JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: The pandemic persists.
Rapidly increasing infection rates from the Omicron variant in the U.S. prompt more COVID concerns.
Then: high stakes.
Congress wrangles over the massive Build Back Better bill and other contentious legislation in the final weeks of the year.
And images of freedom.
A new exhibit showcases the work of a forgotten photographer documenting the fight for equality in the United States.
AUDREY SANDS, Photography Curator, Phoenix Art Museum: She was an outsider in a lot of ways, and I think she was able to relate to some of the experiences of the people she was drawn to photographing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: From Broadway to Britain tonight, COVID-19 is spreading new fears, forcing new shutdowns, and prompting people to ask, when will it end?
William Brangham has the latest on the pandemic's new turn for the worse.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As the holiday season nears, concerns of a resurgent virus are growing.
President Biden met today at the White House with his COVID task force to discuss ways to curb the spread of Omicron and to deal with the current dominant variant, Delta.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: It's going to start to spread much more rapidly at the beginning of the year.
And the only real protection is to get your shots.
If you're at a point where you have everything, including your booster, you're in really good shape.
So, move now.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: According to The New York Times' tracker, the U.S. is seeing a clear spike in cases, with a daily average of 121,000 infections.
That's a 40 percent rise in the last two weeks.
Deaths are up about 34 percent, with an average of 1,300 people dying every single day.
In New York state, the CDC says Omicron is estimated to make up as much as 13 percent of the state's COVID cases.
Governor Kathy Hochul reinstated a mask mandate for indoor public places, which went into effect Monday.
Today, she responded to criticism that the mandate is an overreaction.
GOV.
KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): This is a health care crisis, and people are going to die.
That is not hyperbole.
That is based on the facts that are in front of us right now.
If people had gotten vaccinated when we asked them to, and got the booster shots, I wouldn't have had to put in place a mask mandate.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In California, workplace regulations were tightened.
The main change, starting in mid-January, is that any worker, vaccinated or not, who comes into contact with someone who tests positive must stay home.
And college campuses are also taking action.
Classes and exams have been moved online, as an alarming rate of students have gotten COVID.
At Cornell University, where 97 percent of students are vaccinated, at least 1,100 students tested positive last week.
Tulane University, George Washington University, and NYU are also dealing with similar spikes.
And major professional sports leagues are also taking a hit.
Scores of athletes and staff across the NBA, NHL, and NFL have tested positive or entered health and safety protocols this week.
Several games have been postponed.
ROGER GOODELL, National Football League Commissioner: It's a challenge.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: With about 100 NFL players testing positive in just the last three days, football commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday that vaccinations and boosters are a priority, but may not be enough.
Meanwhile, in Europe, countries are dealing with a similar two-pronged threat, trying to slow Omicron, while combating Delta.
France moved today to restrict tourists from traveling to and from the U.K., and requiring 48 hours of isolation upon arrival.
The French prime minister said the decision is due to -- quote -- "the extremely rapid spread" of Omicron in the U.K. As for the U.K., British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted today that he is not imposing any lockdowns.
BORIS JOHNSON, British Prime Minister: All we're saying to people is, exercise caution, think about all the steps you can take to minimize your own risk, and get boosted now.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Yesterday, the U.K. saw its highest number of COVID cases in a single day since the pandemic began, over 78,000.
And late today, there was a setback for the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson.
A CDC advisory committee advised against taking the J&J shot, recommending Moderna and Pfizer vaccines instead.
The committee cited increasing evidence of a rare blood clot disorder linked with the J&J vaccine.
This comes right as experts are warning that Omicron is likely to become the dominant strain in the U.S. For a deeper look at all of this, I'm joined by Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
Dr. Topol, great to have you on the "NewsHour."
I wonder if we could talk about this J&J recommendation first.
What do you make of that?
DR. ERIC TOPOL, Scripps Research Translational Institute: Well, great to be with you, William.
I think the committee review of the J&J data was very sound.
That is, it was a unanimous vote that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are safer.
They have a great track record.
Unfortunately, the J&J shot has been accompanied, rarely, with these very serious bleeding, clot issues and nine deaths.
So it's best, if possible, to avoid it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: OK, let's turn more broadly to Omicron.
We know that it is incredibly contagious.
It certainly seems to be.
Given that, do you think we are really headed for a bad winter?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: Unfortunately, it's unquestionable at this point.
This is a virus strain that's doubling just over two days, which we have never seen anything like that.
We're seeing it light up in the U.K., in Norway, in Denmark.
And it really is exponential growth, the likes of which we haven't seen since the pandemic started.
So it's inevitable that it's going to hit the United States, and it already is rising very quickly.
And, unfortunately, a lot of people haven't appreciated that this is something we can't avoid right now in terms of this very -- it has to be seen as an onslaught of Omicron new cases.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Some people have -- looking at the cases that already exist of Omicron, have jumped to the conclusion that it is milder with regards to its virulence.
Do you agree with that?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: There isn't any question.
Fortunately, it's milder.
But the problem is that people are ascribing that to the virus.
And it's not related to the virus.
It's because we have so much immunity built by our vaccines, by our boosters, by people who had prior COVID.
We have no evidence that the virus itself is more mild.
And until we have that, we have to assume that people who don't have any protection are highly vulnerable to getting very ill. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We have been seeing also a lot of breakthrough cases.
I mentioned earlier these colleges and universities that are seeing these really explosive case numbers, largely amongst vaccinated and boosted groups.
Do you think that universities and colleges are special circumstances, or are they a harbinger of what's to come for the rest of us?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: Yes, what we saw at Cornell and now subsequently many other universities is a sneak preview.
The rapidity that it spreads to -- in hundreds of students -- in the case of Cornell, 97 percent were vaccinated.
This is what we're going to be seeing throughout the country over the weeks ahead, as this becomes the dominant strain, not just, of course, in the U.S., but throughout world.
So this is the kind of rapid spread that we have yet to see until now in the pandemic.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, I feel a bit like a broken record here, talking about the need for good masks, better ventilation, vaccinations, boosters, rapid testing when possible.
Given what we know about Omicron, would you add anything to that?
Would you change asking to our general precautionary principle now?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: Well, the things you mentioned, William, are certainly the cornerstones of our prevention and blocking the spread.
We don't have the rapid tests that we need in this country, unlike many other places.
We don't have enough people who have been vaccinated, no less who have had their booster shots.
We're lagging way behind.
We're 65th in the world for vaccination and lagging most countries who are onto the booster shots, and especially in people of advanced age, where the risk is considerably high.
So we're just not using the tools we have.
If we used them all, we'd be in great shape to fend off Omicron.
but, unfortunately, we're just not doing it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One last question I want to ask you, an argument that I hear a lot, which is, come on, these are largely mild cases, 99 -- some -- the vast majority of people will get through these cases, that all this talk about Omicron is fearmongering.
What do you say to that?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: That couldn't be further from the truth, William.
We may well get beyond a million new cases a day.
Not only will many of those people get sick.
Some will wind up in the hospital and die.
But, also, we will be fostering a lot more long COVID, the chronic disabling features that could occur from Omicron, no less culturing the virus further for something beyond Omicron.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research, thank you so much for being here.
DR. ERIC TOPOL: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: Officials across the Great Plains and the Midwest reported at least five deaths after a powerful storm front blasted the region with hurricane-force winds.
It also brought summer-like readings of 70 degrees that spawned tornado sightings.
One in Minnesota would be the state's first ever recorded in December, if it is confirmed.
The front moved north today across the Upper Great Lakes and into Canada.
Meanwhile, the death toll from last Friday's tornadoes in Western Kentucky rose to 75.
Governor Andy Beshear reported 16 people are still missing.
At the same time, he again offered hope to those who survived the destruction, but those whose lives have been shattered.
GOV.
ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): I'm not going anywhere, and this state is not going anywhere.
We got a great commitment from the federal government that they're going to be with us too.
Every step, every week, every month, and every year that it takes, we will get each one of these communities rebuilt.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Employees at a candle factory that was destroyed in Mayfield, Kentucky, have now filed suit.
They say the company refused to let them go home early, despite the risk.
Eight of their co-workers died.
The company says it acted properly.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is moving to make abortion pills more easily accessible.
The agency approved a permanent rule today to let them be shipped through the mail.
That was already allowed temporarily during the pandemic.
Some states have outlawed mail delivery, and the FDA decision is expected to face court challenges as well.
In Haiti, police say 12 members of a U.S. missionary group have been freed two months after they were abducted.
They were among 17 people kidnapped by a gang that demanded $1 million ransom per person.
Five people had already been released in recent weeks.
It is unclear if any ransom was paid.
The U.S. Senate gave final approval today to a bill to punish China for oppressing Uyghur Muslims.
It bans goods from Xinjiang province, where thousands of Uyghurs are in detention camps.
That is unless importers prove no forced labor was involved.
A dispute over the bill had blocked approval of Nicholas Burns as ambassador to China.
The Senate confirmed him this evening.
The Biden administration withdrew today from negotiations with migrant families who were separated at the border under President Trump.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the Justice Department opted against a broad settlement, so families will now have to pursue individual lawsuits.
At one point, the White House drew criticism over a reported proposal to pay several hundred thousand dollars to each family.
The fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is winding down in San Jose, California, with closing arguments.
Prosecutors told the jury today that Holmes lied about her blood-testing start-up's potential to attract billions of dollars in financing.
The defense is expected to counter that Holmes never meant to mislead anyone.
And, on Wall Street, prospects of higher interest rates weighed on tech stocks and the broader market.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 29 points to close at 35897.
The Nasdaq fell 385 points.
That's 2.5 percent.
The S&P 500 slipped 41.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": why a controversial Web site with explicit directions for suicide remains active; how Italian ski resorts are trying to reopen safely using vaccine passports; President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to the first Black recipient of the post-9/11 era; plus much more.
After finding ways to avoid fiscal crises in the past few weeks, Democrats on Capitol Hill are now in a crunch time for critical parts of their agenda.
Our Lisa Desjardins joins us to talk about three high-stakes issues that seem to be at pivot points, the Build Back Better bill, immigration, and voting rights.
So, hello, Lisa.
LISA DESJARDINS: Hey.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A lot to keep track of, yes.
So, Build Back Better, this has been a central part of the Biden agenda.
Where does it stand?
LISA DESJARDINS: Judy, Democrats wanted to get this through the Senate by Christmas, you will remember.
It looks like there's a very slim chance, if any, that that will happen.
As we stand, of course, now just a little over a week until Christmas, there is not a fully fledged bill yet, and there are not yet 50 senators on board.
So, let's talk about the two scheduling problems that are important to know.
First, one involves the Senate parliamentarian.
As many of our viewers know, this bill must go through a process called reconciliation, which means it must show budgetary effect.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian judges that.
She, however, is recovering from a diagnosis of stage three cancer.
And so, in addition to this being a difficult bill for her to render opinions on -- behind closed doors, she's trying to give Democrats guidance - - it has taken longer than usual because of her health.
The second issue, Senator Joe Manchin.
He has not yet signed on to the provisions of this bill.
He is in meetings daily, sometimes, I'm told, hourly, on this.
Everyone wants him to sign on.
But he is not there yet.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Lisa, we know that, in the past few days, a big item in this bill, a lot of discussion around the child tax credit.
That's been hanging in the balance.
Where does that stand?
LISA DESJARDINS: This is one of the issues that we heard from Senator Manchin this week.
And I just said, everyone wants him to sign on.
I should be clear.
Every other Democrat essentially wants him to sign on.
Republicans are happy for him to stay off of this bill.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Universally.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
The child tax credit is one of the larger goals of Democrats here.
Many of our viewers remember that expands child tax credits to $3,000 to $3,600 per child -- per child.
But it runs out, Judy.
And, in fact, it's due to run out.
In fact, the last of those expanded checks went out this week.
In Build Back Better, that would actually extend that.
But Manchin has a problem with how it's funded.
Let me explain how this works.
He's looking at the total overall cost of the bill.
If you look at what it costs right now, as it stands, it's about a $1.6 trillion bill, Build Back Better.
That includes just one year of that expanded child tax credit.
Joe Manchin says: I don't buy that math.
I think we ultimately will try to extend it for 10 years, which is the main -- usual length of the bill.
If you do that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill's cost goes up to $3 trillion.
So, Manchin is saying: I don't buy that we're just going to do these things for one year or two years.
I want us to say we're going to pay for it the whole time or make sure we're not putting items on the table that are short-term.
This is a major problem for Democrats to solve.
Either they come up for a way to pay for it and bring Manchin board a larger bill, or they have to take the child tax credit out.
JUDY WOODRUFF: OK, a very different part of the bill that I want to ask you about, and that's immigration reform.
This is something Democrats have also been pushing.
Remind us what's at stake here.
And what is the Democrats' proposal?
LISA DESJARDINS: Millions of lives are at stake and, of course, many political dynamics as well.
Let's start with what the proposal is in the current version of Build Back Better, what's being discussed.
It's a parole status for millions of Americans who are -- I'm sorry, not Americans, but millions of undocumented immigrants who arrived by 2011.
It would be a status that they could have for five years and renew for up to 10.
It is not a path to citizenship, not a green card.
That's something immigration advocates wanted.
It is not in here.
It is estimated by progressive groups that it would help about seven million.
CBO says six million, so millions of people.
This would be a status that many people have sought.
What is not in this version immigration is a path to citizenship for dreamers, so-called DACA recipients, who came here as children, TPS, or temporary protected status individuals, who are here because of disasters in their country.
Our producer Saher Khan spoke to those people, DACA recipients, and TPS recipients, about their mixed feelings about this bill, what their immigration status means right now here in America.
Let's listen.
IVONNE DIAZ, DACA Recipient: My name is Ivonne Diaz.
I'm 33 years old.
RAJBIN SHRESTHA, DACA Recipient: My name is Rajbin Shrestha.
I'm 44 years old.
EFRAIN LEAL ESCALERA, DACA Recipient: My name is Efrain Leal Escalera.
I am 32 years old.
I reside in Denver, Colorado.
DAISHI MIGUEL TANAKA, DACA Recipient: Hi.
My name is Daishi Miguel Tanaka.
I am 24 years old and have been in the U.S. since I was 6 years old.
EVA SANTOS VELOZ, DACA Recipient: My name is Eva Santos Veloz.
I am a Dominican DACA recipient.
I have lived in the Bronx, New York, for over 23 years now.
I have DACA for seven years, and which I'm thankful for the program and what it has given me, is that it hasn't been enough.
Like, I lost my job twice because, look, I haven't gotten the renewal in time.
And it's been hard to explain to my children and being able to survive, let's say, five, six months without a job.
YOLISWA KHUMALO HADEBE, DACA Recipient: My name is Yoliswa Khumalo Hadebe.
And I'm 34 years old.
I am a New Yorker born in Natal in South Africa.
I have been here since I was 3 years old.
I know that the popular narrative around DACA is, it's dreamers and it's youth.
However, everyone grows up.
And so I think the fact that even the first DACA recipients who were these youthful teenagers and early 20 years are now in their 30s and wanting to buy homes and figure out 401(k)s and how that even works.
I think that speaks to how actually long we have been waiting for a solution that's going to actually impact and shift our lives.
RAJBIN SHRESTHA: TPS being a temporary status, every year-and-a-half, they need to renew our status.
And the Trump administration actually canceled our TPS.
And, right now, it's still in litigation, and the government has been temporarily extending our status.
EFRAIN LEAL ESCALERA: It's a tricky situation to think about this Build Back Better bill and the provisions in it and trying not to feel disillusioned or disappointed with how things are headed.
EVA SANTOS VELOZ: We know that this will benefit a lot of people, like my family, like my parents that are undocumented, and millions of other immigrants.
It will definitely help us.
But, ultimately, it's not a pathway to citizenship.
RAJBIN SHRESTHA: It's not even clear whether we will be receiving work permits for the entire length of five years.
And it still does not take away that cloud of uncertainty that TPS has over us.
And what is even more scarier is, since it's very temporary, you could have another opposing administration come in and just cancel it right off the back.
EFRAIN LEAL ESCALERA: If I look at it in increments of eight to 10 years, it's definitely an improvement to the two-year and recently the one-year work authorization.
EVA SANTOS VELOZ: It is not enough.
We are going -- it's going to be -- many of us, in the next 10 years, are going to be again in the grips of deportation.
IVONNE DIAZ: My dad had a terrible accident.
He fell off a roof.
And he couldn't work anymore.
But my DACA expired a month later after that, so I was let go without a job for a month.
And it was really devastating.
I was lost.
I was in fear.
And that was just a reminder that that DACA is not permanent.
And the same way that they're going to do that with that parole with the Build Back Better, it's not going to be a permanent solution for us.
DAISHI MIGUEL TANAKA: It's going to be very disappointing if there is no immigration provision at all in this package.
My late grandfather, he petitioned for my mom and my parents some years back.
And so we are in this backlog.
And, thankfully, in the bill, there is a -- visa recapture provisions that would help speed up the processing, so people -- so folks like myself, with a pending petition, don't have to wait decades.
I'm hoping that that -- one -- that becomes one of the provisions that makes it in the bill at the end, and so we don't walk away with nothing.
LISA DESJARDINS: There, you hear those mixed sentiments there.
Right now, TPS and DACA recipients, the only thing for them in this bill is some expanded financial aid for higher education.
But you hear them saying: We're adults now.
And we're concerned about these very large categories of people that Congress has not addressed.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Lisa, we also heard that last young man say that they could end up with nothing.
There could be nothing in the bill.
Where does it stand?
LISA DESJARDINS: This is one of those provisions that I think will just come down to the very final call by the Senate parliamentarian.
Again, to do this, it has to show a budgetary effect.
And this idea of parole, giving a status to many undocumented immigrants, they would be charged a fee.
That's a budgetary effect.
But is that enough for the Senate parliamentarian to say it should go through?
We're going to be watching this day by day as the parliamentarian reaches a decision.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Lisa, we can't talk about all of what's going on without talking about voting rights.
LISA DESJARDINS: Right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And your reporting is that this -- that voting rights and filibuster reform still being hotly debated in these final days.
LISA DESJARDINS: Senate Democrats, amid all this, had an intense lunch today.
That word was used, intense.
And it was focused on voting rights.
I want to talk about what's been going on in the last couple of weeks.
There's been a sense that time is running out to pass voting rights reform.
And I want to play some sound that we heard from the floor.
There's a real dispute over what is best for democracy right now.
Is it to change the rules of the U.S. Senate to pass voting rights, or is it to not change the rules?
First, let's hear from Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who says, yes, it's time to change the rules.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): So, when colleagues in this chamber talk to me about bipartisanship, which I believe in, I just have to ask, at whose expense?
Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship?
And is liberty itself the cost?
LISA DESJARDINS: That idea -- the bipartisanship is the idea of the filibuster, which, of course, allows a minority in the Senate to rule the Senate, because you need 60 votes generally in order to break a filibuster.
Now, the two reasons the filibuster rule is intact are Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, Kyrsten Sinema very strong on this point.
I want to read a statement that she her office gave me about why she thinks it should stay in place to defend democracy.
Here's what she wrote.
This is from her office: "Senator Sinema continues to support the Senate's 60-vote threshold to protect the country from repeated radical reversals in federal policy, which would cement uncertainty, deepen divisions and further erode Americans' confidence in our government."
So here you see voting itself at stake, and the Senate as an institution at stake, and Democrats wrestling over, what do we need to do?
Do we change the rules to, in our view, protect voting, or do we protect the institution?
And does that protect democracy?
Right now, the truth is, though, Judy, Democrats do not have the votes to change the filibuster rules.
But my sources tell me people involved, they are trying to convince Manchin -- and he seems to be listening, they say -- to perhaps changing the rules, so that there's a talking filibuster, for example, make it harder to filibuster.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we know you're going to continue to watch this and all of it.
Lisa Desjardins, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A warning that this next segment contains sensitive content.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young Americans.
Most Web sites about suicide are aimed at prevention.
But a New York Times investigation looks into one that provides information and directions for ending one's life.
Amna Nawaz report.
AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, the site draws six million page views a month worldwide, four times as many as the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
And most visitors were 30 or younger.
The New York Times reporters, Gabriel Dance and Megan Twohey analyzed more than 1.2 million messages on the site.
They examined members' online histories, combed through hundreds of pages of police and coroner records, and interviewed dozens of families left behind.
And they found at least 45 deaths by suicide in multiple countries linked to the site.
Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance join me now.
Welcome to you both.
And thanks for making the time.
Megan, it is a stunning report that you both have worked on.
Those 45 suicides you linked to the site, though, they range from a 16-year-old girl in Illinois to a 58-year-old man in Texas.
Do you have any way of knowing if other people also visited the site and then died by suicide?
MEGAN TWOHEY, The New York Times: Yes, absolutely.
Those were 45 deaths in which we were actually able to identify the person who died.
And you're right.
There was not only a 16-year-old.
There was a 17-year-old.
There was -- there were other teenagers.
Most of those deaths were young people under 30.
And what we found is that, in analyzing more than one million messages on the site, we found that the true tally of death is likely hundreds more.
We were able to analyze these goodbye threads, essentially people who came online and narrated their attempts as they were taking place.
And through very sophisticated process of analyzing those messages, we were able to find that 500 members, roughly two people per week, did such goodbye threads, and then never posted again.
AMNA NAWAZ: Gabriel, we should mention we are not naming the site here in this conversation.
You do so, but very late in your report.
I wonder, did you weigh not doing that at all?
Were you worried about pointing people towards this information?
GABRIEL J.X.
DANCE, The New York Times: We were.
We were.
We considered it at length, and we discussed it with many people, medical professionals, specifically suicide professionals, contagion professionals.
We discussed with them at length the pros and cons.
And when it comes to naming the site, we're weighing the opportunity for accountability against the danger of spreading potentially harmful information.
And after these conversations, our editors made the call that we would include the name of the site.
We would do it only once, and, as you said, further down in the article.
But without naming the site, it would be very difficult for legislators and lawmakers to have any sort of accountability for the site.
But perhaps even a greater concern for us was parents who had no idea that this site existed and otherwise might very well be keeping their eye on their children's Web browsing activity.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, Megan, let's help people understand what is on this site a little bit.
Without getting into specific information, what exactly kind of content, what kind of information do people come into contact with there?
MEGAN MEGAN TWOHEY: Well, most suicide Web sites are about prevention, but this one provides explicit introductions on how to die, step-by-step, detailed introductions on various methods that people can use to kill themselves.
And it's not just that.
In live -- there are public forums and live blogs and private messaging in which members discuss their plans and offer encouragement and assistance as they make their plans to follow through.
Among the most viewed posts are those -- these goodbye threads in which people narrate their attempts, with other members weighing in with thumbs-up emojis and well-wishes and basically messages of support.
So, it's -- in addition to this very explicit - - these very explicit instructions, there's all of this interaction on the site, which really facilitates suicide and people following through with their plans.
AMNA NAWAZ: And, Gabriel, we should mention, we are talking about this, you have uncovered this at a time when experts are ringing an alarm about a national emergency, a mental health crisis, particularly among young Americans.
When you take a look at the numbers just in the early part of 2020, emergency visits for mental health emergencies rose 24 percent for children aged 5 to 11,31 percent for children aged 12 to 17.
Suspected suicide attempts increased over 50 percent for girls 12 to 17.
That was from early 2021 compared to before the pandemic even began.
And that leads me to one of the stories you tell, Gabriel, about a 16-year-old named Daniel Dal Canto.
He struggled with depression.
His parents thought they had gotten him help.
He ended up on this site.
Tell us the story of Daniel.
GABRIEL J.X.
DANCE: Yes, Daniel is a sad story.
He was a 16-year-old boy in Salt Lake City, Utah, and living with his parents, his mother and father and his younger sister.
His older brother had recently gone to college.
And Daniel had a stomach ailment, and it caused him great pain after eating, when he and his family were trying to figure out what the ailment was.
But Daniel took to this suicide Web site, where he really dumped all of his fears and anxieties into the Web site.
He was worried that he would never be able to recover from the stomach ailment.
And within days of showing up, a member of the site encouraged him to use a specific method to die, which is really tragic, because it was clear that Daniel had no idea how to take his life before coming to the site.
And, again, within days, he was introduced to this method, and, within three months, he had died on his bed, and his mom discovered him late that night.
And his parents never had any idea he was on the site.
They actually didn't even have an idea he was depressed.
I spoke with his best friend and his best friend's mother.
Neither of them had heard anything about this site.
And all of them had wished that just at any point Daniel had mentioned that he was even thinking of dying by suicide, so that they could intervene.
But this Web site doesn't really help people with interventions, as much as it helps them carry out any kind of plans they have to kill themselves.
AMNA NAWAZ: Megan, the obvious question here is, how is this site even up?
I know you go into great lengths reporting on the two men who created it and continue to run it, but how is it still up and running?
MEGAN MEGAN TWOHEY: I mean, that's a great question.
As we carried out this investigation, we weren't just piecing together this long trail of deaths connected to the site.
We were asking that very question.
So many families left behind wanted desperately to see this site shut down, and for the two shadowy figures who run the site to be held accountable.
Now, those two men had gone to great lengths to hide their identities and to protect the Web site.
They moved their servers from countries to country.
They used companies who allowed them to hide who registered the domain names.
But -- and that made it really hard to not only detect who they were, but to hold them accountable.
There is a federal law that provides sweeping legal protections to Web site operators, even when the content on those sites is dangerous or even criminal.
So, Germany, Australia, Italy, these countries have taken action and have succeeded in some - - to some extent in restricting access to the Web site within their borders.
But here in the United States, time and again, we have just seen officials look the other way.
AMNA NAWAZ: It is a stunning report.
The full report is available on The New York Times' Web site.
Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance, thank you so much for joining us.
MEGAN MEGAN TWOHEY: Thank you.
GABRIEL J.X.
DANCE: Thank you.
AMNA NAWAZ: And if you or someone you know needs help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is reachable 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 1-800-273-8255.
Many of Italy's ski resorts just reopened for the first time since March 2020, when they closed as COVID swept the country.
The industry lost billions as a result.
Even with a new spike in cases, and Omicron looming, ski operators have a new plan they say will keep people safe.
Special correspondent Adam Raney reports from Northern Italy's Dolomite Mountains.
ADAM RANEY: It's been a long time coming.
After nearly two years, skiers and snowboarders are back on the slopes at Val Gardena.
At 8,000 feet, they take in views of the world's largest ski area, some 750 miles of runs stretched across the Dolomites.
On opening day, those who made it to the top couldn't suppress their joy.
VIRGINIA RALLO, Student: We love to be back on the slope, because -- so, it's been two years.
And it is not crowded, few people, the slope for ourselves.
So, we love it.
RICCARDO RASPA, Student: We love to get on ski again.
We miss it so much.
ADAM RANEY: This resort, like all others across Italy, closed in March 2020 and remained closed for the entire 2020-2021 ski season.
The industry, including ski resorts, hotels and restaurants, accounts for $13 billion in annual revenue.
That all evaporated last season.
With tens of thousands of jobs at stake, there's a lot riding on a successful relaunch.
Key to that reboot is Italy's Green Pass or COVID passport.
To get it, you have to be fully vaccinated or have a recent negative COVID test.
Without the Green Pass, you won't even make it on to the slopes.
ANDREAS SCHENK, President of Lifts, Val Gardena and Alpe di Siusi Ski Resorts (through translator): The most important thing this year is that you ski with the Green Pass and don't get infected.
We have reduced gondola and lift capacity to 80 percent.
Every day, skiers must match their ski pass with their Green Pass.
Once matched, they're on the white list and can ski all day without problems.
ADAM RANEY: On the first day, matching Green Passes with ski passes was slow-going.
Some expressed frustration over the protocols and delays.
Others, like this American couple who flew more than 12 hours for opening weekend, were reassured by the restrictions.
JOSH CRANE, Student: There were a lot less safer options, and getting into Italy and through -- we flew through Belgium too.
There was a lot of protocols, which made us feel a lot better about coming out, all the way out here.
And I have had to show my vaccine -- vaccination cards all over the place.
And that makes you feel safe.
ADAM RANEY: And to eat indoors on or off the slopes until March 31, you must have a so-called Super Green Pass, meaning a negative test isn't enough.
You must be fully vaccinated.
It's part of Prime Minister Mario Draghi's plan to avoid major spikes and keep the economy going.
The Dolomites, part of the Alps in Northeastern Italy, are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The area has hosted many world championship races.
The variety and length of the slopes draws skiers from all over the world.
Everything is in place for a successful ski season.
There is perfect snow, this COVID passport to check everyone's health status.
The only thing really missing right now is more skiers.
Early days still, according to hotel owner Nils Demetz, who is also the president of Val Gardena's hotel association.
NILS DEMETZ, President, Val Gardena Hotel Association: The bookings from Christmas onwards are, I would say, almost at pre-pandemic levels.
So there are some cancellations, because people, maybe they changed their mind, they have fears.
But then we get new bookings coming in.
ADAM RANEY: Demetz isn't worried about his business as much as those he relies on.
NILS DEMETZ: The biggest concern that I had and I still have is for our employees, because, of course, they have been standing by our side throughout this pandemic, never knowing how things will evolve.
If we close, they lose their job.
ADAM RANEY: Putting the ski season at risk, of course the unpredictability of COVID-19.
This region was a COVID hot spot when the pandemic hit Italy in 2020.
Many cases were tracked back to the resort, where skiers often mingle in cozy huts and tightly packed gondolas.
Adding to that risk is the lower vaccination rate in the area.
Nationally, 77 percent of Italians have received at least two doses of the vaccine.
The rate here is 63 percent.
In the lead-up to the season, worries over another possible lockdown led to rising tensions in the area.
Many vaccinated residents, fearful of losing the season, reportedly threatened their unvaccinated neighbors, and vaccinated residents reported being attacked in the streets.
The mayor of Ortisei, the main town in the valley, is calling for calm.
TOBIA MORODER, Mayor of Ortisei, Italy (through translator): Tolerance is key.
We don't need to go on a witch-hunt right now, not at this moment.
ADAM RANEY: There was a two-week curfew after a recent spike of COVID-19 cases, but it was lifted right as the season began.
The mayor acknowledges, if they don't keep the virus under control, it could be devastating.
TOBIA MORODER (through translator): We absolutely cannot afford a season like last year.
That would really cause irreversible damage.
The fear is that that many probably would close their doors forever, because a lot has been invested in recent years.
Many structures have been renovated.
People have made important investments.
ADAM RANEY: Nils Demetz, the hotel association president, says employers and tourists need to take the long view.
NILS DEMETZ: This is my great-grandfather, who bought it in 1913.
This hotel has seen wars, has seen the First World War, the Second World War, crisis, and now we have had the pandemic.
But I'm very confident that we will get through it, just as they did.
ADAM RANEY: Up on the slopes, some locals who come here year after year are hopeful too.
SYLVIA MUESSNER, Skier (through translator): The people are really enjoying go out from the cities, go out for the places, and stay in the nature.
And I think staying in the nature is not this dangerous.
ADAM RANEY: Convincing more people of that both at home and abroad will be required to save this industry for the thousands who rely on it.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Adam Raney in Val Gardena, Italy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Biden awarded Medals of Honor today to three soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two of the men died protecting their comrades.
Now, through interviews with family members and the living recipient and portions of today's East Room ceremony, we hear their stories.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Good afternoon.
The late Sergeant 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, late Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Celiz, Master Sergeant Earl Plumlee, our nation's newest recipients of our highest military award, the Medal of Honor.
October 17,2005, Sergeant Cashe was commanding a Bradley Fighting Vehicle on night patrol in Iraq.
An improvised explosive device detonated, igniting the vehicle's fuel and engulfing it in flames.
The sergeant extracted himself and without hesitation and turned back to the vehicle to help free the driver.
He pushed his own pain aside to return to the burning vehicle as it was -- and pulled four soldiers free.
The sergeant saw there were still two soldiers and their interpreter unaccounted for.
So, he went back into the inferno for a third time and got everyone out of that inferno.
KASINAL CASHE WHITE, Sister of Sgt.
1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe: My name is Kasinal Cashe White, and I'm one of the older sisters of Sergeant 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe.
He's been gone 16 years.
And we started this in 2007 to upgrade his medal.
This means everything in the world that the stories that we have heard from his battle buddies, it's all been validated.
What he did was heroic.
JOE BIDEN: Sergeant 1st Class Cashe is now the seventh individual to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the first African American to receive it since the Vietnam War.
KASINAL CASHE WHITE: I like to just think that he's a soldier that happened to be African American, that has earned the Medal of Honor.
JOE BIDEN: On July 12, 2018, nearing the end of a fifth deployment, Sergeant Celiz was leading an operation in the Paktia province of Afghanistan.
And during the firefight, a member of his team was critically wounded, as they called for medical evacuation.
Sergeant Celiz used his body as a shield for the aircraft and his crew against the heavy incoming fire.
KATIE CELIZ, Wife of Sgt.
1st Class Christopher Celiz: My name is Katie Celiz, and my late husband was Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Celiz.
We miss him a lot.
But the fact that his sacrifice is being recognized, I feel like it's one step closer for us to find closure and to heal finally.
He was a Ranger through and through.
He loved his men, and he would do anything for them.
He truly thought of them as family, and, to this day, they're still our family.
JOE BIDEN: August 28, 2013, then-Staff Sergeant Earl Plumlee was with members of his unit at Forward Operation Base Ghazni in Afghanistan.
Then, insurgents, it turned out, detonated a 400-pound car bomb that blew open a 60-foot-wide breach in a perimeter wall.
Staff Sergeant Plumlee and members of his special operations team immediately hopped in a nearby truck and raced toward the blast to defend the base.
When they arrived, they encountered insurgents coming through the wall, all wearing explosive vests.
The staff sergeant exited the vehicle and used his own body to shield the driver.
Outnumbered, with no regard for his own safety, at times armed with only a pistol, Staff Sergeant Plumlee attacked the insurgent forces, taking them on one by one.
MASTER SGT.
EARL PLUMLEE, Medal of Honor Recipient: My name is Master Sergeant Earl Plumlee.
What this award means to me is that I will be a representative for the valor that occurred on that day, and I will represent those men that came with me to that fight.
Not a doubt in my mind that either one of those guys could have filled my shoes if I had been the one that had been injured.
It's heady talk to think that I'm a representative of the best that the Army has.
I'm just incredibly humbled to be here, especially to be with these other two families.
There's nothing more honorific I can imagine than to be a part of the Cashe or Celiz story.
I think it's the only thing that you could possibly do to make this more profound.
(APPLAUSE) JUDY WOODRUFF: A new exhibit at the Phoenix art museum examines the work of a long overlooked German-American photographer who explored the links between racism and poverty in the U.S. Stephanie Sy takes a look at the first major exhibition of Marion Palfi's work since her death in 1978.
That's for our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.
STEPHANIE SY: A group of young children standing in an alley neglected in the shadow of the grand U.S. Capitol Dome, a call to action to address extreme poverty.
A portrait of a woman at a polling station in Mississippi registering to vote for the first time, her hands up.
An elderly man in his room, alone and forgotten.
The uniquely American tragedies explored in these photographs are part of the exhibit Freedom Must Be Lived at the Phoenix Art Museum.
It showcases the work of photographer Marion Palfi, who died in 1978.
AUDREY SANDS, Photography Curator, Phoenix Art Museum: Since then, she has kind of fallen into anonymity.
STEPHANIE SY: Audrey Sands is photography curator at the museum and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, where Palfi's archive is held.
Why isn't her work better known?
AUDREY SANDS: Palfi was so deeply committed to political change and to educating the public, that her photographs circulated more in libraries and among policy-makers than in spaces of art history.
STEPHANIE SY: Palfi called herself a social research photographer.
AUDREY SANDS: Palfi was really interested in these populations in America that have been forgotten, the most vulnerable children who have no power or ability to advocate on their own behalf, those who are suffering from dementia or extreme illness and aging in extreme poverty, who are losing their own voices and ability to take care of themselves and advocate on behalf of their health and well-being.
STEPHANIE SY: The perspective Palfi brings to her documentary work can be traced back to Nazi Germany, which she fled for New York in 1940.
AUDREY SANDS: She was an outsider in a lot of ways, both as a woman in a field dominated by men, as an immigrant to America, a woman with an accent.
And I think she was able to relate to some of the experiences of the people she was drawn to photographing on a really visceral level.
STEPHANIE SY: In 1949, she traveled to Irwinton, Georgia, after Caleb Hill Jr. was lynched by a white mob.
Her portrait, Wife of a Lynch Victim, was groundbreaking and heartbreakingly intimate.
But her explorations of the roots of racism in America didn't end there.
AUDREY SANDS: Palfi said herself that she wanted to capture the face of the oppressor.
Who were the people who were perpetrating it, who were themselves committing acts of violence, who were allowing, passively sitting by as racism persisted?
She was interested in telling, I think, a more complete story and also, coming from a background of Nazi Germany, as a kind of warning of what could build from those roots of hate, really.
STEPHANIE SY: Palfi's work in the Deep South helped her land the cover photograph of the first edition of "Ebony" magazine.
Being a white woman, Sands says, afforded her certain access.
AUDREY SANDS: But it was really her identity, I think, as a woman that gained her trust in a lot of spaces.
I can also say that there were a lot of barriers to entry for Black photographers and other photographers of color.
And, unfortunately, that meant that the people who were able to tell the stories ended up more often being white artists and white photographers.
STEPHANIE SY: Palfi spent months, often years with her subjects, following them over time.
She spent years doing this in the 1960s and '70s while documenting the relocation and forced assimilation of Native Americans.
AUDREY SANDS: She has followed these families from their homes on the reservation, going through various bureaucratic and administrative processes to be kind of registered and properly educated and acculturated.
And then she follows up to see, what are their lives once they have reached that government-mandated goal?
And there's a real sense that she is very attuned not just to what has been gained, but what has been lost in that transition.
STEPHANIE SY: Palfi wasn't just focused on presenting an aesthetic.
She wanted to change her subjects' lives.
Another unheard population she focused her lens on, the elderly.
In the 1950s, Palfi conducted a study of aging in New York City.
AUDREY SANDS: You see her starting in this woman's home, as she's sort of packing up her things and preparing to check herself into an institution.
STEPHANIE SY: The woman looks isolated.
AUDREY SANDS: Yes, I think she really captures a kind of quietness of this period of life and a kind of helplessness.
STEPHANIE SY: What's most striking about the exhibit is how relevant it feels today.
Freedom Must Be Lived is on view through early January of next year.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Phoenix.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So glad we have gone back and looked at those pictures.
Thank you, Stephanie.
And an update to a story we brought you earlier tonight.
The "NewsHour" can confirm that the Senate parliamentarian has now rejected the Democrats' third attempt at including immigration in their $2 trillion budget reconciliation bill.
It would have protected millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally from deportation.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
Join us online and again here tomorrow evening, with David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart.
For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.