PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: The Supreme Court weighs whether federal protections for emergency medical care override a near-total ban of abortions at the state level.

GEOFF BENNETT: After months of wrangling in the House, President Biden signs a major foreign aid package that includes tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine.

AMNA NAWAZ: And evangelical Christians in Ukraine are caught in the crosshairs of Russia's invasion.

OLEKSANDR ZAIETS, Chairman, Institute for Religious Freedom (through translator): Many prayer houses have been closed, sealed off, and believers are forced to gather in private homes in secret in order to pray and take part in rituals.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

It was a charged atmosphere at the Supreme Court today, as the justices heard arguments in a major abortion case out of Idaho.

The court looked at whether a federal law requiring hospitals to provide medical care in emergency situations would apply to states with strict abortion bans.

Currently, more than two dozen states ban or severely restrict abortion access but there are six states, in particular, including Idaho, with no health exceptions.

GEOFF BENNETT: The case brought protesters on all sides of the abortion issue to the Supreme Court today for what was the second case on reproductive care before the court in the last month.

Special correspondent Sarah Varney joins us.

She's spent years covering health care and is closely following the case.

Sarah, thanks so much for being with us.

The arguments today were lively and there was a lot of talk about this federal law and how it is applied.

Walk us through the arguments.

SARAH VARNEY: So the Idaho law that you outlined went into effect at the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Way about two years ago, and it made abortion illegal, except when a woman is about to die due to her pregnancy.

So the Biden administration sued Idaho, saying that the state's ban conflicts with a federal law called EMTALA that stands for the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

And EMTALA basically requires hospitals to stabilize all patients, even if that requires an abortion, not just when the patient is about to die, but to preserve their health.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there were some intense exchanges during the session today, especially from the court's liberal wing, who seemed to take issue with the Idaho law.

Let's listen to Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: Idaho law says the doctor has to determine not that there's merely a serious medical condition, but that the person will die.

JOSHUA TURNER, Attorney: Yes.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR: That's a huge difference, counselor.

JOSHUA TURNER: We agree that there is daylight between how the administration is reading EMTALA and what Idaho's Defense of Life Act permits.

We agree that there is a controversy here.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR: No, no, no, no, there's more than a controversy.

What you are saying is that there is no federal law on the book that prohibits any state from saying, even if a woman will die, you can't perform an abortion.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what concern is she highlighting here?

SARAH VARNEY: Justice Sotomayor is saying that if the federal government can't compel states to provide medical care, in the sense that it's always going to be up to the state then to make that call, so then, conceivably, a state like Idaho, which does have fetal personhood, could prioritize fetal life over a pregnant woman's life, even when that pregnancy is not likely to survive.

And the briefs in this case are full of real-life stories of pregnant women being denied standard medical care in Idaho and around the country.

Justice Sotomayor described a real-life case of a woman in Florida.

She was 16 weeks pregnant when she went to the E.R.

And she felt a gush of water leave her body, as many of us who have been pregnant know that that's a premature rupture, which puts you at risk for serious uncontrolled infection.

She was refused treatment because the fetus, which would not survive, was still alive.

And, eventually, the woman bled out and was finally given an abortion.

This was -- these are the kinds of cases that the justices were bringing up today.

And the justices here were focused much more on the harm and suffering, permanent harm, hysterectomy, loss of fertility, that women face with pregnancy.

And at one point, it was actually really surprising.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is a staunch opponent of abortion rights, seemed kind of taken aback by what she was hearing that was happening at hospitals in Idaho and elsewhere.

AMY CONEY BARRETT, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: I'm kind of shocked, actually, because I thought your own expert had said below that these kinds of cases were covered.

And you're now saying they're not?

JOSHUA TURNER: No, I'm not saying that.

That's just my point, Your Honor, is that... AMY CONEY BARRETT: Well, you're hedging.

I mean, Justice Sotomayor is asking you, would this be covered or not?

And it was my understanding that the legislature's witnesses said that these would be covered.

JOSHUA TURNER: Yes, and those doctors said, if they were exercising their medical judgment, they could, in good faith, determine that lifesaving care was necessary.

And that's my point.

Is this a subjective standard?

AMY CONEY BARRETT: But some doctors couldn't.

Some doctors might reach a contrary conclusion.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Sarah, in the Dobbs decision, it was Justice Alito who seemed particularly focused on this matter of fetal life.

And in today's arguments, he talked a lot about unborn children.

SAMUEL ALITO, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: Regarding the status and the potential interests of an unborn child, the hospital must stabilize the threat to the unborn child.

And it seems that the plain meaning is that the hospital must try to eliminate any immediate threat to the child.

But performing an abortion is antithetical to that duty.

ELIZABETH PRELOGAR, U.S.

Solicitor General: And in many of the cases you're thinking about, there is no possible way to stabilize the unborn child because the fetus is sufficiently before viability, that it's inevitable that the pregnancy is going to be lost.

But Idaho would deny women treatment in that circumstance.

GEOFF BENNETT: So put that portion of the arguments in context for us.

SARAH VARNEY: So Justice Alito here really appears ready to take up this question of fetal personhood, which has really been the ultimate goal of the anti-abortion movement for a long time.

Justice Gorsuch also mentioned fetal personhood during the arguments.

There are laws in Idaho, Alabama, Texas, and many states that say that, from the very earliest moments of pregnancy, that that pregnancy is a full person under the law.

And Justice Alito's Dobbs decision, as you said, and in the questioning in the mifepristone case and here today, really signals a willingness to go there and to essentially say that, if there's a toss-up between having to choose between a woman's life, a pregnant woman's life, and a fetus' life, that it's up to the state then to decide who gets to win out in that contest.

GEOFF BENNETT: We know this case will likely reverberate beyond Idaho.

What's at stake here?

SARAH VARNEY: Well, Texas has also sued under a similar premise around EMTALA.

So, if the -- if Idaho wins in this case, we can be sure that at least six states that don't have this health exception for the mother will follow Idaho's lead.

I mean, we're already seeing this really play out on the ground in emergency rooms.

So you would imagine that those types of cases of women showing up and being turned away from emergency rooms would just continue to escalate.

GEOFF BENNETT: "NewsHour" special correspondent Sarah Varney.

Sarah, thanks so much.

SARAH VARNEY: Thanks, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: President Biden signed into law a massive foreign aid package after months of delay amid Republican opposition.

The $95 billion measure includes assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

President Biden celebrated the achievement today at the White House, saying it was long overdue.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: It was a difficult path.

It should have been easier and should have gotten there sooner.

But, in the end, we did what America always does.

We rose to the moment.

We came together and we got it done.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Biden said they will send the first shipment of new aid to Ukraine in the -- quote -- "next few hours."

That initial $1 billion package is expected to include air defense capabilities, armored vehicles and artillery rounds.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. lawmakers for approving the broader $61 billion aid package for his country.

He said -- quote -- "This vote reinforces America's role as a beacon of democracy and leader of the free world."

That comes as Ukraine, for the first time, used long-range ballistic missiles the U.S. secretly sent them to strike Russian forces.

The weapons can travel nearly twice as far as their mid-range versions.

Meanwhile, officials in China are condemning the new U.S. assistance to Taiwan.

They say the move pushes the self-governing island into -- quote -- "a dangerous situation."

ZHU FENGLIAN, Spokesperson, Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council (through translator): The Taiwan issue is purely China's internal affair and does not tolerate any external interference.

We resolutely oppose it.

We urge the United States to take concrete actions to honor its commitment not to support Taiwan independence and stop arming Taiwan in any way.

AMNA NAWAZ: Beijing's criticisms came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Shanghai.

He's in China for three days of talks with senior officials aimed at stabilizing relations between the two countries.

Israel has launched strikes on Northern Gaza for a second day.

The Israeli military targeted Beit Lahia on the northern edge of the strip after warning locals to evacuate a day earlier.

Residents say the shelling was as intense as during the start of the war.

Separately, Israel says it struck around 40 targets in Southern Lebanon today, as its battle with Iran-based Hezbollah intensifies.

Hamas released a video today of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who was abducted on October 7.

It features the 23-year-old who lost part of his arm in the attack delivering a statement likely crafted by Hamas.

It's not clear when the video was recorded.

Goldberg-Polin's parents released a video today saying they are relieved to see their son alive, and they urged mediators to reach a hostage deal.

JON POLIN, Father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin: We're here today with a plea to all of the leaders of the parties who have been negotiating to date.

Be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and to end the suffering in this region.

AMNA NAWAZ: Negotiations for a hostage deal and cease-fire remain deadlocked.

Hamas rejected Israel's latest proposal earlier this month because it didn't include a permanent truce, among other terms.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations spread to more colleges today.

The University of Texas in Austin saw hundreds of protesters march through campus, leading to tensions with State Troopers.

Several demonstrators were arrested.

Some of those involved say it went too far.

PROTESTER: From the beginning, we wanted a peaceful protest.

We wanted something that was just like a community gathering that was meant to show our frustration with the university.

But, unfortunately, it did not turn out that way.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, at Columbia University, campus officials announced they will extend talks with pro-Palestinian protesters for another 48 hours.

The deadline to remove their encampment was last night.

This afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson was interrupted by demonstrators during a visit to the school to address antisemitism on campus.

Arizona's House voted to repeal the state's near-total ban on abortions today.

It now moves to Arizona's Senate.

Three Republicans joined all 29 Democrats in voting to overturn the Civil War era measure, which offers no exceptions for rape or incest.

The vote comes two weeks after Arizona's Supreme Court revived the law, sparking national headlines and putting political pressure on Republicans in the battleground state.

The Biden administration issued new protections today for airline travelers.

They require cash refunds for canceled flights and for flights that are delayed at least three hours for domestic travel and six hours for international.

The rules also require airlines disclose any additional charges, like seat selection or carry-ons, before booking.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said today the changes won't just benefit passengers.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. Secretary of Transportation: Unsurprisingly, airlines are not enthusiastic about us holding them to a higher standard.

But I believe that this is in the interest of the airline sector because it builds passengers' confidence in airlines as a whole.

AMNA NAWAZ: The new regulations will take effect over the next two years.

On Wall Street today, stocks closed with little change, as interest rate concerns overshadowed some strong corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 42 points to close at 38460.

The Nasdaq rose 16 points, and the S&P 500 tacked on a single point.

And New Jersey Congressman Donald Payne Jr. died today.

The Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus replaced his father in the seat before serving six terms.

His passing comes as Republicans hold a slim majority over Democrats in the House.

Payne suffered a heart attack earlier this month.

He was 65 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": concerns over the spread of bird flu after fragments of the virus are detected in cow's milk; 25 years after his son was killed at the Columbine mass shooting, a father continues his calls to end gun violence; Judy Woodruff visits a North Carolina community trying to talk through its divisions; plus much more.

We return now to that sweeping foreign aid package that's now law and set to deliver tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Lisa Desjardins is here now to walk us through what happens now.

So, Lisa, the biggest portion of that foreign aid package is for Ukraine.

How soon does the money and the weapons get there?

LISA DESJARDINS: Almost immediately, within hours or days, is what we're being told.

And the reason we want to look at this is because, while this has passed Congress, there was a lot of drama and intensity there.

This is a world kind of matter now,what happens to all this money.

So, let's look at some of the biggest money, especially for Ukraine.

Where those $60 billion for Ukraine are going, the largest portion, $23 billion, is actually to replenish U.S. stockpiles, weapons we have already sent; $14 billion would be new weapons for Ukraine that would go through contractors here in America, and $8 billion would be a transfer of existing weapons.

Now, what do we know about the weapons?

Ukraine, as you saw yourself, in desperate need.

What are they getting?

The White House today announced the first billion dollars or so worth of weapons that will be going.

Mostly, they said it would be short-range anti-aircraft missiles.

We know the need there for Ukraine.

In addition, there would be artillery, those big guns, 105-millimeter, 155-millimeter, Bradley Vehicles.

We have talked about that on this show before and the needs there in Ukraine.

And anti-armor systems and mines to push back at the Russians.

Now, what's not on that list of what was announced today?

Long-range anti-aircraft systems, ATACMS.

The White House did announce, and Nick Schifrin has been reporting also, that there were actually ATACMS sent in the last month secretly to Ukraine, that Biden and his administration were able to get those in there.

What we didn't see on this list were Patriot missiles, those longer-range anti-aircraft missiles, big deal because, as you saw, the missiles that Russia can send can take out areas around Kyiv, like that power plant, for example, where you saw the damage.

They were needing -- in need of anti-aircraft missiles, potentially like Patriot missiles.

We're waiting to see if the Biden administration acknowledges that more of those kinds of long-range, more expensive weapons will be sent soon.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, as you mentioned, it was a journey to get here, right?

This took over half-a-year amid some early Republican opposition, but it did pass overwhelmingly.

What does that tell us about the Capitol right now?

LISA DESJARDINS: Really remarkable in this time of incredible partisanship that national security actually was a unifying cause, and not just any national security, but with a worldwide view.

So, listening to senators last night, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, it was some of the most kind of unifying rhetoric I have heard from both of them.

They called this aid package historic.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We can wish for a world where the responsibilities of leadership don't fall on us, or we can act like we understand that they do.

Tonight, as at so many moments in our history, idle calls for America to lower its guard ring hollow.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Failure to pass the supplemental would have been a gift to Putin, to Iran, to Xi, and hurt America politically, militarily, economically, and culturally.

I'm glad that, when it mattered most, finally, finally, finally, both parties came together to do the right thing for our nation's security.

LISA DESJARDINS: There were, of course, opponents to this, largely Republicans.

Now, while there were fewer Republicans who voted no in the Senate than the previous version of this bill, those who did said this was a misguided mistake.

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): Congress cares more about sending billions to wage endless war in foreign countries, cares more about this than saving our own country.

It seems no price is too high, no weapon system is off-limits.

Our only strategy appears to be spend, spend, spend, and then spend some more, with little to no thought given to the consequences.

LISA DESJARDINS: This is a longtime American debate, but it ended this time with America involvement overseas.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, in the meantime, we know there's aid in this package for Israel and Taiwan as well.

Where will that money go?

LISA DESJARDINS: Let's go through that quickly.

For Israel, first of all, $14 billion.

You will see a couple of different figures, but that is money just for Israel itself.

Also in that same bill is another $9 billion of humanitarian relief.

That will include Gaza and other crisis points around the world.

Now, $8 billion will go to the Indo-Pacific region.

There's a lot happening there in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China.

That will include money to try and, let's say, expand U.S. submarine presence in that region, but also loans to some of those countries.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, we're talking about $95 billion in aid.

What are your sources telling you in terms of how long this is going to last?

LISA DESJARDINS: I know.

It's been a long time even getting here, right?

Now, if you think about this, $95 billion, let's look at Ukraine, $60 billion in this bill.

Now, up until this point for Ukraine, we have given about $44 billion.

So this is more than the U.S. has given in aid since that start in 2022.

Talking to sources, they think that this can last in Ukraine for perhaps a year.

If the United States wants, they can send more aggressive weapons, more expensive weapons.

Then it will last less time, but at least through the election, maybe a year.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. FDA says that samples of milk taken from grocery stores across the U.S. have tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.

But the agency says it's confident the milk you are buying is safe.

Officials also say the finding suggests the virus is spreading more prevalently among dairy herds than previously thought.

To help slow that spread, the USDA announced today that dairy cattle must now be tested for the virus before moving to a new state.

We're joined now by Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University.

Thank you for being with us.

So let's start with the latest update, particles of this virus found in commercial pasteurized milk.

How concerned should the everyday consumer be?

DR. JENNIFER NUZZO, Brown University School of Public Health: I don't have any reason to be concerned at this point.

Finding evidence of genetic material, which is what the test results told us, by itself is not alarming.

In order to know if the virus will infect us, we have to do a different kind of test.

And this test was not that.

They're actually undergoing those tests now.

But I don't have any reason to think that we will be harmed, because we use pasteurization.

And I have no reason to think that the H5N1 virus is any different from all the other pathogens that we think could be in milk.

Pasteurization doesn't remove the genetic material of those pathogens, but it changes the pathogens and either kills or it activates them, so that they can't infect us.

And I fully expect that that's what the test results will say, and just more reason to choose pasteurized milk over raw milk.

GEOFF BENNETT: And yet we know that this virus is more prevalent in dairy cows than previously thought.

How worrying is that, just the prevalence alone?

DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Yes, so I am quite worried about that.

But I'm not worried about that because I think it means something for a threat to the general public.

I'm worried about it because it's an indication that we're not doing good enough surveillance to try to keep track of this virus, to stay ahead of it, and, most importantly, we're not doing enough surveillance to protect the farmworkers, who we know are likely being exposed to this virus.

So where I am worried right now is specifically for the farmworkers.

We have already had the report of one farmworker who was infected.

Fortunately, it was a mild infection.

But, historically, people who have been infected with this virus have not experienced mild symptoms.

So I am most worried about protecting farmworkers who we think are likely having exposure to this virus, especially now that we are finding out that it may be in far more places than we previously thought.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, when it comes to the USDA doing more effective surveillance and communication, what does that work actually look like?

DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: It means doing more testing.

And testing of dairy cows up until this point, and even now, is actually voluntary.

And USDA recommends only testing cows with symptoms.

We know that that's likely not to be sufficient to detect the virus in all places that it is.

First of all, you can only find it if you choose to do the test.

And, also, we know that, in North Carolina, when they tested cows without symptoms, they in fact found the virus.

So if we're only doing voluntary testing and if we're only testing symptomatic cows, then, by definition, we're probably not going to find the virus until after farmworkers have been exposed.

Now, there was important development today, where the USDA said it would require testing of cows before they move between states.

And that's potentially an important development, particularly if we think the movement of cows is what's spreading this virus.

Unfortunately, we actually don't have a lot of data that tells us what is spreading this virus.

So it's hard for me to judge how much of an impact this policy will have.

I do think more testing is better than less testing.

So I'm happy to see this, but I really wish we had more data that would give me more confidence that we are tracking this virus to stay ahead of it, but, most importantly, to make sure that we're protecting workers who may be exposed to it.

GEOFF BENNETT: And how prepared is the U.S. for the possibility of a still-remote -- we should emphasize and underscore that -- bird flu pandemic?

DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Absolutely.

Thank you for underscoring that.

Yes, today I am not worried that we are in a pandemic, by any means, but we should very much pay attention to this virus.

We have actually been tracking this virus for more than 20 years.

Some of these latest developments do increase my worry a bit.

In terms of how prepared we'd be to respond, I mean, obviously, we look back on what happened with the COVID-19 pandemic, and we saw many challenges.

Some of those challenges have been addressed, but some of them still haven't.

Influenza is an easier case.

When we started the COVID-19 pandemic, we had no idea whether we would have vaccines within a year.

We already know that we can make H5N1 vaccines, so that puts us at an advantage, but there will still be challenges.

It will take time to make enough vaccine for everyone.

There will be challenges about what we do in the meantime.

Influenza viruses typically affect the very young and the very old, so we have more high-risk groups than we probably had with COVID-19, so there are still some challenges, to be sure.

The reason why we are tracking this virus is so that we can get a signal of its potential threat, so that we can act very, very quickly to prevent the kind of harms that we saw in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that we don't have a repeat of that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, thanks so much for your time and for your insights.

DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: After Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, some 20,000 Ukrainian children were forcefully transferred to Russia.

That's according to war crimes charges filed in The Hague last year that named President Vladimir Putin and an aide as the prime culprits.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, as the city of Mariupol in Southern Ukraine was being surrounded by Russian troops, the head of a Christian orphanage decided to take matters into his own hands to get 19 children to safety.

With support from the Pulitzer Center, special correspondent Simon Ostrovsky has this report.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: This is Gennadiy Mokhnenko, an evangelical pastor from Mariupol.

He runs a charity called the Chaplains Battalion staffed by evangelical ministers who were forced from their churches by Russian soldiers.

Before the war, Pastor Gennadiy ministry involved helping the homeless children from the streets of Mariupol, but now his job is bringing aid to soldiers and civilians along the front line.

"NewsHour" met the pastor in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where danger from the sky is a constant threat to his humanitarian work.

MAN (through translator): Do you hear that buzz?

It flew near us, then over the road.

MAN (through translator): Please stay in the kitchen.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: They have just noticed a drone up in the sky, a Russian suicide drone, so the soldiers here have asked us to stay inside so it doesn't see us.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO, Chaplains Battalion (through translator): This is the perfect moment for a chaplain's prayer.

Please lord, protect us from these enemy drones and make them fly away from here.

Bless these men, in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Before the war, Pastor Gennadiy was a respected figure in both Ukraine and Russia, as evidenced by this documentary celebrating his work with street children made by state-owned broadcaster Russia Today in 2013.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO (through translator): We tried to clothe them, bathe them.

They were completely flea-ridden.

That's how the Pilgrim republic got started right here.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: But when Russia launched its war against Ukraine, he went from hero to villain overnight.

Here's the Russian ambassador to the U.N. describing Pastor Gennadiy's home for children as a secret military training camp.

VASSILY NEBENZIA, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations (through translator): In a number of regions in Ukraine, to this end, they have set up children's camps where children from seven to 18 years old are hosted.

One of these camps was the Pilgrim camp in Mariupol, where children were turned into future fighters.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: The vilification of Pastor Gennadiy's organization is no coincidence.

Since its invasion, Russia's propaganda machine has systematically sought to characterize evangelical Christians across occupied Ukraine as extremists or charlatans to justify the seizure of their property and the erasure of their religious communities.

MAN (through translator): All kinds of cults and pseudo-religious sects have sprung up in Ukraine.

The activities of these swindlers in Russia's new regions has been curtailed considerably since the start of the special military operation.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO: When we evacuated my orphanage from Mariupol, it was like competition between my convoy with children and Russian tanks.

Ukrainian soldiers called me and said: "Pastor, you have just 40 minutes, last 40 minutes, not 45, not 50.

It's last chance."

It's crazy.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Once Pastor Gennadiy and his orphans were out of Mariupol, there was no way back.

Russia and Ukraine established an impenetrable front line.

His church was eventually gutted in the fighting.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO: Inside many holes of the Russian mortars.

Later, Russia rebuilt this building, and they used it.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: This is his church today.

Russia expropriated the building and turned it into a municipal service center.

Some 206 evangelical and Protestant churches have been expropriated or destroyed in an effort to bolster Russia's Orthodox Church through force.

Meanwhile, Gennadiy's life work, the Pilgrim Orphanage, was converted into a military barracks.

But Pastor Gennadiy says he lost a lot more than the physical property.

One of his 36 adopted children was killed.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO: They killed my daughter.

They killed many of my friends.

They killed many of my church members.

Russian soldiers sleep inside my children's bedrooms.

We pay huge price now for freedom.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Oleksandr Zaiets is the chairman of the Institute for Religious Freedom, a Ukrainian watchdog group.

He told "NewsHour" Russia is killed As many as 40 religious leaders in the course of the war.

At least 45 have been detained or imprisoned by Russian forces, the majority of whom are evangelical pastors.

At least seven are still being held.

OLEKSANDR ZAIETS, Chairman, Institute for Religious Freedom (through translator): Many prayer houses have been closed, sealed off, and believers are forced to gather in private homes in secret in order to pray and take part in rituals.

The occupation forces in the occupied areas are of the opinion that they are all American spies or secret agents for the West.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Dmitry Bodyu is one of the many pastors Russian forces kidnapped and accused of being an American spy.

DMITRY BODYU, Word of Life Church: They just came early in the morning to our house, about 15 guys fully loaded, like machine guns, shields and everything.

And I was arrested.

They took me to church.

They searched house, church and everything.

They took me to prison.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Pastor Dmitry is an American citizen originally from Ukraine.

After being ordained in Texas, he founded the Word of Life Church in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol.

DMITRY BODYU: They accused me that I was running this underground operation in Melitopol.

All the protesters and everything was under my command.

We were supporting the Ukrainian army with finances and weapons and things like that.

So... SIMON OSTROVSKY: Was any of that true?

DMITRY BODYU: No.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Do you think part of the reason that they arrested you and took you captive was because you're an evangelist?

DMITRY BODYU: They were telling this.

They said: "We hate three kind of people, Americans, Nazis and evangelicals.

You're all three."

And they said: "We have a command to kill you."

So the way they said, like, "You have a one-way ticket."

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Pastor Dmitry spent four more days in solitary confinement waiting to be executed.

Instead, he was released without explanation.

He's since fled Melitopol, but continues to minister in areas that have held out against Russia.

Russia, in the meantime, repurposed his church.

DMITRY BODYU: Now it's a police department.

So there's a police department.

They do all kinds of things in there and they cut down cross.

They really hate evangelical churches.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: And yet people say that Vladimir Putin is a Christian, family values, conservative leader.

DMITRY BODYU: No.

He divorced his wife.

Where is the family?

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO: What I hear, oh, Putin, he's pro-family, pro-Christian guy.

Are you serious?

I'm very angry.

I don't understand this.

This is fighting about freedom, especially religion freedom.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Two years have passed since Pastor Gennadiy escaped Mariupol with the orphans from his rehabilitation center.

They spent most of that time in Germany.

But now, finally, they're ready to come home.

He becomes emotional as he drives to the Polish border to meet them.

Pastor Gennadiy says he never expected to survive long enough to see them again.

GENNADIY MOKHNENKO (through translator): How's it going?

MAN (through translator): We're at the border, Pastor.

We're transporting the luggage and the kids are crossing by foot.

(LAUGHTER) SIMON OSTROVSKY: Although Pastor Gennadiy's orphans have returned to Ukraine, Western Ukraine for now, he still prays for the day when they will be able to go back to their hometown of Mariupol.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Simon Ostrovsky in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's been 25 years since 12 students and one teacher were killed in the Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colorado.

It was the largest mass killing at a high school in U.S. history at the time.

Since then, overall school shootings have grown to much higher levels.

And there have been several mass shootings with tragic losses at schools like Sandy Hook, Parkland and Uvalde.

Tom Mauser lost his son Daniel at Columbine that day.

And he joins me now.

Tom, welcome to the "NewsHour."

Thank you for joining us.

TOM MAUSER, Father of Columbine Victim: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, 25 years, when you say, it can feel like a very long time and maybe not that much time at all.

I hope you don't mind if I just begin by asking, how are you doing?

TOM MAUSER: You know, doing well.

There's healing.

Some healing comes with time.

It doesn't seem like 25 years to me, frankly.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why is that?

TOM MAUSER: I really can't explain it.

I mean, for one thing, to me, Daniel is still 15.

I don't think of him, what he would be doing today or what he'd be like.

He's still 15.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you have dedicated your life and your days to honoring Daniel, to doing what you can to end gun violence.

You have been traveling around the country and talking to people.

Tell me a little bit about that work.

What's that journey been like and what have you learned along the way.

TOM MAUSER: Well, I have met a number of other people who have suffered this kind of loss.

So that kind of gives me inspiration, because I know some of them speak up about this issue and some have chosen not to or just can't.

So that kind of keeps me going.

It can be very difficult.

Obviously, after 25 years and seeing progress made in some places, and, certainly, nationally not really seeing much progress until two years ago.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me about that progress.

I mean, as you know, the trend of gun violence in America has gotten worse in the last 25 years.

Where are we in our efforts to end gun violence here?

How would you assess this moment?

TOM MAUSER: I think I would summarize it as we have seen a lot of progress made at the state level, and it's essentially in blue states, and we have seen nothing done, in fact, we have actually gone backwards at the national level since Columbine, up until two years ago, when they passed the bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

And it took almost 30 years to get something significant like that.

I feel grateful that we have that.

I think it's great that we have seen finally some legislation passed.

But I also feel that, well, it took 25 years after Columbine.

We shouldn't have to wait another 25 years for something significant to pass out of Congress.

AMNA NAWAZ: And how do you view that tension between what we see at the state level and the lack of action at the federal level?

What do you want to see happen in terms of specific steps?

TOM MAUSER: I think, certainly, the states that don't have, for example, a red flag law really need to have one.

I mean, it's especially one step that you can take for when you -- when someone is identified as someone who is potentially a harm to themselves or others.

It's the simplest thing we can do.

And yet it's so frustrating to see that a number of states haven't done that, and we don't have it at the national level.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you see, of course, different responses from different states.

Tennessee, for example, in response to a mass shooting they suffered last year, the legislature just passed a bill this week that allows teachers and staffers to carry a concealed weapon in school after they get some training.

There's been some criticism.

There's been some people who say this could actually save lives.

How do you view something like this?

TOM MAUSER: I think it's a step backwards.

I really am opposed to arming teachers, for a few very simple reasons.

One, accidents can happen.

Two, when you have somebody at the scene who's holding a firearm, if you have a number of them holding a firearm, the police don't know who the good guys and the bad guys are.

Also, there can be crossfire.

You can make a situation worse by introducing a firearm if, for example, the potential shooter hasn't started shooting yet.

There's just many kinds of things that can go wrong.

AMNA NAWAZ: As you well know, if Daniel had lived, he would be 40 this year.

And I imagine that this work allows you to honor his memory as much as you do, but it also must keep you closer to the pain of losing him.

I wonder if you ever think about stopping and stepping back.

TOM MAUSER: No, not really.

But you're right.

It is painful.

People -- I think many people think that, when you do something like this and you're honoring your son, dealing with this issue, that it's somehow healing.

But, yes, I mean, every time I talk to a group of people, I'm talking about what happened to me and what happened to Daniel; 25 years later, I still get choked up when I do that most of the time when I'm speaking, because it is a reminder.

It is a trigger for what happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: What do you want us to know about Daniel?

TOM MAUSER: I want that -- people to know that Daniel was a -- just a wonderful, sweet kid, Boy Scout, played piano.

He was very shy and very inquisitive.

And I think what I most admire about Daniel is, he took on his weaknesses.

He was not at all athletic, and yet he chose to join the cross-country team at Columbine.

He was so shy, and yet he chose to join the debate team at Columbine, where he had to get up in front of other people and speak.

And, really, that's been the inspiration for me, because I feel like I'm also introverted, and yet, if he can do it, I can do it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tom Mauser, thank you for the gift of your time and for sharing more about Daniel with us.

Thank you for joining us.

TOM MAUSER: Sure.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Issues such as inequality, gender identity and education have become the subjects of national debate, with the focus often on what elected leaders in Washington say and do about them.

Yet many of those same issues play out on the local level in communities with their own particular histories and challenges.

Judy Woodruff recently traveled to one such community in North Carolina, as part of her ongoing series America at a Crossroads.

WOMAN: The history in Alamance County is not so pleasant.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Inside this room in Burlington, North Carolina, residents of Alamance County have come together to talk through a very difficult subject, their divisions.

WOMAN: We have some gargantuan problems, especially with our school system.

MAN: I don't care what side of the spectrum you're on.

We're in a tough situation right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: They're being led by Rich Harwood, who through his nonprofit, The Harwood Institute, has spent decades trying to help communities like this one come together during increasingly divided times.

RICH HARWOOD, The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation: We have separated from one another more and more in our country, and so that has led to a coarsening of our politics and of our public discourse.

It's a fight-or-flight mode, which says, I am so frustrated with things, I am so afraid of one another, I am so anxious and fearful that I'm going to throw up my hands in disgust and frustration and fear of one another and retreat, or I'm going to come out swinging and try to win at all costs.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And how does this community or -- in Alamance County play into what you just described?

RICH HARWOOD: Look, I have great affection for this community.

I have been working here now for a couple of years, but we have to tell the truth about what's happening.

And the truth is that this is one of the most divided places in America that I have worked.

VAUGHN WILLOUGHBY, Pritchett Farms Nurseries: I'm here to see her.

What's her name?

JUDY WOODRUFF: One key division here is over growth.

Out in rural Alamance, it's the busy time of the year for Vaughn Willoughby.

VAUGHN WILLOUGHBY: Is that everything you need?

All right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: He runs Pritchett Farms Nurseries situated in the middle of a cow pasture.

And when everything is blooming, his business is booming.

VAUGHN WILLOUGHBY: This is our prime time.

So we make all our money from about the 1st of March until about Mother's Day.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yet that same boom also worries Willoughby.

Since 2010, Alamance County has grown twice as fast as the country as a whole, thanks in part to its highways, nearby colleges, open land and relatively low cost of living.

But that's turning more of the farmland that he and many others love into commercial distribution centers, housing developments, and public roads.

VAUGHN WILLOUGHBY: Like, that kind of growth, the people who live in that community that have always lived there, they grew up there, they don't like it, because they have lost their neighborhood, they have lost their way of life, they have lost everything that was -- once resembled what Alamance County was.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For him, the growth, the influx of newcomers is forcing difficult questions about zoning, taxation, and the future.

VAUGHN WILLOUGHBY: And therein lies, in my opinion, the pressure that we feel from the agricultural community that I work with and represent through Farm Bureau, that I think the biggest thing is, where do all these people live?

Or where are they going to live?

Or what are you going to do with them?

Where are they going to go to school?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Over in East Burlington, about 20 minutes away, that pressure is being felt acutely.

WOMAN: Six days before the start of this new school year, there are yet more mold issues than the Alamance-Burlington School System.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Last fall, amid ongoing funding shortfalls, the Alamance-Burlington School System suffered a major outbreak of mold, the results of years of neglect.

It led to a two-week delay to the start of the school year.

SENECA ROGERS, Alamance-Burlington School Board: What it told me is something that I felt like a lot of us knew.

We knew that the upkeep of our schools was lacking.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you have good memories of the school?

SENECA ROGERS: Oh, yes, I loved it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: School board member Seneca Rogers grew up here in East Burlington and attended Cummings High School, one of the schools impacted.

This area was once home to the Western Electric Plant, a major employer in Burlington.

But since its closure in 1992, he says the community's east of the train tracks have suffered from neglect, lack of investment and inequality, even as other parts of the city and county have prospered.

It's a feeling summed up in a common refrain, "No Chance Alamance."

SENECA ROGERS: You know, from people moving away, businesses moving away, I mean, neighborhoods just going down and even - - I can say that it even trickled over into our schools over here in East Burlington and what their supports look like.

So I think that is why that "No Chance Alamance" came along is that people just felt like, we have always been left behind.

So why is it going to be different now?

MAN: You will be arrested!

JUDY WOODRUFF: In 2020, as the country dealt with the twin challenges of COVID-19 and a racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd, the Confederate monument in nearby Graham, North Carolina, became the focus of protests over race, inequality and injustice.

The following year, the NAACP sued to remove the statue.

But last month, a state court ruled that the county didn't have the power to take it down.

So there it remains, now protected by a steel fence.

SENECA ROGERS: Of course, anywhere in America, those divides are there, and it's various tensions and situations with it.

But, also, I do think that within there, you are starting to see more people trying to see other folks from a different perspective or more people trying to be willing to hear from another point of view as across racial lines.

WOMAN: You learn new things from people you work with.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Over at Alamance Community College, another sign of change, newly arrived immigrants practicing English.

STUDENTS: So that you can do the job well.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A growing share of Alamance is Latino.

And Yholima Vargas-Pedroza, who helps run the English as a second language program here, says that has presented new challenges for public transit, bilingual services and many other areas.

YHOLIMA VARGAS-PEDROZA, Alamance Community College: Navigation of the legal system, educational system, health system, public safety.

So, every area is trying to work, creating more opening ideas of welcoming.

And yet, the county itself is like an organic entity.

It's a life organism, and it's changing so rapidly.

Some people don't want to change.

YHOLIMA VARGAS-PEDROZA: They're comfortable, generationally speaking, where they are and where they have been.

Newcomers like myself are bringing new ideas to the table, where I honor the past, ugly and not ugly, of this community, because somebody built it before I showed up.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That ugly history includes allegations of racial profiling of Latinos and racist language by the county sheriff, who was sued by the Department of Justice over a decade ago.

The case was ultimately settled, yet mistrust remains.

Originally from Colombia, Martha Krall moved to Alamance from New Jersey 17 years ago.

MARTHA KRALL, Alamance Resident: That division was there from the beginning.

People questioned me if I was legal in this country, times that I was told to really go back where you belong.

RICH HARWOOD: What the country needs, what I think Alamance County needs is a civic path forward.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Since he began working here in 2021, Rich Harwood's focus has been on addressing all of these issues by first building a civic culture, creating spaces like this one, where community members can meet to have difficult conversations and slowly establish trust.

RICH HARWOOD: Too many efforts begin too large.

They begin with these comprehensive plans.

They're often kind of utopian visions about what we want in our communities or in society.

And what happens to them?

Time and time again, inevitably, they start with great fanfare, with a nice press conference, with something at the most expensive hotel in town, where they bring everyone together, and then, in a year or two, they fizzle out.

So our approach is different.

We say, look, let's start small.

We just need enough folks who are ready to go who want to start to work differently.

CRAIG TURNER, Alamance County, North Carolina, Commissioner: I think it has something to do with being willing to go to places where we're not comfortable, to hear attitudes that we don't share.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Republican County Commissioner Craig Turner.

CRAIG TURNER: In addition to being divided, we're anxious.

The county is anxious.

People in the country are anxious.

And so what that does is has a tendency to make us huddle in the groups that we already exist in and it requires us to be intentional to come outside of those groups and to listen to one another and to trust one another.

MARTHA KRALL: I think, if we start with small steps, this is what we need to do, and be not afraid to talk to the person that feels different from you.

RICH HARWOOD: Let's just be real and let's be honest about it.

Like, there are no guarantees this is going to work.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It is slow going, but Harwood says the answers to our big national divisions will begin small in rooms like these, with community members focused on their shared challenges and interests.

RICH HARWOOD: If we insist on talking about political divides and political parties in this work in a place like Alamance or other places where we're working, we will have the same discourse that we're having nationally.

If we can get on a civic path, on a civic path, where we're saying to people, this is about the health of your community, this is about the future of your life, this is about the issues that matter to you, like mental health, like safety, like your good public schools, about the ways in which people work together in your community, a civic agenda, then we can actually make progress.

And not only can we make progress.

What I have found is that we can push out the culture wars.

We can push out the politics that are seeping in from other places and get people focused on what really matters to them, get them to work on those things, and get -- and get progress made.

That's what we need to focus on.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Alamance County, North Carolina.

GEOFF BENNETT: Don't forget, there is more online, including "NewsHour" legal analyst Marcia Coyle's preview of tomorrow's arguments in the Supreme Court on former President Trump's claim of presidential immunity.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

AMNA NAWAZ: And join us again back here tomorrow night, when we visit Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv two years into Russia's bombardment and hear residents' fears over what comes next.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS NewsHour," thanks for joining us and have a good evening.