AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Dozens are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed, as crews continue to battle the raging wildfires in Hawaii.

Iran moves several detained Americans from prison to house arrest, a step toward potential release, in exchange for oil assets being unfrozen.

And the family of a detained Afghan engineer and American citizen speaks out about his unjustified incarceration by the Taliban.

AHMAD HABIB, Brother of Mahmood Habibi: He could live anywhere, but he preferred to live there to work for his country and to work for the future of Afghanistan.

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

They're still fighting fires tonight on the Hawaiian island of Maui, in the nation's deadliest fire disaster in five years.

At least 36 people are known dead and more than 270 buildings damaged or destroyed across a blackened landscape.

MAN: Oh my gosh, look at the harbor.

AMNA NAWAZ: The resort town of Lahaina is now shrouded in a blanket of thick smoke.

The popular tourist spot on the western coast of Maui, steeped in native Hawaiian history dating back to the 1700s, was virtually unrecognizable today, even to locals.

MAN: Oh, my goodness.

Look at all these houses.

AMNA NAWAZ: Adding to the devastating human toll is the loss of cultural treasures.

RICHARD OLSTEN, Air Maui Helicopters: We were not prepared for what we saw.

AMNA NAWAZ: Richard Olsten is a helicopter pilot for a Maui tour group.

RICHARD OLSTEN: Lahaina used to be the capital of all of Hawaii.

All the places that are tourist areas that are Hawaiian history are gone, and that can't be replaced.

You can't refurbish a building that is just ashes now.

It can't be rebuilt.

It's lost forever.

AMNA NAWAZ: Another casualty, the famous 60-foot-tall banyan tree marking where a Hawaiian king's palace once stood.

The fires erupted Tuesday night, catching islanders and tourists by surprise.

Some even fled into the ocean to escape the flames.

Thousands of Maui residents were forced to evacuate.

JAMIE BROWN, Lahaina Resident: Woke up this morning and got on our phones, took pictures of our house, just down to the slab, nothing but smoke, cinders.

AMNA NAWAZ: The flames were fueled by dry vegetation and low humidity, along with strong winds from a hurricane farther south.

CLAY TRAUERNICHT, University of Hawaii: In the past several decades, as agriculture kind of declined -- this is across the state -- these spaces fill in with literally tons of fuel.

And these grassy fuels are highly sensitive to quick drying out and really easy to ignite.

AMNA NAWAZ: Entire neighborhoods were destroyed.

Block after block revealed the charred shells of homes and vehicles, some still smoldering.

Today, thousands of customers were still without power and cell phone service.

The only road in and out of Lahaina was closed to most traffic to clear the way for fire and emergency crews.

Hawaii's National Guard flew chinook helicopters to put out fires and help with search-and-rescue operations.

President Biden also approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii, bringing federal assistance to the state.

Joining me now from Maui is KITV4 Island News meteorologist Malika Dudley.

Malika, thank you for joining us.

This is one of those stories you're not just covering, but living through.

I understand you had to evacuate when the fires began.

I just want to ask how you and your family are doing.

MALIKA DUDLEY, Meteorologist, KITV4 Island News: We're doing as well as we can.

I think we're still in a state of shock.

And we begin to mourn.

There are moments of just sobbing outbursts where I just have to let it out.

And there are other moments where I'm just trying to keep things normal and happy for my children, because this is a really, really dark time for us here on Maui.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm so sorry for what you when everyone else is going through.

We have been hearing these words like catastrophic and apocalyptic to describe the scenes on the ground.

You're there.

What does it look like and feel like and sound like around you?

MALIKA DUDLEY: Well, fortunately, I evacuated from my home, and I'm in a safe place, where we have power, we have water, we have a roof over our heads, and we're all safe.

So I haven't seen it with my own eyes in Lahaina.

But I have seen the videos and the pictures.

I have heard the stories.

I'm constantly updating on Instagram.

And these days, that's where you get most of your information really from on the ground from witnesses.

And so I have been hearing just devastating stories from people.

And when you think about the people that are telling you the story -- for example, one woman this morning, shared that she ran for her life.

The fire moved on block in 15 seconds.

So she ran for her life, jumped over the seawall into the water, and was basically in the water for seven hours.

In the meantime, one of her apartment mates died right next to her.

She saw that happen.

And then she felt like she was getting hypothermia.

So she would approach anything that was on fire in order to get some warmth, which then would burn her.

So, a story like that is -- those are the types of stories that we're hearing.

And those are from mobile, able-bodied people who are able to run.

And so to think of just all of the people that -- the elderly, those that are not mobile, children, maybe even, we don't know.

But we see the entire town leveled.

We know 271 structures have gone.

Those are businesses and homes.

History is lost.

Lahaina town is so full of history.

It's definitely the most historic town on our island and one of the most historic in the entire island chain.

So, to lose not just the homes, the businesses, the history, but also now to hear that we're losing lives, and the number is just going to keep rising, has been devastating.

AMNA NAWAZ: Malika, we understand the fires are still burning across Maui.

There have been reports of more fires on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu.

Do you have any updates on how much of those fires have actually been contained?

MALIKA DUDLEY: Yes, so the most important update just came minutes ago.

And Lahaina fire is 80 percent contained.

That is such good news.

My husband just went over to the fire that was threatening our home.

He says -- he didn't go over to it.

You can see it because the mountain shows us a good view of what is happening.

And he said that it's still active, but it doesn't seem that our home is in danger.

But we still haven't gotten the all-clear.

So we're kind of just in a wait-and-see pattern right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: We know thousands of people still don't have power, cell service as well.

Have you heard anything about how quickly any of those services could be reinstated?

MALIKA DUDLEY: You know, the thing is that, in Lahaina, what potentially even cause the fires was the power lines that went down; 29 power lines went down.

So there is no easy, quick fix to this.

The fiberoptic cable was damaged over in Lahaina as well.

So, for Lahaina town, this is not, oh, in 24 hours, HECO will be fixing this.

That's not the kind of situation we're in.

We're in a years-to-recover phase for that side of the island.

Now, as far as the other side of the island, where we had a fire in Kea, we had a fire in Kula, and there are other people on other parts of the island that are without power.

Those, they will probably get fixed, but we still don't know when.

I still don't have power at my home, for example.

AMNA NAWAZ: We are thinking of you and everyone else there and keeping you in our thoughts.

We can't thank you enough for joining us tonight.

Malika Dudley, KITV4 Island News meteorologist, joining us from Maui, thank you.

In the day's other headlines: U.S. inflation was higher in July than it had been a year earlier, for the first time after a year of monthly declines.

The Labor Department reports consumer prices rose 3.2 percent last month over July of 2022.

Still, core inflation in July, not counting food and energy prices, was up just two-tenths-of-a-percent from this past June.

Former President Trump's valet Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty for a second time today in the classified documents case.

He was arraigned in Fort Pierce, Florida, on new charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements.

The arraignment for Carlos De Oliveira, Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago property manager, was postponed again until he gets a local lawyer.

And in Washington, special counsel Jack Smith asked for a January 2 trial date on charges that Mr. Trump tried to overturn his 2020 election loss.

That would be 13 days before the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa.

Ecuador began three days of national mourning today, after a presidential hopeful was shot dead in the capital city.

The crime shocked a country already awash in violence.

Ali Rogin has more.

ALI ROGIN: Ecuador's presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio moments before he was assassinated in broad daylight.

(GUNSHOTS) ALI ROGIN: In the hours after the attack, police hunted for the assassins across Quito.

They say one suspect died of his wounds in police custody after a firefight.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso suggested this attack could be linked to organized crime and declared a state of emergency.

GUILLERMO LASSO, Ecuadorian President (through translator): The armed forces from this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory to ensure the safety of citizens, the tranquility of the country, and the free and democratic elections of August 20, as planned.

ALI ROGIN: Villavicencio, a journalist-turned-politician, may not have been a front-runner in the polls, but he was one of the most vocal candidates on organized crime and its links to state corruption.

On the campaign trail just days before he was killed, he said he wore a sweaty shirt, not a bulletproof vest.

"Let the drug lords come," he said.

FERNANDO VILLAVICENCIO, Slain Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate (through translator): I am not scared of them.

I have spent 20 years taking risks in this country against these criminal structures.

And, I repeat, I am not scared of them.

ALI ROGIN: Ecuador, a coastal country on the western edge of South America between Colombia and Peru, was relatively safe, but has seen an unprecedented spike in drug trafficking and gang violence led by foreign mafias in recent years.

Villavicencio's assassination marks a shocking escalation, 10 days before the August 20 presidential vote.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Ali Rogin.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fernando Villavicencio was 59 years old.

Meantime, Ukraine's government has ordered nearly 12,000 civilians to leave the eastern part of the country, as Russian forces launch a new push.

Authorities say 37 towns and villages in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region are being cleared out, with fighting getting markedly worse.

Russia had occupied Kupiansk until last September, when Ukraine recaptured it.

The West African bloc ECOWAS announced today that it's activating a stand by force to restore democracy in Niger after a military coup there.

But the group gave no details on when that might happen.

ECOWAS members held a summit in Nigeria.

The president of Nigeria, who chairs the bloc, urged diplomacy, but left the door open to military action.

BOLA TINUBU, Nigerian President: No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also today, the Associated Press reported that coup leaders in Niger have threatened to kill the ousted president if there's any military intervention.

Back in this country, the CDC reports there were 49,500 suicides last year, the most ever recorded.

That was up 3 percent from the year before.

Older adults and white men had the highest rates.

Suicide experts cite the availability of guns and higher rates of depression.

And on Wall Street today, stocks managed a small advance after the inflation report.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 52 points to close at 35176.

The Nasdaq rose 16 points.

And the S&P 500 added a single point.

And Virgin Galactic has joined the ranks of space tourist flights.

A twin-fuselage carrier took the space plane aloft this morning from New Mexico, then released it.

From there, the plane rocketed to the edge of space, with three passengers and an instructor, before gliding back to Earth after 15 minutes.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": a new report details Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly benefiting from a network of wealthy patrons; alcohol-related deaths rise at a faster rate among women than men, particularly for the elderly; Antarctic sea ice falls to a record low this year as a result of rising global temperatures; and we assess the economic juggernaut that is Taylor Swift's Eras Tour; plus much more.

It appears that five Iranian Americans who have been detained in Iran are in the process of being released.

The White House issued a statement this afternoon saying -- quote -- "We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest."

The five U.S. citizens are Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who wish to remain unnamed at this moment.

The Associated Press reports Iran's move is part of an agreement in which billions of dollars frozen in South Korea will be released to Iran.

Late today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked about this.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare.

In any respect, Iran will not be receiving any sanctions relief.

And in any instance where we would engage in such efforts to bring Americans home from Iran, Iran's owns funds would be used and transferred to restricted accounts, such that the moneys can only be used for humanitarian purposes, which, as you know, is permitted under our sanctions.

AMNA NAWAZ: The chief Iranian negotiator also wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that Iranian prisoners jailed in the United States would be returned.

Here with me now is Washington Post columnist Jason Rezaian, whose own grueling detention by the Iranian government ended in January of 2016.

Jason, welcome back.

Thanks for being here.

JASON REZAIAN, Journalist Detained in Iran: Thank you, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: I just want to begin briefly with your reaction, because you spent hundreds of days, more than 500, inside that same prison.

You know what these men have endured.

What did you think when you heard the news?

JASON REZAIAN: Look, I have been tracking the story of these fellow Americans for years, and other Americans held in Iran for a long time.

So, any time someone is released from being in prison, I'm ecstatic for them and their families, but also remain vigilant and nervous, because there's a period of time before they fly home.

And anything could happen between now and then.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, the deal, as it's been reported and as the Iranians claim is done, $6 billion in oil revenues unfrozen, jailed Iranians in the West freed.

U.S. officials are not publicly confirming any of this right now.

But I have to ask you, is this deal worth doing to bring these men home?

JASON REZAIAN: So, I'm asked that any time we negotiate the release of an American who's being wrongfully detained, held hostage by a foreign government.

And, to me, it's a real stark binary choice right now, either negotiating the release of fellow Americans or leaving them behind.

Leaving them behind means longer detentions, imprisonments, potentially death.

And I think the hard truth is what we should be talking about is, what can we do, what will we do to deter hostage-taking in the future?

Right now, we're not doing enough.

And countries like Iran, Russia, China are doing this more and more, because they don't see anything standing in their way.

But I think, to the question of whether or not we should do deals, it's really a choice of bringing people home or leaving them behind.

I'm proud and thankful to live in a country where our government cares about its citizens enough to try and bring them home.

AMNA NAWAZ: And to that point about fueling potential more hostage-taking there, we have already seen criticism of this potential deal, right, specifically from Republican lawmakers.

Some have called it a dangerous deal.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said it's a ransom payment that will fund terrorism.

Are these valid concerns?

JASON REZAIAN: You know, I think concerns are always valid, right?

But the reality the situation is that these funds are being held in a restricted account.

Restricted accounts existed in other countries, like India and Turkey.

Those accounts were spent down by Iran with no oversight by the U.S. government.

In this situation, my understanding is that Korea has said that, we don't want to release these funds unless the United States gives us permission.

If we're going to have leverage against a country like Iran, in the form of their money being held in a third country, what better way to use it than to free Americans?

AMNA NAWAZ: Now, the U.S. has been able certainly to bring you home safely.

JASON REZAIAN: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: They have also been able to bring home Americans from other adversarial nations, Russia and Venezuela.

Morad Tahbaz's daughter Tara and Emad Shargi, one of his daughters, Ariana, came on the show recently and talked about that.

Ariana had this to say.

ARIANA SHARGI, Father Imprisoned in Iran: I don't know if we're being treated differently.

But what I will say is that the administration has been able to get individuals who are being held hostage out of Russia, as Russia is currently in a war.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Jason, she was concerned that somehow they're being treated differently because their fathers are being held in Iran.

Is it more complicated getting Americans freed from that nation?

JASON REZAIAN: I think it's more complicated, first and foremost, because we don't have diplomatic relations with Iran.

Even though the situation with Russia is at bottom, we have maintained direct ties with Moscow since the Cold War.

We have never broken them.

Another thing to consider is that, while I don't consider the argument that these are dual nationals and that Iran doesn't recognize dual nationality, they think of these people as single nationals, well, the truth is, they think of them as single nationals, subject them to Iranian court proceedings, as if they were Iranians.

And then when it comes time for a deal, then they become tradable Americans.

It's more complicated just because we don't have the direct communications with them that we do with other countries.

And then, in a way, the Iranians have been doing this for so long, so often, that they may be a bit more seasoned at hostage-taking and negotiations than some of these other countries.

AMNA NAWAZ: I know you and I and everyone else are hoping they are back home with their families safely soon.

Jason Rezaian, thank you so much for joining us.

JASON REZAIAN: Thank you, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now to another story of an American held abroad unjustly.

In an exclusive interview, I recently sat down with the family of an Afghan American businessman who has been held for more than a year in the land of his birth.

Mahmood Habibi's family has decided to go public now, in the hopes that the Taliban will release him.

AMNA NAWAZ: For the last year, Ahmad Habibi has prayed his family will be together.

Many were able to leave Afghanistan over the last decade, but one is left behind, his brother Mahmood.

AHMAD HABIB, Brother of Mahmood Habibi: We are very close.

Yes, he's youngest, younger than me, like two years.

So we are like best friends.

AMNA NAWAZ: In August of 2022,Ahmad says his brother was taken by the Taliban in Kabul and has been held ever since.

ZULHIJA HABIBI, Wife of Mahmood Habibi: It's been a year that he has been detained, but we have no information about him.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mahmood's wife, Zulhija, made it to the U.S. with their daughter, Corin (ph).

She's asked we don't show her face for cultural and security reasons.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: This is me.

I was doing the surgery.

AMNA NAWAZ: A former doctor in Kabul, she's now studying to restart her career in America... ZULHIJA HABIBI: I would love to work in the U.S. to help the people.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... but without her husband's income is totally dependent on family.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: And we have not heard a word from him or a word about him.

I can't study because of the stress.

AMNA NAWAZ: She was in Qatar at a temporary U.S. military base for Afghan evacuees when she learned of his detention.

When was this taken?

ZULHIJA HABIBI: When we were in Qatar in a military base.

He was trying to work.

She doesn't want... (CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: Some of their last moments together, months before Mahmood returned to Kabul for work and disappeared.

AHMAD HABIBI: He could live anywhere, but he preferred to live there, to work for his country and to work for the future of Afghanistan.

AMNA NAWAZ: A civil aviation expert, Mahmood Habibi was an engineering wunderkind.

He worked with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, and later became head of Afghanistan's Civil Aviation Authority.

His job with the U.S. granted him a Special Immigrant Visa, which led to a green card in 2014 and U.S. citizenship in September of 2021, just weeks after the Taliban takeover.

He was a consultant at the time with ARX Communications, an American company operating infrastructure for Afghanistan's airports.

His work often took him back to Kabul.

AHMAD HABIBI: When the Taliban came, everybody from the family, they suggested that should leave Afghanistan.

But he said that he is not a political person.

Also, when the Taliban announced that they will come, the officials from the previous government, then he was confident then that he can work there and he's safe.

AMNA NAWAZ: Did you ever tell Mahmood, I don't want you to go back, I'm worried about you?

AHMAD HABIBI: I did tell Mahmood.

But he always wanted to go back.

And he said that: "If I leave, and, like, other people like me leave Afghanistan, then who will build Afghanistan?"

AMNA NAWAZ: But his loyalty came at a cost.

On August 10 of last year, Mahmood was arrested by Taliban officials outside his home.

AHMAD HABIBI: His driver was sitting next to him.

And the driver was also detained.

Then they released him.

And my sister was at home, and they told my sister, they're Taliban and they are -- they want to search the home.

And they searched the home.

And they took some paperwork and his laptop.

At the same time, 30 other employees were also detained from the company that he works for.

I realized that it might be something about the company that he works.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just days earlier, a CIA drone struck this apartment complex in the heart of Kabul and killed one of the world's most wanted, notorious terrorists, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

He succeeded Osama bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaida and was a force behind many of the group's terror attacks, including 9/11.

Do you think that had anything to do with his arrest and detention?

AHMAD HABIBI: When we spoke to the employees, and they said that the Taliban asked them about the strike, the strike on Zawahiri.

So we have a little sense that the company - - or the arrests might have to do something with the Zawahiri strike?

AMNA NAWAZ: You think that's what the Taliban believe?

AHMAD HABIBI: We think that that's what the Taliban believes, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: In response to questions from the "NewsHour," ARX Communications said -- quote - - "ARX was not, nor any subsidiary, involved with any strike on also al-Zawahiri."

They confirm 31 of their personnel, including Mahmood, "were detained in August of 2022 and 29 have been subsequently released.

Mr. Habibi and a direct employee are still being detained."

They add: "We do not know why they are being held or by whom."

A recent U.S. delegation led by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West met with Taliban leadership in Doha last month, and -- quote -- "pressed for the immediate and unconditional release of detained U.S.

citizens."

Mahmood's family has met with senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

U.S. officials tell the "NewsHour" they cannot comment directly on any details of the case.

To date, the Taliban have not confirmed Mahmood's detention.

AHMAD HABIBI: I have been talking to the U.S. government, and they are -- they are supporting us.

But, sadly, we have not updates from the Taliban side.

AMNA NAWAZ: You believe your brother could be held as a bargaining chip?

AHMAD HABIBI: We think so, because, if the Talibans, they are not acknowledging so far, they might use him to bargain with the U.S. government.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's been a year now.

And there's been no update and there's no confirmation that anyone has him.

I have to ask a difficult question, which is, how can you be sure that he is still alive?

AHMAD HABIBI: Well, I think he's alive because he was detained by a government and he was innocent.

But even if somebody is guilty, the government has a system.

They have court system.

They want the world to recognize them as a legitimate government.

So I'm sure that they will not do such thing.

AMNA NAWAZ: Their father, Ahmadullah, shared pictures of his son through the years.

I asked him what he thinks about when he sees them.

AHMADULLAH HABIBI, Father of Mahmood Habibi (through translator): What I think about, what I think to myself is that he's done nothing wrong.

He's done nothing to end up in jail.

He's never done anything like that in his life.

AMNA NAWAZ: Zulhija says, when she looks at her daughter, she sees her husband.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: Her eyes, her mouth, it's just like her father.

AMNA NAWAZ: Corin is almost 2, not quite old enough to understand what's happening.

Still, she's learned to keep him in her prayers.

She copies you.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: She's listening to you pray for him.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: Yes, she's so innocent.

And she doesn't know about these things.

But, still, she's praying for her father.

It's been a year that I have been recording her just for him that, when would be back, he can see all the time when he was not with her.

AMNA NAWAZ: You can show him the videos to show what you missed.

ZULHIJA HABIBI: Yes.

We were happy.

We were a small, happy family.

AMNA NAWAZ: For a year, the family stayed silent, hoping for a resolution.

Why are you deciding to speak out now?

AHMAD HABIBI: I want the people to hear the story of Mahmood, and I want the leadership of the Taliban to hear us.

And I want to tell them that he's innocent and just to release him.

AMNA NAWAZ: Until then, the family says they will wait and hope for the day they can all be together again.

There were more disclosures today about the gifts Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has received from wealthy businessmen.

John Yang has the details.

JOHN YANG: Amna, today, ProPublica provided the fullest account yet of the gifts Justice Thomas has gotten from wealthy and well-connected people, and there are far more than previously known.

Brett Murphy is one of the ProPublica reporters who unearthed these details, and Joel Anderson is host of Slate's "Slow Burn" podcast, whose current season is "Becoming Justice Thomas."

Brett, I want to start with you.

Who are these benefactors, these new benefactors that you uncovered?

And what sorts of things did they give him?

BRETT MURPHY, ProPublica: Sol, these are three new titans of industry.

There's Tony Novelly, who's an oil baron from St. Louis, David Sokol, the former heir apparent of Berkshire Hathaway, and Wayne Huizenga, who is the man behind Blockbuster, AutoNation, and Waste Management.

For about three decades, as you said, they have given him a -- sort of a laundry list of vacations.

We have found in our reporting there's at least 38 destination vacations in there, something to the order of two dozen or so private jet flights, handful more of helicopter rides, tickets to sporting events in the skybox, resort stays, standing invitation to an exclusive golf club.

And that's just sort of what we know at this point.

JOHN YANG: Did he report any of this?

BRETT MURPHY: He did not.

And that's what the ethics experts told us is the big concern here, because he was bound, as all justices are, to disclose most gifts.

And these, the ones we have reported on, many of the ones we have reported on, would not be falling into the personal hospitality exemption that some of your viewers may have heard about before.

Things like private plane rides, yacht cruises, expensive sports tickets, that's not personal - - personal hospitality, according to the folks we talked to.

JOHN YANG: There is so much focus right now on the justices' activities outside of the court, court building.

Earlier this year, there were questions raised about Justice Sonia Sotomayor apparently prodding schools and libraries where she spoke to buy her book.

How does what Justice Thomas did compare with his colleagues?

BRETT MURPHY: So, we have been actively pursuing all the credible leads and tips on all the justices.

We continue to report on all of them.

So far, what we know right now is that Justice Thomas is an extreme outlier.

We brought the reporting to former federal judges, including those who sat on the judicial committee that reviews disclosures.

And Jeremy Fogel told us that he has never seen anything like this before.

He thought it was unprecedented for both the volume and the frequency of the largess.

These are not one-off vacations.

This is consistent, steady stream of luxury vacations that Justice Thomas has received.

And the other justices who you may have heard about, like Justice Breyer, Justice Ginsburg, accepting vacations from benefactors, we know about those because they disclosed them.

And that's the important distinction, that they were on their disclosures.

We're going to continue to look at all the justices for the same type of evidence, but, right now, Justice Thomas is the extreme outlier.

JOHN YANG: Joel, you have done a deep dive into Justice Thomas' life and his personality.

How do these lavish trips compare with the image that he tries to project in his speeches and interviews?

JOEL ANDERSON, Slate: Well, yes, for a man who understandably prides himself on his bootstraps origin story, it's not surprising that he elides the truth about these wealthy white Republican benefactors and what they have been doing for him for the last 30 years or so.

When he first became a national name, when - - during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 1991, his aides and the people that supported him tried to promote the Pin Point myth, which is his impoverished background growing up on the coast of Georgia, just outside of Savannah.

And that's part of the truth, but that's not all of it.

He actually grew up fairly middle class and went to private school throughout.

That's not something that is well-known nationally is that story.

So it's always the sort of thing that he's not really -- he wants people to believe that he is -- quote -- "regular stock."

That's something that you will hear him say a lot, but it's a little bit more complicated than that.

JOHN YANG: As you say, he likes to talk about is up-from-the-bootstraps life.

But in the affirmative action case earlier, he said that he thinks affirmative action actually hurts minorities.

How does that fit in with what you just talked about?

JOEL ANDERSON: Well, I mean, in some ways, it makes sense.

I think that Justice Thomas, understandably, is very proud of how far he's come, right, that he had to work very hard to become the second Black justice in the history of the Supreme Court.

But that's not all of the story.

The first person that hired him out of out of college was an heir to the Purina fortune, Missouri Attorney General John Danforth, who later became senator.

When he applied to Yale Law School in 1971, and was admitted, that was the first year they had an explicit -- explicit racial quota system.

When he got to Holy Cross, that was the first year that they had ever recruited a substantial number of Black students.

And he's instead said, this would -- this maligned to me, this ruined my reputation among people that would have hired me and thought -- would have thought that I was capable.

And so he's always sort of -- sort of had to deal with that contradiction in a way.

JOHN YANG: This is a man who once wanted to be a priest.

He went to seminary.

He says in speeches, he never wanted to be a federal judge.

What he wanted was to be rich.

You have talked to a lot of people in his life.

What motivates him?

What drives him?

JOEL ANDERSON: Well, there's a lot of things.

That's a really complicated and really -- it's a really smart question.

One, he was raised by his grandfather, who grew up in Jim Crow Georgia, really pushed him to excel in spite of the circumstances.

That's one piece of it.

Another is that he has really never recovered from what he went through in the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, that that has sort of unleashed a lot of anger that he's never really gotten over.

And if you read his autobiography, you will be sort of surprised at the amount of anger that is in those pages.

And, also, he's always wanted to get paid.

Like, he talked about it when he worked at Monsanto in the '70s.

That was a big thing.

A friend that once visited him around that time noticed that he had taken down an old Malcolm X poster in his house and put up a picture of a Rolls-Royce.

So this is a guy who was motivated by money.

And also, I should note, when he worked -- when he started working in the Reagan administration, he wrote a memorandum for the -- for Missouri Senator Danforth.

It said: "We have power.

Now what?"

So he's motivated about money and power, as well as all those other things.

JOHN YANG: Joel Anderson of Slate's podcast "Slow Burn," Brett Murphy from ProPublica, thank you both very much.

BRETT MURPHY: Thank you.

JOEL ANDERSON: My pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the last two decades, more and more Americans have died from drinking-related causes, but a new study shows alcohol-related deaths are rising faster among women than men.

Laura Barron-Lopez takes a closer look.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Amna, deaths from excessive drinking spiked during the pandemic, especially among women.

Though more men than women die overall from alcohol-related causes, the gap is shrinking.

A study published in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" found that, from 2018 to 2020, alcohol-related deaths increased by 14.7 percent per year for women, compared to 12.5 percent increase per year for men.

And from 2012 to 2020, those deaths rose 6.7 percent per year among women 65 and older.

For more on the larger impact.

I'm joined by Dr. Paula Cook.

She's a physician who specializes in addiction medicine and hosts the podcast "The Addiction Files."

Dr. Cook, thanks so much for joining us.

Were you surprised by the study's finding that there's an increase occurring in alcohol-related deaths for women?

DR. PAULA COOK, "The Addiction Files": Unfortunately, I was not surprised and us in the medical community were not surprised, because we have been seeing these trends of increased alcohol use amongst women for quite some time.

And particularly, over the last few years, we have seen increased usage.

So it makes sense that the death -- related mortality rates have been going up.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The study didn't provide a specific reason for this faster increase.

What do you think is contributing to this?

DR. PAULA COOK: Well, I think there's several reasons.

Alcohol use has been normalized amongst women.

And so we're seeing the gap narrowing amongst all age groups.

Especially, younger women and teenage women are now increasing their use of alcohol far more than they used to.

Marketing is targeting women for their alcohol use.

They're doing these this in very clever ways, and it's being effective.

Women are experiencing more stress, I think, and stress-related drinking as a result.

And then I think the effects of social media has had its effect on women increasing drinking as well.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And the study specifically highlights the rise among women 65 and older.

What could be causing that rise within that specific population?

DR. PAULA COOK: Well, we're seeing increased substance use some alcohol use in the Baby Boomers in general.

As they age, they're using more And this group of women, particularly, are subjected to the same effects that we were just talking about, the marketing effects, the stress effects.

And as they leave the work force, there's interesting effects of women in terms of increased rates of anxiety, depression, et cetera, and more likely to reach to alcohol to kind of mitigate some of the effects of that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: There's been some studies in the past that have told the public that one glass of red wine a night is OK.

But how much drinking is too much drinking?

Because some of the dietary guidelines say that one glass a night for a woman is OK, two for a man is OK. What do you say?

DR. PAULA COOK: Well, this has been very confusing.

But, lately, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society have come out with really clear guidelines saying that really no alcohol is safe.

So, before, when we used to say maybe a glass of wine at night was helpful for your health, and your heart especially, now alcohol has more risk than benefit.

And so even though moderate drinking may be OK for some people, one drink for women or less, two drinks or less for men, there are many people in the population who shouldn't have alcohol at all.

And the health benefits of alcohol have really been negated in the research.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: What happens, physiologically speaking, when women consume alcohol versus when men consume it?

DR. PAULA COOK: Well, there's several differences.

I mean, women, both chemically and physiologically in their bodies, handle alcohol differently.

So women have a higher body fat percentage than men, who have more water content.

So alcohol concentrates more quickly and at a higher concentration in women than in men.

So, obviously, the effects are quicker, which means the effects on the organs are more.

Women have hormonal fluctuations, which can increase the target organ effect, compared to men.

And also women have negative effects on their organs at a quicker rate than men do.

And that could be due to decreased amount of enzyme in their gut, so they don't metabolize alcohol as quickly.

And they're just more sensitive to the negative effects.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Doctor, how often do you talk to patients who may not realize that the health consequences that they're suffering from are related to drinking?

And what do you think physicians or the public could do to better educate women and men about their alcohol consumption?

DR. PAULA COOK: I think this is actually quite common.

I think people come in with complaints into primary care or they have high blood pressure, they have anxiety, maybe they can't sleep very well at night, or they have more serious health problems like breast cancer or other kinds of cancer, heart disease, cognitive decline.

And these problems are directly correlated to alcohol use, more so than the obvious ones, like liver disease and gastrointestinal problems.

So physicians and other health care providers should always have alcohol on their list of possible contributors to health problems, including mental health problems.

And the public should be aware of how alcohol could be playing into their physical health and their mental health, and maybe look at the guidelines of where they fit in terms of their alcohol use.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Dr. Paula Cook, thank you so much for your time.

DR. PAULA COOK: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: As temperature records are broken all over the planet this summer, scientists are also increasingly concerned about what's happening to the sea ice around Antarctica.

William Brangham, who's reported from that southernmost continent and has been talking with some of those researchers, is here now to explain.

Good to see you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Hi.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, what is happening down there?

It's wintertime.

You would assume there is more ice, not less.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right, you would assume that.

And, remember, Antarctica is a -- this colossal continent covered completely in ice.

It is the size of the United States and Mexico combined, covered with huge ice sheets and glaciers.

That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about sea ice, which is frozen seawater, that -- and that ice grows every year from the periphery of Antarctica outwards.

It's like this incredible halo that grows out across the ocean.

We can see this NASA animation of what it looks like.

That growth of that sea ice is so massive, it doubles the size of the continent every single year.

But the problem is, is that, this year and last year, to a similar extent, that ice has not been growing nearly as quickly.

I want to put up this other chart here.

This shows the traditional, that gray -- that line at the top is what it normal growth of the sea ice is.

That red line below is where we are now.

It is a marked difference.

That is roughly the size of Alaska that is missing ice now in the Southern Ocean.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's remarkable to see in that graphic there.

So, you have been talking to researchers.

Do they know why this is happening?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It is a complicated picture.

And there are some leading suspects.

And these are all suspects that we have our fingerprints on.

The first one is, is that the ocean is warmer.

We have seen that all over the world.

As we burn coal and oil and gas and warm the atmosphere, that warms this planet, and the oceans absorb the bulk of that warming.

Warmer ocean water makes it hard to grow ice.

You can -- that's pretty standard physics.

The air is warmer as well.

That makes it harder to grow ice.

Wind is also complicit in this, changing wind patterns.

Wind is really important in how ice grows off of Antarctica and where it grows.

Those things are changing.

Again, scientists believe that we are one of the main drivers of this, but the exact mechanism is not totally clear.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what's the bigger concern in all of this?

If that sea ice is not growing at the rate it's expected to, what are the consequences of that?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is the biggest issue here.

And the reason we care about this is that that ice provides all sorts of incredibly valuable things for us.

First off, that ice keeps the Southern Hemisphere cooler.

And you think of ice as this flat, white surface that reflects the sun's radiant energy off into space.

If that ice is not there, that sunlight hits the ocean, warms the oceans.

This is part of a very complicated engine that drives ocean currents globally and weather patterns globally.

So, disrupting that could cause huge problems.

This sea ice also protects the glaciers that are sitting up on land at in Antarctica.

We want those glaciers to stay there.

If they slip into the ocean, that raises sea level rise globally.

So that sea ice is like a buffer.

It's like a big inner tube protector around that ice.

We don't want that to go away.

And, thirdly, there are animals that live all over Antarctica.

And they in one way or another benefit from that ice.

Penguins, seals, whales, the tiny krill that live in the water there all spend part of their life on that sea ice.

And it's important.

One of the researchers I talked with recently is a woman named Marilyn Raphael.

She's a geologist at UCLA.

In addition to explaining a lot of this mechanism to me, I asked her how she sees this data.

Here's what she had to say.

MARILYN RAPHAEL, UCLA: There is a part of me that's scientifically interested in what's happening.

Like, what is at work here?

That is completely separate from the other part.

That's the citizen of the world apart that says, this is really shocking, and this -- it's not good.

It's not good news for our system, and not just the Antarctic system, but from a global climate system.

I look at the curve daily, but I look at that curve early, and I'm almost willing it to inch upwards.

But it's not listening to me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Researchers all over the world are willing that graph to go up, to grow more of the sea ice.

But there is no evidence that it is.

We are about to hit the peak of the Antarctic winter, meaning, so if its chances of growing to its fullest extent are about to run out - - soon, the sun will return to the Southern Hemisphere, and that already shrunk and ice will continue to melt and break up and go away.

AMNA NAWAZ: Incredibly sobering information.

William Brangham, thank you for your expertise on this and your reporting.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: My pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, pop superstar Taylor Swift ended the first U.S. leg of her Eras Tour last night, leaving American fans waiting until next year to see the concert that is turbocharging the economy and capturing the pop culture zeitgeist this summer.

Stephanie Sy reflects on the tour and the power of Taylor Swift.

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

STEPHANIE SY: Its the end of an era, for now, Taylor Swift closing out the first leg of her blockbuster Eras Tour that's enchanted Swifties, who spent their savings, planned their outfits, wove friendship bracelets, and, of course, sang their hearts out inside the stadium and tailgating in the parking lot.

The 33-year-old pop phenom is shattering ceilings with this tour, predicted to be the highest-grossing in history, over $1 billion in sales.

Demand alone broke records.

She sold a whopping two million tickets in the first 24 hours, temporarily shutting down Ticketmaster, driving resale prices through the roof, and even prompting calls for action in Washington.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say: I'm the problem.

It's me.

STEPHANIE SY: At her first stop in Glendale, Arizona, renamed Swift City for the event, I scored tickets for me and my daughter.

The lengths Swifties have gone to see her perform are matched only by the performance itself, three hours packed with 44 songs, surprise performances, dazzling costume changes, and choreography spanning 10 studio albums, or eras.

Fans met the excess with their own.

MARA KLAUNIG, Camoin Associates: On average, people spend about $100 to $500 on any given concert.

People are spending $1,300, on average, to go see Taylor Swift.

STEPHANIE SY: Mara Klaunig is an economic analyst at Camoin Associates, and a Swiftie herself, who has tracked the tour's financial ricochet.

MARA KLAUNIG: They're doing things like getting outfits and hair and makeup and nails to, like, match their favorite era.

They're -- you know, they're going out to dining at bars and restaurants that have themed menus.

I think just the whole -- like, the whole experience around the concert is unlike anything we have ever seen.

STEPHANIE SY: Charting 20 cities, the tour has left economic booms in its wake, in Denver, an estimated $140 million in local revenue, in Cincinnati, $92 million.

In Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve reported the strongest month for hotels since the start of the pandemic.

They said, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city.

So, what were your impressions of the show?

TYLER FOGGATT, "The New Yorker": I was pretty blown away by it.

I have never really seen a live performance like that in my life.

STEPHANIE SY: Tyler Foggatt is a senior editor at "The New Yorker."

She made the commute from Manhattan to Philadelphia to see the show and write about it.

Swift's stardom rivals some of the biggest names in history, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, but with lyrics that weave an invisible string, tying her to her fans.

TYLER FOGGATT: She herself has said that it's been a very therapeutic process, sort of experiencing things, whether it be a breakup or just something else happening in her personal life, and then writing extremely confessional songs that she then performs in front of thousands of people.

And I think that's why people like Taylor Swift so much, is because of that diaristic style of songwriting, this idea that she's writing about her life and wants to share it with us.

STEPHANIE SY: She has not always been so widely praised.

Fans still shudder at this moment in 2009, a 19-year-old Swift accepting the award at the VMAs for best female music video, besting Beyonce.

KANYE WEST, Musician: I'm really happy for you.

I'm going to let you finish.

STEPHANIE SY: It ignited a years-long feud with Kanye West and the lyrics for some of the songs on the album "Reputation."

She eventually shook it off, but the blades were sharpened for battles to come.

QUESTION: Which brings us to Scooter Braun.

TAYLOR SWIFT, Musician: Ugh.

STEPHANIE SY: Ten years later, no longer the rising teenage country star, Swift denounced her former record labels $300 million deal, giving control of her studio master albums to Scooter Braun, with whom she had bad blood.

She outsmarted the executives.

QUESTION: Could you re-record?

TAYLOR SWIFT: Oh, yes.

QUESTION: Might you do that?

TAYLOR SWIFT: Oh, yes.

STEPHANIE SY: At her final show in L.A. last night, Swift unveiled her latest album to be rerecorded, "1989 (Taylor's Version)."

Retaking ownership of her music has made her the man to even the early skeptics.

TYLER FOGGATT: A lot of her current fans who weren't fans before have actually said, oh, that was just like internalized misogyny.

And I, like, have recognized the error of my ways, and now I respect Taylor Swift, as I always should have.

You know, she's reframed this whole project as something very political.

Like, it's -- it's like a feminist act to listen to the -- Taylor's version of "Speak Now" or "Red," instead of the original.

STEPHANIE SY: Swift's concerts kicked off the girlboss summer, one also defined by Greta Gerwig's blockbuster Barbie movie and Beyonce's World Renaissance Tour.

MARA KLAUNIG: We're seeing just, like, women that are at the peak of their game that really own their narrative and control their marketing and their messaging and then have a very strong voice and a strong message that they're putting out there.

And I think it's been really inspirational to a lot of women.

STEPHANIE SY: And more women will get to see it live as Taylor Swift goes abroad and adds new American tour dates next fall.

For the "PBS NewsHour," and for the Swifties, I'm Stephanie Sy.

AMNA NAWAZ: I always knew Steph was a Swiftie.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.