GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Special counsel Jack Smith files a new indictment against former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Israel rescues a hostage from a tunnel in Gaza, but hope for a larger hostage and cease-fire deal remains dim.

And an American journalist freed from Russian detention in the latest prisoner swap shares her harrowing experience and how she's adjusting to life back home.

ALSU KURMASHEVA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Even when those -- the darkest feelings and emotions took over sometimes, I knew - - I knew the whole world was fighting for me.

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

The fallout from last month's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity continues.

Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a new indictment against former President Donald Trump in federal court.

The charges against Mr. Trump remain the same, four counts related to alleged actions he took to stay in power after the 2020 election.

To explain what the new indictment means, Carrie Johnson, justice correspondent for NPR, joins us.

Carrie, it's always great to see you.

So, help us understand why Jack Smith thought that this new indictment, this revised indictment, was necessary.

CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR: The Supreme Court decision last month cut away a significant part of the special counsel's case against Donald Trump here in Washington, D.C., and the special counsel, Jack Smith, told the court today that he was responding to the Supreme Court's directives and basically tightening his case in some important respects against the former president to make it comply with the instructions the Supreme Court had given him.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, we have got this new 36-page superseding indictment and the original 45-page indictment.

What are the biggest changes between the two, Carrie?

CARRIE JOHNSON: The single biggest change is that the Supreme Court last month told the special counsel that the president has a lot of power, a great deal of leeway when it comes to interactions with the Justice Department.

And so Jack Smith has removed a bunch of allegations from this indictment that initially charged Trump with leaning on Justice Department officials to go along with bogus claims of voter fraud and election fraud and try to convince states to do the same thing.

Now all of that is out of the indictment, as is one of the co-conspirators, a man we believe to be Jeffrey Clark, who was elevated by Donald Trump inside the Justice Department shortly before the events of January 6, 2021, and a man who appeared to have been on board with Trump's strategy about the election.

All of that is now gone.

And then later in the indictment, there's more language that describes Trump as acting as a person seeking office, a candidate, as opposed to a president using the formal powers of the presidency.

That too is in line with what the Supreme Court had to say.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what's next for this case?

How might the judge in this case, Judge Tanya Chutkan, how might she receive this?

CARRIE JOHNSON: The judge has already asked both sides to confer and present her with a plan to how to go forward by Friday.

We may have some more details later in the week.

The Justice Department says it doesn't demand that Donald Trump be in court and D.C. in person to respond to these new charges, so he can just do that through his lawyers.

And then, Geoff, the big question is the November election.

If Trump prevails, he's fully in line to order the Justice Department to drop this case against him.

And that would likely be legal under the things the Supreme Court has said a president can do while in office.

If Trump does not win in November, then all this legal wrangling becomes much more important.

One of the key questions moving forward is, how quickly can a trial of Donald Trump go forward?

And will the special counsel add some new defendants, some of these co-conspirators, alleged co-conspirators, people like Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and others, these lawyers who were working in their private capacity at the time to help Donald Trump cling to power?

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, in the minute we have left, Carrie, the special counsel and his team, they have been busy, because, just yesterday, they appealed the ruling tossing out the classified documents case.

How does the move today fit within the overall landscape of the special counsel's work?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Well, we had heard all along that the special counsel team intended to keep working through the election, and it's been all systems go from Jack Smith along those lines.

Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge in Florida who was appointed to the bench by Trump, had dismissed that classified documents and obstruction case against him.

Prosecutors say Cannon was wrong, wrong about the law.

For 150 years, the Justice Department has selected special prosecutors in this way, or ways like this, and that higher courts should reinstate that case against Trump.

That too is going to putter along through the election.

We may find out a lot more about that case and whether it gets revived early next year as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: NPR's Carrie Johnson.

Carrie, our deep thanks to you, as always.

CARRIE JOHNSON: Thanks, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: We start the day's other headlines in the Middle East.

After 326 days in captivity, a hostage was found in the Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza and brought to safety by the Israeli military.

Qaid Farhan Alkadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued from Gaza, but dozens more wait to be freed in a potential cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Stephanie Sy has the story.

STEPHANIE SY: The Soroka Medical Center is an unlikely scene for a race.

But a helicopter carrying a rescued hostage from Hamas' October 7 attack had landed outside, and the family of Qaid Farhan Alkadi had no time to waste.

ISMAIL ALKADI (Brother of Qaid Farhan Alkadi): Can't express my feelings.

I hope my mother will be happier than us.

We prayed for him.

My mother prayed for him.

Her prayer reached the sky.

STEPHANIE SY: Alkadi is part of the Arab bedouin minority in Israel and was working in a kibbutz when Hamas attacked.

He has a large family, including two wives and 11 children.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces: We cannot go into many details of this special operation, but I can share that Israeli commandos rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi from an underground tunnel following accurate intelligence.

STEPHANIE SY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Alkadi over the phone.

QAID FARHAN ALKADI (Rescued Hostage): You really did a holy work.

A holy work, you did.

There are other people waiting.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: I want you to know that we do not forget anyone, just as we did not forget you.

We are committed to returning everyone without exception.

STEPHANIE SY: Israeli officials say 108 hostages are still held in Gaza, but more than 40 of those are thought to be dead.

Hostage families are among the many urging Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal, but negotiations have stretched on for months without public progress.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued its ground and air attacks on Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll has reached 40,000 over the course of the war.

Another 18 were killed overnight and today, according to officials in Gaza.

Early this morning, a missile killed six members of the same family in Khan Yunis.

MOUSA AL-SHARIF, Neighbor of Family Killed in Strike (through translator): People were sleeping.

Everyone woke up to the sound of the explosion.

I was the first to arrive here.

The father, mother and children, we took them all out of here in body parts.

STEPHANIE SY: The eyewitnesses to horror growing in number, all while threats of expanded violence directed at Israel loom.

Iran, still reeling over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has yet to exact revenge, but officials have reiterated it's coming.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Also today, Russia launched a new wave of attacks across multiple regions in Ukraine.

At least five people were killed.

The latest missile and drone strikes come after Moscow hit Ukraine's power grid in its largest air attack of the war yet.

Meantime, Ukraine says it's taken nearly 500 square miles of Russia's Kursk region and captured more Russian troops since that surprise incursion started three weeks ago.

As fighting there intensifies, so do concerns about a potential nuclear incident.

Today, the chief of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog visited the region's power plant, which he said is speckled with traces of drone attacks.

RAFAEL GROSSI, Director General, IAEA: Pointing fingers is something that I, as director general of the IAEA, must take extremely seriously.

But it is obvious that you cannot separate what we have seen here from the recent military activity that we have seen.

GEOFF BENNETT: He warns the plant is especially vulnerable to attack because it has no protective dome.

Any such strike, he says, would have serious consequences.

To the race for the White House now.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been off the trail so far this week, but she's keeping up her presence on the airwaves.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: I know what homeownership means.

And, sadly, right now, it is out of reach.

GEOFF BENNETT: In a new ad, the Harris campaign highlights her plan to build three million new homes over four years to address rising housing prices.

At a rally in Michigan today focused on the economy, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D.

Vance took aim at Harris' record.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: Americans can't afford groceries because of your leadership, Kamala.

Young people can't afford homes because of the policies that you have enacted as vice president.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, the Trump campaign says that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is joining Donald Trump's presidential transition team after dropping out of the race this past Friday.

Former presidential candidate and one-time Democrat Tulsi Gabbard will also serve as an honorary co-chair.

Separately, more than 200 former Republican staffers have signed an open letter endorsing Harris over Trump.

She and her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, will be sitting down with CNN for their first joint interview on Thursday evening.

Harris has faced some criticism for not making herself more available to the press since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July and endorsed her.

Large parts of the country are sizzling in a late summer heat wave with humidity pushing so-called feels-like temperatures into the triple digits in some areas.

More than 70 million people were under some form of heat alert today.

Residents of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic were most directly affected.

That has disrupted the first week of school in Detroit and Philadelphia, where students were sent home early today.

Forecasts say the Midwest will cool down tomorrow, but the heat will linger on the East Coast for several more days.

Two workers were killed and a third was injured after an explosion at a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility in Atlanta early this morning.

Emergency crews were seen at the hangar near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Local media have reported that a tire on a plane exploded.

Delta released a statement offering condolences to the families, but provided few details about what happened.

The airline says it's working with local officials to investigate the incident.

Health authorities in New Hampshire say one person has died after testing positive for the eastern equine encephalitis virus.

It was the first reported infection in the state in a decade.

The mosquito-borne virus can result in death or severe mental and physical disabilities.

There are no antiviral treatments or vaccines.

Several Massachusetts towns have urged people to stay indoors at night because of encephalitis concerns.

On Wall Street, stocks eked out tiny gains across the board today.

The Dow Jones industrial average inched up to another record close, adding just 10 points.

The Nasdaq rose two, tacking on 29 points, and the S&P also climbed just slightly higher on the day.

And the great wait is over.

With those words, the British pop group Oasis announced a reunion tour set for next year.

It comes after more than a decade of feuding between the band's two brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher.

Songs like "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger" made oasis one of the superstar acts of the '90s.

They were compared to the Beatles -- yes, the Beatles -- and topped the pop charts, but their offstage drama often overshadowed their musical triumphs.

The band has announced a 14-date tour across the U.K. and Ireland next summer.

Still to come on the "News Hour": legal fights brew over states' new voting rules that could influence the outcome of this year's elections; a judge's ruling places a half-million undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens in limbo; and a look at the extra hurdles people with disabilities face amid a national housing shortage.

As we wind our way to the November election, some key states are still debating and battling over brand-new election rule changes.

As our Lisa Desjardins explains, in some prominent cases, these are Republican-led and pushed by former President Donald Trump himself.

LISA DESJARDINS: In just the past few weeks, the Georgia Election Board has passed changes that could affect this year's election.

Among them, local officials could launch an investigation after results are in, and each local official could demand to examine all election documents, presumably including each ballot.

If there's a discrepancy in ballot and voter counts, no vote from such a precinct would count.

Former President Donald Trump has recently praised by name the three board members who passed those rules as fighting for honesty and victory.

This week, the national and state Democratic parties filed a lawsuit, citing current Georgia law and writing: "Election officials are free to voice concerns at the time of certification, but they may not point to those election irregularities or anything else as a basis for delaying certification or denying it entirely."

To look at this and voting law changes in other states, I'm joined by Jessica Huseman of Votebeat.

Jessica, let's start right there in Georgia, obviously, a hotly contested state.

We see Vice President Harris there this week.

What do we know about what Georgia election law says about certification, and can these rules stand?

JESSICA HUSEMAN, Editorial Director, Votebeat: I have a really difficult time seeing how they could, but I am not an attorney.

The law in Georgia does say that local boards shall certify the election by a given date.

It does not give them any room to not do that and essentially accepts it as a predetermined conclusion.

So, I think that the law in Georgia is very clear as to what they need to do.

And if they behave accordingly, then they will do the same thing they did last year.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, this comes from a newly configured Election Board.

The Georgia legislature changed the law to change this board.

No longer sitting on this board is the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, someone who our viewers might remember was on that phone call with former President Trump, who wanted him to find some votes.

Raffensperger refused.

Now, Raffensperger has called out what he sees happening on the Election Board, saying it's a mess and saying: "Misguided attempts by the State Election Board will delay election results and undermine chain of custody safeguards."

Jessica, we are just 69 days away from this election.

I know you're saying what the law looks like, but can the courts actually move through this quickly enough or is it possible that there will be confusion about this on Election Day?

JESSICA HUSEMAN: There's certainly a possibility that they could move quickly enough, right?

The courts tend to move very quickly ahead of elections because they don't want to affect things too close to the day of the election.

But the amount of time that courts consider too close is getting shorter and shorter and shorter every year.

And so, yes, there could definitely be some confusion here.

I think that, if it gets even into the middle of September, we're going to start seeing some antsy feelings on the part of Georgia Democrats especially.

But, ultimately, the courts do have it in their power to fix this.

LISA DESJARDINS: If this is allowed to stay in place close to a right out Election Day, do you think any of these counties are ready to use these kinds of powers, and exactly for what?

JESSICA HUSEMAN: I'm sure that they are.

I think that there are a lot of very red counties across the country that have been sort of playing with the idea of refusing to certify local election results.

But in the past, that has not been successful, basically anywhere that it's been tried.

And I don't see why it would be different in Georgia.

Local boards are under a lot of pressure to certify from the people who live in the community.

You can only certify your own election.

And so, if you choose not to certify your local results, that means you're preventing local candidates from taking office.

And any of those people could sue.

That's what's happened in the past when counties across the country have tried to do this.

And I think that there probably will be a few counties in Georgia that push their luck here, but probably reverse course very quickly.

LISA DESJARDINS: Do you have a sense of how much of this for the Election Board members, who really haven't spoken out too much outside of their meetings, how much of this is about their concerns over election security?

How much of this could be what we hear from Donald Trump, trying to set up a scenario where there's doubt if he loses?

JESSICA HUSEMAN: It's hard to say.

I think that the Republican Party has gone all in with Donald Trump on these claims of voter fraud and noncitizen voting and bloated voter rolls, none of which are true.

But because they have thrown themselves so far in line behind him -- behind him, it's hard to say whether or not this is something they actually believe or this is a party line.

And at the end of the day, I'm not sure that it makes much of a difference.

This is -- this is a political determination that's definitely going to impact the efficacy of a vote.

LISA DESJARDINS: And you mentioned those questions about noncitizens voting.

And we know just this week or in the past week, the Supreme Court has ruled in on Arizona law and given Arizona Republicans a sort of partial victory, saying that they can enforce some of the Arizona election law, which basically would mean, if I have this right, that people without an I.D.

at the voting -- at the ballot box would have to fill out a special federal form to vote in the presidential election.

That's something that a lot of Republicans are saying was a victory for them.

Do you think that's going to make a difference at the polls or not in November?

JESSICA HUSEMAN: It's hard to say.

Past examples of voters having to fill out forms that polls do not suggest necessarily that voters will be tremendously dissuaded from voting as a result of that.

So, for example, in Texas, if you do not have an I.D., you have to fill out what's called a reasonable impediment declaration here.

That does not seem to have been a barrier in recent elections.

And so if this is implemented well by local election officials, it should be pretty seamless.

LISA DESJARDINS: The right often raises this idea that perhaps there are too many people voting.

We know there are not many instances of voter fraud.

But on the left, the concern is sometimes about too few and purging voter rolls.

Texas just announced that there's been about a million purged as part of its regular countywide purging and voter rolls for those who are deceased, et cetera.

Is there anything this year to be concerned about or is that standard procedure?

JESSICA HUSEMAN: So, voter -- so, removing people from the voter roll is very well controlled.

There's federal laws that dictate when and how someone can be moved -- removed from the voter roll, and what kind of notice they have to give to the people who they are attempting to remove.

And so none of those things have changed in the last few years.

That federal law has remained the same.

And we're actually currently within the window that those federal laws allow such that no one can be removed from the rolls at this point from now until the election.

So if you're on the rolls now, you're going to stay on the rolls through to the end of the election.

That will not change.

But I think it's important for people to know that there is a universe of federal law that does apply to this that dictates when someone is made inactive and how long they must be inactive and how much notice they need to be given in the mail in order to remove that person from the voter roll.

So this is not an overnight process and it's a process very tightly controlled.

LISA DESJARDINS: Jessica Huseman, a very clear look at some big concerns.

We appreciate you.

JESSICA HUSEMAN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked a Biden administration program that could offer legal status to undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering all of this.

Laura, thanks for being here.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: So who is behind this lawsuit and how is the Biden White House responding to all of this?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So it's important to note this is a lawsuit not based on merits, but a pause as litigation plays out.

And the lawsuit was filed by 16 Republican-led states, attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas.

And he called this -- "Biden's unconstitutional scheme would have rewarded more than one million illegal aliens with the opportunity for citizenship after breaking our country's laws and incentivized countless more."

And these Republican-led states claimed that the administration's actions would cause financial harm to their states because they would have to pay for services like education, health care, driver's licenses for these undocumented migrants.

And these states were assisted by America First Legal, which is founded by Stephen Miller, Trump -- a longtime Trump adviser, architect of many of his immigration policies.

He was a part of this lawsuit.

Now, the administration's says that they are going to defend this policy known as the Keeping Families Together policy.

And in a statement today, President Biden said: "Nothing I did changed the requirements people have to meet to adjust their status under immigration law.

All I did was make it possible for these longtime residents to file the paperwork here together with their families," meaning that they would not have to leave the country for years on end in order to get this legal status.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what does this pause now mean for the people who would have benefited from this program?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The people that would have benefited were undocumented spouses of -- married to U.S. citizens who meet clear parameters, like living in the United States for more than 10 years and had no felonies.

They would have qualified for parole in place, which is a longtime program offered by the U.S. without having to leave.

And based on the administration's estimates of who would have been eligible, those impacted are going to be some 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens will be impacted by this court ruling, and 50,000 children under the age of 21 who have a U.S. citizen step-parent.

Now, I spoke to Todd Schulte of FWD.us.

He's the president of that pro-immigration immigrant rights group.

And he said that this is going to have a significant impact and whiplash for these families.

TODD SCHULTE, President, FWD.us.

: For people who have put in an application and have not heard, people who paid a fee, worked with an attorney, and honestly waited decades, that's on hold right now.

And that is devastating for their families.

I talked to someone who came during the Reagan administration, and this was her best chance to have a little bit more certainty in her life.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, again, groups like his are going to be fighting this, but they're very concerned for what this means for these undocumented spouses.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the meantime, can those undocumented immigrants who are eligible for this program, can they still apply?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So they can still apply, but things could potentially change.

What the Department of Homeland Security said today, Geoff, was that when it comes to the application process, people can continue -- they can continue to accept applications, but pending or new applications that have been submitted since this ruling will not be approved.

They will basically be in limbo.

And then the parole applications that were already approved will not be affected.

GEOFF BENNETT: So where does this case, this litigation, where does it go next?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So this pause right now by the judge puts the program on hold for at least 14 days, but it could be extended.

And, right now, immigration lawyers, as well as the administration, are fighting to try to make sure that this pause is stopped after 14 days and that ultimately the program can proceed as litigation continues.

But, again, it creates a lot of fear, depression and anxiety for undocumented migrants like Fodeh Tehrae (ph), who's been in the country.

I spoke to him today.

He's been in the country for more than 20 years.

He said that when he found -- heard the news, he was playing with his 1-year-old son, that it drove his wife to tears.

And his ultimate message is that this is not just targeting undocumented migrants like himself who work in the U.S. and who have created a life here.

But all of his family members who are U.S. citizens, his wife, his mother, and he said that Texas is targeting not just one undocumented migrant, but five United States citizens with their ruling.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez.

Laura, thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Earlier this month, an extraordinary prisoner swap with Russia brought three Americans home.

Among them was Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was sentenced to 6.5 years on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army.

That was Alsu holding her daughters and husband tight, a tearful, joyous reunion.

Today, she joins me here with her husband, Pavel Butorin.

Alsu and Pavel, welcome to the "News Hour."

Thank you so much for being here.

PAVEL BUTORIN, Husband of Alsu Kurmasheva: Thank you for having us.

ALSU KURMASHEVA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Thank you for having us.

GEOFF BENNETT: Your homecoming, Alsu, that moment where you were embracing your loved ones after nearly a year being separated from them, what was that like?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: I have lived the happiest moments of my life.

It was exactly as I was dreaming of for months and months when I was in prison.

I actually had the same dream, how I would be greeting them and hugging them, several times.

So it was exactly the dream that was coming true.

GEOFF BENNETT: How has this past month for you readjusting to freedom and reclaiming your life as you knew it?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: It's been extraordinary.

My doors are finally open.

After more than nine months of behind closed doors in a cell without a window, I finally see colors.

I see trees.

I see plants.

I see people.

I talk to them.

I hug them.

It's been amazing.

It's been exhausting as I reveal so much the scale of the campaign which was going on, on my behalf, but positively exhausting.

I'm happy of that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, exhausting in the best way.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Pavel, your family is whole again.

Your daughters, Bibi and Miriam, how are they doing?

And how are you doing?

(LAUGHTER) PAVEL BUTORIN: Well, I'm finally a little bit more relaxed, after more than a year without Alsu, of which for more than nine months she was held in a Russian prison cell.

We are overjoyed to have Alsu back.

This is going to be a process.

She is adjusting to living in the free world again.

We are helping her reprogram from a culture of fear and distrust to the free world, where she can publish and say whatever she wants.

She has the support of her family, of her friends and further of her colleagues.

GEOFF BENNETT: When you were detained, Alsu, did you have any sense of the kind of advocacy work your husband was doing to secure your release?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: I only believed and hoped that something like that might be happening.

But I clearly didn't have a sense of the scale of the advocacy campaign.

And there is a long list I want to say thanks, and my -- thankful forever to my colleagues at RFE.

They were opening my doors here in D.C. And this is how we work together without me knowing what was happening, and, actually, all the efforts brought to a happy end.

And, of course, the tremendous support by the U.S. government and President Biden administration, but also members of Congress, from Republicans and Democrats.

I just learned it recently after my release that the effort was bipartisan.

There was a -- there was a union.

Everybody united to bring me home, as an American mother and American journalist, because that was clearly why I was detained and why I was arrested, for being an American journalist.

GEOFF BENNETT: What did you experience while you were detained?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: It was days, endless days, meaningless days of constant humiliation and intimidation in small things.

I haven't witnessed physical violence in the cell I was kept in, but this moral pressure and continuous humiliation was on the way.

And people didn't realize even that it's not the life to live in.

It's overwhelmed fear of each other, of your own thoughts, of what you hear on TV.

The society has been put on the survival mode.

That's what I sensed.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have three colleagues who are still being detained.

What's your message to them?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: Well, my today's celebrations are a bittersweet because of that.

I can't stop thinking about them, because I know what they and their families are going through right now.

I can sense it.

And I want to tell them, you are in our thoughts and prayers, and we will do everything to release you and to bring that moment of you reuniting with your families.

PAVEL BUTORIN: One of them is Vlad Yesypenko.

He was detained in Russia-occupied Crimea.

And I have met his wife and his daughter.

And no family should go through this.

Journalists do not deserve to be detained or imprisoned.

We know that he has done nothing wrong.

We won't stop our fight for his freedom.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are those who say, while it's wonderful you're home, that the U.S. can't keep doing these deals where the U.S. exchanges terrorists and criminals for reporters and dissidents, that it only encourages the likes of Vladimir Putin and leads to more unjust detainments and despotic nations.

What do you say to that?

PAVEL BUTORIN: Well, I'm perhaps the wrong person to ask, because all I wanted was to get Alsu back to her family.

I think, in this trade, the U.S. government and its allies showed that the free world places a higher value on human life, even if it means exchanging real criminals and spies for innocent Americans.

I know that it's a complicated moral dilemma, but I think we in the free world need to have that moral courage to take these -- to make these efforts.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: And after the trade, I realized that the choice, the decision which was made by the Western governments and the United States government was a difficult one.

And I really appreciate that.

GEOFF BENNETT: You flew home with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

Did you share stories?

Did you talk?

What was that like?

ALSU KURMASHEVA: We did talk a lot.

We shared stories.

And, actually, Pavel said he really enjoyed listening to us.

PAVEL BUTORIN: They picked up some prison jargon there, so -- which was kind of interesting.

But I had no idea about any of those words.

(LAUGHTER) ALSU KURMASHEVA: Though we were all wrongfully detained and unjustly held in prison in Russia, our stories were very different.

Women prisons are very different in Russia.

And we were all kept in different conditions.

It was interesting to share those stories.

PAVEL BUTORIN: What was important for us is to be able to somehow communicate with Alsu.

Our communication was quite limited, but every opportunity we had, we tried to communicate to her that the world stood by her side, by our family.

And we knew that she was innocent.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: And that kept me going always.

Even when the darkest feelings and emotions took over sometimes, I knew the whole world was fighting for me.

My colleagues and human rights organizations and journalists, everybody was fighting for me.

And that kept me going.

PAVEL BUTORIN: And the way we tried to keep her connected to the outside world was something -- I think, at some point, we even snuck in the lyrics of Taylor Swift songs... (LAUGHTER) PAVEL BUTORIN: ... to Alsu, so that she kept up with the culture.

(LAUGHTER) ALSU KURMASHEVA: Yes, but the release of the new album was like -- I was in prison already, so I hadn't heard the songs, but I was kind of fantasizing how they might sound.

(LAUGHTER) ALSU KURMASHEVA: And I heard them actually when I came home.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, yes.

Well, Pavel, now that you mentioned it, when you -- you were on this program some weeks ago and spoke to my colleague Nick Schifrin and said that you and your daughter were supposed to be attending a Taylor Swift concert the night that Alsu came home.

Were you able to reschedule that concert?

You get the tickets?

PAVEL BUTORIN: Not yet.

We're working on it.

But, again, what were the odds?

(LAUGHTER) PAVEL BUTORIN: This is something that we had planned for a year.

I bought those tickets in July 2023, a year ahead of time.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: Before I was arrested.

PAVEL BUTORIN: Yes, before she was arrested.

So we were hoping -- I had four tickets, actually, four VIP tickets.

And Taylor Swift is not -- thy just fans of Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift is their world.

It's a world that gave them solace and comfort during those darkest times.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: When I was away.

PAVEL BUTORIN: And the girls made, I think, 70 friendship bracelets for this show.

They played Taylor's songs and their guitars every day.

They watched those livestreams of surprise songs from The Eras tour.

Unfortunately, those dreams were shattered.

And, well, it was a trade.

(LAUGHTER) ALSU KURMASHEVA: Yes.

PAVEL BUTORIN: But it was worth it, obviously.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

PAVEL BUTORIN: But we still -- we're not losing hope.

We're hoping to see Taylor this year.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, we are so glad that this story has a happy ending.

Alsu Kurmasheva, Pavel Butorin, thanks so much for being with us.

We appreciate it.

PAVEL BUTORIN: Thank you.

ALSU KURMASHEVA: Thank you very much.

GEOFF BENNETT: Stay with us for a look at how some companies are scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives after conservative backlash.

But, first, to the nation's affordable housing shortage.

Millions of Americans are priced out of homes and apartments.

And for people with disabilities, finding an accessible place they can afford can be even more challenging.

Judy Woodruff reports as part of our series Disability Reframed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Thirty-four-year-old Jensen Caraballo considered himself lucky when he moved into this apartment more than a decade ago.

After searching for two years, he found a one-bedroom in Rochester, New York, where he lives with 24/7 care from in-home attendants like Luis (ph).

JENSEN CARABALLO, New York Resident: I will be honest.

I settled for less.

I needed a two-bedroom apartment that was affordable and accessible, and this place was neither.

But it was the only way that I could live independently.

So I settled for less.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Caraballo has spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disability, and has used a wheelchair since he was a child.

At 15 years old, he moved into a nursing home.

JENSEN CARABALLO: I remember feeling neglected.

Living in a nursing home as a teenager was very challenging and, honestly, traumatic.

I felt stripped of my autonomy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But his apartment is far from ideal.

The bathroom is too small for him to close the door, and almost everything in his kitchen is inaccessible.

You have to back in, in order to use the refrigerator, right?

JENSEN CARABALLO: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And then what about the sink?

JENSEN CARABALLO: I have no access.

JUDY WOODRUFF: He says he moved in because there were no other options in his budget.

Caraballo receives Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, a monthly benefit program many people with disabilities rely on.

He uses the SSI payment and a housing voucher to help cover his rent, but says it isn't enough to pay for the apartment and all of his other monthly expenses.

JENSEN CARABALLO: Sometimes, there's a bill that doesn't get paid.

Sometimes, I'm in the negative in my bank account.

I ask for family and friends to chip in, if they are able to.

That takes a lot out of me to have to ask for help.

This is my story, but it's not just my story.

It's an issue that has impacted the disability community for a very long time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: More than four million people with disabilities who receive SSI can't afford rent in any U.S. housing market.

The maximum SSI payment for one person is about $950 a month.

It's the sole source of income for many who receive it, and it's used to pay for everything from housing to food and transportation.

Even in America's cheapest rental market, Dallas County, Missouri, rent for a one-bedroom would require 64 percent of a monthly SSI payment.

ERIN NGUYEN NEFF, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: We have set up a situation where millions of people with disabilities can't afford to live anywhere in the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Erin Nguyen Neff is a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and represents people in court cases involving housing discrimination.

Nguyen Neff says, even when people with disabilities do find affordable housing, ensuring their space is accessible can be daunting.

ERIN NGUYEN NEFF: A person with a disability might need a home health aide to live in with them.

This could technically be a violation of your lease.

There might be some limitation on how many people can be in that on how many people can be in that apartment and for what period of time.

Another classic example is having basic modifications to your home, like having bars in the bathroom, so if you have a mobility disability, it's easier for you to use a shower or to use a toilet.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In 1988, former president Ronald Reagan signed an extension of the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.

But Nguyen Neff says, all too often, landlords ignore tenants with disabilities or deny requests for reasonable accommodation.

Last year, more than half of all housing complaints filed nationwide were disability-related.

Nguyen Neff says that reality and a shortage of in-home support services like direct care workers gives some people with disabilities no option but to live in nursing homes or other institutions.

ERIN NGUYEN NEFF: If we can make some changes to our society, provide some more support and services, a person with a disability can live independently and can do a lot of the same things people without disabilities can.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Just off a light rail station stop in San Jose, California, a new apartment building offers an alternative.

The Kelsey Ayer Station is home to people with and without disabilities across various income levels.

MICAELA CONNERY, Co-Founder and CEO, The Kelsey: Whether you're a person with disabilities, who SSI is your sole source of income and you have almost no money to pay rent, or you're middle-income making $100,000 a year, that this community meets that diverse level of affordability.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Micaela Connery is co-founder and CEO of The Kelsey, the nonprofit that co-developed the building.

She started it with her cousin Kelsey, who had multiple disabilities and was an advocate for inclusion.

She says what makes the building unique is its focus on fostering community, with resident outings and monthly meetings led by so-called inclusion concierges, who connect residents to services.

MICAELA CONNERY: From, I need a transit pass, how do I get there, to I'm in a crisis and I need my service and case manager to all come together and help me get through this crisis, to I'm looking for a social group to be involved in that's around the arts, do you have any suggestions?

JUDY WOODRUFF: And from the beginning, people with and without disabilities took part in workshops to decide what the buildings design and services should look like, including 33-year-old Isaac Haney-Owens, who has autism.

He showed us around The Kelsey's sensory garden.

ISAAC HANEY-OWENS, The Kelsey: It gives people a place to be able to decompress if they need to get away from the stimulation that's going on in the building.

We want to show the world that people with and without disabilities can live together and not be separated from each other when it comes to housing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Twenty-five percent of the buildings unit's are reserved for people with disabilities.

They include kitchens and bathrooms with removable cabinets for wheelchair users and dimmable lighting for people with light sensitivity.

Floors are coded by number, color, and symbol to help with wayfinding; 39-year-old Trevor Lucken moved to The Kelsey in June.

He loves being in the kitchen and dreams of starting his own cooking show.

TREVOR LUCKEN, The Kelsey: I put the butter in and then put the egg in after.

And then I take my bagel seasoning right on top.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Lucken has Down syndrome and says he enjoys using the building's gym and having his own space.

Having your own room, where you can do what you want to do, what does that mean to you?

TREVOR LUCKEN: It's more comfortable.

I just like it, because I can get my own privacy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The building project was financed with a combination of government funding, philanthropy, low-income tax credits, and loans.

Connery says she hopes to expand the housing model to more states, but the biggest challenge is funding.

MICAELA CONNERY: Having that either philanthropic or public subsidy to bring into these is crucial to make sure you serve the deepest need.

Because affordability is so critical and having units available for folks with disabilities who have no familial support and no other funding available, if we only wanted to serve people who were middle- and high-income, then maybe you could explore a for-profit model.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And attorney Nguyen Neff says making housing affordable and accessible nationwide starts with policy.

ERIN NGUYEN NEFF: Having adequate rent regulation or rent control to help keep rents regulated and low for people with disabilities and for low-income people, increasing funding so that people with disabilities have greater access to housing, but also changing the way we look at housing to remove the profit motive and center the people living there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Back in Rochester, Jensen Caraballo says, ultimately, changing the status quo around housing starts with shifting how others think about disability.

JENSEN CARABALLO: I think we often feel shame and embarrassment when it comes to disability.

There's this narrative that you're better off dead than disabled.

And we have to change that.

Disability is a natural and normal thing.

It's a part of life, and it can affect any of us at any time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: He says he's hopeful he will one day find a new place he can call home.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Rochester, New York.

GEOFF BENNETT: Diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs are under attack by conservative lawmakers and activists.

From college campuses, to corporate America, the fear of legal liability and political backlash is leading some to backtrack or rebrand their diversity initiatives.

In the last few weeks, there have been a number of high-profile companies announcing changes, the latest, home improvement retailer Lowe's.

That follows similar moves by Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and the maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.

For a closer look, we're joined by Simone Foxman, who's covering all of this for Bloomberg News.

Thanks for being here.

SIMONE FOXMAN, Bloomberg News: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's start with a definition of what DEI is.

How do DEI efforts differ from longstanding efforts to diversify and increase the talent pool at the workplace?

SIMONE FOXMAN: Well, in the workplace, people who oversee DEI efforts, some of them call them the variety of EDI, DNI.

It just means to diversify the workplace.

And exactly what that means is different from company to company.

It's different from DEI professional to DEI professional, from one CEO to another.

And that's kind of part of why DEI as an acronym has become this charged, very controversial term recently.

GEOFF BENNETT: And what's driving the backlash?

SIMONE FOXMAN: Well, part of it is this woke/anti-woke culture war idea.

A lot of these diversity, equity and inclusion programs were really ramped up, if not put into place and to begin with, after the murder of George Floyd back in 2020.

So, companies made hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of commitment to say we want more diverse people in our work force and we want to help diverse communities, chiefly people of color.

That all sort of started to change around the time we saw that backlash against ESG, environmental, social, and governance.

It's one of these buzzwords that really has to do with a certain form of investing, but has become this culture war topic.

So the S, the -- is the DEI piece, and that's really what's come under fire recently, especially since the Supreme Court rolled back affirmative action in 2023.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, as we mentioned, Lowe's joins Tractor Supply, Harley-Davidson, the maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey in paring back their DEI programs.

What's the through line?

Why are these companies in particular scaling back?

SIMONE FOXMAN: So these companies have all been targeted by a social media influencer by the name of Robby Starbuck.

And unlike other conservative activists, Robby Starbuck, he's not a lawyer.

He's just the guy online who is bringing attention to what he calls woke policies at retailers or at companies that have a lot of consumer interest, where he believes those consumers don't want the companies to be adopting those policies.

For example, if you go out into Middle America and very rural communities, you're likely to find a higher number of more conservative people that might not be as interested in seeing trans workers at Tractor Supply, say, being provided with health care.

So he's essentially trying to blend the potential conservative impulses of certain groups of people with what their corporate policies are doing and say, hey, there's a disconnect here.

And he's been extremely effective.

These couple campaigns have just come in the last two months, since -- actually about three months since early June.

So we have seen a lot of movement on the corporate front.

One of the things I think we have to ask ourselves, though, is whether or not these companies were ever really as committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, the same efforts they're rolling back now, as they said they were, no matter what the headlines were, the press releases said two years ago.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, looking at the data, white men still control about 60 percent of the top leadership roles, while making up about 30 percent of the U.S. work force.

That's according to federal workplace data.

So that raises two questions.

One is the concern among these conservative activists misplaced?

But the question I will put to you is, are these DEI initiatives actually working?

SIMONE FOXMAN: We have seen some very limited movements with respect to people of color and women in positions of senior leadership.

But, actually, white women have been the key beneficiaries of DEI policies to date.

When we talk about whether or not this has filtered down to all communities of color, women of color, perhaps, I think it's harder to see the dramatic movement.

I think the hope was, especially with the policies that came into place after the murder of George Floyd, actually, if we just all really put all our efforts into trying to diversify our work forces, we will see more movement than we have.

We have seen some movement.

The numbers are really small.

I think it's about 9 percent of senior leadership roles are now held by people -- by Black people, where they make up 14 percent of the population.

But it's small.

It's like 7 percent to 9 percent, something like that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Setting aside the political aspect of all of this and the culture war aspect of all of this, there are advocates for diversity who say that it's -- you can make a good business case for it, that ensuring -- having a workplace that has a diversity of views in the room usually makes for better business.

SIMONE FOXMAN: That's something, frankly, even, I guess, opponents of DEI, some of them do say that.

I think there's really three groups of people, right?

There are the really pro-DEI folks who are pushing some of these policies, often special programs for people of color or women to help them get ahead in ways they haven't before.

There is a middle group, I think, that says, well, we respect the idea of diversity in our boardroom, in our workplace, but we don't think those policies are necessary.

And then you probably have a group of people who say, well, we're white men or we're white people and we want to hold on to our -- the power that we have in this society.

And that's a different group of people.

Frankly, no one is -- I think there's some crossover between the two groups, the two first groups I mentioned, and no one's really kind of speaking to the intersection of them, which is why activists on all sides are so loud and they're really dominating the conversation.

GEOFF BENNETT: Simone Foxman, equity reporter for Bloomberg News, thanks for being here.

Appreciate it.

SIMONE FOXMAN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there is much more online, including a report on how Oklahoma schools are incorporating the Bible into lesson plans because of a mandate from top education officials there.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

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

Have a good night.