PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Be AMNA NAWAZ: On the "News his attacks on Nikki Haley, as her campaign looks ahead to her home state of South Carolina.

GEOFF BENNETT: The United States strikes back against militants attacking American interests in the Middle East, but the attacks keep coming.

A look at the fine line the Biden administration is walking JOHN KIRBY, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications: We don't want to see the conflict escalate.

We don't wan We're not lo AMNA NAWAZ: And alcohol-related deaths surge a higher mortality rate than the opioid crisis.

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

Former President Donald Trump's second primary victory last night in New Hampshire makes it more likely that this year's race for president will be a rematch of 2020.

GEOFF BENNETT: But while Mr. Trump and President Biden are already setting their sights on each other, former U.N.

Ambassador Nikki Haley is reminding Republican voters she's still in the fight.

We're joined now Democratic members of Congress, and Republican strategist Kevin Madden, who advised Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

It's great to have you both he So, Donald Trump is now the th e New Hampshire primary.

Here's a bit of what DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Pres We are going The reason we have s and they're destroying our country.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, he says But looking at the voter surveys, the Associated Pr 21 percent of Republicans who cast ballots in the New Hampshire primary said they'd be so dissatisfied with Donald Trump as a general election candidate that they wouldn't even vote for him.

And 15 percent o How does Donald Trump unify the party and move ahead to a general election with those kind of numbers?

KEVIN MADDEN I think it's I think base Republican voters being this fighter who can take on the perceived excesses of the left and fight against Joe Biden, everything that he's done wrong and where -- the ways took the country in the wrong direction.

But at the s voters, swing voters, they are very upset with the idea that he is constantly relitigating the 2020 election and he is constantly looking backwards.

So the path forward, the way to unify the party and really win over swing voters, if he's going to win the general election in November, has to be focused on a more future-oriented message about the issues that people care about.

Now, he's going to have his own way of talking ab national security, foreign policy problems that we have or challenges that we have around the globe, really focus on those and where he wants to take the country in the future.

GEOFF BENNETT: The other big story of the night was President Biden got more votes as a write-in candidate who didn't even compete in New Hampshire than former Obama did back in 2012, when he did contest that primary in New Hampshire.

How does the Biden campaign build on that momentum moving forward, especially with this new shakeup in the leadership of their campaign?

MICHAEL MEEHAN, Democratic Consultant: Well, New Hampshire Democrats, right?

Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan put a big effort finish out on top.

And that's the k We have seen since Trump stacked the court and overturned abortion rights for women across this country that there's been about a 10 or 11 percent more performance on Election Day for Democrats in competitive races.

And so I think last night was a big win for Joe Biden.

He wasn't even on the ballot.

He beat Barack Oba (LAUGHTER) MICHAEL MEEH a couple of points.

And in a cou GEOFF BENNETT: Nikki Haley faces a lot of questions about the viability of her since there's little evidence that she has major support in the primaries and the caucuses that await her campaign.

Realistically, is there anything that then?

KEVIN MADDEN her own campaign and her donors.

They right now are funding the building of an infrastructure and a lo st double-digit in the first two contests.

And she's going to have to present a plan to the donors much like a is , here's the way going forward, and here's where I start, offering details yo u win and how you take that momentum into the bigger part of the calendar, where you have 16 contests all the way up until I think it's March 19, right -- March 5 and then March 19.

So she reall it's really hard to make the case to keep the resources going.

And in places like Florida, where this campaign, if it's going to continue on, it have to compete, it's like $3 million a week to compete there.

So you really do have to consolidate your support amongst your donor to get the volunteer and voter enthusiasm -- donors.

If you're going to get the volunteer and voter enthusiasm that you' somewhere.

GEOFF BENNET today, picked up the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union.

Here's some of what he told that group today.

JOE BIDEN, P of a deal are over in this country as long as I'm president.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOE BIDEN: W You have earned it!

You fought for it!

And you dese GEOFF BENNET populism, how will that boost his effort to reach out to voters in Michigan and working-class Americans who really have comprised that blue wall that Democrats need to keep in order to win the White House?

MICHAEL MEEH So the stock Unemployment is at a And what Joe Biden did today to o.

Keep me in o top are seeing and all across the country, they're going to s every day and take a shower and you come home at night.

Those are the kind of voters that Joe Biden That's how he won the first time.

That's how he's going to w GEOFF BENNETT: I and point our focus to something in particular.

NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: Most and Trump.

AUDIENCE: No!

NIKKI HALEY: The first par that wins this election.

GEOFF BENNETT: So the poll most Americans aren't thrilled about the prospects of a Trump-Biden rematch.

And here we are facing the longest general election in history.

Which campaign is helped by that?

Which campaign is hurt by KEVIN MADDEN: By GEOFF BENNETT: Yes KEVIN MADDEN campaigns is, they're grueling not only emotionally, but they're grueling and they're taxing physically.

And I think Joe Biden, one of the criticisms that many voters have is that he doesn't seem like he's up to the job and up to the task.

And so I think the more this campaign drags on and the more in and the tone and tenor that Trump is going to set, where he's going to be very aggressive during this campaign, I think it works to Trump's advantage.

And I think that's one of the things that a lot of voters right now about the prospects of Joe Biden inside the Democratic coalition.

GEOFF BENNETT: And yet the Biden campaign and the White House are trying to focus on issues.

The White Ho That's the Texas woman at the center of that high-profile abort She will be the guest of first lady Jill Biden at the State of the Union MI CHAEL MEEHAN: Yes, I think the White House is doing right on that, because women across this country will not tell a pollster that I'm not going to vote for somebody once their rights have been taken away.

And we have seen, go and vote for Joe Biden, because Donald Trump doesn't talk about this anymore, but he talked for the first half of this campaign about the three justices he put on t Roe v. Wade.

He's not tal He should be scared, because the silent Democrats in really red states and really red places in the last two-and-a-half years since the ruling came down.

GEOFF BENNETT: Appreciate it.

MICHAEL MEEH AMNA NAWAZ: Nikk Carolina, where she was raised and served as governor.

The state was also key to President Biden's victory in the 2020 primary an serve as a signal on his standing with black voters nationwide.

To discuss what to watch in the Palmetto State, I'm joined now by South Carolina Public Radio' Thelisha Eaddy.

Thelisha, it's g Let's start with the Republican She's a former governor.

Will Republi THELISHA EADDY, South Carolina Public Radio: Amna, I -- when I think about Nikki Haley, I refer to it as the peculiar case of Nikki Haley.

So we have this native daughter, we have this former governor who was in position and the call to remove the Confederate Flag from the statehouse dome.

It was a really big deal.

A lot of peo Seems like checks all the way down the board But one consistent thing that kind of overshad both sides of the political spectrum, is the criticism that they have on Nikki Haley about her is that they don't know who she is.

That's what we're hearing from people.

Just this morning spoke with a Sh e says she is leaning heavily towards voting for Trump, and that's who he says he is and what he believes and his record.

When I asked her about her opinions on the former governor, she u And she says she feels as though that the former governor is just becoming a better politician.

So, even tho state advantage, for the Republicans here, it almost seems as though that this is Donald Trump's home state.

He's made lo And just this past week, we saw him flanked on stage with many members of our here in South Carolina.

So it's a strange situation.

It seems like a strange situation, but I think to contend with as we lead up to our primary.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, as you know on the Democratic s significance for President Biden.

Black voters in particular back in 2020 really saved an Four years later, are they willing to show up and motivated enough to show up and support him in the same way?

THELISHA EADDY: Yo working deeply in the party, the same messaging was there.

They're celebrating the fact that they have this loyal bloc of African-American voters, and particularly female African-American voters, and they're very loyal, that ou t and get the word out and knock on doors.

But also in the conversation and also what they're pushing is So we have younger voters in -- who's now in the party.

And they're trying to stress, as they get out the vote, they're trying to stress that we understand that you may feel a little disenfranchised, if you will, or that your vote may not always count or you -- that you're not always at the forefront.

But the term that this individual used was, we need you We need you to remember what party works for you.

And so there are campaign events and rally events happening this weekend.

And that's the messaging.

They're trying are the party that's working for you.

This person actually called today survival vote So many of the issues that plague so many of the African-American communit South Carolina, the party wants those voters to remember that, we're It's going to take hard work.

It's not going to ha But have that muscle memory, rememb That's what I'm hearing from them.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thelisha, we saw in New Hampshire and in Iowa.

Who makes the difference in South Carolina and what are of their minds right now?

THELISHA EADDY: You know, the le aning towards former President Trump, and she said she's really pleased with his record, I asked her in particular, what about his record?

And top of her mind, immigration.

And she said, that's a really key issue for her.

What you're hearing, what I'm hearing a lot from people on the Repub to them, the tie that binds them, faith, value and being able to determine where a person stands.

And so she u what I read in the Scripture.

On the Democrats' side a lot, what I'm hearing abou African-Americans are plagued with a lot of issues in different parts of our state, and so they want to make sure that they are heard.

And so again, that large, loyal voting bloc wh o are really taking the lead and pushing the party forward, I think those two groups are the ones that would need to be watched during this time, during this cycle.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is South Carolina Public Radio's Thelisha Eaddy joining us tonight.

Thelisha, thank you so much.

Great to see you.

THELISHA EAD AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: Israeli forces and Hamas militants battled outside the main hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza's second largest city.

That left thousands of Palestinian patients and refugees trapped in the area.

Thousands more fled to Rafah along the Egyptian border.

They are joining 1.5 million displaced Gazans already crammed into encampments there.

FATEN AL-HAMAMI, Displaced Palestinian (through translator): I swear there is no safe place.

We are scared for our children.

We didn't sleep all night with rain and bombing I set up the tent using nylon.

This is the harshest period of winter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Back in Khan Yunis, the U.N. Agency Is raeli tank round killed nine people and wounded 75 at a U.N. training center.

Israeli officials have said Hamas fighters operate around U.N. sites and other civilian structures.

Moscow is accusing Ukrai killing all 74 people on board.

The Russians say the plane went down in the to a prisoner swap at the border.

Amateur video showed the plane bursting into flames a to the ground.

Ukrainian officials did not A State Trooper in Minnesota was charged with second-degree murder today in the death of a black motorist.

Body camera video Ryan Londre Minneapolis last summer.

State officials say Londregan opened fire The Minneapolis area has had a series of fatal police encounters, including the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Ohio will be the 23rd state to ban gender-affirmi Republican lawmakers enacted that today over GOP Governor Mike DeWine's veto.

He issued a ban by executive order, but argued that enshrining it into law was overreach.

The measure also bars transgender athletes from girls and women's sports teams in public schools and colleges.

Johnson & Johnson agreed today to pay $150 million to Washing Opioid deaths in the state had more than doubled to more than 2,000 from 2019 to 2022.

Nationwide, drug companies and others have reached $50 billion in opioid settlements in recent years.

Across Europe, farmers protested from France De monstrators say rising costs and cheap imports are putting unfair pressure on the industry.

In France, they put up roadblocks and filled streets with tractors.

Some took their case against higher costs and cheap imports to the E.U.

Parliament in Brussels.

PHILIPPE THOMA being caught in the middle.

They impose more and mor But, on the other hand, our produce isn't protected.

We need to be cleaner and cleaner, which costs us more and more, but we so the cheapest wins.

AMNA NAWAZ: Among ot ship more produce to the rest of Europe.

In economic news, China's Central Bank announced it's reducing the amount have to hold in reserves.

The goal is to free more money for lendin post-COVID economy.

It's the latest in a series of mo up confidence in the economic outlook.

And on Wall Street, stocks had a mixed day.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 99 points to close at The Nasdaq rose 56 points, and the S&P 500 added four.

And next month, comedian Jon Stewart will return to "The Daily Show" as host and executive producer, but only hosting on Monday nights through the election.

Stewart led the satirical program for 16 years before leaving in 2015.

"The Daily Show" has not had a permanent host in more than a year.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": U.S. attacks on Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen raise fears of a wider regional war; a new book documents the racism of a Jim Crow era mental health facility; the Oscars spark controversy by snubbing "Barbie" for best actress and director; plus much more.

GEOFF BENNETT: The war in Gaza has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians.

That's according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Our colleagues at Independent Television News ap parently unarmed man walking with a group of men under a white flag with their hands up.

ITN's camera The reporter is John Irvine in Israel.

And a caution: This story includes images of v JOHN IRVINE: This is the edge of the supposedly safe area called Al-Mawasi that the Israelis have been encouraging Gaza civilians to flee to.

These makeshift homes have been vacated because the war is getting closer.

The billowing smoke was evidence of the new Israeli offensive in Khan Yunis that has been forcing more families to evacuate and seek safety elsewhere.

HAZEM AHMAD, Displaced Palestinian (through translator): No place safely in Gaza.

Everywhere you are going, you will find the Israeli army.

They are shoot us at home, any building, in the street, everywhere you are.

They will give you a chance sometimes just for five minutes sometimes, do not give you any chance to take your clothes, to take your children, to take your family, and to get out of the building.

This is our life in Gaza.

It's very difficult.

JOHN IRVINE: As he moved forwards towards the combat zone, he noticed this group of men doing their utmost to appear nonthreatening, trying to proceed with care.

They wanted to reach two other family members and get them out of harm's way.

RAMZI ABU SAHLOUL, Displaced Gazan (through translator): I have my mother and brother in there with around 50 or 70 displaced people in another house.

The Israelis came to us and told us to evacuate, but they didn't let my brother out.

We want to go and try to get them, God willing.

JOHN IRVINE: The interview complete, our cameraman walked away.

And then this happened.

(GUNSHOT) JOHN IRVINE: The interview You can see them place their flag on his chest.

As he was carried away, the white flag was turning red.

"Carry him.

They have killed him," yells this youth.

Then,suddenly, more gunfire.

(GUNSHOTS) JOHN IRVINE: They scream at a child, telling him to find cover.

By this stage, the man's wife, his widow, has heard what happened.

And as she rushes to the scene, she meets the party carrying away the body on a makeshift stretcher.

When they're s GEOFF BENNETT: We asked the Israel Defense Forces to respond to the story today.

A spokesman said -- quote -- "We're not aware of the event, and it's still under examination."

An Israeli defense official later told "PBS NewsHour" that an Israeli analysis of the audio found that two weapons fired shots.

They say one was an automatic that fired three bullets, and the rate of f to any rifle used by the Israeli military.

The official added they are investigating further.

AMNA NAWAZ: One of the U.S. priorities since the Oc preventing violence from expanding across the region.

But, overnight, the U.S. launched strikes at Iranian-backed groups in Yemen following attacks by those groups.

And once again today, Houthi rebels fired missiles at Nick Schifrin looks at the widening U.S. military campaign and the threat posed by Iran.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Just after midnight in Iraq, U.S. strikes targeted an Iranian-backed militia.

Two hours later, in Yemen, the U.S. military targeted Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, strikes in two different Middle Eastern countries against two different Iranian-supported groups designed, in the words of National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, to prevent wider war JOHN KIRBY, escalate.

We don't wan We're not lo We're actually trying to de-escalate.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I axis of resistance to conduct forward defense against its enemies.

In Iraq, that includes Kataib Hezbollah, a Shia paramilitary group that the U.S. labels terrorists, but is also part of the Iraqi military that helped defeat ISIS.

Last weekend, the U.S. military says the group fired rockets and ballistic missiles at this U.S. military base, Al Asad, causing -- quote -- "a number of American injuries."

The U.S. military says last night's U.S. strikes target a Kataib Hezbollah headquarters, storage and training sites.

JOHN KIRBY: We'r and our facilities, and we will stay vigilant going forward.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Iraqi Prime Minister M -- "irresponsible escalation" after reiterating a threat to push U.S. troops out of Iraq.

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI, Iraqi Prime Minister (through translator): After the repercussions and attacks on the Iraqi security headquarters we h in order to reach an agreement on arranging a timetable for the end of the mission of international advisers.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Yemen, the U.S. s the advanced weapons that allow the group to target international shipping; 30 percent of global container traffic sails through the Suez Canal via the Red Sea.

Dozens of Houthi attacks have forced many ships to reroute around Africa, driving up consumer prices and causing supply chain delays.

The shipping company Maersk says today's Houthi attacks targeted two American ships, t Detroit and the Maersk Chesapeake, as they carried cargo for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Because of that cargo, they were being escorted by U.S. Navy ships that shot down two Houthi missiles.

To stop the It's not clear if Beijing's willing to help, but publicly today urged restraint.

WANG WENBIN, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through translator): China calls for to the harassment of civilian ships and urges relevant parties to refrai tensions in the Red Sea.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. and and vow to keep going, said President Biden on Thursday.

JOE BIDEN, Presi the Houthis?

No.

Are they goi Yes.

NICK SCHIFRI ships and vowed the attacks would continue.

To discuss tensions in the region and the U.S. response so far, we g Michael Doran was a senior director on the George W. Bush National Security Council staff and now directs the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.

And Ali Vaez was a senior political af Iran Project director at the International Crisis Group, which describes itself as working to prevent conflict around the world.

Thanks very much.

Welcome to b Michael Dora What is your on Iranian-backed groups?

Do you believe that the strikes have b MICHAEL DORAN, Former National An d the president basically just admitted that.

And Maersk has also said at the World Economic Forum that t months.

That is, tha months.

So, clearly, And if it's NICK SCHIFRIN: Ali Vaez, let me ask you the same question.

What's your assessment so far of the U.S. strikes ALI VAEZ, Iran Project Director, International Crisis Group: Well, I agree that they're working, but because we're addressing the symptoms here and not the prox which is the war in Gaza.

Look, the reality is that the Ho for many years, and they have been targeted with the same U.S. weapons that we are now using against them for multiple years, and they have never been deterred.

They're simply undeterrable.

They're capa They're dete They're zealot And, in fact, they have been gaining in p internationally.

And we have had th Using the military tool, Nick, is not the solution here.

It is an option, for sure, but it's not a solution.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Doran, are the Houthis undeterrable, as Ali Vaez just said, the military solution not the solution?

MICHAEL DORAN: No, they're hu They're also being aided by the Iranians, and A little-reported fact is that the Houthis, for the first time ever in the world, used an anti-ship ballistic missile.

So they debuted it in combat.

The Houthis, who don't have a serious defens the Iranians are there providing them with this weaponry.

The IRGC general in Sanaa who's responsible for this is Abdul Reza Shahlai, is on our terrorist list because he killed Americans in Iraq.

He's the guy who orchestrated the attempt to kill Adel Al-Jubeir, the Sa here, in 2011.

So we have a guy who has a history of soil.

He's deliver If we held him responsible, we could deter them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ali Vaez, what about that, hold and indeed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps itself responsible?

ALI VAEZ: Look, Nick, again, there is a long track record to look at here.

You remember when the U.S. killed General Soleimani in 2020 in Baghdad, we were told that deterrence is restored and now Iran would no longer be able to project power in the region.

In the past as a Hamas commander in Beirut.

The U.S. has taken out a Shia militia commander in now at least seven times.

So, again, there's a long track record to lo We had at certain point 150,000 troops on both sides of Iran's borders in Iraq and and yet we were not able to deter them.

Again, the military option is not a solution to every issue we if you look at last year, for instance, Iran and the U.S. were engaged in quiet diplomacy that led to a de-escalatory understanding between them, which resulted in the longest period in which we had no attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

Now, in the course of the past three-and-a-half months since the war in Gaza started, we have had more than 150 attacks on U.S. forces.

And so the correlation is very simple to understand.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Doran, take on that last action, that creates de-escalation.

MICHAEL DORAN: Here's a IRGC says, let's orchestrate attacks against America and its allies all around the region, and the supreme leader says, you know what, there is no military option.

It just doesn't work.

We should de-escal They're the ones who escalated They defined the conflict in Gaza as a contest be United States.

The United S between Israel and Hamas only.

They have not reciprocated.

I think we need to The only way to make them de-escalate is to take things from them that they hold dear.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ali Vaez, respond to that fundamental point that Michael Doran just said, th tension is not about, as you said -- or the source of the tension is not about the war in Gaza, but this is really about Iran and its proxies versus the United States.

ALI VAEZ: Well, look, again, we had a period right before the war in Gaza that we have had no attacks on U.S. forces in the region.

And let me once again say that the reality here is that we have a long track record of testing both of these propositions, diplomacy and military force.

And I remind your viewers that we went into Afghanistan and we spent trillions of dollars and 20 years of war to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

So we have to understand that there are limits to the use of military force.

I'm not saying that these are good people and we should not do anything, but I'm saying use of force is not useful unless and until we have a realistic and achievable diplomatic solution and an endgame here.

And I'm not seeing any of that.

Both Iran and the United States are time.

I believe ne there's no diplomacy here to try to actually bring this to an end.

NICK SCHIFRIN: We have only got about 45 seconds left.

So, just in the time we have left quickly.

Could these MICHAEL DORAN: It's certainly possible, but everyone in the region they're watching to see if the United States is going to protect itself and protect its allies.

The United S of Iran.

If we do not is going to draw the conclusion that we're not going to defend them.

If we won't defend ourselves, we certainly won't defend them.

And they will hedge toward Iran and toward China.

One of the most perverse things we hear is that the United St global rival, to help us with Iran.

How is that possibly going to work?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ali Vaez, quickly, sho in Iraq?

ALI VAEZ: It itself does want the U.S. to remain in Iraq so that it -- we don't see another reemergence of ISIS or another radical group.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.

ALI VAEZ: So But as long as the tensions in I think, remains pretty high.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.

Ali Vaez, Mi MICHAEL DORAN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Alcohol is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the U.S. Every year, more people die of alcohol-related causes than drug overdoses.

But problems with alcohol often go overlooked.

William Brangham looks at how this is affecting the western part of the co in particular.

WILLIAM BRAN rates of alcohol-related deaths in the country.

Drinking deaths in the state spiked 60 percent between 2018 and 2021.

In 2022, more than 1,500 people in the state died from excessive drinking, a slight decline from earlier, but that is still 50 percent above pre-pandemic levels.

When you also take into account deaths from chronic long-term conditions related to alcohol, the death toll doubles, a number that far exceeds the deaths from opioids.

But as The Denver Post reported in a new four-part series, alcohol has not been treated with the same urgency as opioids.

That series is called "Colorado's Quiet Killer."

And reporter Meg Wingerter joins me now.

Meg, thank you so much for being here.

Your series is titled the "Quiet Killer."

Why do you refer to it as quiet?

MEG WINGERTER, The Denver Post: at tention.

We hear abou killer that we need to pay attention to.

But there's not really the awareness that alcohol can also be deadly.

When I was writing this series and interviewing people, other than people who specifically study alcohol, there was just not really this awareness that the death toll could be anything comparable, because, well, I mean, it's not something people talk about very much.

Most -- many people would really rather not admit if excessive drinking was what killed their loved one.

So we just d WILLIAM BRANGHAM: When we talk about categori for us?

Are we talki Is this chronic conditions?

What are these deaths?

MEG WINGERTE would come up is, they would assume that this was a lot of people dying in crashes or young people drinking themselves to death in one night.

But what it is mostly is longer-term conditions, a lot of liver disease, some cancers, s heart conditions, deaths by suicide where people were intoxicated at the time, which makes you more impulsive, more likely to follow through in suicide if you were having those thoughts.

So it does l Accidents are a problem, but they're not the biggest source of the problem.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Are there things that public health experts told you might help for the state to do to help bring these deaths down?

MEG WINGERTER: Well, there's no one magic a huge impact on deaths, but there are a lot of small things that can nudge people.

When alcohol taxes go up, people tend to somewhat reduce their consumption.

When alcohol is not as convenient, people also will tend to drink a little bit less.

There are cultural things, trying to give people alternatives and kind of normalize events where drinking isn't at the center of it.

Now, none of those is going to completely fix the problem, b people a nudge toward reducing their consumption, which, over time, adds up to fewer people developing these chronic conditions.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, al Even though we are in the middle of Dry January, I mean, it's kind of notable that we even have a month where we try to drink less as a culture.

Were you surprised overall by the things that you found in your series?

MEG WINGERTER: Yes.

I had actually just kind of stumbled looked at those, and that seemed high, compared it to the overdoses.

But as I started talking to people more about the number of conditions that it's involved in, it makes sense.

The odds an average drin illicit fentanyl user will die from the substance they're using.

But so many people drink that it then adds up to this very large toll.

And it is uncomfortable to talk about in a way that illicit drugs are not, because so many of us enjoy having a drink and don't necessarily want to hear that it could be a problem.

WILLIAM BRAN Thank you so much for sharing your reporting with us.

MEG WINGERTER: Thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: Crownsville State Hospital in Maryland was one of the last segregated mental asylums in the country and it operated for some 93 years.

Thousands of Black patients came through over the years and many of them died there.

NBC News correspondent Antonia Hylton began looking into the facility a decade ago during her first year of college.

I spoke with her recently about Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum."

And I asked her why she wanted to tell this story.

ANTONIA HYLTON, Author, "Madness: Race and Insanity in a freshman year, and I stumbled obsessed.

On the one hand, it was an academ But there was also a personal aching and longing, I think, because I come from a very big, tight-knit family.

I'm one of s But the one topic that a mental illness.

And that's b and loved ones, relatives who had spent time in institutions not unlike Crownsville.

And so when I finally was out of my own as a young adult, it was my moment to explore, to try to find myself, my family, a bit of my history reflected somewhere.

And I stumbled across -- upon a footnote about Crownsville Hospital.

And I didn't know then what this would become, but I knew that I had found something really special and really important, a key piece of Black history, of the history of psychiatry.

But, really, it's an American story, a story that I think implicates all of us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me about what you uncovered, though, because you go on, as you mentioned, a decade-long journey uncovering documents, talking to people who work th of folks who were at Crownsville as well.

You basically document the story of a chronically underfunded, perpetually su rrounded by hostile neighbors subject to the same overt and violent racism as many other institutions and resources for Black people at the time.

What was the impact of that on the people who were there?

ANTONIA HYLTON: Crownsville is this complicated ev olving battles in our country in its early years, founded in 1911.

And one of the things that was most shocking to me that I found when I first embarked on all this research was that this is the only hospital in the state of Maryland and quite possibly the only hospital in the history of the United States that forced its own patient to build it from the ground up.

And this is because doctors at the time had and their minds, their mental well-being.

Many of them believed that emancipation was a mistake and that Black people were to handle freedom, and that this rise in mental illness, in emotional disturbances that they were witnessing in the years after emancipation, they figured, well, it must be because they can't handle freedom.

No one seemed to pause and ask, well Americans?

And so they Black people are different and therefore need to be treated differently, and that the solution, part of the therapy, the treatment is to put them back to work.

And so these patients in 1911 are brought into a forest, and they're not just carrying some water or sandbags and helping some contractors out.

They are pouring cement.

They are moving railways.

They are building massive structures f And they are working side by side through the day and night with contract to build a hospital that, once it's complete, they're going to be marched inside and they're going to become its first patients.

And so I often share that story with the beginning, the genesis of a story that comes to reflect so much of how ar e then treated.

And the hospital's founding, it repr It comes to represent fights over integration, civil rights, the fight for Black people's complete and honest representati n and participation in this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: You document a number of horrific, quite frankly, accounts, acts of violence in Crownsville, abuse of patients, inhumanity that really just takes your breath away, but there's also moments of bravery and real humanity, in particular from some of the Black staffers at the facility who really fight for people who aren't getting treatment.

Does any one person or any one story stick with you?

ANTONIA HYLTON: Oh, man, there are a few.

There's this group, this clique of Black women who some of the very first Black people that get the opportunity to work at Crownsville.

For its first several decades, it's a hospital that's all Black patients and exclusively white employees.

Then integration comes, and, slowly, able to get jobs and to treat people who don't just look like them, but in many cases went to school with them, rode the bus with them, lived down the street from them.

They notice that many patients don't have clothes, so they go home and they gather their own leftover clothing, and they bring it to the hospital.

They notice that some of the male patients don't have belts and their do wn all day and they're not able to live with dignity.

So they go and they make their own makeshift belts, very simple acts like it seemed no other employee had thought to do.

And so they start to transform the culture of the hospital just because they see t patients as human.

AMNA NAWAZ: You du reluctance, as you mentioned, to talk about a lot of the mental health issues through the generations.

You write th alcoholism and schizophrenia.

We were warned about how much diabetes the It would have helped to know about the number of mental breakdowns too."

How has this changed how you look at the stigma surrounding mental health conversations, particularly around communities of color, where there are fewer resources and these are often issues we just don't talk about?

ANTONIA HYLTON some of my family members.

I had tried I remember being in high school and asking I was feeling very down at school.

And they said, no, that's not some Therapists don't treat Black people well.

You can't trust them.

And I felt like they'd shut me just didn't want to hear about my life and my experiences.

But once you reckon with this history, when you see the way in which they fr om real therapy and mental health care treatment, or when they did access it at times could be, you start to understand why maybe did my grandparents and my parents think this system wasn't for them, that it wasn't safe for their children to engage in it.

AMNA NAWAZ: The author is Antonia Hylton.

Antonia, thank you so much.

ANTONIA HYLTON: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: When the Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday, among the films on the list for best picture was the year's biggest-grossing movie, "Barbie."

But many were surprised the nominations for best director did not include the film's director, Greta Gerwig.

Jeffrey Brown has a look JEFFREY BROWN: How do these nominations get made, and why would both G the film star, Margot Robbie, both be left off?

Well, Washington Post's chief film critic, Ann Hornaday, has been thinking and writ about this, and she joins me now.

Hi, Ann.

I mean, you that were nominated in the best picture category really reflected the wonderful range of films being made, but not in the director's category.

What happened there?

ANN HORNADAY on the good news, which is what an amazing year.

I mean, I think that this is a wide range of f and it's just exactly what we want in scope.

We want the bigs.

We want the We want the But the directors branch, when they nominate the to go with the kind of auteurist, technically rigorous, ambitious work.

JEFFREY BROWN: A lot of people pointing to an irony here that the director of a film smartly critiquing sexism in the culture, she doesn't get full recognition.

And, to some, that suggests that that very sexism is on display.

ANN HORNADAY: Well, I can understand that, but I'm not sure -- I think we need to be really careful about and maybe a little bit more thoughtful about framing this as pure sexism.

I mean, let' It might have as much to do, if not more, with genre than gender.

I mean, even though "Poor Things" made that cut for director, generally, Oscars don't take comedies as seriously as art as dramas.

And so I think that might have as much to do with it as anything.

And it also -- I think we need to kind of remind ourselves about how these nominations are made.

I mean, thes basically cast their ballots individually, anonymously and confidentially.

So it's not like they're getting in a room and making these decisions collectively.

So I'm a little bit more hesitant to paint this with a wide brush of sexism or snub.

I just think, frank -- if anything, I think it points to just how rich the choices were.

I mean, these are five -- we can all quibble.

We would all sort of make our choice of who we would r fun thing to do.

And I think But at the end of the day, these are really -- l choices and extremely well-directed films.

So it's not as if somebody got in at somebody else's expense.

JEFFREY BROWN: And then what about in the actress category, where Margot Ro not get an act -- now, it was a very strong category of acting.

ANN HORNADAY: That's exactly right.

That's my point exactly.

I mean, and we don't know -- we don't know We don't know how close those votes were.

So I just -- even though I know it's heartbreaking for the people t and it's also something of a team sport for the fans of the movies, "Barbie" did get recognized in many other categories, including supporting actress, which was sort of a surprise to me, as well as best picture and other categories.

So I don't know.

Maybe I'm being Po JEFFREY BROWN: We have talked about this a lot in the past about the lack of representation in films and then lack of representation in the awards and the nominations.

There have been many changes made in the makeup of the academy itself.

Do you see the results of that in recent years?

ANN HORNADAY: If anything, I see the results in the increase in in I think that's where we're really seeing sea changes.

And I think it's terribly exciting.

And I think it returns cinema Ev en though Oscars are quintessentially Hollywood, the transmission between Hollywood and other countries and other cultures is longstanding and rich.

And so I think the degree to which we're seeing things like "Parasite" and Michel for "Everything Everywhere All at Once," and this year "Anatomy of a Fall," I just think it suggests a widening of the lens when it comes to what we consider movie movies and mainstream movies.

And that's all to the good JEFFREY BROW ANN HORNADAY: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: On behalf of the