PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: More details emerge about the deadly U.S.

strikes on alleged drug boats off the Venezuelan coast as tensions rise across the region.

An exclusive interview with Mohammed Ibrahim and his father after the teen, who is a U.S.

citizen, spent nine months in an Israeli jail.

ZAHER IBRAHIM, Father of Mohammed Ibrahim: He even asked us: "Am I dreaming?

Am I really out?"

We told him: "Yes, you're out.

It's done.

It's over.

You're back safe with your family."

GEOFF BENNETT: And our conversation with music power couple Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, who are spotlighting giants of contemporary art in a new exhibition drawn from their private collection.

ALICIA KEYS, Musician: There are sculptures in here.

There are -- there are all these incredible different mediums and all of them will take your breath away.

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

It was the first attack in the Trump administration's new campaign in the Caribbean, and it has become the most contentious.

A U.S.

official tells the "PBS News Hour" tonight the U.S.

military struck an alleged drug boat four times on September 2.

And, today, President Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the attack, but also distanced themselves from the follow-on strike that targeted people who weren't killed by the first strike.

Nick Schifrin joins us now.

So, Nick, what have you learned about what happened on September 2?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Well, exactly what you just said, Geoff.

The U.S.

military struck that boat on September 2 four times, according to a U.S.

official speaking to me today.

The official said that, after the first strike, there were people on board who were not killed.

The second strike targeted them.

The third and fourth strikes were designed to sink the boat.

Now, why is this important?

As of last week, all we knew from President Trump is that there had been a single strike on a boat that he said carried 11 narco-terrorists.

Then, last week, we learned of a second strike.

That was reporting in The Washington Post and others.

But we didn't know until today that the military needed four strikes to destroy the boat, which will be crucial when it comes to the legality of these strikes.

And also, as you said today, President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, speaking at the White House today, really distancing themselves from that second strike to kill the people not killed by the first strike.

And it was ordered by then Joint Special Operations Command leader, Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S.

Defense Secretary: I watched that first strike live.

As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do.

So I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs.

So I moved on to my next meeting.

A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the -- which he had the complete authority to do.

And, by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.

He sunk the boat, sunk the boat and eliminated the threat.

I did not personally see survivors, but I stand - - because the thing was on fire.

It was exploded in fire or smoke.

You can't see anything.

You got digital pictures.

This is called the fog of war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Hegseth pushing - - push -- I'm sorry -- backing up, but at the same time pushing down responsibility for that second strike to Admiral Bradley.

And a defense official reiterates to me today that Hegseth did not give any additional orders between the first and second strikes.

Now, as for the overall mission, the Pentagon said today that there had been 21 strikes, that it killed 82 people.

The administration describes this as an effort to stop drugs from coming to the United States.

And, today, President Trump reiterated what the mission is, at least when it comes to these boats.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I can say this.

I want those boats taken out.

And if we have to, we will attack on land also, just like we attack on sea.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Attacks on land Geoff, of course, that could target Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S.

calls ahead of a narco state that the U.S.

is pressuring to leave office.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, on the matter of legality, Nick, why is it significant that it took four strikes to sink that boat?

NICK SCHIFRIN: You and I have both recently spoken to former military lawyers who say that this attack was illegal.

There are specific passages of the Geneva Convention that say people who are at sea who are shipwrecked, even if they are combatants and their ship has been wrecked by a U.S.

missile, must be rescued, not targeted.

But if their ship is still seaworthy, if they still have communications, if they still are carrying drugs on this boat, well, does that change things?

That's the question I posed to James McPherson earlier today.

He's the former Navy judge advocate general, the former top uniform lawyer in the Navy, also undersecretary of the Army under the first Trump administration.

REAR ADM.

JAMES MCPHERSON (RET.

), Former U.S.

Undersecretary of the Army: So we will assume for our conversation that we are engaged in a legal conflict.

During that conflict, if a boat is engaged and that boat is destroyed, in other words, it's no longer operational, it's a shipwreck, there are individuals on board who have survived and are in the water, they have become a non-target, if you will.

They have been taken out of combat.

They don't have the capability to engage in hostilities.

But if that boat was simply hit and was damaged, it'd still seaworthy, it can still float, and if the intelligence has shown that it still contains the drugs that we are trying to combat from coming into our country, and the individuals on board are mobile, they can act, they can operate the boat, they can communicate with another boat, those sorts of things, then that remains a legitimate target, and they remain a legitimate target.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That said, as McPherson suggested at the top of his statement, he and other former military lawyers we speak to do question the legality over the overall campaign.

But Admiral Bradley will have his say to Congress, speaking to them Thursday.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's shift our focus now to Ukraine and the scene at the Kremlin today, where it was apparently all smiles as special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What do we know about what transpired?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, you see it there.

We have not received a readout from the U.S.

side.

The Kremlin says it was five hours' long.

Tonight, one Putin aide there is no compromise over Ukraine yet, this aide saying there are some American developments that are acceptable, some that are not suitable, and peace -- quote -- "is no closer, but no further away."

Look, Ukrainian and U.S.

officials do say that in the last 10 days or so they have been meeting they have made progress toward this peace deal that the U.S.

has been pushing Ukraine to accept.

But at the same time, European officials tell me that the U.S.

is still pushing one of the most difficult items for Ukraine, and that is giving up parts of the Donetsk province in Eastern Ukraine -- you see it flashing there -- that Ukraine still holds and Russia has failed to capture despite 11 years of war.

Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to portray Putin as the one blocking peace, but did endorse the U.S.

outreach to Moscow.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: Putin, I mean, now he is thinking how to find new reasons not to finish this war.

And we count on pressure from the United States.

And they said that we have to work on this plan and they will pressure on both sides.

Of course, we wanted them to be more on our side, but OK, mediator -- that mediator, and they began to pressure both sides, and we supported the ideas.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Mediators, mediator, Witkoff and Kushner now fly to Europe from their meeting in Moscow to meet Zelenskyy.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Kremlin saying that peace is no closer yet, no further away, is quite a line.

I mean, what does this all mean for the front lines right now in Ukraine?

NICK SCHIFRIN: I mean, Zelenskyy himself has really admitted that it's difficult.

And, today, Russia claimed that it captured the city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Donetsk.

It's a key hub.

Ukraine denied that.

But, look, take a look at this map with data from the Institute of Study of War.

It shows multiple cities where Russia is making slow gains, even at great cost, Pokrovsk, Vovchansk, Kupiansk.

These are the cities that Putin is arguing to the U.S.

we are inevitably going to take over militarily, so you should just push Ukraine to give them up diplomatically.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin reporting out two major stories today, our thanks to you, as always.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: The Trump administration is preparing an immigration enforcement operation that would primarily target hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St.

Paul.

According to press reports, the operation could begin within days.

The move comes as President Trump has disparaged Somalis with increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, including in today's lengthy Cabinet meeting at the White House.

The president made a point of singling out Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is Somali.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.

Ilhan Omar is garbage.

She's garbage.

Her friends are garbage.

We don't want them in our country.

Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, forcefully condemned both Mr.

Trump's comments and the impending operation.

Minnesota is home to the nation's largest Somali community.

Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies, and his wife, have pledged more than $6 billion to the Trump administration, with the funds designated for investment accounts for children known as Trump Accounts.

MICHAEL DELL, CEO, Dell: We believe the smartest investment that we can make is an investment in children.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Dells' donation will provide $250 each to 25 million eligible children under the age of 10 who live in zip codes where the median household income falls below $150,000.

Mr.

Trump's tax bill created the accounts, which will be rolled out next summer.

Withdrawals from the accounts cannot be made until a child turns 18.

The Pentagon today held its first briefing in nearly half-a-year as it faces bipartisan backlash over that September attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean.

The credentialed attendees were a host of right-wing media figures, including Laura Loomer and former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Gaetz is now a host on the pro-Trump network OAN.

It follows a major overhaul of Pentagon press rules this fall that require journalists to sign a restrictive new policy.

That prompted an exodus of traditional news outlets from the building.

Millions of Americans woke up this morning to their first snow of the season, as windy, icy weather rolled across the Northeast.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings across New England, where some areas have already received more than half-a-foot of snow.

Several other states will see a mix of snow and rain, like in Pennsylvania, where wet, slushy conditions led to hundreds of accidents.

The storm already hit the Midwest, creating more treacherous travel after the Thanksgiving holiday.

This pile-up in Central Missouri yesterday brought highway traffic to a standstill.

Forecasters say another storm could bring winter weather to the mid-Atlantic later this week.

Turning overseas now to Israel.

Forensics experts are examining what are believed to be the remains of one of the last two hostages inside Gaza.

Palestinian militants via the Red Cross handed over the remains, which Palestinian media said were uncovered in Northern Gaza.

Meantime, Palestinians in Khan Yunis mourned a freelance videographer who was one of at least four people killed today by Israeli fire across the territory.

Israel's military said they were fired upon because they believed they had crossed into areas that Israel controls and posed a threat.

Pope Leo XIV has completed his first trip abroad as pontiff with an appeal for peace after spending three days in Lebanon.

POPE LEO XIV, Leader of Catholic Church: The path of mutual hostility and destruction and the horror of war has been traveled too long with the deplorable results that are before everyone's eyes.

GEOFF BENNETT: He led mass along Beirut's waterfront, urging dialogue and reconciliation, as the country sees renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Earlier in the day, the pope prayed at the site of the 2020 port explosion that killed 218 people and caused billions in damages,a disaster for which no officials have ever been held accountable, and the pope called for justice.

Returning to the Vatican aboard his plane, Pope Leo also urged U.S.

leaders to refrain from threats of military action against Venezuela.

Two fashion giants are now one.

Prada has bought its longtime rival Versace for nearly $1.4 billion.

It completes a deal that's been in the work since April.

Prada says the Versace brand offers significant untapped growth potential.

Meantime, on Wall Street today, stocks bounced back to across-the-board gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 200 points, the Nasdaq added more than half-a-percent, and the S&P 500 also closed slightly higher.

And Christmas came to Washington, D.C.

's National Mall this afternoon.

GROUP: Five, four, three, two, one.

REP.

MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): There you go.

GEOFF BENNETT: House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Nevada congressional delegation turned on the Capitol Christmas tree's nearly 6,000 LED lights, which glittered against its 23,000 handmade ornaments.

This year's red fir stands 53 feet tall and is the first ever Capitol Christmas tree harvested from Nevada.

The People's Tree, as it's called, has brightened the Capitol lawn for five decades.

Still to come on the "News Hour": why more traditional four-year colleges are offering two-year associate's degrees; a new exhibit showcases the work of Black and temporary artists from the collection of musicians Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz; and a group of elementary school journalists work to reverse falling test scores and decaying classrooms.

The day before Thanksgiving was the real celebration for an American family living in the occupied West Bank; 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim was released from nearly 10 months in an Israeli prison, arrested in February in the dead of night at his family home for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli vehicles.

His family was unable to speak or even see him for his entire detention.

The American Embassy advocated for his release after his health had declined.

Finally, last Wednesday, he was freed.

Amna spoke with Mohammed and his father for an exclusive sit-down TV interview.

AMNA NAWAZ: After more than nine months in an Israeli jail, this was 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim's first hug with his father, freed and finally home.

Back with his family in the occupied West Bank, he sat down with his father, Zaher Ibrahim, to speak to the "News Hour."

So, Mohammed, I have to start with you because a lot of people have been waiting to hear from you.

What can you tell us about how you're doing and what it's like to be back home?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM, Palestinian-American Child Detainee: So good.

I feel safe now.

And I missed everyone and everything.

AMNA NAWAZ: What was the very first thing that you did when you arrived back home, Mohammed?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: I see my family.

ZAHER IBRAHIM, Father of Mohammed Ibrahim: Gave everybody a big hug.

That's one thing that he did.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Zaher, we saw that video of your first embrace with him after nine months of being apart.

What can you tell us about what that moment was like for you?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: It was probably the best day of my life, the best moment of my life.

You know, 9.5 months, I haven't heard his voice or seen him.

It was like from hell to heaven, that second.

It was -- I can't even express my feelings about it.

The truth, when we first gave him a hug, you give him a hug, you can feel his body, his back.

He's very, very skinny.

And we took him to the hospital to have him -- have him checked.

And he even asked us: "Am I dreaming?

Am I really out?"

We told him: "Yes, you're out.

It's done.

It's over.

You're back safe with your family."

AMNA NAWAZ: Mohammed was just 15 years old when he was arrested in February from his family home in the middle of the night, charged with throwing objects at Israeli vehicles.

His father says U.S.

pressure as Mohammed's health deteriorated helped secure his release.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Most of these charges that they throw at these children are bogus charges.

That was the pressure from the U.S.

government and senators and congressmen.

They played a big role in the release of Mohammed.

At the end, when the U.S.

Embassy visited Mohammed three weeks ago, and they called me and they said: "Mohammed, I'm going to just tell you straight out he's not doing good, you know.

He lost more weight and physically, mentally, he looks ill."

Even the U.S.

Embassy feared for his life.

He said he's not doing good at all.

And that's when we see more movement.

And that's when the lawyer went in and things changed.

So then they said, before something happens to him, he has to be released.

And he got released.

AMNA NAWAZ: We should underscore here, Mohammed is a U.S.

citizen, right?

Do you have an explanation that's satisfying to you about why it took U.S.

authorities over nine months to get him released?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Ambassador Huckabee called me after the release of Mohammed and he says: "I'm sorry it took so long.

It's something we have been working on from day one.

We didn't expect it to last this long."

But I really think, if the U.S.

State Department wanted Mohammed released from the beginning, they could have put more pressure from day one.

But I think they just let it slide until months and months and months.

But when they seen his health was getting worse and worse and worse, and, as you can tell from the pictures, the before and after for Mohammed, before he got arrested and how he walked out is a big difference.

And his face size, his body, his weight, just by the pictures -- they say a lot of words.

And what's sad is all the whole -- everybody in jail is the same situation.

You have another 300, 400 hundred kids in there that's going through the same thing that Mohammed was going through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Back home, he is surrounded by family, showering him with love and plying him with home-cooked meals after the teen lost significant weight over the last several months.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Their food is basically junk and barely enough to survive, scabies, stomach virus.

They went through a lot.

When he told me what they went through, it's hard to believe that this country will do that to individuals, starve them almost to death.

He had one of his mates that was in his same cell his same age that was -- that died in front of him in jail.

AMNA NAWAZ: Zaher, just to clarify, are you saying that Mohammed saw another teenager who was with him in prison die in front of him?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: He died in front of his eyes.

He had the scabies and he had a real bad stomach kind of virus, and they ask for medical attention, but they never get it.

So, at one point, he just fainted and fell to the ground, and that was it.

And they asked for medical attention for him, and they didn't -- he didn't -- nothing happened.

He didn't get nothing.

Then they pronounced him dead.

So this happened in front of his eye.

And this is a kid that was in his room.

AMNA NAWAZ: The boy was 17-Year-Old Walid Khalid, a Palestinian teenager who died in Israeli custody in late March.

And just moments after he was freed, Mohammed learned his cousin, 19-year-old Palestinian-American Saifullah Musallet, had been beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July while Mohammed was in prison.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: You know, that was a hard for Mohammed.

And he got the news.

It was like -- it was very hard.

We had to stop the car.

He couldn't breathe.

It was like -- it was -- we had to put water on his face.

And so these instances, it has to stop.

The Israeli government has to stop all these Israeli settler attacks on these -- on the towns around us, because every day is getting worse and worse.

You could be in your own house or a neighbor's house in the village and you cannot be safe because you don't know who's going to come at night and attack your house or your family or your car.

So this is the life that they live every day now here.

AMNA NAWAZ: Every day for Mohammed now means rebuilding his new life and reconnecting with the old one.

Mohammed, we have also seen video of you reconnecting with your friends back in the United States, talking to them on the phone.

Can you tell us what you talked about with them, what that was like?

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: It was so good.

I talked about them about the jail, about anything, about everything I ate and everything.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Zaher, I know Mohammed turned 16 while he was in detention.

And your family told us earlier you didn't celebrate his birthday, obviously, while he was still in jail.

Do you have plans to celebrate his birthday now that he's free?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: He just has to wait until his next birthday maybe.

(LAUGHTER) ZAHER IBRAHIM: He's good.

We can -- we will do a birthday every day for him as long as he's home.

And that's -- so his grandmother's birthday was today, so we brought him cake for them today.

So he got his cake today.

AMNA NAWAZ: After everything you have been through, what's it like to have him sitting there next to you?

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Oh, it feels good.

And, as a father, my duty is to keep him safe and make sure he stays safe, and get his weight back up, and get him back to the States, where he can -- he missed a year now of school.

So, yes, he has to catch up on studying, get his driver's license, get his part-time job, start his life.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, we know you're anxious to spend as much time as you can with him.

We will let you get back to that.

We thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

That's Zaher and Mohammed Ibrahim.

Mohammed, welcome back home.

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: Thank you.

ZAHER IBRAHIM: Thank you.

Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: About one in four college students are both first generation and from low-income backgrounds, making the path to a college degree especially challenging.

At Boston College's Messina College, a new two-year fully residential associate's degree program, a wide range of support is helping change that.

John Yang visited the Brookline, Massachusetts, campus to learn more as part of our ongoing series Rethinking College.

JOHN YANG: For a second-year Messina College student, Loukenscia Roberson, who goes by Lou, time with her mother, Eveline, and her older brother, Lucanse (ph), is the perfect way to celebrate the end of midterm exams.

While she misses home and her close-knit family, she says she felt comfortable the very first time she set foot on this campus when she was a high school senior.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON, Undergraduate Student: I came home to my mom and I was like: "Mom, this is where I want to be.

This is where I feel like I belong."

JOHN YANG: And having seen her mother deal with health issues, she knew what she wanted to do, study to become a nurse.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON: That motivated me to want to be in the health care because I want others to know that they're not alone in the hospital.

JOHN YANG: Messina is the two-year associate degree program of Boston College, a nationally ranked private liberal arts school.

If students finish Messina with a 3.4 grade point average or better, they're guaranteed a spot in B.C.

's bachelor's degree program.

Messina enrolled its first class in 2024 and 96 percent return this year.

Messina College is tailored for low-income and first-generation students, the very students, research shows, who are least likely to finish college.

The big reason for that is lack of familiarity with the unwritten rules of college life, things like office hours, networking and balancing work and academics, and they don't have anyone in their families they can turn to explain it.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON: At first, I was like, office hours?

Mmm, is it an office?

Like, it was an office with timing.

And when my professors were explaining me what office hours were, I was like, I'm someone who needs that type of support.

So this had been a college campus before?

FATHER ERICK BERRELLEZA, Founding Dean, Messina College: It had been, yes.

JOHN YANG: Founding dean Father Erick Berrelleza was a low-income first-generation college student himself.

FATHER ERICK BERRELLEZA: It was a sink-or-swim model.

You sort of figured it out or didn't.

We know a whole lot more now 20 years later.

And I think what we know is, there's scaffolding of support that we can offer.

JOHN YANG: It includes a generous need-based financial aid program that limits loans to $2,000 a year.

All students get free housing, meals, textbooks, even laptops that are theirs to keep.

FATHER ERICK BERRELLEZA: In my college experience, the residential piece was critical, because there's so much that goes on after your class time that students can be part of, and that contributes to their formative experience at a Jesuit university, but any university, for that matter.

JOHN YANG: There are similar programs at a small but growing number of private four-year liberal arts universities, many of them religiously affiliated.

ANTHONY JACK, Professor, Boston University: We need more strivers.

We need more lower-income students, more first-generation college students, because that is what America is.

JOHN YANG: Professor Anthony Jack, also a first-generation graduate, studies higher education leadership at Boston University.

ANTHONY JACK: My question is, have we extended the invitation without preparing for the occasion?

We are extending invitations to eager, able, excited youth to become members of our community, but are we doing the necessary work to make them be able to be just that, full members?

JOHN YANG: Boston College spends about $40,000 a year per Messina student.

Not every school can afford that kind of investment.

ANTHONY JACK: And it's not just providing what people normally think of when it comes to like being on campus.

It's like all the other support services that are needed to make sure that, again, you're not just meeting students where they are, what kind of services they need, but also when the services are offered, given the population of students have responsibilities that your traditional 18-to-21-year-old does not.

JOHN YANG: Messina enrolls only 100 new students a year.

Small class sizes allow professors to foster students' confidence and academic success.

Attendance is closely monitored.

A missed class triggers a check-in call.

The academic year runs from July to May.

That gives first-year students the summer to adjust to campus life.

It also reduces the number of classes students take each semester.

BRIANNA DIAZ, Professor, Messina College: It doesn't matter who gets first, second, or third.

JOHN YANG: Brianna Diaz is a psychology professor and student adviser.

She too was a first-generation college student.

BRIANNA DIAZ: We go through these hidden curriculum things.

How should you advocate for yourself to your professor?

How should you study?

What do you do if you fail?

Like, that's probably going to happen in college.

And how can you bounce back in a productive way?

JOHN YANG: Associate director of student success Genevieve Green knows that every student has individual strengths and challenges.

GENEVIEVE GREEN, Associate Director of Student Success, Messina College: A lot of them have worked, they're helping out at home, they have got a lot of responsibilities.

So they're not necessarily used to asking for help.

So our primary goal is really just to get to know every student.

They joke with us that we know their blood type or get to know them really, really well, so that we can tailor a plan that really works for them.

JOHN YANG: Second year-student Michael Melo is majoring in applied psychology and human development.

MICHAEL MELO, Undergraduate Student: To be honest, college wasn't something that was in my mind.

JOHN YANG: His mother died in the summer before his freshman year in high school, leaving him and his older sister on their own.

He worked as many as 30 hours a week to help support them.

His grades suffered.

But instead of defeating him, he says the hardships motivated him.

MICHAEL MELO: It ruined me, but it made me into a better person, because the reconstruction that it built, where I realized that I need to be present, I need to also be there, I need to do as much as I can to kind of get to that next step, get to that next milestone to become my own legacy.

JOHN YANG: With his anticipated B.C.

bachelor's degree, Melo wants to be a therapist.

MICHAEL MELO: Just interacting with people that either already went through college or people that have aspirations to be something, it's almost inspiring to listen to.

JOHN YANG: This semester, Lou Roberson is taking nursing classes at B.C.

's main campus.

At first, she was intimidated.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON: I have classes with both Messina and Boston College students.

We're both struggling the same way.

JOHN YANG: At Messina, she's tutoring first-year students who also want to be in the medical field.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON: Making sure that they understand it kind of gives them a clear understanding what they want to do for the future.

JOHN YANG: Sort of passing it along.

LOUKENSCIA ROBERSON: Yes, passing it, yes.

JOHN YANG: Faculty say they see that sense of purpose in many students.

BRIANNA DIAZ: There is a lot of intention behind why they're here.

There is a lot of richness that the identity, I think, first gen carries with them.

JOHN YANG: And they're changing the broader B.C.

community.

GENEVIEVE GREEN: Boston College needs you in your perspective and your identity, and your lived experience is really important.

JOHN YANG: Do you think or do you hope things that you do here will also influence B.C.?

FATHER ERICK BERRELLEZA: Absolutely.

These students are already enriching that campus.

Time will tell the impact of that overall, but these students have the ability to create a lot of impact for their families.

And the generations of potential college students will follow them because of their example.

JOHN YANG: Growing up in Haiti, Lou Roberson's mom didn't have the chance to go to college, so seeing her daughter as a college student is a dream come true.

Do you think she's going to make a good one?

She will be a good nurse?

EVELINE ROBERSON MONTAS, Mother of Loukenscia Roberson: Yes, good nurse.

When I come here, everybody tell me, Loukenscia is a good student.

She's wonderful.

JOHN YANG: And just the sort of student whose life Messina College has the potential to change.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm John Yang in Brookline, Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: The art exhibition with a high profile and a long name, Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, recently opened in Richmond, Virginia, after stops in Brooklyn, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

Celebrating the contributions of contemporary artists, it spans 20th century icons like photographer Gordon Parks to today's emerging talent.

I sat down with the music power couple behind the exhibition, Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, about how they became art collectors and the meaning behind this expansive collection.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

(CHEERING) GEOFF BENNETT: This is no ordinary museum opening celebration because what's inside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is no ordinary collection.

The exhibition is called Giants and the couple behind it are giants in music who are now reshaping the art world, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.

WOMAN: Alicia Keys.

(CHEERING) GEOFF BENNETT: She's a 17-time Grammy award winning singer-songwriter and producer.

Since her debut album, "Songs in A Minor," Alicia Keys has sold more than 65 million albums and generated over five billion streams worldwide.

Her Broadway musical "Hell's Kitchen" has earned multiple Tony awards and a Grammy.

And Swizz Beatz, real name Kasseem Dean, is a deejay, entrepreneur and Grammy-winning producer behind some of the biggest songs in hip-hop, R&B and pop, working with artists like DMX, Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Busta Rhymes.

Together, they've built the Dean Collection, now one of the most significant private collections of contemporary art in the world.

They took a private tour of the exhibit, seeing it installed for the first time, around 130 works selected from a collection of more than 1,000.

What first sparked your interest in collecting art?

ALICIA KEYS, Musician and Art Collector: Mmm, you want to take that one?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN, Music Producer and Art Collector: Well, growing up from the Bronx and seeing art everywhere, waking up, coming from school, going to school, seeing graffiti on the walls, it always felt like something that we live with naturally, just like music, you know?

And I remember wanting to furnish my place at a very young age, and I didn't want posters.

And I started going downtown to look at art.

ALICIA KEYS: He's always really been very passionate about art, about fine art.

He's also an artist.

He also paints.

Our first date was based around the artist Erte.

And so he's always been bringing this into my life, and that was how I started to even understand, wow, we can do this.

We can collect these gorgeous, powerful pieces of artists that we can relate to and that are so unique and masters of their craft.

And that was how we started to put together the Dean Collection.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you remember the piece or even the feeling that set you on the path to want to build this collection together?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: I think the first piece was a 30-foot sculpture.

ALICIA KEYS: Yes.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: She was ready at that time?

ALICIA KEYS: Yes.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Like, you know what?

Let's build the Dean Collection.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

Yes.

ALICIA KEYS: Yes, that's right.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Yes.

ALICIA KEYS: It would have been that piece... KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Yes.

ALICIA KEYS: ... which is a huge, huge, huge work.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Thirty-foot sculpture, all wood.

ALICIA KEYS: And we got it into our house, and they had to take off the side, the entire side of the house, the bricks and everything.

GEOFF BENNETT: Oh, I thought you meant the side of the piece.

You mean the side of the house.

ALICIA KEYS: The side of the house.

In order to get it into the house, they had to take off the side of the house.

That was what started this idea that we can express in giant ways.

We don't have to have a tiny, small painting.

We can have those, as well as huge pieces like this Amy Sherald.

GEOFF BENNETT: Deliverance.

I mean, this -- and we were talking about this earlier.

The audacity of these pieces, it's phenomenal.

It's phenomenal.

What does this -- what does that mean to you?

What does this Amy Sherald piece Deliverance mean to you, Swizz?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: It means that she delivered a hell of a work.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: You didn't know this was coming?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: No, no way.

She didn't even say it was ready.

She said: "You might want to come to my studio."

Canceled everything, went to the studio, go upstairs and turn the corner, and there's these two bikes.

And I almost fainted.

And she said: "Doing this work for the Dean Collection allowed me to have some fun and do something I wouldn't normally do, right, so two guys wheelie on a bike.

And she said, from living in Baltimore, she used to see the Ruff Ryders, which is my family's company, ride bikes all through her block.

And she always wanted to do something to show respect for that.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are paintings, photographs and sculptures throughout the exhibition displayed thematically on the shoulders of giants, giant conversations and giant presents.

ALICIA KEYS: The coolest thing about the Dean Collection is, because we're both artists, there's so much love and understanding that we have about what it takes to make art.

And so what he's describing, this studio visit, is not something that's unfamiliar.

This just happens all the time.

And... KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Or transactional.

ALICIA KEYS: Yes, it's not - - it's never transactional.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: No.

ALICIA KEYS: Like, there are real relationships that are created because of the respect between artist to artist.

And that is such a beautiful thing.

But it's not until you walk in the space that you can feel what it means and what it feels like, and not only because so many of the works are oversized, but because it's emotional, it's genuine, it's personal, but it's also powerful.

It has all these pieces.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: It's a family.

GEOFF BENNETT: One member of that family whose work anchors the exhibition is Titus Kaphar, known for reworking art history to center Black subjects long erased from it.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: We had to fight for 80 percent of these works in the show.

It just... GEOFF BENNETT: You mean fight to acquire them or... KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Yes.

You would think that, if you can afford something, then it's available.

It doesn't really work like that.

There's waiting list and there's the museums.

There's a whole bunch of different things.

The biggest part was building up our relationship with the artists and even letting the galleries and the museum know that, hey guys, we're not flipping art.

We're a damn near institution ourself.

We're adding to this.

We're not coming to take from it.

GEOFF BENNETT: But why be intentional about making it public?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: It's the right thing to do.

And I think it would be selfish for us to have all of this beauty sitting in some storage somewhere or hanging only in a home, when you can share it with the world.

I think almost a half-a-million people have seen this show already.

And I know from the people that came to see Giants left feeling like giants.

GEOFF BENNETT: The goal, they say, is to inspire people from all backgrounds, elevate the work of living artists, and advocate behind the scenes to ensure those artists receive a fair share when their work is resold.

The scale of the collection is staggering in size, but also in ambition, monumental pieces that command attention.

The two of you are a major entry point to the world of contemporary art for people who might not otherwise have discovered it.

Is that why you included your piano and your drum machine, your beat machine?

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: There you go.

There you go.

Yes, that was a very important piece, right?

Because when you go into a place like a museum, a lot of people act like they know things, or act like they're smart about art.

And it's OK to be a student, because we're still students.

But having the self-portraits out the gate and make people say, I know them, those are my friends right there, seeing the BMX bikes where I come from, the South Bronx, seeing her piano, seeing the turntables, seeing Kool Herc's actual street sign for hip-hop.

ALICIA KEYS: The BMX bikes are right there, and they're hung so cool, by the way.

But he said, at one time, having a BMX bike was the biggest thing I could have ever done.

GEOFF BENNETT: It was quite the flex.

ALICIA KEYS: It was like a big, big deal.

And when we came in, one of the gentlemen said to us: "Brick by brick."

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: Yes, he did.

I remember he said that walking in.

ALICIA KEYS: That hit me.

KASSEEM "SWIZZ BEATZ" DEAN: I thought it was a song you wrote.

Yes.

ALICIA KEYS: He said: "Brick by brick."

Literally, all of our stories are something that we have cultivated brick by brick, every single one.

And that's all we can do.

And then slowly, but surely, it is possible that it can become this.

GEOFF BENNETT: For Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, the Dean Collection isn't just about owning art.

It's about expanding who gets seen inside institutions that weren't always accessible, and ensuring the next generation walks in not as outsiders, but as giants.

We will be back shortly.

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

It's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like this one on the air.

For those of you staying with us, we bring you an encore story now of an unlikely partnership between a utility company and climate activists.

Science correspondent Miles O'Brien has the story.

It's part of our Tipping Point coverage on energy and climate.

MILES O'BRIEN: Retired schoolteacher Carol Canova has lived in this tiny little house in Framingham, Massachusetts for 30 years.

From this humble perch, she has experienced firsthand a historic energy transition.

She started with an oil-burning furnace, then switched to gas, and now heats and cools with an electric heat pump attached to a geothermal well.

CAROL CANOVA, Framingham, Massachusetts, Resident: I was told it would be even heat.

I was told it would be efficient and so forth.

But seeing is believing.

I'd never been in a house that every place in the house was the same temperature.

MILES O'BRIEN: Canova is part of a first-in-the-nation pilot by utility giant Eversource.

It's a one-mile network of underground pipes connecting three dozen homes and municipal buildings to a shared geothermal well.

It's called networked geothermal, and if it works here, it could be a blueprint for utilities nationwide.

CAROL CANOVA: So I thought, oh, electricity is expensive.

So I'm expecting it's going to be more expensive.

What I find out is, it's overall cheaper.

MILES O'BRIEN: Heat pumps live up to their name.

They move heat.

In the summer, they pump heat out of your home.

In the winter, they bring it in.

How hard they have to work and how much electricity they use depends on the temperature difference between inside and outside.

The greater the gap, the more energy they need.

Shallow geothermal wells tap into the earth's steady underground temperature, about 55 degrees year-round.

Water with antifreeze circulates through buried pipes, absorbing or releasing heat at that consistent temperature.

A heat pump paired with a geothermal well has less work to do and is far more efficient no matter the weather above.

The catch?

Drilling a geothermal well is very expensive, but none of the volunteers in this project paid a dime for either the well or the heat pump.

NIKKI BRUNO, Vice President, Eversource: Everything else is buried in underground, except for the heat pumps.

MILES O'BRIEN: Nikki Bruno is an Eversource V.P.

NIKKI BRUNO: So, right outside this building is what we call the main bore field.

Those bores are 600 to 700 pipes that allow the water-based fluid to circulate and exchange energy with the underground.

MILES O'BRIEN: Besides many homes like Carol's, heat pumps attached to the geothermal network are in use at a school administration building, a fire station, and a public housing development.

It's an $18.6 million project that comes amid significant changes in regulations.

Massachusetts and the other states in the Eversource territory have aggressive climate goals and mandates.

NIKKI BRUNO: How do we start offering something different?

How can we produce a decarbonized product for our customers, while keeping safe, reliable and I will say as affordable as possible service to customers?

MILES O'BRIEN: The idea was born of an unlikely partnership between utility executives and climate activists, among them, Zeyneb Magavi, the executive director of the nonprofit HEET, the Home Energy Efficiency Team.

It's a grassroots group that started out by banding together to insulate their homes.

They were looking for a way to make a bigger dent.

ZEYNEB MAGAVI, Executive Director, HEET: We really became aware of kind of a rock-and-a-hard place problem, where we have a gas system that actually we have pipes in the ground from President Lincoln's time.

MILES O'BRIEN: Their focus on creaky, leaky gas pipes led them to a moment of insight and inspiration.

ZEYNEB MAGAVI: The ground, the bedrock, the water all around us is thermal energy, which we can tap.

And that's kind of an exciting awakening thing to realize.

We could potentially build a utility street by street.

This infrastructure would be in a way like the roots of our new energy system, right?

MILES O'BRIEN: Even federal researchers are bullish.

A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that mass adoption of geothermal heat pumps could reduce the demand for electricity by 13 percent in the next 25 years.

But the idea isn't new.

JEFF TESTER, Engineering Professor, Cornell University: This is our living laboratory.

MILES O'BRIEN: Cornell University engineering professor Jeff Tester built his home in Ithaca, New York, as a living lab of efficiency.

For about 25 years, Cornell has harnessed a natural thermal engine to keep its campus cool.

A district-chilling system taps 39-degree water from the depths of Cayuga Lake to cool more than 100 buildings.

Now the university is looking to go deeper and warmer.

Jeff Tester is the principal investigator on a groundbreaking project to introduce geothermal heating to the campus.

In 2022, his team drilled a nearly two-mile-deep test borehole to assess the available heat resources here.

JEFF TESTER: I feel like I have been training all my life for the day when we actually would see this happen on a campus like Cornell.

MILES O'BRIEN: But he's still waiting, looking for money to build a geothermal network of pipes filled with hot water to heat the campus.

He says society places great value on fossil fuels and electricity.

JEFF TESTER: But heat is not viewed that way in the same way, and I think we need a fairer system of what I refer to as an equivalent way to actually look at the benefits from clean heating versus clean electricity versus clean fuels.

And we're not doing that right now.

So we need a new value system for energy.

MILES O'BRIEN: The Trump administration apparently does value geothermal.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright consistently emphasizes it as a priority, making it the only renewable energy source currently in favor.

ZEYNEB MAGAVI: It's something we can agree on.

It's the ground beneath our feet.

Turns out we have common ground.

MILES O'BRIEN: And it appears to be growing.

Plans are now in place to double the size of the Framingham geothermal network starting next year.

Common ground may be hard to find these days, but perhaps it's not far beneath the surface.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Miles O'Brien in Framingham, Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: In Providence, Rhode Island, public schools have long faced scrutiny from low test scores and crumbling buildings to persistent challenges communicating with bilingual families.

But, as Ben Berke of Ocean State Media reports, one city elementary school is pushing back against that narrative thanks to a team of young reporters.

TASHA WHITE, Librarian: Should it be the goodbye and then a fun fact or should it be the fun fact and then a goodbye?

Like, it seems like a little thing, but it's not when we start to put the video together.

STUDENT: Goodbye, fun fact, then joke of the week.

STUDENT: Yes.

TASHA WHITE: Does everyone agree with that?

STUDENTS: Yes.

BEN BERKE: At the Alfred Lima Elementary School, the news day begins with a morning meeting.

The journalists, all fifth graders, talk with their publisher, a school librarian, about what they want to cover on the weekly show.

TASHA WHITE: You guys had mentioned on our calendar up there.

What day was National Pretzel Day?

BEN BERKE: Before heading out to report the story, they put on their press passes and test their equipment.

STUDENT: One, two, three, mic check.

BEN BERKE: On a typical news day, the news crew roams the hallways looking for teachers and students to interview.

This week, they're reporting on media literacy.

STUDENT: Three, two, one.

STUDENT: Hello, guys.

We're here with... WOMAN: Ms.

Gonzalez (ph).

JAYDEN CHICHON, Student: And we're now going to ask her two questions for today about media literacy.

(LAUGHTER) BEN BERKE: Back in the newsroom, the fifth graders write scripts and tape the show in two languages in front of a green screen.

TASHA WHITE: All right, are we ready?

All right.

In three, two... BEN BERKE: Later, they will release the show on YouTube and social media.

STUDENT: Good morning or good afternoon again and welcome back to a new Lima News episode.

STUDENT: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) BEN BERKE: Jayden Chichon says it's the kids who insisted on a bilingual news show, which is hard to find in Rhode Island.

JAYDEN CHICHON, Student: The entire school is bilingual.

All classes have at least a bit of Spanish and English.

We want everybody to know about the news, so everybody's informed.

BEN BERKE: The Lima News crew has been putting on a weekly show for about four years now.

Narella Estrada, another fifth grader, says their mission is simple.

NARELLA ESTRADA, Student: We inform people, students or teachers about what's happening in the school because some teachers or kids or students don't know what's happening.

BEN BERKE: But the Lima News crew has a bigger scope than students first anticipated.

Last year, the crew landed interviews with Rhode Island's biggest power players.

ALEISHA MEJIA, Student: Now we're here with another special guest.

We have Governor McKee.

GOV.

DANIEL MCKEE (D-RI): Yes, that's very good.

ALEISHA MEJIA: What's it like being a governor?

A lot of people want to know.

GOV.

DANIEL MCKEE: A lot of people want to -- you want to be a governor?

ALEISHA MEJIA: No, but... (LAUGHTER) BEN BERKE: Aleisha Mejia, who graduated from Lima last year, says interviewing people like the governor taught her something important.

ALEISHA MEJIA: Like, you shouldn't be scared to do something because what if it's just like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

I would just go for it, in my opinion.

BEN BERKE: Providence Mayor Brett Smiley also came to Lima last year.

Aleisha tracked him down on the hallway with a microphone.

ALEISHA MEJIA: I asked him if he -- I think if he could change one thing, what would it be?

Or what is the things he's been seeing?

BEN BERKE: Smiley and Aleisha talked about the rising cost of rent in Providence.

The conversation made such a big impression on the mayor, he mentioned it that night on local TV.

BRETT SMILEY, Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island: I had some hard-hitting questions this morning from the Alfred Lima News crew.

This is the Lima Elementary School.

It's an elementary school here in Providence.

They have a news team.

I was interviewed this morning by Brinelli (ph), Aleisha, and Leah (ph).

I appreciate their hard questions.

And, honestly, I hope one day they're standing in your spot, Kim.

WOMAN: I hope so.

BEN BERKE: It can be nerve-racking to interview a big shot like a mayor or a governor.

But kids like Jayden say they're enjoying it.

JAYDEN CHICHON: It feels blissful, you can say.

It feels good to get answers from a question that you want to know badly.

BEN BERKE: The journalism program has an emotional impact on the school's staff too.

Tasha White is the librarian and publisher of The Lima News.

TASHA WHITE: Even though I might be like, wow, I didn't get to that math lesson today, or I really wanted my students to score this on the last state test, right, but look at all the amazing things that are happening.

BEN BERKE: This seems like a way to reclaim the narrative about what's really going on in a Providence public school.

TASHA WHITE: Oh, hands down, hands down.

And, again, I think that a lot of times, people just get stuck on scores.

And our students are so much more than a score.

BEN BERKE: The kids and the recent alumni have a lot to say about what they have learned in Ms.

White's newsroom.

ALEISHA MEJIA: It's great that I learned more things about my state, because, like, who wouldn't want to know more about their state?

NARELLA ESTRADA: I learned how to interview people, how to interview them good, and also how to be in front of cameras.

STUDENT: It actually helped me with public speaking a lot.

JAHZEEL DENUNEZ, Student: I get to learn more about our community, how fun some teachers are.

BEN BERKE: For some students, getting journalism experience is influencing how they're thinking about their future.

What do you guys want to be when you grow up?

KEYSHIA ABAD, Student: I would like to be anything that has to do with art or probably even a journalist.

NARELLA ESTRADA: I want to be a journalist or a doctor.

BEN BERKE: And I really do hope that Keyshia becomes an artist and Narella becomes a doctor, because, if they don't, they might be coming for my job one day.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Ben Berke in Providence, Rhode Island.

GEOFF BENNETT: And my job too.

That's the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS News Hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us.