GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is on assignment.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Extreme weather cripples much of the country, as wildfire smoke blankets the Midwest and a heat wave scorches the Deep South.

We talk with President Biden's senior adviser, as the president touts his economic agenda.

And the United Nations' chief human rights official sharply criticizes treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism: For so many of these men, the dividing line between the torture of the past and the conditions of the present is whisper.

It's so thin.

And, for some of them, it doesn't exist at all.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

For much of the country today, spending time outside has come with a cost.

A smoky haze darkened skies from Minneapolis to Detroit and beyond.

And searing heat blamed for 13 deaths in Texas spread to neighboring states.

John Yang reports on a day of extreme conditions.

JOHN YANG: Texans splashed in public fountains throughout Dallas, looking for relief from a record-breaking summer heat wave.

RICHARD, Dallas Resident: It just seems like it's getting hotter and hotter.

But, as long as you stay cool, hydrate, hey, it's all fun.

You can have fun out here.

Lots to do.

JOHN YANG: A scorching heat dome, a region of high pressure that parks and traps heat on the ground, has blanketed West Texas and much of the U.S. South, resulting in multiple days of triple-digit temperatures and suffocating humidity.

While pools and public facilities offer some temporary respite, the conditions pose serious health risks for vulnerable groups, such as homeless communities and workers who spend much of their days outside.

Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a law that will eliminate water break requirements for construction workers, beginning in September.

But even those with air conditioning on full blast now could be at risk of losing it.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said power use has reached all-time highs, putting pressure on the state's electrical grid.

As the blistering sun beats down on the South, up north, a different scenario.

For the second time this year, a thick layer of haze filtered the sunlight and covered the skylines of places like Chicago.

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires throughout Canada is drifting into the United States, plaguing major cities with poor air quality.

The haze is lingering over more than a dozen states, and many of the hardest-hit cities are in the Midwest.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Detroit saw some of the country's worst conditions today, with air quality in the hazardous range, while indexes in Chicago and Pittsburgh were at very unhealthy levels.

Today, President Biden encountered the dense smoke as he stepped off Air Force One in Chicago.

Officials warned residents in the affected regions to stay indoors and reduce activity as much as possible.

Breathing in the small particles in wildfire smoke can have lasting effects on the heart and lungs.

DARREN RILEY, CEO, JustAir: It's like you're just sitting at a campfire all day if you're outside.

And so I really warn folks.

I saw someone running earlier today, said, hey, slow down, put a mask on.

Don't overexert yourself.

The more breaths you're taking and the harder those breaths, you're inhaling campfire smoke into your lungs.

JOHN YANG: On the lakefront in Milwaukee, the haze put residents on edge.

ANDREW ESTRADA, Milwaukee Resident: It makes me want to go back home and stay inside until it's safe, because you honestly don't know what you're breathing in.

JOHN YANG: The smoke has even made its way across the Atlantic, reddening the skies in Pontevedra on Spain's western coast.

Researchers say the fires, the poor air quality, and the blazing heat are all associated with climate change.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

GEOFF BENNETT: Forecasters are calling for a cold front that should start cleansing the skies by tomorrow.

The heat in the South could begin easing this weekend.

In the day's other headlines: A new wave of flight delays and cancellations hit air travelers nationwide for a second day, as the July 4 holiday weekend approaches.

Airports in Newark, Washington, and elsewhere were full of frustrated passengers.

The tracking company FlightAware reported more than 900 flights canceled and 4,700 delayed today.

TIA HUDSON, Air Traveler: I am trying to get to New Orleans right now, New Orleans or Dallas, Texas.

I just want to get away from this airport.

It's been since Sunday.

And they lost my luggage.

They told me my luggage was in Dallas, Texas.

My mom went to go pick it up.

They said it's here and that it will be eight hours to get my luggage.

GEOFF BENNETT: Thunderstorms along the East Coast caused the biggest disruptions, and the problem could worsen tomorrow, as holiday air travel peaks.

A U.S. Marine veteran, Daniel Penny, pleaded not guilty today in the choke hold killing of a Black man on a New York subway train.

Penny arrived in court this morning after being indicted for second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

He remains free on bond.

The victim, Jordan Neely, had been shouting and begging for money when Penny used the choke hold on him.

Neely's family says he struggled with mental illness.

In France, authorities have tightened security in major cities after police killed a teenager during a traffic stop last night, touching off violence in a Paris suburb.

Video on social media showed an officer firing into a car before it drove off and crashed.

That triggered unrest, with cars burned and dozens arrested, and left locals to wonder why.

AMADOU DAGNOKO, Paris Resident (through translator): It's a bit of society's misfortune, and I think we're all responsible.

Maybe the police officer was in a furious state.

I can't talk about what really happened.

But it's tragic.

We're talking about human life here, and I'm saddened for the family.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting inexcusable, in a rare rebuke of law enforcement.

The police officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide for shooting the teen, who was of North African origin.

Back in this country, one of the so-called Central Park 5 in New York, Yusef Salaam, has a commanding lead in a city council primary, with votes still being counted.

He was convicted of raping a jogger as a teenager, but ultimately exonerated.

And, in Buffalo, Zeneta Everhart won the Democratic nomination for a council seat.

Her son was wounded in a white racist attack that killed 10 people at a grocery store last year.

On Wall Street, stocks mostly drifted on a quiet day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 74 points to close at 33852.

The Nasdaq rose 36 points.

The S&P 500 was down a point.

And former Republican Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut died today after a short illness.

He first gained national notice on the Senate Watergate Committee back in 1973.

At times, he criticized then-President Richard Nixon and urged candor among fellow Republicans.

FMR.

SEN. LOWELL WEICKER (R-CT): At this point in time, if we try to play coy or to be less than extremely forceful at getting the truth out, people are going to impute to us this rather sordid succession of events.

GEOFF BENNETT: Weicker also championed the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act and later served as Connecticut's governor.

Lowell Weicker was 92 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": Russia conducts a deadly missile strike in Eastern Ukraine, as the sluggish counteroffensive continues; Black women face disproportionately higher rates of maternal mortality; former Congressman Will Hurd discusses his run for the White House; and the parents of a deceased child campaign for more patient rights in the health care system.

President Biden traveled to Chicago today to promote his economic agenda, laying out his vision for the future and explaining how he believes his economic policies have delivered so far.

It's just one stop on a nationwide tour, with administration officials also promoting the president's message on jobs, manufacturing, and infrastructure.

Mitch Landrieu is responsible for implementing the president's infrastructure plan, and he joins us now from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

MITCH LANDRIEU, Senior Adviser to President Biden: Yes, it's great to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So President Biden wants to own this economy.

He's selling the American people on his economic vision, what the White House sees as a post-pandemic resurgence.

The challenge for this White House is that the American people, by and large, think that this economy is in bad shape.

Poll after poll shows that, including this one from Pew Research.

They give the president poor marks on his handling of the economy, and it's bringing down his overall approval rating.

How do you explain that disconnect?

MITCH LANDRIEU: Well, I think the president did a very good job of explaining it today.

I mean, the last couple of years, as you know, has been very difficult for the people in the United States of America and worldwide, with the war in the Ukraine and the pandemic.

And we're slowly coming out of it.

I mean, the facts are the facts.

The president has been able to create 13.1 million jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs, the massive amount of investments that are made across America that are coming out of the ground as we speak.

And, as the president said, trickle-down economics never worked.

Top down to the bottom never work.

So he's building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

I happened to be in an IBEW training facility right now, where there 100 folks that are getting trained for all of the jobs that are hitting the ground in Chattanooga, Tennessee, if you can believe that, in the Deep South, investments in roads and bridges and airports and ports, a clean energy economy.

Just this week, the president made a historic announcement of $40 billion to make sure that high-speed Internet gets to every community in the country, so that we can actually build the economy that's necessary.

And there's lots of evidence it's working.

We have the lowest unemployment rate that we have seen in 50 years.

And as you have seen, all of these projects, 35,000 of them, are coming out of the ground.

And that can't happen without folks in America working on those projects, manufacturing those projects with American workers and using it with products that are made in America.

That's what Bidenomics is about.

Everything takes a little time to take root, but the evidence out there right now, is that we're succeeding really, really, really well.

GEOFF BENNETT: As President Biden ties his fate to the economy, he was telling donors this past week that he thinks the U.S. will avoid a potential recession, a recession that many forecasters think is on the way.

What accounts for the president's confidence?

What are you all seeing that many banks and economists aren't seeing?

MITCH LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, there's no empirical evidence right now that a recession is headed our way.

All of the economic indicators are very strong, as I said, 13.1 million jobs.

The president has created more jobs in two years than every other president has created in four years, low unemployment rate.

Wages are going up.

Costs are going down.

People have been predicting that a recession is coming since the president has been in office.

And I guess, one day, they're going to be correct about that.

But, right now, I think most people think that it's being handled well.

We have a long way to go.

It's a tough slog.

Inflation is still higher than we want it to be, which is why the president is concentrating hard on lowering costs, like prescription drugs and health care costs, as well as for hearing aids, junk fees, things like that, that will help lower the costs for American citizens.

But, right now, the economic indicators are very strong.

GEOFF BENNETT: We have a couple of minutes left.

And I want to ask you about infrastructure, because you are President Biden's point man on infrastructure, that $1.2 trillion bill he signed into law.

It's a lot of money.

A lot of state and local governments want access to it.

How do you approach what I imagine is a really complex bidding process for projects big and small, so that the end result is as ambitious and era-defining as President Biden says he wants it to be?

MITCH LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, again, this is the largest investment in infrastructure in the history of the country, even going back 50 years since the interstate system.

And then, yesterday, with the announcement of the high-speed Internet, that's the largest investment in America since the electrification of rural America in 1936.

So it is a big deal, as the president likes to say.

We have hit the ground running.

We're getting the job done.

You saw just a week ago, when they had a crash at I-95, in partnership with the governor and the folks on the ground, we were able to kind of get that thing back up and moving within 12 days.

So we can get big stuff done when we do it together.

Just in the last 18 months, we have pushed out $225 billion.

We have 35,000 projects under way in the United States of America in all of the states and the territories and the District of Columbia.

So we're hitting our marks.

Ninety percent of this money is going to be spent by the governors and the mayors of America.

And my team is in regular contact with them to make sure this money gets down to the ground and actually is coming out.

People are starting to see these projects as we speak.

GEOFF BENNETT: Many of these payoffs are down the line.

It takes time, as you well know, to implement many of these infrastructure projects.

Electoral politics is about the here and now.

I'm sure you know that, as a former mayor, former lieutenant governor.

Is messaging enough?

Is it enough for President Biden to go around the country telling people what he's doing?

He's been doing that for the last two years.

But it doesn't seem to be resonating, at least according to the polling.

MITCH LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, you have got to do the hard work of governing.

And that requires you to build a team, get the money out the door, and then, of course, to tell the story.

Telling the story is an important part of it.

And the story really is critical.

As I said, today, I'm in an IBEW hall, and I am witnessing with my eyes 50 to 100 individuals in an apprenticeship program.

They're getting paid right now to learn how to do the work.

We have to lay down 500,000 electrical vehicle charging stations.

So we are actually in a space right now where we're proving that what we're doing is working, high-paying jobs for folks that are using products that are made in America to rebuild America, so that it's going to be stronger, more resilient, and give people a sense that there's a great future.

We used to send jobs overseas.

And many of these communities, especially in the South and, quite frankly, all over the country got hallowed out.

The president is turning that around.

That's what Bidenomics is about.

So, the failed theory of trickle-down economics is being replaced with the idea that, in America, when we do things together, we can do big things, especially if you build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out and you don't leave anybody behind.

And we believe that American citizens will benefit tremendously from that, because they're the ones that are actually making it happen.

GEOFF BENNETT: Senior presidential adviser Mitch Landrieu, we appreciate you.

Thanks for your time.

MITCH LANDRIEU: Thanks.

Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: As the tumult within Russia continues after the weekend mutiny by the Wagner Group, the war in Ukraine continues its deadly churning.

The death toll in a Russian ballistic missile strike on a pizza parlor in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk grew to at least 11 today, a pleasant summer evening ripped apart, as John Irvine of Independent Television News reports.

JOHN IRVINE: More evidence for prosecutors in The Hague, the remnants of a busy pizza restaurant destroyed by Russian missiles in the eastern city of Kramatorsk At a time when the U.N. just blacklisted Moscow for grave violations of Ukrainian children's rights, here, three teenagers, including 14-year-old twin sisters, had Russia take away their most basic right of all, the right to life.

Their deaths, among the 10 confirmed so far, and images of an injured baby make a mockery of Russia's claim that they strike only targets linked to the military.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): Each terror attack proves over and over again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves one thing as a result of what it has done: defeat and tribunal, where Russian murderers and terrorists face prosecution for their crimes.

JOHN IRVINE: The missile strike was probably an attempt to show the Kremlin will continue to wage the same war, despite the aborted coup.

President Putin, in Dagestan today to discuss tourism, has tried to draw a line under the mutiny debacle.

But his tormentor, the Wagner leader, continues to make headlines tonight regarding his whereabouts.

He's meant to have flown to Belarus, but two private jets linked to him are known to have flown from Minsk to his home city, St. Petersburg, today.

The U.S. president says Putin is now a weaker leader.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: He's losing the war at home, and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world.

And it's not just NATO.

It's not just the European Union.

JOHN IRVINE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said today his country would not settle for a frozen conflict, whereby Russia holds onto Ukrainian land.

And his soldiers continue to make modest gains.

With Russia's most effective fighters, the Wagner Group, now gone from the battlefield and the remaining forces presumably demoralized by the leadership mayhem at home, the Ukrainian army has never had a better time to strike.

The nine brigades with Western tanks that Kyiv has kept in reserve may soon be in action.

GEOFF BENNETT: A new U.N. investigation finds conditions inside the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are cruel, inhuman and degrading more than 20 years after the U.S. started sending detainees in the so-called war on terror to what's called Camp Justice.

Roughly 780 detainees have been held at the detention center since it opened in early 2002.

Today, 30 people remain, 16 of whom have been cleared for release.

The report was the result of the first ever visit to Guantanamo Bay by an independent U.N. investigator.

Its author, Fionnuala Ni Aolain, is the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism and a professor of law.

And she joins us now.

Thank you for being with us.

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism: Glad to be here.

GEOFF BENNETT: You're the first United Nations investigator to be granted access to the detention center in its more-than-two-decade history.

You spent four days there.

As we mentioned, in your report, you say the government's treatment of detainees is cruel, inhuman and degrading.

What exactly did you see?

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN: So, I was indeed the first a U.N. expert to go to the detention facility.

Few states have the courage to let an investigator like myself in and to expose all of the treatment and to allow an assessment of that kind of facility.

And so I'm grateful for that.

But the report is also critical.

It recognizes that there are enormous deficits which remain in health care, in the standard operating procedures, in shackling, in even the naming of these men.

They're called by numbers, not by name.

All of these things led to a cumulative finding of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. government says it disagrees with many of your findings and assertions.

Part of a statement from the Biden administration reads this way: "We are committed to providing safe and humane treatment for detainees at Guantanamo, in full accordance with international and U.S. domestic law.

Detainees live communally and prepare meals together, receive specialized medical and psychiatric care, are given full access to legal counsel, and communicate regularly with family members."

Does this statement square with what you witnessed and with what the detainees told you?

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN: Yes, so I have to say, of course, there have been improvements.

And I recognize that minimum standards are met.

But this is an aging, vulnerable population, all of whom are survivors of torture.

The standard operating procedures are pervaded by arbitrariness.

And that was told to me not just by the men that I spoke with, their lawyers, but also even the guard force itself.

Men are shackled as they move within the facility.

They were shackled when they met me.

Again, under international law, we only use those kinds of restraints as a measure of last resort, when there's an urgent or compelling need to use them.

And, as you have just said, 16 of these men are cleared for transfer.

They pose no security problem because they are being ready for transfer.

And, of course, the hardest thing was to hear the real, deep, profound psychological trauma that these men live with.

And as I spoke to them, what I learned was of enormous anxiety and pain.

For so many of these men, the dividing line between the torture of the past and the conditions of the present is whisper.

It's so thin.

And, for some of them, it doesn't exist at all, because there's been no comprehensive torture rehabilitation.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have said the U.S. government should apologize for the cruel treatment at Guantanamo Bay.

You have also said the harsh treatment is a betrayal of the rights of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

How do you justify those comments, saying the U.S. should apologize to the detainees responsible for the deadliest attack in U.S. history, and then drawing a connection between their treatment and the rights of people who fell victim to their heinous acts of terrorism?

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN: I encourage people to read my report, because, actually, what this report does is, it provides a clear road map for the U.S. government to actually fully provide for the rights of victims of terrorism, including a comprehensive audit for the 9/11 families of all their psychological and medical support.

It's deeply concerning to me that many of those families don't have the security of long-term psychological treatment.

But I also say clearly in this report that the single largest barrier to the rights of victims of terrorism, which I absolutely defend, to have accountability for acts of terrorism, was torture.

Those who tortured betrayed the rights of victims, because what they ensured is that you couldn't have fair trial.

What they ensured was that the trial process would be so hampered, as we have seen for the last decade, that it would be impossible for the victims of terrorism to redeem their rights.

So, in fact, victims of terrorism are due an apology for torture, because it was the very torture that was done, sometimes in their name, that has prevented them from actually ensuring the fulfillment of their rights.

I would say, as to the men, let me be clear.

Torture is the most egregious and heinous of crimes.

Even in situations of war, we don't accept that people can torture.

We say this to Russia.

We say it to China.

We say it to many, many countries across the globe.

Whether you're a P5 member or just a small state, you are not allowed to torture.

And when you do torture, you bear the responsibility of that, which includes apology to the people that you have tortured.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden has said that he wants to close Guantanamo Bay by the end of his term.

What obstacles remain, as you see it?

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN: Well, I think many of U.S. are committed to closure.

The U.N. has called for closure.

The president has rightly called and committed for closure.

But the path to closure is not simple.

And my report also recognizes those challenges.

One of the things that I make clear is that closure has to be human rights-compliant.

And as the government takes forward its closure path, it has to do so in a way that's compliant with international law.

I think one of the things I would say is that, given that closure is not likely immediate, there are some options for the U.S. government.

One is to transfer individuals to military bases overseas, in compliance with their legal and constitutional obligations.

The second is to transfer them to governments.

But, if they do that, they have to make sure that they're treated fairly and with dignity, and not retraumatized.

And maybe the final, most important thing that this government can and will do, I hope, is to de-exceptionalize Guantanamo.

Treat these elderly, disabled, harmed men as victims, as much as anything else.

Sixteen of them are cleared of any crime, of any responsibility.

Those men should be released and repatriated as soon as practicable.

GEOFF BENNETT: Fionnuala Ni Aolain is the special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism for the United Nations.

Thank you for being with us.

FIONNUALA NI AOLAIN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: The sudden death of a Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie at age 32 sent shockwaves around the world.

Once known as the world's fastest woman, Bowie died at her Florida home from complications of childbirth.

The tragedy is resonating deeply with Black women, who are at higher risk of dying while pregnant.

William Brangham looks at the ongoing problems of maternal mortality in the Black community.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Geoff, the idea that Tori Bowie, a young elite athlete eight months pregnant, could go into labor and then die stunned so many.

But this problem is more common than many people realize.

And it is particularly bad for Black women.

The CDC estimates that, in 2021, the maternal mortality rate among Black women was nearly 70 deaths for every 100,000 live births.

That is 2.6 times the rate for white women, regardless of income or education.

Dr. Amanda Williams is the clinical adviser at the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, and an adjunct professor at Stanford University's School of Medicine.

Her work is dedicated to protecting Black mothers.

And she joins us now.

Dr. Williams, so good to have you on the "NewsHour."

I hope you don't mind me mentioning this, but your own personal story dovetails with Tori Bowie's.

You were a top athlete, track athlete.

You were a qualifier for the 1996 Olympics.

You too had preeclampsia with your first child.

When you first heard of Tori Bowie's death, that -- it just must have sat with you in a particularly awful way.

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS, California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative: Absolutely.

It was as if the mirror was shining back at me.

And I know that, were it not that I was very fortunate to be in UCSF Medical Center and have access to such tremendous care, that that could have been me as well.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Before we get into the racial disparities in this country, I mean, America's overall maternal mortality rate is awful compared to other similar countries.

Can you help us understand why that is?

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS: This is a way where American exceptionalism is not in our favor.

We are truly the worst of all industrialized countries.

And a lot of it comes down to the way that our care is given.

For example, most other countries, low-risk care is given by midwives, whereas, in the United States, you have low-risk care being given by high-risk doctors, who then and that are not giving patients the opportunity to have the physiologic birth that they might be able to.

We have lots of unnecessary C-sections.

We don't have psychosocial supports.

We don't have easy access to things like mental health support, nutrition coaching.

There's so many places where we could be better in the United States.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And so, when you think of all of those factors, and then look at the racial disparities within the United States, are those all complicit in that as well?

Are there other things as well?

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS: Well, the thing that's missing that is so Germane to Black and indigenous birthing people is the history of systemic racism, and how racism has been infused into American medicine.

And when we look at the data -- and some of it does come out of Stanford -- around both education and income not correcting for the differences in Black birthing people's mortality rates, lots of times, we think, our education will save us, our income will save us.

But I couldn't have been more educationally privileged.

Serena Williams could not be more financially privileged.

And yet these negative birthing outcomes are still happening.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

It is so striking when Serena Williams, as you mentioned, who had many of these similar complications, and is a woman that seemingly has unlimited funds and access to the greatest doctors anywhere on the planet at her beck and call, it is a such a striking indictment of health care in this country.

The committee that you're a part of at Stanford found that 80 percent of California's maternal deaths are preventable.

How is that?

Eighty percent.

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS: It's really stunning.

And I have to admit, it was a transformative life moment being in those charts of patients and looking so deeply at the records, at the operation nodes, at the neighborhoods that they're coming out of.

And many of them, it is stunning, really were preventable, whether it was they went into labor, and they were in a place where they couldn't get easy access to the hospital in what we call maternity deserts, as the March of Dimes has designated them.

Or it could have been that the patient's complaints weren't being listened to.

Patient is saying, I have pain, I have pain, or my bleeding is more, and being shushed aside and saying, there there, everything is fine, or lab results not being recognized in a timely fashion.

It really is stunning the way that these preventable deaths are showing up.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, give us some counsel here.

Imagine that there are pregnant women out there listening to you.

What is some advice that they ought to be thinking about as they think about how to go about having the healthiest pregnancy for themselves and their child?

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS: I think some of the top pieces of advice that I would give is, number one, never interact with the medical system alone.

Doctors, nurses, great hearts, wonderful people - - I have spent my entire career being an OB-GYN physician.

But they're super busy.

They get distracted easily.

And they are constantly, in their head, making connections.

That is how we make diagnoses.

Yet it's also how we make assumptions.

And those assumptions can be wrong.

So have someone with you, whether it's your sister, your mother, your partner, your doula, to be an advocate for you.

Also, I highly recommend getting culturally concordant care.

So, we know there's plenty of data to support that it's not just nice to have someone from a similar background who knows people from your background well.

It actually is associated with safer birth outcomes.

And then, finally, get your provider used to hearing your voice.

So always come with questions.

Always have a few things written down ahead of time, so that they get used to you being an advocate.

And then, finally, I would say wraparound services, so to think about the things that probably should be part of traditional care, but aren't, things like doula support, things like lactation support, mental health, nutrition, those pieces of the puzzle that are often forgotten, yet are an important part of people's well-being and safety.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Amanda Williams of Stanford University, thank you so much for being here.

DR. AMANDA WILLIAMS: Thank you so much.

I wish this issue wasn't going on, but I'm going to use every platform to advocate for Black birthing people.

GEOFF BENNETT: As the field of Republicans vying to win the party's 2024 presidential nomination continues to grow, more candidates are hitting the campaign trail.

Former Texas Congressman Will Hurd is one of them, and he joins us now from Manchester, New Hampshire.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD (R-TX), President Candidate: It's always pleasure to be on.

Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, you are a former member of Congress.

You're also a former CIA officer.

And you have said that your national security experience is what sets you apart in this race.

I want to start with some policy before we get to the horse race politics.

You accused the Biden White House... FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: I appreciate that, by the way.

(LAUGHTER) FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: Thanks for that about talking policy before politics.

GEOFF BENNETT: We always start with policy here at the "NewsHour."

But you accused the Biden White House of wringing their hands and doing nothing as that Russian mercenary group mounted that short-lived rebellion against Vladimir Putin over the weekend.

Why, in your mind, was intervention the right approach?

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: Well, so I wasn't saying intervention.

I was saying doubling down on our partners and our friends.

When your adversary is in a period of chaos and uncertainty, that's actually an opportunity.

And we should have been doubling down in our support to the Ukrainians.

We should be making sure our NATO allies were doing the same.

And I think the Biden White House is consumed with this concept of escalation.

They believe that anything they do to help the Ukrainians is going to prompt the Russians going kamikaze.

And it didn't happen.

This is one of the reasons why the Obama administration didn't want to give support to the Ukrainians.

This is the one of the reasons that we don't want to escalate support to the Ukrainians now.

And, to me, this was a great opportunity.

When your adversary is mixed up worrying about their own house, strengthen your friends, so that they can push the Russians out of all Ukraine.

And the other thing that I was -- that happened over this weekend, and Tony Blinken set it on Sunday -- Secretary Blinken -- excuse me - - said it on Sunday -- is that it seems that the Biden administration's goal is to help the Ukrainians push the Russians out and reclaim land that the Russians took for the last 16 months, which means they're not interested in pushing the Russians out of all of Ukraine, which would include Crimea and Donbass.

And that is an absolute bad decision and bad policy, if that is indeed the Biden administration's plan for Ukraine.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the time that remains, let's talk about your candidacy.

You call yourself a dark horse candidate.

You're an unabashed moderate, a Donald Trump critic in a party that remains loyal to him.

What lane do you intend to fill?

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: Well, my lane is simple.

It's -- it is, don't be afraid of Donald Trump, and -- but also put forward a vision of where we need to go.

We're at a period that we're facing a number of generational, defining challenges, everything from China trying to surpass us as a global superpower, persistent inflation at a time that new technologies like artificial intelligence is going upend every single industry, and recent reporting or recent data that suggests that our 13-year-olds have the worst scores in math, science and reading in this century.

These are major problems, and we should be having candidates that articulate a vision and look forward to the future.

And so that's what I'm going to do.

I was just in the North Country of New Hampshire.

This is not the most populated parts of the country.

But when you go in and talk to real people about issues they care about, they appreciate that, and that resonates.

And so that's what I'm going to do.

Nobody thought a Black Republican could win in a 72 percent Latino district when I ran for Congress.

And so we're going to -- we're going to take our message and hit streets.

GEOFF BENNETT: To the extent that Republican voters are looking for a way to make a clean break from Donald Trump and to focus on the policies that you just articulated, there are other contenders who have better name recognition than do you.

How are you going to fill that gap, make up for that?

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: Well, listen, the election -- the first election is going to be in January of 2024.

And that's a long way away.

And the way you earn name I.D.

is get your message out.

So we're raising money.

We're building an organization.

We're spending time on the ground where places work.

And, look, I'm of the opinion America is great because we have options, and we should be excited about having a number of different options.

And, hopefully, this spurs a competition of ideas, because that's what's -- what has made this country so special.

And so when I had zero name I.D.

when I ran for Congress, my name is a little bit higher than that right now.

It's -- this isn't -- campaigns aren't rocket science.

It's just old-fashioned hard work.

And I'm going to be willing to put the work in and put ideas out there.

GEOFF BENNETT: Any concerns that a broad Republican field in some ways strengthens Donald Trump?

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: No, because, again, this is the - - the idea that you have more options it's always better.

I think we should have learned -- everybody's worried about polling now and national polling.

And guess what?

Running for president is not one election.

It's 50 elections.

And the national polls don't have as big of an impact as local polls.

When you look at local polls, things have a little bit of a difference when you look at it.

And the reality is, is we should have learned since back in 2016 polling is just a snapshot in time.

It doesn't always predict who's coming out to vote.

And so, yes, I'm not worried about that.

More options is better.

GEOFF BENNETT: Will Hurd, Republican candidate for president, thanks for being with us.

FMR.

REP. WILL HURD: Of course.

GEOFF BENNETT: Recent studies report that two-thirds of American physicians today report feeling burned out, something only aggravated by the pandemic.

One of the consequences, a decline in the quality of care for patients, who find it increasingly difficult to navigate the health care system.

Fred de Sam Lazaro looks into one effort to improve on both scores.

LIEL PINK, Patient: Because it is so important, I am here to say that life gets better.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: From her everyday musings... LIEL PINK: I try to be of the mind-set that man is inherently good FRED DE SAM LAZARO: ... to humorous glimpses of her health care journey... LIEL PINK: They need to make cuter medical gowns.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: ... Liel Pink's quirky, optimistic social media posts resonated with hundreds of thousands of her generation who became her followers.

LIEL PINK: So, I am going to join my Zoom class looking like this.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She graduated last year at 21, and at the top of her class at Hofstra University with a degree in community health.

MAN: Congratulations, Liel.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And with multiple awards that included a virtual ceremony just for her, one she took leave from a hospice bed to attend.

(APPLAUSE) FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Weeks later, Liel Pink would die from multiple complications of a rare mitochondrial disorder she had struggled with through much of her three years in college.

TAMAR FENTON, Mother of Liel Pink: We don't know if she could have survived it if they had caught it early, but the process and the journey that she went through 100 percent should have been different.

You can really see the difference in what happened to her.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Liel's parents say their daughter was a poster case for what's wrong with America's health care system, enduring an uncoordinated journey from one provider to the next.

TAMAR FENTON: Gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Many discounted her symptoms.

Each addressed just the issue within their specific expertise.

TAMAR FENTON: A G.I.

perspective, a neurologic perspective, a cardiac perspective.

And it's almost impossible to get doctors to talk to each other.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Liel was prescribed close to 200 different medications, a regimen she tracked meticulously.

She created a 28-page spreadsheet with all the lab tests she'd had.

TAMAR FENTON: She would have to tell doctors, "You can't prescribe me that, and here are the reasons."

DAVID PINK, Father of Liel Pink: She was assertive.

And to have this 20- and 21-year-old telling the doc, "You can't do this," they didn't appreciate it.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: They say Liel struggled to convince doctors that her various pain symptoms were real and that treatments she was being prescribed were not working.

(SINGING) FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Instead, her parents say, early in her health care ordeal, Liel's symptoms were attributed to mental health, the start of what her mother calls diagnostic momentum.

TAMAR FENTON: This idea that, once a doctor says what he or she thinks it is, every other doctor is going to look at that as the starting point, and it's very hard to break from that.

And she did have a few really exceptional doctors who said things like: "Medical science has not caught up to what is happening in your body."

That was music to our ears.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Liel's parents don't name names.

They have no plans to sue any provider or hospital system.

Tamar Fenton and David Pink say they just want to use their daughter's experience to improve a health care system which they say is uncoordinated and ill-equipped to deal with complicated cases like Liel's.

They are part of an initiative called The Patient Revolution begun by Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Victor Montori.

DR. VICTOR MONTORI, Mayo Clinic: This form of health care is not humanly sustainable for the patients and clinicians that are showing up to care within it.

So, we need to go to the root cause of that.

The root cause of that is the industrialization of health care.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. Montori says the system prioritizes industrial efficiency, as much as actual care, rewarding providers for volume, as much as quality.

DR. VICTOR MONTORI: As people get processed through, they become a bit of a blur.

We don't see them in all their biology and their backstory.

Our response then is to their common characteristics.

So here's the treatment that we give people with diabetes.

Here's the treatment that we give people with hypertension.

And the job is not to care for people like you.

The job is to care for you.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And he says you, the patient, are often far less savvy than Liel Pink and her parents in navigating the system.

He says the costliest outcomes are borne by the neediest patients and under-resourced providers.

DR. VICTOR MONTORI: It creates a lot of work for people that might even leave their care and stop taking their medicine, stop showing up for appointments, because it's just not designed for them.

DR. MARK LINZER, Hennepin Healthcare: We had patients who were escaping the care that we wanted to give.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. Mark Linzer is one of 100 so-called Patient Revolution fellows across the world.

In 2010, when he joined Hennepin Healthcare, a Minneapolis system that serves some of the city's most marginalized people, Linzer says there was high staff turnover and, for patients, long wait times for, at best, incomplete care.

DR. MARK LINZER: They were in the emergency room once or twice a week.

They were hospitalized every month year in, year out.

And we wanted a better way for them.

MAN: Everything seems like stimulus response.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Today, that better way is in full swing in the form of what's called the Coordinated Care Clinic, bringing together expertise to treat the whole patient, not just the immediate medical need.

Doctors, social workers, psychologists, chemical dependency specialists, and others meet regularly.

They're also on speed dial with housing or finance officials, if needed.

Lyle Thibodeaux first came seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.

LYLE THIBODEAUX, Patient: I had six family members pass on me.

I had a really good friend get killed.

And that's one of the things that drove me to drink.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He's been sober for six years and loves his job as a restaurant server.

The clinic staff, he says, has become like a second family.

LYLE THIBODEAUX: They're by my side all the time.

BETSY LIDSTER, Patient: I have had a headache, though, for months now.

I am a headache.

(LAUGHTER) FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Betsy Lidster's medical challenges have been complicated by homelessness and addiction problems that date back three decades to opioids she was prescribed after a severe car accident.

The clinic has been a one-stop shop to help stabilize her life.

It helped find her shelter for a start.

And the team keeps regular tabs on her in and out of clinic appointments like this one with Dr. Brian Grahan.

BETSY LIDSTER: Dr. Grahan has been incredible.

He keeps me laughing.

The social worker here calls me once every two weeks to check in on me.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The results?

Hospitalization and emergency room use by Coordinated Care Clinic patients have declined significantly, saving this public safety net health system tens of millions of dollars over the years.

And early job satisfaction surveys show marked improvement.

DR. BRIAN GRAHAN, Hennepin Healthcare: I probably spend more time per patient outside of clinic hours in this clinic than any other clinic I have ever been in.

It's not just producing health care, but it's trying to produce health.

And I think it's that health production that I feel it's a big value for me.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It's one small example of many attempts to produce health with unhurried, holistic care, says the Patient Revolution's Dr. Montori.

But he's realistic about how quickly change can come in a complex health care system, an industry, as he puts it, that accounts for about a fifth of the United States' gross domestic product.

DR. VICTOR MONTORI: It will be almost like building a cathedral.

Lay out the first -- the first set of stones, and perhaps they never get to see the full thing built up.

But they hope that, when anybody anywhere in the world becomes sick, and goes to the health care system, that the response will be careful and that it will be kind.

TAMAR FENTON: I think were trying to pick up where she would have taken this fight to fix health care, because that was her passion.

LIEL PINK: I am now in a wheelchair with my mother pushing me.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Tamar Fenton and David Pink say they're committed to changing the rules for patients like their daughter.

She wrote toward the end: "Children aren't supposed to die before their parents, but then I was never one to follow the rules."

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

GEOFF BENNETT: Fred's reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Bering Sea snow crab season was canceled this year after billions of crabs disappeared, devastating Alaska's commercial fishing industry and the livelihoods of those who depend on it.

From Alaska Public Media and KMXT in Kodiak, Kirsten Dobroth reports, fishermen and researchers are working to figure out what happened.

Her story was produced in collaboration with "NOVA," with major support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: The snow crab population crashed in Alaska, but why?

More than 10 billion snow crabs disappeared in 2022, devastating a commercial fishing industry worth $200 million the year before.

Now researchers are working to figure out what happened.

And they think warmer ocean water could be to blame.

The snow crab population in the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska has fluctuated for decades.

An increase in young crabs back in 2018 led to optimism that fishing would rebound, but the hope was short-lived.

GABRIEL PROUT, Crab Fisherman: It was just very poor fishing.

We searched for miles and miles and miles and really didn't see anything.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: Gabriel Prout and his family own the Silver Spray in Kodiak, Alaska.

He says it was obvious something was wrong the last few years.

The Bering Sea fishing grounds are usually covered in sea ice in the winter.

But there wasn't much ice, and they fished further north than usual.

Finding snow crabs was still difficult.

The lack of sea ice was a red flag for scientists like Erin Fedewa, who is studying the conditions in the Bering Sea that led to the massive die-off.

ERIN FEDEWA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: That was an immediate potential smoking gun when we saw this Arctic species suddenly in decline.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: That's because sea ice is an important ingredient in the snow crab's life cycle.

In the winter, it accumulates on the water's surface.

And, during the summer, the ice melts, sending cold, dense water sinking to the ocean floor, where it hovers just above freezing, at around 35 degrees.

Scientists call it the cold pool.

And it's a sanctuary for young crabs.

Warmer temperatures can lead to starvation and higher rates of disease.

At the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center, state and federal researchers are piecing together how all those factors contributed to the crabs' collapse.

Tanks filled with seawater pumped in from the bay replicate conditions on the seafloor.

ERIN FEDEWA: And then we can hold the different portions of the same population in, say, five degrees Celsius, eight degrees Celsius.

And we can begin to look at the response of those species once they're in these warmer temperatures.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: Scientists use the pool to study how different temperature and pH levels affect the crabs' development, how fast they grow and how quickly they die.

In a separate, smaller tank, researchers hook up monitoring equipment to individual crabs and track their breathing in different conditions.

They also take blood samples.

ERIN FEDEWA: We know that increases in temperature increase metabolic rates of fish and crab, causing them to need to eat more and more.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: In a shrinking cold pool, that means more crabs pushed into a smaller space, fighting for less food.

Across the hall from the federal lab, Ben Daly is also trying to figure out how a smaller cold pool affects crabs in the Bering Sea.

BEN DALY, Alaska Department of Fish & Game: That's part of what were doing now is trying to untangle the what happened part.

That's only half of the challenge.

The other half of the challenge is, what do we do next?

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: Daly and his team have been tagging crabs in the wild with satellite transponders that will track their movement over time.

he's hoping the tags provide more detailed information about the distribution of crabs across the cold pool.

And this winter, a group of state and federal researchers are heading out on the Silver Spray to continue studying Bering Sea crab populations outside the lab.

Gabriel Prout and his family are grateful for the work.

The many fishers that rely on snow crabs for income are left with more questions than answers right now.

GABRIEL PROUT: Yes, We're sitting tight trying to count our pennies and figure out how to make our way forward.

KIRSTEN DOBROTH: Scientists say it will likely take years before the snow crab population rebuilds.

If another marine heat wave hits the Bering Sea, it could be even longer.

But they're hopeful that lessons learned from snow crabs might provide insight into how other marine species handle climate change as the ocean warms.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Kirsten Dobroth in Kodiak, Alaska.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

On the "PBS NewsHour" online, Amna has been has been speaking with members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer team, including star forward Megan Rapinoe, about how they're preparing for the World Cup.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for joining us.

Have a great evening.