AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening, and welcome. I'm Amna Nawaz. GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett. On the "NewsHour" tonight: New data show a dramatic rise in maternal mortality and sudden infant deaths among Black Americans. AMNA NAWAZ: The popular social media app TikTok says the Biden administration is pressuring it to sell the company, as concerns about security grow. GEOFF BENNETT: And pandemic-induced burnout causes major nursing staff shortages in hospitals across the country. JASMINE BHATTI, Co-Founder, Navi Nurses: There was one night at work that I questioned whether or not nursing was for me. By 11:00 p.m., I hadn't been in to see three of my five patients. It just makes you feel defeated. (BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour." It's been another turbulent day in the financial world, with news of rescues of troubled banks on both sides of the Atlantic. Shares in Credit Suisse have bounced back, as it tapped the Swiss Central Bank for more than $50 billion in emergency funding. AMNA NAWAZ: And 11 large U.S. banks put $30 billion in deposits into the troubled First Republic Bank based in San Francisco. At a Senate hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dismissed fears that the collapse of two other financial institutions might spread. JANET YELLEN, U.S. Treasury Secretary: I do believe the banking system in the United States is sound and resilient. And we wanted to make sure that the problems at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank didn't undermine confidence in the soundness of banks around the country. GEOFF BENNETT: Despite strains in the banking system, the European Central Bank went ahead today with raising interest rates by another half-a-percentage point to curb inflation. All told, the day's news gave Wall Street a boost. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 372 points, or 1 percent, to close at 32246. The Nasdaq rose 2.5 percent. The S&P 500 was up nearly 1.8 percent. Prosecutors in Virginia have now charged 10 people in the smothering death of a Black man at a state mental hospital. They say security camera footage shows Irvo Otieno was fatally pinned down last week. In all, seven sheriff's deputies and three hospital employees are charged with second-degree murder. Pentagon video released today shows a Russian fighter jet intercepting a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea this week. The drone's camera captured the warplane dumping fuel, apparently trying to blind the unmanned aircraft. Then, after a second approach, there's visible damage to the drone's propeller. U.S. officials say it's proof the Russian jet hit the drone. BRIG. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, Pentagon Press Secretary: Given the reckless and dangerous behavior, and to demonstrate publicly what type of actions the Russians had taken, we felt that it was important to provide this imagery. GEOFF BENNETT: The video does not show an actual collision, and Russia has denied that its plane struck the drone. Poland's president announced today his country will send a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Transferring the Soviet airplanes would make Poland the first NATO member to respond to Kyiv's requests for fighter jets. The U.S. and other allies have remained reluctant to take that step. A U.N.-backed commission is accusing Russia of war crimes in Ukraine. The panel's report today says Russia has committed - - quote -- "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, in violation of international humanitarian law." It also cites attacks on power plants leaving thousands without heat. The report alleges a small number of violations by Ukrainian forces. Amnesty International is accusing Iran of torturing children who joined the protests against the regime. The group says detainees as young as 12 have been subjected to beatings, flogging, rape, and electric shocks. Mass protests erupted six months ago after a young woman died in police custody. In France, the battle over raising the national retirement age to 64 came to a head today. The government invoked seldom-used powers to impose the change without parliamentary approval and despite mass protests and strikes. Special correspondent Ross Cullen reports from Paris. ROSS CULLEN: Booze and shouts echoed throughout the National Assembly, as French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne pushed the pension bill through without a vote. Left-wing lawmakers raised signs and their voices opposing the legislation as they sang the national anthem. ELISABETH BORNE, French Prime Minister (through translator): Ladies and gentlemen, members of Parliament, we cannot bet on the future of our pensions. This reform is necessary. ROSS CULLEN: Anger has been escalating over the plan to raise France's retirement age from 62 to 64. Nationwide strikes and protests have flared since January. MIREILLE HERREIBERRY, Banking Sector Employee (through translator): Even if the reform goes through, the inequality gaps, especially for women, will be present. So we must indeed be on the street and always ready to fight this reform. ROSS CULLEN: President Emmanuel Macron hopes raising the retirement age will help France's pension system avert a deficit by the end of the next decade as its population ages. But the pension overhaul lacked the parliamentary support it needed to pass. The protest movement has seen millions of people join marches against pension reform since the start of the year. The fact the government has used this controversial, but constitutional way to bypass Parliament is only likely to fuel the fire of the demonstrators and the striking workers to continue their social action. Garbage workers are among those still on strike. Trash is overflowing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and all across Paris, repulsing locals and tourists alike. Deen James manages a restaurant in the capital city. DEEN JAMES, Restaurant Manager (through translator): It's complicated because you have rats out in the morning. You also can't have people sit outside. ROSS CULLEN: Today's move will also surely trigger a no-confidence vote in Macron's government, but that's likely to fail, since most Conservative lawmakers would oppose it. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Ross Cullen in Paris. GEOFF BENNETT: French trade unions vow to intensify the strikes that have crippled energy shipments and disrupted transit services. And health care workers in England today reached a pay raise agreement to end the worst strikes there since the 1980s. Nurses, ambulance crews and others would get a lump sum payment this year and a 5 percent raise next year. Still to come on the "PBS NewsHour": Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren discusses tougher banking regulations; Minnesota's governor on how his state could be a national model for transgender rights; and why archaeological treasure hunters are scanning the banks of the Thames River in London. AMNA NAWAZ: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released two new disturbing reports about mortality rates for mothers and babies in America, including some stark racial divides. William Brangham explores these alarming trends. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We're going to hear from two of the researchers behind this new data. First, look at maternal mortality. New mothers are dying here at higher rates than mothers in any other industrialized nation. And during the pandemic, that had gotten much worse. In 2018, an average of 17 mothers died for every 100,000 births in America. But, by 2021, that rate shot up to almost 33 mothers per 100,000. This trend was far worse for Black mothers, more than double the national average, with almost 70 deaths per 100,000 births. So, what is going on here? Shanna Cox is the associate director for science for reproductive health at the CDC. Shanna Cox, thank you so much for being here. Can you help us understand a little bit about what you found here? As I mentioned, maternal mortality has been bad in America for quite a few years, but got really bad during the pandemic. What is it that stood out to you in this? SHANNA COX, Associate Director for Science, Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Well, as you said, what we know is that too many women die from pregnancy-related complications each year. And the increases that we saw from 2020 to 2021 were tragic. We also know that pregnant women are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. And that likely contributed to some of the increases that we're seeing. We also know that there are increases in maternal age, chronic conditions that are associated with pregnancy complications, such as hypertension, as well as social determinants of health, such as economic insecurity and housing insecurity. So, all of these factors contributed to what we're seeing in increases in maternal deaths. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So the data is indicating that it was some of the social and health factors brought on by the pandemic. We're not talking about viral deaths here. We're talking about all the related things that people suffered through during the pandemic. SHANNA COX: Yes, we have to think about all of those things. This data really does highlight the numbers. It's a canary in the coal mine, letting us know that this is something that we need to pay much more attention to and understand what the contributing factors are. So, while we can't pinpoint one thing that is driving this increase, we can understand, what were the factors that were occurring at this time that may have contributed to this increase? WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And can I ask you specifically about the -- these very stark numbers for Black mothers in America? As I mentioned, in 2018, they were still ahead of the overall trend for all American moms. But that trend continued and seemed to worsen. Why do you believe that's the case? SHANNA COX: There are longstanding disparities in pregnancy-related deaths between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white women. There are many factors that can contribute to these disparities. For example, we know that there are variations in the quality of care that are received in facilities that disproportionately serve Black women for both black and white women. We also know that there are disparities in those pregnancy-related complications, such as hypertension. But, most importantly, we also know, again, those social determinants of health also differ by race ethnicity. We also have to acknowledge that historical trauma and racism, including structural racism, plays a part in the distribution of social determinants of health, and also play a role in those disparities. But I also want to highlight these factors are not always protective for Black women. For example, non-Hispanic Black women with a college degree are more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than non-Hispanic women with a high school degree. So we know that there's something specific about the experience of being Black in America that are driving these disparities. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: OK, we want to turn now to that second data set from the CDC, this one about infant mortality, specifically, any sudden unexpected death of an infant. The overall rate of infants dying is at record lows. But during the first year of the pandemic, the deaths of Black infants spiked. As you can see, it's the blue line second from the top. So what do we know about why that trend is occurring? Sharyn Parks Brown is an epidemiologist at the CDC. Commander Parks Brown, thank you so much for being here. Again, a similar question to you. We had been making, it seems, progress on saving the lives of more young people and keeping them alive after they were born. But then there was this sudden turn during the pandemic. Did that spike that we saw come as a surprise to you? CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Yes, this was absolutely a surprise for us. So we were looking to compare the rates of sudden unexpected infant deaths prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to the first year of data after the COVID-19 pandemic began. And, as you outlined, we did see that the overall SUID rate between 2015 and 2020 did not change. But we did see that surprising increase in the SUID rate among non-Hispanic Black infants. The other... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: May I just interject for a second? CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Yes. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The SUID rate, this is the sudden unexplained infant death? That's what you're referring to. CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Sudden unexpected infant deaths. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Unexpected, yes. CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Yes. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I'm sorry. CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Yes. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Continue, please. CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Yes. So, along with us being surprised that the rate increased so starkly for non-Hispanic Black infants, it's important to point out that the racial disparities and the pattern of those disparities had been consistent from as far back as 1995, where we typically saw the highest rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths among American Indian, Alaskan Native infants. But, in 2020, that flipped, so that non-Hispanic Black infants actually had the highest rate of sudden unexpected infant death, then followed by American Indian, Alaskan Native infants. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, again, do you have a sense as to why this sudden spike occurred? CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Similar to what my colleague stated about maternal mortality, we don't have data at this point to really explain why we observed this spike in infant mortality. But, again, we also believe that there were some indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. So we know that a lot of the mitigation efforts disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minority communities, compared to non-Hispanic whites, white families. So, things like exacerbation of housing insecurity, food insecurity, unemployment, changes in health care -- health care access, all of those things could have impacted, for instance, access to childcare, so that families had people who were not typically caring for their babies now were responsible for taking care of those infants. We also saw changes related to housing instability. Families may have been exposed to sleeping arrangements that they weren't used to. So, where are they normally may have had access to a safe sleeping environment, like a crib for their infant, maybe due to sudden unemployment associated with the pandemic, they were without their safe sleeping arrangement, and may thereby have been putting their children in riskier sleep environments. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So that is one of the possible factors here, that children in a -- might be suffocation or something that we have thought of in the past as complicit in children suddenly dying? CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Yes, so we could be talking about infants that are suffocating in their sleep environments. But some of these babies, also, we don't have evidence that they have died of suffocation, but some of them just may die for other unexplained sudden reasons that are -- that they're more at risk for as a result of being in unsafe sleeping environments. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And, again, to this point about the specificity of how this seemed to be particularly amongst Black infants, as opposed to other lower socioeconomic or racial minorities in America, how do you explain that particular trend? CMDR. SHARYN PARKS BROWN: Well, that's something that -- again, this is one year of data. And so we're going to continue monitoring to see if this spike that we observed in 2020 is just the artifact in the data or if it's something that is actually sustained, and also try to use some of our other data sources, like our Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Case Registry at CDC that has a lot of rich data on social determinants of health to try to really tease out what the factors were that could have been driving the increases that we observed. So, that's a question that we will be continuing to monitor and do surveillance and research on. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Sharyn Parks Brown and Shanna Cox, thank you both so much for being here. SHANNA COX: Thanks for having us. GEOFF BENNETT: The Chinese parent company of TikTok says the Biden White House is pressuring it to sell to an American firm, or face a national ban. Nick Schifrin reports on the national security concerns of the hugely popular video app. WOMAN: How to eat a dandelion. NICK SCHIFRIN: 21st century flower power. WOMAN: It doesn't taste bad. I would not lie. NICK SCHIFRIN: Communicative cappuccinos. A nursing home rendition of Rihanna. TikTok's diverse viral sensations have combined access to music with editing tricks made easy to create a social media monster. MAN: I see it as a piece of cake. NICK SCHIFRIN: TikTok has a billion-and-a-half users, and its single most popular video has been watched 2.1 billion times. But the U.S. government says TikTok's sleight of hand isn't like this American magician... MAN: How are you doing that? NICK SCHIFRIN: ... but by the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and is a national security threat to users and their data. SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): But they use TikTok to control data on millions of users. NICK SCHIFRIN: Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio asked FBI Director Chris Wray about Beijing's control of TikTok. SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Could they use it to drive narratives, like to divide Americans against each other? CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI Director: Yes. This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government. And it -- to me, it screams out with national security concerns. NICK SCHIFRIN: The primary concern is that Chinese law forces ByteDance to collaborate with the Chinese government, and there's no independent judiciary for appeal. DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: A very American company buy it. NICK SCHIFRIN: The pressure on ByteDance to sell is three years old and crosses two administrations led by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS. TikTok says it has already answered U.S. concerns in a process known as Project Texas by creating a new company whose board reports to the U.S. government and whose employees are subject to U.S. approval and allowing U.S. technology company Oracle to control all user data and review the app's algorithm and content. Today, TikTok said in a statement: "Divestment doesn't solve the problem. A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access." SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Before there was TikTok, there was Huawei and ZTE. NICK SCHIFRIN: On the Hill, a new build that the administration supports would allow the Commerce Department to ban TikTok. SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): It's important to establish a holistic and methodical approach to the challenges that are posed by technology from foreign adversaries. MAN: Why the sudden moved to ban TikTok? NICK SCHIFRIN: On TikTok today, users have responded to the possible ban with criticism and more content. WOMAN: TikTok is getting banned. VOICES: Oh, no. WOMAN: Never mind. No, it's not. VOICES: Hooray. WOMAN: Wait. No, it's only being banned like a little bit. Just kidding. It's being banned a lot. VOICE: What? DEEMA ZEIN: How about you and me merge? OK? NICK SCHIFRIN: The "NewsHour" has its own TikTok and its own TikTok star, Deema Zein. Why do you think TikTok has become so popular? DEEMA ZEIN: They get to kind of enter somebody else's world or they feel more closely connected. And it's almost become like this community, right, where it's so unfiltered and so authentic, that it's just very real. Whether it's your second job or your full-time job, yes, I think the risk of TikTok being banned is a huge concern for these people and where they will go after that. NICK SCHIFRIN: Well TikTok is the relative new kid on the block, its creators and users are loyal. But the national security community looked for threats and found them in the app and because of its Chinese parent company. And so TikTok might not have nine lives, despite being the single most downloaded app in the world. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin. AMNA NAWAZ: So, could this be the beginning of the end for TikTok in the U.S.? And can the U.S. government's concerns about the app be mitigated? Matt Perault was a public policy official at Facebook before becoming a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the director of its Center on Technology Policy. And a quick note: The center is funded by foundations and tech companies such as Google, Apple and our subject now, TikTok. But, Matt Perault, welcome to the "NewsHour." Let's just start with what Nick was just reporting there. TikTok had been negotiating with the U.S. government for years, already agreed to a number of requests laid out by the U.S. government. What changed that led the Biden administration to reportedly harden their stance and issue this ultimatum that the ByteDance CEO says he received? MATT PERAULT, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: It's not exactly clear what changed. And it's not clear if what changed is more substantive, meaning that it's related to actual harm related to TikTok or risk that TikTok poses to the United States or political, a change in how the parties perceived risk related to being perceived as being soft on China. I think it's probably more likely that it was political, in that I think it is still unclear, as you suggested, exactly what about Project Texas and the rumored CFIUS agreement with TikTok was insufficient, from the U.S. government's perspective. AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me briefly about those political concerns, though? What is the political landscape around TikTok right now? MATT PERAULT: So I think one thing that Republicans and Democrats both agree on is that it is not good to be perceived as being soft on China. There's deep concern about how the Chinese government might approach a technology company that has deep ties or deep roots in the U.S. user base. AMNA NAWAZ: So, I will share with you a Senate intel source has shared what we believe are some of the lingering concerns even after those negotiations. They're mainly around data and content, specifically that much of the content and the associated metadata could still be accessed outside of the U.S., including by mainland China, and also that the algorithm that determines what Americans can see would be driven and dictated by engineers in China. So are those valid concerns to you? And have we seen any evidence of those? MATT PERAULT: So, the main features of Project Texas are that it would House U.S. user data within the United States, it would locate the algorithm within the United States, and it would locate the content moderation function within the United States. And it would make each of those three components subject to an audit process, where there would be a number of different auditors and monitors who would try to ensure that the functioning of Project Texas was in line with what how TikTok said it would function. Now, it is still certainly possible that the project wouldn't function as intended or that there would still be remaining risk. I think the risk that you alluded to is certainly possible. TikTok has created an audit system, so that, if that risk were to exist in reality, the idea is that the monitors can catch it. But I think, in the world of technology and tech policy, it's very hard to assure that there's actually zero risk in the system. AMNA NAWAZ: What about from ByteDance's perspective here? Why would they have been and why have they been so willing to negotiate and to acquiesce to so many demands from the U.S. government? MATT PERAULT: I think that's a really good question. My guess is that the main thing that ByteDance is interested in is a strong competitor to U.S. tech companies, like Apple and Google and YouTube and Meta, and that the perception is that the best way to make that happen is by having a hands-off relationship between ByteDance and TikTok. Now, it's unclear, again, if that's happened in practice. I think what would be useful would be to have the kind of process in place to develop evidence to understand better whether the national security risk and harm that has been alleged is actually there in reality. AMNA NAWAZ: Are there broader implications here we should consider? I mean, does this open the door now to other countries, India, for example, taking a similar tack and saying, well, we want to control what Google is able to do here in India? MATT PERAULT: I started working in the tech industry in 2011. And at that point, the tech industry was deeply concerned about data localization, the idea that China or India or Brazil or Germany or France or the U.K. would require a U.S. tech company to store data locally. What Project Texas is, essentially, a very sophisticated data localization model, where TikTok would be localizing certain components of its business within the United States. That's the sort of thing the tech industry and the U.S. government have feared and advocated against for a long period of time. I think, if the U.S. government were to require it, or to -- if TikTok were to voluntarily do it within the United States, I think we would then see countries like India, countries like Germany, countries like Brazil reciprocating and asking essentially for Project Texas on their soil. AMNA NAWAZ: So, given where it seems we are now, either a divestment or a ban, what do you think is the likely outcome? MATT PERAULT: A ban has often been talked about. And I think, in the run-up to the hearing next week, it's likely that that will be discussed extensively as well. But I think a ban is fairly unlikely. It would be politically very challenging for the U.S. government to achieve a ban. There are millions of people in the United States who use TikTok and love TikTok. They would immediately, I think, feel the consequences of that technology being banned and limited access to a tool that they use potentially every day. Divestment, I think, is trickier, because I think it's unclear if there would be a strong constituency that's opposed to divestment. I don't think there are that many TikTok users who probably care that much who owns their product. I think the questions about divestment continue to be whether there is evidence sufficient to support an action of that magnitude. It is a significant remedy that the U.S. government would be putting into action. And the question is whether there's evidence there to support it. AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that is Matt Perault, director of the Center on Technology Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joining us tonight. Thank you for your time. MATT PERAULT: Thanks so much. GEOFF BENNETT: Many Americans are watching and waiting to see if Congress will address two major issues facing the country right now, the financial security of the country's banks and immigration issues at the Southern border. Tonight, congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins speaks with one Democratic congresswoman who's spent a career focused on both issues. LISA DESJARDINS: Parts of Silicon Valley sit in Representative Zoe Lofgren's district. She represents California's 18th District, including San Jose. And that's where she is now. Representative Lofgren, welcome back to the "NewsHour." I want to start with banks and the bank failure there in Silicon Valley. Do you think that that was an issue of federal regulators asleep at the switch, or was the law too loose? REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): I think both. We did release the regulatory requirements on banks of this size in 2018. I voted against it, a no-vote that looks better and better now, but also there was an obligation for the Federal Reserve to do some supervision. And I think there was a failure there as well. I do think, however, that the situation has now stabilized. The potential for very serious harm to the entire banking system and to the American economy was present, and I hope and believe has now been averted. LISA DESJARDINS: You know, both the Silicon Valley Bank and its CEO, donate it to your campaign and the campaign of other politicians. That's not uncommon, but there has been a long debate over corporate influence in politics. And I want to ask if you think that perhaps this bank could have gotten a pass because of its influence on connections? REP. ZOE LOFGREN: No. I mean, most of their contributions, weirdly enough, went to Republican House members that are now in some cases criticizing what the Biden administration has done. In fact, myself and others in the California delegation are sending letters asking that the actions of the CEOs be investigated to see whether they unjustly received bonuses to investigate whether there was insider trading in the dumping of stock leading up to the events. And we're being very tough on it. But we don't want the depositors who are at risk to suffer. And the small -- the employees that wouldn't have been paid probably exceed a million people in the country. Additionally, some of the defense analysts have pointed out that some of the companies that would have failed if they couldn't have been able to pay their people were critical to the Defense Department and to developing cutting-edge measures in our competition with China and pointed out that, had those companies failed, the Premier Xi and Vladimir Putin would have been celebrating. LISA DESJARDINS: I want to turn to another topic affecting millions of people, immigration. Yesterday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing at which the nation's chief border patrol -- the border patrol chief said that we do not have control of the border and his agents face resource issues in most of the sectors there. You're a former immigration attorney. I know you spent so much time on this issue. How do you respond to criticism that President Biden has failed in terms of security of the border and also is failing immigrants there as well? REP. ZOE LOFGREN: Well, I think we need to look in the mirror, Congress does, because we have dropped the ball. A part of getting a handle on disorder at the border is getting an orderly immigration system, which we have failed to do. There are individuals who are coming because they're seeking employment, they're in poverty. The answer to that is to -- and we need workers in the United States. The answer to that is to have an orderly system that allows people to legally enter, work for several months, and go home with the proceeds to their countries. There are people there who are fleeing communism, who are fleeing oppression. Under American law, they have a right to have their claim of asylum to be heard. That needs to be done in an orderly way. And we have failed to address that as well. We're spending more money on immigration enforcement today than every other federal law enforcement agency put together. Now, maybe we ought to spend more, but we need to look at the systematic problems. And it's Congress who has totally blown that. LISA DESJARDINS: In the last seconds we have left -- I wish we had a little bit more time - - but Tucker Carlson has accused the January 6 Committee, which included you, of lying in how you used footage in your committee hearings. I want to just give you a brief chance to respond to that. REP. ZOE LOFGREN: That is berserk. The committee showed what really happened, the mobs that attacked the Capitol. And, weirdly enough, Mr. Carlson is trying to pretend that nothing happened. Hopefully, his viewers are not relying on his truthfulness, because we know from the lawsuit pending that he is knowingly lying to his audience. And I don't know what he hopes to achieve with this. LISA DESJARDINS: Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California, thank you so much for your time. REP. ZOE LOFGREN: You bet. Take care. AMNA NAWAZ: More than three years since the start of the pandemic, there are still long waiting times at both hospitals and for in-home care. Stephanie Sy explores how the medical staffing shortage is affecting patients and why nurses are leaving hospitals for other jobs. STEPHANIE SY: Brendan, a first grader at an elementary school outside Phoenix, Arizona, has been through a lot in his young life. Even attending school was a victory. His clap suggests he's having a good day. LAURIE SANG, Mother and Caregiver: Brendan is 6, almost seven. He was born with half a heart. And he's got a lot of other medical complexities as well. STEPHANIE SY: His mom, Laurie Sang, says Brendan has had 21 surgeries and has been in and out of the hospital since he was born. But since the COVID pandemic, his care has suffered. Laurie recalls a recent visit to a local children's hospital. LAURIE SANG: That was a respiratory issue. The last time I took him, we were in the E.R. For 21 hours before they could find a room for him, because they just had no -- they didn't have enough beds and enough nurses. STEPHANIE SY: When you finally did get care, did you feel, like, rushed? LAURIE SANG: You could tell that they were stressed themselves, which -- and I don't blame them, because, I mean, he was put in an ICU setting. They had more patients than they should have had, each nurse. The national nursing shortage dates back decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it to crisis levels. One study predicts that, in the next two years, there will be a shortage of up to 450,000 bedside nurses in the U.S. In countries around the world, medical workers are pleading for more support. PROTESTER: What do we want? PROTESTERS: Safe staffing! PROTESTER: When do we want it? PROTESTERS: Now! STEPHANIE SY: Earlier this year, thousands of nurses in New York went on strike to protest their caseloads. In the U.K., nurses and ambulance staff staged the largest protest in the National Health Service's history last month. And, recently, in Spain, hundreds of thousands of public health workers protested budget cuts. No organized protests, but an emergency department packed with patients at Valleywise Health, a public hospital in Arizona's largest county. Like many hospitals, they're having a hard time keeping and attracting nurses and other medical staff. SHERRY STOTLER, Chief Nursing Officer, Valleywise Health: We have strived really hard to keep the beds open. STEPHANIE SY: Chief nursing officer Sherry Stotler has been at Valleywise for over 18 years. Exactly how severe is the shortage? SHERRY STOTLER: We're probably around 440 positions that we could fill. STEPHANIE SY: Four hundred and forty positions are unfilled? SHERRY STOTLER: Right now, we're utilizing contract labor to cover a lot of those positions. They might stay a few rotations, and then they move to the next state or job. So I think that, for us, it puts a lot of pressure on us to have stability foundation for the care we're providing. STEPHANIE SY: Valleywise is so short-staffed, it has closed several behavioral health units. Patients are on a waiting list for care. Last year, Arizona ranked among the top five states with the most critical hospital staffing shortages. Many workers are leaving their permanent hospital jobs in search of less stressful work. The pandemic was brutal on front-line medical workers. TIAN LEEK, Nurse: The patients were just very, very sick and just a lot of physical, mental and emotional stress in the hospital for the patients and for the staff that's been caring for them. STEPHANIE SY: Many quit, but Tian Leek, a single mother, stayed. TIAN LEEK: You're not getting quite as much break and not having as much time to spend with the patients, and just really being rushed to get things done and meet all the same obligations that you need to meet just to get the job done. STEPHANIE SY: Leek was one of more than a dozen nurses who attended a recruiting event for a private nursing service. JASMINE BHATTI, Co-Founder, Navi Nurses: So, we can help fill that gap to make sure people get the care they need. STEPHANIE SY: Jasmine Bhatti is the co-founder of Navi Nurses, which provides home nursing care on demand. JASMINE BHATTI: Hoping that, with our new model of care, we can not only help retain the nursing work force, but also provide people better health outcomes. STEPHANIE SY: Bhatti herself was a practicing nurse until about a year-and-a-half ago. JASMINE BHATTI: I was just tired, exhausted and definitely burnt out. My heart hurt from everything I'd seen and worked through. STEPHANIE SY: Bhatti says she saw firsthand how high nurse-to-patient ratios could affect patients. JASMINE BHATTI: There was one night at work that I questioned whether or not nursing was for me. And it was because, by 11:00 p.m., I hadn't been in to see three of my five patients. It just makes you feel defeated. Two of my patients, I had to send off to the ICU. One almost died. It just makes you feel defeated. STEPHANIE SY: And that's because there should have been enough nurses for you to only have to do two or three, is what you're saying, not five? JASMINE BHATTI: Right, not at that level of care that these people required. It's not safe. It wasn't safe that night. STEPHANIE SY: And the shortage also extends to home health care. Paula Skladany-Law suffers from multiple sclerosis and has needed a home nurse for several months to dress a wound on her lower back she can't reach. But finding reliable home nurses was difficult. PAULA SKLADANY-LAW, Patient, Navi Nurses: People should be able to get the treatment and the care that they need. STEPHANIE SY: The Navi Nurse that comes four times a week is a bright spot in her day. NURSE: Oh, perfect, 112 over 73. STEPHANIE SY: Attentive, thorough and experienced. But the service is not currently covered by insurance. PAULA SKLADANY-LAW: I have to pay for concierge nursing, which I didn't know was a thing before this happened to me. I went through my savings. STEPHANIE SY: While Paula burns through her savings, Laurie Sang is burning through vacation time caring for son Brendan. The shortage of home health care nurses means that she's having to pull double duty. LAURIE SANG: It got to the point where I have taken so many days off, and just because we had no help. I was really worried about losing my job. STEPHANIE SY: She still depends on therapists and other providers. It takes a caring team to give Brendan what he needs to be. But the team has shrunk. Brendan recently got pneumonia, and an anxious Laurie decided not to go to the hospital. LAURIE SANG: We made the decision as a family, you know what, let's try to battle this here. STEPHANIE SY: Caring for him at home seemed safer than going to an understaffed emergency department. Has it overall affected his health, the gaps in nursing care that you had hoped he would get? LAURIE SANG: I think, had we had consistent nursing in home and in hospital settings, maybe, like, those illnesses where they have come on and we have had to take him to the hospital, maybe that nurse would have, like, been able to catch it, like, ahead of time and be like, you know what, let's get him to the doctor now. Let's get him on antibiotics. And we might have prevented those E.R. Visits. STEPHANIE SY: And Brendan's next medical emergency is never far from Laurie's mind. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Maricopa County, Arizona. GEOFF BENNETT: With the 2022 election, Democrats in Minnesota took control of both houses of the state's legislature for the first time in nine years. Minnesota's Democratic governor has joined the state's House and Senate leadership in setting in motion a wide range of progressive reforms, like restoring voting rights for felons and allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. The latest reforms safeguards the rights of trans people. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joins us now. Thanks for being with us. Last week, you signed an executive order guaranteeing that gender-affirming care would remain available in Minnesota. Reading through that executive order, it doesn't change any existing laws in Minnesota, Minnesota is a blue state. So, why did you view it as necessary to take that step? GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I think the step was is because our trans neighbors, our children are feeling the pressure. We see states that are using state power as an apparatus of cruelty, quite honestly. And we know that these are communities that are always under risk. We know they have some of the highest suicide rates, attacks of hate crimes against them. And I think, in Minnesota, reaffirming through the executive order that, whether it be making sure our insurance companies are paying for what they need to pay for, or making it clear that, if you come to Minnesota, we will protect your rights -- we are not going to extradite you or cooperate with states that are really trying to take away basic and, in many cases, lifesaving health care. So it's an unfortunate circumstance being caused by states that are choosing to make life more difficult for people, to try and marginalize people, and to try and -- quite honestly, trying to criminalize people for being just who they are. That's not going to happen in Minnesota. GEOFF BENNETT: Newly empowered Minnesota Democrats are also asserting themselves on gun legislation. What are you hoping to achieve? And are the politics trickier in Minnesota, given the vast rural areas there? GOV. TIM WALZ: Well, we're hoping to achieve just reduce gun deaths and gun incidents. It simply is unacceptable. And it should not be something that we just accept that, in this country, that vast more people die or involved in these accidents. Look, I grew up hunting. I grew up at a time when your shotgun was in your car going to school. I understand this, spent my 20-plus years in the military. But the idea that we're not doing proper background checks, the idea that we have families that understand their loved ones are going through a crisis and to use extreme risk protection orders, red flag laws, or just simple things like asking folks to lock their weapons up, these are just lifesaving things that can make a difference. And I think, rural areas -- we know this too. We see these things happen in rural areas too. We know that folks who are responsible gun owners recognize, none of the things that we're proposing will infringe on their right to do what they're going to do. And for those critics who say it wouldn't stop all of these shootings, no, but it may stop some. And I think we see this in nations around the world. They have their freedoms. They have the rights to own firearms. And yet we don't see the number of shootings, especially the mass shootings. So, I again, don't think that this is an either/or proposition. I think it has been, unfortunately, politicized by folks for short-term gain. But the idea that our children have to worry about being shot in schools or to witness shootings on a pretty daily basis, it's unacceptable. And so our goal is to reduce as many of those as we can. GEOFF BENNETT: You have also rolled out a statewide framework to fight climate change. Last month, you signed a law, a bill into law that puts Minnesota on the path to 100 percent clean electricity by 2040. It's one of the most ambitious standards across the country. What kind of coalition did you have to put together, a coalition of legislators and advocates, in order for that to happen? GOV. TIM WALZ: Yes, and it's -- again, it's seeing this -- I'm a schoolteacher by trade, so I oftentimes talk about Maslow's Hierarchy. And the idea is, is that the vast majority of Minnesotans and, I would say, Americans want to move us away from carbon-based fuels. They recognize climate change is real. They also want to make sure, when they turn their lights on, they come on, and that they can pay their bill. So the coalition was talking about the jobs that we created, first of all started with our major utilities that know that this is the direction they're going to need to move. They know that wind and solar have parity, hydro, that we're starting to move in that direction, and they can produce the base capacity to do it. But it was labor unions that were also there. It was businesses that were there that understand that they're being asked by their consumers to be more eco-friendly, to know that, if you're a manufacturing company, we have got manufacturers that are asking us, make sure you can deliver 80 percent of our energy by a set amount of time that's clean energy. So I think it was a coalition, first of all, those that recognize, like the vast majority, that climate change needs to be addressed, but then those that recognize that there is room for a market-based economy with some incentives and some goal-setting by government to create new opportunities. We have the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in North America in Minnesota. We have an awful lot of water that we need to protect. But we also have a lot of innovation that we can lean into, whether it's wind or whether it's some of the battery storage. So I'm excited about this in terms of what it can do for our economy. And Minnesota wants to do our part. This -- our children are demanding it, and we're going to do it. GEOFF BENNETT: Governor, you got Democrats in Minnesota, in Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, they have all secured these new trifectas of both chambers and the governor's office. You have just articulated how you have been able to effect change on trans rights, gun control, climate change. These are all things that Democrats say they care about. How should Democrats at the national level think about effecting change at the state level, if they can't do it with a divided Congress here in Washington? GOV. TIM WALZ: Yes, well, I -- and I do want to give credit. I think it's being underestimated. The Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, these gave us the tools to move on clean energy. They're giving us the tools to move. Tomorrow, I will sign legislation that every child in Minnesota will have breakfast and lunch for free. There will be no more forms to fill out. There will be no different-colored lunch tickets or ostracizing children. And I think the federal government, they -- certainly, the Dobbs decision around reproductive rights, even Republicans are saying states need to take the lead. I think we are taking that lead. And what I -- having served in Congress for 12 years, watching what I think is a increased dysfunction, I do think -- and listening to one of my former colleagues Zoe Lofgren talk about this -- give us a framework around immigration. Minnesota's biggest challenge is going to be population. We're an aging population. We're a Northern climate. It's nice here, but it gets colder, so we don't have the beaches. I think this Congress should focus on the things that they can do and then let the states deliver on where they're going. Now, my concern about this is, is... (CROSSTALK) GEOFF BENNETT: And, Governor, I have to -- I have to jump in there because we're short on time. My apologies, but with a huge thanks to you for joining us tonight. GOV. TIM WALZ: No, no worries. GEOFF BENNETT: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. GOV. TIM WALZ: No, thank you so much. AMNA NAWAZ: The phrase one person's trash is another's treasure certainly applies to author Lara Maiklem, who spends her spare time scouring the shores of London's River Thames. She is what's known as a mudlarker and has written a book explaining her passion for this unusual pastime. Just for a lark, our own British treasurer, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant, joined her down in the mud. MALCOLM BRABANT: Low tide at Greenwich, one of London's most historic Thames-side districts. For two hours, it's safe enough to explore this treacherous river's foreshore, the section revealed between tides. Nature's scavengers get a taste of what's washed up. Also drawn beneath the high watermark are treasure hunters with metal detectors, and someone else who relies on nothing else but the mark one eyeball. LARA MAIKLEM, Author, "Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames": My name is Lara Maiklem. And I'm a mudlark. MALCOLM BRABANT: What's one of those? LARA MAIKLEM: A mudlark is somebody who searches for history. We're looking for the lost and found things that, in London, date back 2,000-years-plus. MALCOLM BRABANT: To an untrained eye, the pebbles are unremarkable, but not to the mudlark. LARA MAIKLEM: This is ordinary utility wear, and this is where the handle would have attached. And this was probably maybe a big jug for pouring out ale, would have been used in the kitchens and in serving areas of the Tudor palace that was up there. MALCOLM BRABANT: The palace no longer exists. Standing in its stead is the National Maritime Museum. This was the domain of England's King Henry VIII, who acquired six wives. The 16th century was Greenwich Mean Time. Beheading was more convenient than divorce. The king also had a mean appetite. LARA MAIKLEM: So, even bits like this, these are -- this would have been food. This is domestic waste from -- again, from the palace up there. So we have got a rib bone here. This could have been part of one of Henry VIII's feasts. You can imagine him sitting at the table with Anne Boleyn chomping away on this -- on this rib. MALCOLM BRABANT: Pin-sharp vision is required to spot the most mundane items that the mudlark brings to life. LARA MAIKLEM: Those are handmade pins. These were for people to pin their clothes together, because buttons were expensive. They didn't have zippers and poppers like we have today. And that's how everyone was held together. MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think you're going to get rich doing this? LARA MAIKLEM: Absolutely not. I'm never going to get rich doing this. I'm not looking for treasure. I try and avoid the word treasure, because that makes people think that I'm hunting for gold. And I'm not. I'd actually rather find an old shoe, because it tells better stories. So, one question people always ask me is, what's my favorite find? And it has to be this. It's a Tudor shoe. It's a child's shoe. So it's about 500 or 600 years old. And when I pulled it out of the mud, it was in perfect condition. I looked inside it, and I could see the impression of its original little owner's toes and heel in it. We will never know who owned this little shoe, but it tells a story of ordinary people in London, a little boy or a little girl maybe running across the Murdoch. They lost their shoe. Perhaps they'd been bullied and somebody had pulled it off and thrown it into the river for a laugh. Maybe it just wore out and they threw it away. MALCOLM BRABANT: Besides disgorging broken relics of two millennia, the river also spits out a mass of 21st century trash. But, on this day, the air was untainted by the stench of sewage polluting the river more frequently as London grows apace. Mudlarking is very much affected by the rhythms of the river. The tide has just turned and is coming in. Every 12 hours, this takes place, bringing a new delivery of London's history. And here is something that's 2,000 years old. LARA MAIKLEM: These objects don't really come alive until you find out what they are. And then -- and then they get this life to them. And, this, it looks pretty boring, but it - - actually, it's a chunk of Roman floor. And it's beautifully polished. They would have polished it with beeswax. And you can imagine the feet that pass over this that carried on polishing it to this lovely sort of smoothness. One of the great things about the river is that it's anaerobic. The mud is anaerobic, which means there's no oxygen gets into it, and it preserves organic material perfectly, almost as perfectly as the day it went in. Now, this little comb is made of boxwood. It's only half a comb. It's broken in half. One side would have been for getting out the parasites and the nits and the other side for styling hair. MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you have a Holy Grail of something that you would like to find? LARA MAIKLEM: Do you know what? I did have a Holy Grail. And it was actually a holy relic. I really, really wanted to find a medieval pilgrim badge. And I searched for 20 years for a complete medieval pilgrimage. I have only found pieces of it. And then, a couple of years ago, I finally found one. This medieval pilgrim would have gone down to Salisbury Cathedral on pilgrimage, would have bought it down there, really just in the way that we buy maybe a fridge magnet or a key ring. They were cheap, and they might have rubbed it against his shrine just to bring him a little bit of magic from the shrine. MALCOLM BRABANT: Over the past 20 years, the river has been revitalized, especially by the clipper service. But there's a price to pay. LARA MAIKLEM: This is the remains of a medieval jetty, of a Tudor jetty that was associated with Henry VIII's palace, which was just up here known as the Palace of Placentia. We're losing an awful lot on the river. An awful lot of archaeology is going. You will see when this boat comes past, actually, the amount of wake that comes in. And that is what's eroding the foreshore and taking all of this archaeology away with it. MALCOLM BRABANT: And the remains of the medieval jetty are swallowed by old father Thames. But they will reappear 12 hours later, when the river provides the next opportunity to mudlark. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in Greenwich. AMNA NAWAZ: Hidden history right under our feet. And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett. Have a great evening.