marie Curie.

She was one of the most influential physicist of the 20th century.

Her work helped hasten the end of the Second World War and changed our understanding of subatomic particles.

At a time when it was rare to educate girls in China, she studied physics at National Central University in what is now Nanjing, graduating at the top of her class.

With a financial support of an uncle, Wu came to the United States and, in 1940, earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

She couldn't find a research position at a university, so became a teacher.

She was the first woman in Princeton University's Physics Department.

In 1944, she was asked to join the faculty of Columbia University to become a senior scientist on the top secret Manhattan Project, the government's World War II efforts to develop an atomic weapon.

Her work primarily involved uranium enrichment and radiation detection.

Columbia, where she worked until retiring in 1980, was the site of her most significant work.

In 1956, theoretical physicist Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang asked her to come up with a way to test their theory on the behavior of subatomic particles.

The results of her ingenious method, known as the Wu Experiment, shattered a fundamental concept of nuclear physics that had been universally accepted for 30 years.

Lee and Yang were awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, but Wu, like many women's scientist of her day, was left out.

In a speech at MIT in 1964, she asked whether the tiny atoms and nuclei or the mathematical symbols or the DNA molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment.

Her 1965 book, "Beta Decay," is still concerned standard reading for nuclear physicist.

While her work wasn't recognized for the Nobel Prize she earned many other honors, including the National Medal of Science in 1975 and the first Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978.

And in 2021, 24 years after her death in 1997, Wu was honored with a U.S. postage stamp.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you can watch more of "PBS News Weekend"'s "Hidden Histories" segments online at PBS.org/NewsHour.

GEOFF BENNETT: Finally, we want to mark the passing of a familiar furry face here at the "News Hour."

Lisa Desjardins' cat Rocky appeared behind her when she reported from home during the pandemic and beyond.

The short-haired tuxedo cat amassed quite a following, with viewers often writing in to ask about him.

Rocky passed away today and will be missed.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.