Inflation reduction act to voters, a year after it became law. Minnesota representative dean phillips calls for a potential primary challenge against President Biden as Many Democrats remain skeptical about his reelection. And we examine the current state in egypt a decade after the massacre of hundreds of people protesting a military coup. It was basically not just the end of the promise of the egyptian revolution of 2011, but really the end of our country as we know it. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. Pediatric surgeon. Volunteer. Topiary artist. A raymondjames Financial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. Life wellplanned. The kendeda fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. More at kendedafund. Org. Carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security, at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. William good evening, and welcome to the newshour. survivors on maui spent another day picking up the pieces more than a week after wildfires devastated parts of the island. The confirmed death toll now stands at 111 people, even as rescue crews work to find more of the missing. Donation centers have been set up to distribute food, clothing, and other essential supplies, and to offer encouragement in the wake of such devastating loss. People are telling us, get out of here. The air is not good, the water is not good. But people that lost their clothes, their cars, people that lost everything, and theyre living in neighbors houses or whatever, they need we need to be close to them so they can come and get supplies. William crews have searched roughly 40 of the disaster area so far. Hawaiis governor estimates that over 1000 people are still unaccounted for. Wildfires have also burned a widespread area in canadas northwest territories. A Mass Evacuation is underway in yellowknife. The regions capital city and home to some 20,000 people, as a blaze burns about 10 miles away. Residents sped past burnt forests and heavy plumes of smoke as they fled from the fires path. The citys mayor warned that the window to safely evacuate is shrinking. There is a possibility that without rain, the fire reaches the outskirts of yellowknife by the weekend. It is approaching, but theres time to complete the community evacuation. Its being called now so that we can allow people the opportunity to drive while the highway is open. Conditions will be smoky, and residents should drive with caution and care. William more than 200 active wildfires are burning in the northwest territories, and over 1000 across all of canada. Monsoon rains have pummeled northern india for days now, as residents scramble for safety from the resulting floods and landslides. At least 72 people have died. In shimla, video captured the moment an entire section of cliff broke off and toppled down a mountainside, taking several homes with it. Crews have rescued over 2000 people by digging through the himalayan terrain, or airlifting people from the floodwaters. In pakistan, authorities have arrested more than 100 muslims following a round of attacks on Christian Churches and homes. A mob stormed the town of janranwala overnight, angered by an alleged desecration of a quran. Most christian residents were able to escape. But they returned to find their property vandalized and destroyed. Police patrolled the streets to try and prevent more violence. Look at our houses, look at our churches, look at our street. If someone did wrong, arrest them. Why are our houses and churches being burned . It was one persons mistake, and they burned all the churches in janranwala. Why did they destroy these poor peoples homes, where will they stay . They lost everything. William no casualties were reported. Christians make up about 2 of pakistans population. More than 60 people are feared dead after a ship carrying mostly senegalese migrants capsized in the atlantic ocean. Rescuers searched the waters near the island of cape verde off west africa. Theyve rescued dozens, but more than 50 others are still missing. The boat left senegal last week carrying about 100 people en route to spain. In economic news, u. S. Mortgage rates have hit their highest levels in more than 20 years. Mortgage buyer freddie mac said that the average longterm rate climbed to more than 7 this week. Thats up from 5 a year ago. And on wall street, stocks fell for a Third Straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial average shed 291 points to close at 34,475. The nasdaq lost 158 points. The s p 500 slipped 34. Still to come on the newshour diplomat rahm emanuel discusses a critical upcoming summit with the u. S. , south korea and japan. Pulitzerprize winning author ann patchett discusses her new book, tom lake. we highlight the oftenoverlooked career of the woman known as the first lady of physics. Plus much more. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. William its been one year since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. Despite its title, this law is the single biggest u. S. Investment in addressing Climate Change and driving a transition to clean energy. It steers billions in subsidies into everything from battery manufacturing to climate adaptation. It contains tax incentives for people to buy electric cars and cleaner technologies in their homes, and it directs large investments to fight pollution in underserved communities. So how is the law working, and what does it mean for the u. S. s climate commitments . Were joined by one of the laws most ardent champions. Leah stokes is a political scientist at Uc Santa Barbara who studies, and advocates for, clean energy. Leah stokes, so good to have you back. I wonder if you could just reflect on this in verse three at first. After decades of disappointment and setbacks, the environmental and Climate Community got a piece of legislation like this pushed over the finish line with a president nobody immediately thought would be an ally in that fight. How is the Community Feeling this week, this anniversary . Leah well, you know, getting any climate bill into law unto President Bidens desk, it was brutal. In took in some counts weeks, other counts months, years, or decades. It was really hard and this particular law stopped and started numerous times. There was a two week period before it came out of nowhere being branded the Inflation Reduction Act where we all thought the bill was dead for real this time and there was real sadness across the Climate Community because folks knew this was the last chance that we had to pass a climate law. So seeing President Biden signed it a year ago, it was just monumental. William what is it about the law . I touched on some of the things it does but there is a myriad set of incentives and subsidies. What stands out most to you . Leah the law is massive. Sometimes people will say it is 307 billion but that is not really true because huge parts of the law are uncapped tax credits, meaning the more people decide to build factories in the United States and take advantage of incentives, the more the federal government will step up and help cost share. That is not just for factories and companies, it is also for everyday people. People decide to get an electric vehicle or put solar on the roof, the federal government will help share the costs. That is as big as people make it. So this is huge. It also includes 50 billion of rebates, direct payments that will flow largely to disadvantaged communities to help folks from all across the income spectrum get advantage of those Clean Energy Technologies. William how do we know how the law is working so far . Leah there are parts of the law like the tax credits that are already going out the door. And so we can see upwards of 275 billion of private investments in everything from manufacturing batteries in the United States, to recycling those batteries, to solar projects, to wind projects and wind manufacturing. We have seen Something Like 175,000 new announced jobs, and that is just on the corporate side. For everyday people we are seeing electric vehicle adoption like we have never seen before. One in four cars old in sold in california right now is an electric vehicle. We have had a 74 jump in sales. Solar panels are flying off the shelf. So we are starting to see that happen. Now, there are parts of the law where the money is not gotten out the door yet and that is largely that money i talked about, the 50 billion for disadvantaged communities. William i want to ask you a politics question here. One of the of the ira is that its political genius was steering billions of dollars of green energy into red states. This chart shows how investments are flowing heavily to republican districts compared to democratic districts. How is that playing out . Leah part of the reason for that is that there are provisions in this law that steer money towards former fossil fuel communities, Coal Communities that have lost a lot of jobs and investment. Why dont we try and build manufacturing there . Why dont we try and put solar and wind projects in those kind of communities . That is what the law is doing. William there have been some pockets of resistance to this. We have seen some states push back and say i dont want this federal money. Others we have seen local officials championing the projects that the money has delivered, while they actually voted against the law. In the end you think this will help convert the climate skeptics out there . Leah absolutely. For too long the fossil fuel industry has had a stranglehold over the republican party. When you have so Many Campaign contributions flowing into warren party, that really skews things. So thats going to shift things in the other direction. William one of the critiques of this law is it is incredibly expensive and it is federal meddling in energy policy. The argument being, if these technologies are going to live on their own, they should just live on their own in the marketplace. There was evidence before the ira was passed that wind and solar prices were plummeting. So they argue, dont let the market be contaminated by sacks of federal dollars. What do you make of that argument . Leah fossil fuels have had federal subsidies for over a century. Year after year they take in more than 20 billion of federal subsidies. And those continue to this day. So it is not like the fossil fuel industry or the Energy Industry more broadly does not have subsidies. Lets look at the cost of inaction on Climate Change. Look at what is happening in maui, lahaina, entire communities are being devastated. We have had 200 million americans under extreme heat in the last few months. We have had hundreds of millions of americans experience these wildfires. The cost of inaction is so much bigger than investing in Clean Energy Technologies here in the United States. And i think over the long run a lot of these republican skeptics are going to start to see jobs in their district, investments, and they will come along with the Clean Energy Technologies of the 21st century. William leah stokes from Uc Santa Barbara, thank you so much for being here. Leah thank you so much for having me on. William the crowded but static gop president ial primary has dominated National Attention this summer. But on the democratic side, President Biden has largely avoided any serious primary challengers. The president has served in federal government for more than 40 years. And while the majority of his party is behind him, some are calling for a change. White house correspondent laura barronlopez has more. Laura dean phillips is a thirdterm democratic congressman from minnesota, and he thinks President Biden should not seek reelection. Phillips wants the president to pass the torch, but so far, none of the big names in his party want to pick it up. Congressman phillips joins me now. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. President biden is the oldest sitting president in history. But you have said this is not about age. So what is this about . Dean let me start by complementing him. I think President Biden is a remarkable man, a man who saved our country. Certainly the best man for the job in the last four years. Man of honor, integrity, competency, and decency. But that is not the issue. I come from the private sector. I use data to drive decisions, i use listening to inform my decisions, and then i use instinct to help make those decisions. As i look at the data, as i listen, i believe i am simply giving voice to what an overwhelming majority of the country feels right now. It is not about the past. His policy is a certain area by the way, i voted for every one of them. I believe in him. But i also believe in what i read, what i see, and what i am feeling, and my job is to represent. And i believe democrats should have a thoughtful conversation now before the primaries really began. We already have a competitive primary. Robert and Marianne Williamson in the race already paid we have colonel west running as a thirdparty candidate. I want to see colonel west into the primary. If joe manchin wants to run, and to the primary. Democrats do better when we have choices, freedom to choose. The data right now is making me very concerned. And i will wrap with this. I woke up the morning after the 2016 election, i was living a wonderful life. My daughters, 16 and 18 at that time woke up and were in tears. I saw fear in their eyes for the first time. I promised them i would do something and i ran for congress. Five years later i am not going to sit still and be quiet when we have the risk of him coming back and i want us to be best prepared. Laura on that note, your fellow democrats have argued that your efforts to seek out a primary challenger against President Biden could actually weaken his reelection bid and could very well put former President Trump back in the white house. So what do you say about their concerns about that . Rep. Phillips that is just patently untrue. My call is for the president to pass the torch. I think that would be in the countrys best interest and certainly democrats. We have an external area bench of democrats to go, prepared, proximate, wellpositioned. I dont want to wait five years. Many people are telling me that and the data is also. I understand, we are people of different perspectives, sometimes different motives. Mine is very pure in this. It is not about me. It is about me trying to elevate a conversation that right now is surprising nobody wants to have and i do not want a repeat of 2016 when we essentially anointed someone, it was her turn, and lo and behold look what happened. I think we are sleeping into the same mistake again and the time to have the conversation is right now. Laura some of your own minnesota democrats, like your own governor tim walz, as said you should stay in your own lane. Ken martin, the chair of your states democratic party, has called this effort disappointing and that you are repeating baseless republican talking points. Have you talked to voters in your statement also battleground states about this push . Rep. Phillips yes and i am so glad you are bringing that up. Lets talk about battleground states. I dont care about the national data. Joe biden won by 7 million votes last time and he would do so again. I am worried about the five or six swing states, the battlegrounds that are the most consequential. That is why i have called for some of the moderate governors, people representing those very states that have great organization, great influence, and great capability to consider entering as alternatives. Because they can perform well. To answer your question directly, people all around the country are reaching out to meet. And if they are reaching out to me they are reaching out to everyone of my colleagues for choices. The data is really clear. [crosstalk] laura those moderate governors you have mentioned, whether Gretchen Whitmer of michigan, even tim walz of minnesota, said they are not interested in running against the former president and they support him. The president in 2020 outperformed you in your own district roughly three point. You said you are considering challenging him yourself if no one else steps up. So what would your strategy be to beat him . Rep. Phillips it is not about me and i do not anticipate doing that. Because i believe there are people like you just referenced i am not wellposition for this. I am wellpositioned as the only one calling attention to what we should be talking about. Governor whitmer and senator warnock from michigan and georgia, a pastor from the south, a man of color, a woman at the top of the ticket in a year in which reproductive rights will probably be front and center more than any other policy issue. And they are nexgen or a, exciting candidates that can activate and energize the Democratic Base and get us excited. I am looking at this as hopeful, optimistic, exciting. And i am afraid that we are sleepwalking into the very circumstance of 2016. This is not about me. I am using this 15 minutes, using this opportunity with you tonight, to simply ask people to give it a little thought. Dont listen to me, look at the numbers, talk to friends. That is what i am trying to do. I wish this would not be about me. I am trying to do a service to democrats, but most important he to a country that really needs it. Laura congressman dean phillips of minnesota, thank you so much for your time. Rep. Phillips thank you so much. William tomorrow, President Biden will host a summit at camp david with the leaders of japan and south korea, two nations with a long, complicated history. But they, along with the United States, share common goals curbing chinas influence in the region, and addressing threats from north korea. Tomorrows summit will deal with military cooperation, the sharing of intelligence, and technology development. Joining us for more on the goals of this summit is rahm emanuel, the u. S. Ambassador to japan. Ambassador, very good to have you on the newshour. This is the first camp david summit of the Biden Administration. Can you give us a sense of what goals the administration would like to see coming out of tomorrow . Rahm first of all, its called the camp david principles. Its also the first time actually just for the three leaders not on some side of a g7 meeting or the side of a nato meeting, but to meet as three leaders for a purpose. So this is inaugural. This will be an annual meeting. It will not be driven by events or when the schedule works, but it will be driven for the purpose of the three countries coming together meeting, and making that a new normal, so to say. Second is, you talked earlier about security. There will be pieces on intelligence sharing, integrating uncertain systems and more coordination in making them seamless. There will be annual planning for military exercises. Then the execution of the across multiple dimensions and skill sets. All of that is one level of deterrence. There will also be greater coordination on cybersecurity, economic coordination, supply chain, energy, health care. There is a big, robust piece of this that will be on the political front, security front, and the economic front. William the concerns over chinas role in the Indo Pacific Region will obviously be a main topic. What are the concerns specifically with regards to china . Rahm both countries, japan and korea, both have been victims of chinas very aggressive economic coercion. That has happened in the philippines and also to australia. Both have been victims and targeted and had economic coercion applied to them. Regular intervention in japan by giant knees by chinese chips. When nancy pelosi visited taiwan, china launched missiles into japans seas. Both, on military levels, security levels, cyberattacks, they have been a target of chinese aggression. When you look at india, the philippines recently, china is not going to win this year the Good Neighbor policy award. Everybody in that region has been one way or another targeted by military, targeted economically, targeted in their own security areas economic areas and their own geographic areas. William is there any concern you are hearing from your allies and colleagues that while the Biden Administration could enter into these agreements the next administration, which could be a second trump administration, could just undo them . Isnt that a real concern . Rahm it is not about that. It is to ensure there is a new normal, a new standard. It is embedded into the dna of all of our institutions in all three countries. You have to give kudos to Prime Minister kishida for the courage they have shown in leading into this. President biden, to think about this six weeks ago he was in vilnius, lithuania. Brings sweden and finland into the nato family. Six weeks later at camp david he is bringing japan and korea into a new strategic formulation. Both are major diplomatic efforts. And the goal is to see we have more in common. I think everybody realizes future generations should not have to spend future capital. Lets lock it down and run up the score. That is what this is about. William but there is not any concern that however substantive tomorrow is that a subsequent administration could undo them if they wanted . Rahm that is true for all the countries. So the goal is to make sure it is so embedded where you are spending time, money and resources that it becomes the new norm. I dont want to speak to them, they are heads of state, but i think everybody acknowledges they do not want future Prime Ministers to spend the Political Capital to get this. I can tell you having worked with two other president s, both democrats and republican president s who want to be where President Biden is. A lot of administrations have worked towards this. This is an amazing accomplishment because it reorders not only the three countries but most importantly it is backed on the ground in the indo pacific. There is a risk for everything like that but for all three countries that is why all three leaders are determined to literally get this woven into the grain of the wood of the institutions. Whether that is the military side, defense side, trading side, Economic Security side, supply chain sighed. That is to make sure it is done for all three countries effect. William ambassador rahm emanuel , thank you so much for being here. William it was the largest mass killing in egypts modern history. 10 years ago this week, egyptian soldiers overran a protest camp in cairos rabaa square, killing hundreds. Six weeks earlier, the military had overthrown the elected government of Muhammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and supporters of the ousted government had created a protest city in rabaa. Its destruction still reverberates in todays egypt. Nick schifrin looks back. Nick just after dawn, chaos. Live fire flew threw one of cairos busiest squares. They bulldozed homemade barricades. Snipers fired from nearby rooftops. The aftermath, a scorched square, a camp turned into a carcass, and mosques converted to morgues. The death toll was 624, but Human Rights Watch says the real count is likely 1000. It had become a tent city. Tens of thousands built a selfsustaining protest with their own kitchens. Water distribution and administration that ran 24 7 for more than 45 days. They demanded the reinstatement of the Muslim Brotherhood leader who became egypts first democraticallyelected president after the 2011 revolution. And they protested thengeneral abdel fatah elsisi, who in early july 2013, had seized power. Sisi became president a year later, in 2014, in elections independent observers called unfair. He would later change the constitution to remain president potentially past 2030. Today, rabaa is quiet. The anniversary was not marked. Nobody was ever held accountable. In sisis egypt, there is no room for memorializing massacre. Since 2013, the government has imprisoned more than 60,000 egyptians, from liberal activists to anyone connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. 10 years ago was a turning point, proving the military was willing to use force to cement its hold on power. And that hold on power remains as strong now as it was 10 years ago. For more, we turn to our own jane ferguson, who is in cairo that day and covered the rabaa massacre, and hossam bahgat, an egyptian human rights activist and founder of the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights, based in cairo. Thanks very much, both of you. Jane, take us back to that day. What did you see . Jane it began early in the morning, nic. You had massive units of the Egyptian Security forces go in and simply start opening fire. Now, myself and my team were at one of the exit and entrance of the rabaa square soon afterwards, as soon as we rushed there, and we saw people being pulled out, those with massive gunshot wounds. And just utter scenes of chaos as people were trying to flee. And eventually we made our way by simply following the crowds to various places where the bodies were being taken. And what we found when we entered a mosque was that it was filled with an increasing number of bodies of those who had been shot by their own government. One of the main challenges for those simply trying to organize this amount of bodies and process them is trying to keep the bodies from decomposing. Here, now theyve started bringing in bags of ice as an decaying. They also have farms here, now theyve started bringing in bags of ice as an emergency scenario, placing them on top of the bodies to try to keep them from decaying. Those were really shocking scenes at the time. Its important to remember that this is believed to have been one of the biggest ever single events of demonstrators or protesters being shot dead in the street in modern history. And in the following days and weeks, because what happened was an increasing crackdown on protesters, morsi supporters and journalists. Nick and that crackdown, as you said, jane, continued to journalists. How did the government make clear they were willing to prosecute journalists, and how does that willingness continue to this day . Jane well, shortly afterwards, it was as resistance kept continuing and small protests were popping up. The egyptian authorities actually arrested largely the entire bureau of the Al Jazeera English team at the time, which included an australian journalist, peter greste. Him and his team and his bureau chief, mohamed fahmy, they were they were arrested and sent to jail and effectively spent over a year in an egyptian jail. That was a message to news organizations, to International News organizations, americans, europeans, that sending journalists to egypt to investigate and report on human rights would be extremely dangerous. And what weve seen over the last decade is that that has worked. Nick hossam bahgat, how was rabaa a turning point for egypt . Hossam it was a turning point in many different ways. It was basically not just the end of the promise of the egyptian revolution of 2011, but the end and of our country as we know it. Egypt, that was never really a liberal democracy. It was always a country with a problematic human rights record and serious areas of concerns. But what we saw following rabaa is just rule by one military leader who established a dictatorship that not just imprisoned all government critics, but for the first time in egyptian modern history, eviscerated civic space altogether. So we have been ruled for the last 10 years without opposition parties, without the media, without independent courts or any parliamentary oversight, without any space for Civil Society, and with zero room for dissent and zero public demonstrations. Nick was there ever any justice for what happened in rabaa . Hossam the only way to describe it is the opposite of justice. Its been 10 years with, you know, according to government figures, at least 680 maybe killed, thousands injured. And the only people that have been arrested and prosecuted since then are the survivors of those massacres. There was one official inquiry conducted that the government allowed and, you know, was sort of forced into 10 years ago. That inquiry produced a report that was submitted to the president. Yet the report of that Fact Finding Commission was never published until really this week when we made excerpts of it public for the very first time. And, you know, surprisingly, of course, the conclusions of that inquiry that we never made public, almost to a large extent, matched the conclusions of independent journalists, of independent Civil Society investigations, which is that the government knew at a very high level that there is going to be a high human toll of casualties, that the shooting was indiscriminate, it was disproportionate with the threat that these Security Forces faced from only a handful of armed elements, and most importantly, that the vast majority of those killed that day were peaceful protesters, as opposed to that governments false narrative for the last 10 years that they had to open fire at armed elements among the protesters. Nick and jane ferguson, just in the time we have left, you have reported so much from the region. Put this in perspective for us. What is the legacy of rubber and all the changes in egypt that weve just been discussing on north africa and the middle east . Jane weve really got to look, nick, back at 2013 as a year of something of a crisis in American Foreign policy in the middle east and in the arab world. Of course, at the time you had the obama government, or the Obama Administration, which had whenever you had the coup happen, they would not use the word coup. They they condemned any of the violence that happened as a result of this of this massacre. Of course, in the same year, we also had the famous red line in syria where the Obama Administration had said if the assad regime uses chemical weapons on their own people, they would be willing to act militarily. And that red line was crossed and there wasnt really any military response from the United States. It was in that moment that i think a lot of people in the region look back and will say, this is when United States policy was in something of a crisis, whereby the u. S. Withdrawal from the middle east was happening at a time when people were being massacred by their own governments, and the last 10 years has seen an extraordinary amount of violence against civilians, of human rights abuses across the middle east and a real backlash against those those heady, hopeful arab spring days. Nick jane ferguson, hossam bhagat, thank you very much to you both. William in the midst of the pandemic, a woman tells her three grown daughters a story of her youth, about a love affair, a path she mightve taken, but didnt. They, in turn, tell her of their hopes and fears for the future. Tom lake is the latest novel by renowned writer ann patchett, who also owns an independent bookstore in nashville, tennessee. Jeffrey brown joined her in New Hampshire recently for our arts and culture series, canvas. Jeffrey Ann Patchetts novel, tom lake, begins in a high school in a small New Hampshire town, when a young girl named lara makes a sudden, lifechanging decision to audition for a role in a play. Ann she is not there to try out for the role of emily. Shes there to register the people who have come to try out for the play. And theyre so bad that she decides after four hours of listening to auditions that shes just going to get up and read the lines in a straightforward way, because she loves the play. Yes we all know, in our bones there is something eternal about every human being. Jeffrey the play is thorntons wilders 1938 classic, our town, seen here in a 2003 production starring paul newman. Its a deceptively simple portrait of the everyday, what we see and what we miss, and the quick passing of a life. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, grovers corners. Jeffrey and its a play that patchett, like her fictional character, has always loved. Ann its about paying attention to all of the small moments of your life, realizing that your life really is just the compilation of small moments. And either you are awake to them and Pay Attention to them, or youre always looking ahead and you miss your life. Jeffrey so that becomes, of course, the theme, or one of the themes of tom lake. Ann yes, yes. Tom lake definitely started with our town. Somebody said to me recently, so how did you decide which play laura is going to be in in high school . And i was like, oh, no, no, no, i started with our town and then figured out who the characters were. Jeffrey wilder based his fictional town of grovers corners on the reallife New Hampshire town of peterborough. Where he also produced it with the peterborough players, a professional summer stock theater. Hed conceived and written part of it in a small cabin at macdowell, the famed Artists Residency Program in peterborough. And thats where we met patchett, whod herself once had a residency here, to talk about a novel in which lara, now an adult, tells her three grown daughters the story of her longago summer romance with a young man who would become a worldfamous actor. Ann shes not going to tell her daughters the whole story, but nobody ever tells anybody the whole story. I mean, we all edit our stories based on our audience. Im going to tell a story to my husband one way, to my best friend one way, to you one way. Its not that youre lying, its just that you shape your story to fit your audience. Jeffrey that suggests we all have many stories. Ann of course. Everyone, what are we except a bunch of stories, a compilation of the stories that weve lived and that weve told ourselves pand other people over the coure of our lives . Jeffrey now 59, patchett has been telling stories for a long time, with nine novels, 15 books in all, one of our bestselling and bestloved writers. But theres always something new to learn. Ann it was actually really a joy to write this book. And you want to know why . Jeffrey yeah. Ann i wrote the entire book on a treadmill. Jeffrey what do you mean, like, literally . Ann yeah. I got a treadmill desk. I wrote the whole book on a treadmill desk, so i walked the whole book. And for whatever reason, it just thrilled me. I would get up in the morning and think, im ready to go to work, im going to get on the treadmill desk, im going to go write my book. It was a joy. Jeffrey there is much joy in this novel, set mostly on a cherry farm in michigan, where lara has made her life, far from any onetime dream of the glamor of hollywood. And is herself coming to see what a life is made of, as in this passage. Ann there is no explaining this simple truth about life you will forget much of it. The painful things youd be certain you would never be able to let go of, now youre not entirely sure when they happened. While the thrilling parts, the heart stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows. And unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well. Jeffrey but this is also set amid the pandemic, and laras daughters bring their own fears for their lives into the story. Ann one of the things that this book is about that i am so struck by is, when i was in my twenties, i worried if i had enough money to go out to dinner, you know, we would go to the matinee because we dont have enough money to go at night. Well go to the restaurant but well just get a piece of pie. I really want to get this story written, maybe ill send the story to a magazine. Thats what i was worried about. At the bookstore, i own a bookstore in nashville, parnassus, we have all these employees, a lot of them in their twenties and thirties, and thats not what theyre worried about. I mean, theyre worried about the pandemic. Theyre worried about Climate Change. Theyre worried about gerrymandering. Theyre worried about the right to love who you love. I mean, its the weight of things that young people have to worry about today is so different from the things that i worried about when i was young. Jeffrey here you say it, the beauty and the suffering are equally true. Ann right, thats exactly right. Theres a lot to feel terrible about, but there is also so much joy and theres so much to feel good about. And you can hold those two opposite things. We all do, every single day, we hold those opposite truths. Jeffrey thats true for the world of books as well. Patchett is a champion of writers and literature generally, but is also near the frontlines of todays battles over bookbans. Ann things are not great in tennessee. The people who are banning books dont care about books. You dont ever ban something you care about. You want to keep kids safe . Ban guns. You want to keep kids safe . Maybe dont let them bring their phones into school. But nobody is going to keep a child safe by keeping a book from them. And yet by making the conversation about the book, then no one on either side has the energy to talk about the things that really matter. Teachers, librarians really matter. Jeffrey for all her character uncertainties, and those of our times, ann patchett has always had her own clarity. And nothing brings it out like being back in high school. Did you know what you wanted to be when yowere in high school . Ann yeah. Jeffrey you did . Ann i did. I knew i wanted to be a writer. I never wanted to be anything else in my life. Jeffrey how did you have that certainty . Ann i have no idea. But if you were interviewing six year old ann patchett on this stage right now and said, ann, what do you want to do with your life, i would have said, jeff, i want to be a writer. Jeffrey for the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown in our town, peterborough, New Hampshire. William and well be back shortly with a profile of one of the great women scientists of the twentieth century. But first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. Its a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. William for those of you staying with us, Leanne Morgan is finding comedy in the chaos of marriage and motherhood. Shes a storyteller who draws from growing up in rural tennessee, being married for over 30 years, raising three kids and becoming a grandmother. Morgan sat down with Geoff Bennett in this reprise from our arts and culture series, canvas. Leanne when my boy and his wife found out about this precious baby, they would say, their baby. And we would say our baby, and then they started using words like boundaries. Geoff now at 57 years old, Leanne Morgans standup career is taking off, and shes just released her first netflix standup special. Leanne they are going to have this precious baby and be up all night and thats going to go into weeks and months. And then my little daughterinlaw is going to start hallucinating and then shes going to wake up in the night breastfeeding a lamp. And well see whos got boundaries. Geoff i sat down with her in new york city to talk about her unconventional comedy career. Geoff most comedians get their starts in comedy clubs or in writers rooms. You found your way to professional standup by selling jewelry, is that right . Leanne yes, my darling. Okay, so my husband and i met at the university of tennessee, and when we graduated, he bought a used mobile Home Business where he refurbished mobile homes and sold them. And he moved me to being stationed in tennessee in the foothills of the appalachian mountains. And i start selling jewelry. Geoff and youre going house to house doing this . Leanne im going house to house at night. My husband took care of the baby. And then i was supposed to be talking about jewelry and on schlep this big jewelry case around. And i didnt talk about jewelry. I talked about Breast Feeding and hemorrhoids, and i developed a shtick, really, an act. And women thought i was funny and started booking me about a year in advance. And that gave me the confidence. People would say, you need to be a stand up. Geoff is that what you wanted for yourself . Did you want to be a stand up . Leanne i wanted to be in show business and i thought i was funny. I knew i could tell a story. Geoff after two decades on stage, leannes First Special on youtube has more than 50 million views. Her new netflix special reached the top ten. Leanne but my husband and i met and i was so cute. And i was little and i had on little britches. Any my thyroid was functioning. And now, i truly believe he would not pull me out of a burning vehicle. Geoff your family provides fodder for so much your act. How do they feel about that . Leanne they feel fine about it now. When they were in middle school, my children said, do not speak my name. And they also said, dont come up to the school with yoga pants on. So that was a dry time for me, and my husband only one time has said to me, dont say that again. I said something about i wanted something, but it was a bad a mobile home year. And he said, im always provided for you, do not say that again, and it hurt me for him and ive never said anything like that again. But he doesnt care about anything else. Geoff leannes act is relatable, and a reflection of her life, comedy with a common touch. Leanne ive done every diet in the world. My momma, and my sister and i took dexatrim. Yall remember dexatrim . Yeah. It was speed. We took speed. As a family. When they sold it on the shelves everywhere and we were all taking dope. I mean, thats like dope. And i and thats funny how things resonate with people because ive had more comments of people saying, oh my gosh, my mom and i took dexatrim together. Im out here on the porch and looking rough. Geoff when covid hit, leanne was about to start a 100 city tour, and like many others, leaned into social media and cooking. Leanne you just mix that all together and you chill it and its really good. I started talking about my recipes and what i was feeding them and my family, and it it grew bigger and more than i ever thought it would. So that was a helpful thing. As horrible as all that was, i think it helped grow my audience. Geoff yeah, and it gave them a point of connection. Leanne yeah, and people start making all this jello all over the United States. And i know jello is very divisive. Geoff its controversial. Leanne controversial. But where im from in the you know, in the middle, tennessee, we love a good gelatin salad, you know, with a little pineapple pecan, Little Cottage cheese or cream cheese, little cool whip. Geoff wow. Thats way beyond. Leanne i dont want to worry you, geoff. Yeah, to us, thats something, you know. Yeah. Nice to take to a church supper, right . Geoff the thing i really loved about your act is that theres no underlying political or social message. It really is just about the laughs. Its about finding the funny moments in family and growing older. Leanne and i understand how people want to do that and, you know, do comedy that way. But ive just never written that way or ever thought that way. Plus, i thought, nobody cares what i think. And and i dont. I want it to be fun and i dont want anybody to feel uncomfortable. But yeah, thats how i dont write that way. I probably dont read enough, geoff, to know whats going on. Geoff leanne says this run of success couldnt have happened at a better time. She just signed on to star in a will ferrell and Reese Witherspoon comedy, and is back on the road on a National Standup tour this summer. The tour is called just getting started. Is that how it feels . Yes. When youre from the country like i am, you know, were memas. We like to Start Cooking pinto beans and were in house dresses. And i thought, im just going to bail out of this thing. And then this happened. When i look back on it, because ive had Television Deals for sitcoms, ive had four deals and they would not make it, my children were little and i would be devastated. And i look back on it now and i think, oh, my gosh, that was that was not the right time. I got to raise these children in knoxville, tennessee, and then now they dont need me like they used to. And then this happened to me. At this time in my life, and im having a ball. Im having a ball. And its bigger and more wonderful and more special than anything i ever dreamed of. William chienshiung wu is not likely a household name. But she is among the great scientists of the twentieth century. For pbs news weekend, john yang explored her remarkable career, whose contributions to physics have often been overlooked. John over the course of her trailblazing career, chienshiung wu was known by a number of monikers the first lady of physics, the queen of nuclear research, the chinese marie curie. She was one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century, her work helped hasten the end the Second World War and changed our understanding of subatomic particles. At a time when it was rare to educate girls in china, she studied physics at National Central university in what is now nanjing, graduating at the top of her class. With the Financial Support of an uncle, wu came to the United States and in 1940 earned her phd at the university of california, berkeley. She couldnt find a Research Position at a university, so became a teacher. She was the first woman in princeton universitys physics department. In 1944, she was asked to join the faculty of Columbia University to become a Senior Scientist on the topsecret manhattan project, the governments world war ii effort to develop an atomic weapon. Her work primarily involved uranium enrichment and radiation detection. Columbia, where she worked until retiring in 1980, was the site of her most significant work. In 1956, theoretical physicists tsungdao lee and Chen Ning Yang asked her to come up with a way to test their theory on the behavior of subatomic particles. The results of her ingenious method, known as the wu experiment, shattered a fundamental concept of Nuclear Physics that had been universally accepted for 30 years. Lee and yang were awarded the 1957 nobel prize in physics. But wu, like many women scientists of her day, was left out. In a speech at mit in 1964, wu asked whether the tiny atoms and nuclei, or the mathematical symbols, or the dna molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment. Her 1965 book beta decay is still considered standard reading for nuclear physicists. While her work wasnt recognized for the nobel prize, she earned many other honors, including the National Medal of science in 1975, and the first wolf prize in physics in 1978. And in 2021, 24 years after her death in 1997, wu was honored with a u. S. Postage stamp. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. William you can find more of our hidden histories series on our website, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. Remember, theres a lot more online, including a look at who the top candidates are in the republican field ahead of the first gop primary debate next week. Thats all on our youtube page. Im william brangham. Thanks for spending part of your evening with us. Good night. 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Heres whats coming up. Weve added more jobs in two years than any president has in American History in a fouryear term. One year since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, how has it transformed the amen