a very good day to all of you from world headquarters in new york. here's what's happening a bit past 2:00 p.m. in the east. this breaking news in new york city. it's pretty dramatic. hundreds of crews are on the scene of a devastating five-alarm fire in the bronx. people have been forced to jump from the windows of a 19-story building to escape the blaze. the fire commissioner reports at least 60 people, the latest i believe is 63, have been injured, 32 of whom have been taken to hospitals and we are hearing from the commissioner that he expects numerous fatalities. mayor eric adams spoke a short time ago about this. let's take a listen. >> this is a horrific, horrific, painful moment for the city of new york. the impact of this fire is going to really bring a level of just pain and despair in our city. the numbers are horrific. >> in fact, our nbc station here in new york, wnbc, is reporting this may be the city's worst fire disaster in more than 30 years. of course what happened to it, we don't know in terms of what caused this fire. we're waiting all that and we're efforting a live report from wnbc. as soon as one of our reporters gets on the scene we will take you there as well. a pretty horrific story here in the bronx with 63 people already having been injured in a devastating fire. in washington, meantime voting rights is set to take center stage. president biden will be speaking in georgia on tuesday, that's of course a state that's become ground zero in the fight over election integrity. while on capitol hill democrats are making the case for why the issue is more important now than ever before. >> what the republicans are doing across the country is really a legislative continuation of what they did on january 6th, which is to undermine our democracy, undermine the integrity of our elections, undermine the voting power which is the essence of a democracy. we have to do that. there is no more important bill. >> that's not the only challenge on the president's agenda this week. critical talks between the u.s. and russia are set to kick off tomorrow, and as the white house remains confident in a diplomatic approach, congressman gregory meeks telling me vladimir putin may not even know his next move. >> we don't know what's in his mind at this point. and i don't think he knows. and i think that what he has to hear is that there will be severe consequence, not just like crimea, and think about what is at stake for russia. >> on top of all that, covid still wreaking havoc. the administration preparing to mail out half a billion at home tests but for schools the help has not come soon enough as they're grappling with the omicron surge. dr. row chel walensky addressing those concerns this morning. >> in the fall of this year, we had a delta surge, and we were able to safely keep our children in school. every jurisdiction is going to have to make these decisions locally, but i would say the most important thing we can do is get our children vaccinated, our teachers vaccinated and our teenagers vaccinated and then to practice all those layered mitigation strategies that have been proven to work. >> let's go now to nbc news correspondent josh letterman joining us from the white house and julie sirkin at the capitol. we begin with you, josh. what do we expect to hear from the president and vice president when they heard to georgia this week? >> you will hear a full-throated endorsement of legislation to protect and expand voting rights including the john lewis legislation and people for the voting acts. whether joe biden has a strategy for getting that passed is what every democrat wants to know, so much that a group of prominent civil rights and voting rights organizations tolded biden, don't even bother coming if you don't have a plan to articulate for how you're actually going to get this through the senate ahead of this vote that chuck schumer, the senate majority leader, is threatening to change the senate rules if republicans won't get on board with some type of voting rights legislation. now as the president and the vice president are in georgia for that speech, we will have these russia/u.s. talks taking place simultaneously in europe against the backdrop of this feared invasion of ukraine by russian forces. secretary of state antony blinken asked a few hours ago whether he thinks president vladimir putin has yet made up his mind about whether to invade ukraine. take a listen. >> i don't know if the decision has been made, and it's clear we've offered him two paths forward. one is through diplomacy and dialog. the other is through deterrence and massive consequences for russia if it renews its aggression against ukraine. this goes to some basic principles of international relations that are what guarantee peace and security. the principle that one nation can't simply change the borders of another by force. >> reporter: as these talks are about to get started, alex, the white house is really trying to downplay expectations for it, saying first of all, no reductions of u.s. troops in europe are on the table for these, saying nothing will be finalized at these negotiations, that anything they talk about will have to be brought back here to washington for deliberations as well as discussed with our allies. we should note that the white house is also, i find this so interesting, warning reporters that they expect that during these talks, the russians may try to put out their own disinformation about the u.s. making concessions or what's taking place in the negotiations. officials encouraging nobody to listen to what the russians have to say about these talks, make sure to check with the u.s. first, they say, alex. >> very interesting. interesting you put that out there so we're aware of what we may or may not hear from russia and take it through that prism. thank you very much for that. we go to nbc's julie sircen on capitol hill. we have the house january 6th committee ramping up its probe in the first days of this new year. so on whom are they setting their sights right now? >> reporter: well, alex, it's not just who, but on what because despite the hundreds of interviews they've conducted, the thousands of pages of documents that they've received and the months they've spent on this investigation so fashion the biggest question they have, what former president trump knew in the days leading up to january 6th, what he did are still unanswered, as we see them calling up perhaps vice president mike pence, the former vice president. we learned they're going to make a decision on whether to invite him to testify this month, bennie thompson said, and also the vice president, remember his role on january 6th, he was pressured by former president trump to object to the certification of the election results from several states. of course we know he didn't do that, so as part of their effort to answer that big, overarching question, they're looking to hear from him and they want to hear from him in a voluntary manner, not through a subpoena, they hope, but written testimony, perhaps inviting him to answer questions and they hope that the former vice president will cooperate with their investigation. today, our chuck todd asked one of the two republicans on the select committee adam kissinger, what he hopes the committee would have, if they could have anything that they're missing. take a listen to what he said. >> ha did the president know about january 6th leading up to january 6th. i think that what's important is, it's the difference between was the president absolutely incompetent or a coward on the 6th when we didn't do anything, or did he know what was coming? i think that's the difference between incompetence with your oath and possibly criminal. that's where i want to get more information. we do have obviously some things leading up to that, but the more information we can get, obviously the better. >> now you heard the congressman there say they're looking for the intention behind the former president's actions. as they move into this next phase of their investigation, they're hoping by the way to wrap up before the midterms, which are coming closer than i can even believe, they're going to move into what's called a public phase, holding public hearings in prime time, according to some members on the committee that could happen in the springtime. remember the only public hearing they've ever held was in july when we heard the emotional testimony from the officers who protected the capitol on january 6th. they're also looking to release a report some time in the summer, including possibly legislative recommendations to prevent that another january 6th doesn't happen again. alex? >> you know what's extraordinary when you hear the expectations of what the former president did, either being incompetent or criminal, that alone is something to hear. thank you so much, julie, for that. the marking of one year since the attack on the capitol has sparked a new push on voting rights legislation. this week three attorneys general sounding the alarm on the issue writing in an op-ed, america is at a critical crossroads at risk the core of our democracy, respecting the will of the voters and having trust and faith in the system. without that foundation the potential for a january 6th-style violence increases exponentially. we can avoid that outcome if congress acts before it's too late. joining me one of the authors, josh shapiro, who is running for governor of that commonwealth. welcome, sir. thank you for joining me. you and your fellow attorneys general not sugar coating this at all. it is a dire warning. but when do you think it will be too late? >> well, the stakes are so high and i think this is the foundation for everything, right. our democracy, people's access to the ballot box. we have recognized the importance of state actors in defending our democracy through the 2020 election, including my fellows attorneys general. we are hopeful now that the federal government will do what it needs to do to defend our democracy and pass the various voting rights legislation that is before them. make no mistake f they fail to do that, the battle to defend our democracy will continue, but it will continue in our states. it's one of the reasons why in the first policy proposal i put out of my gubernatorial campaign here in pennsylvania, it was about how to defend the right to vote, how to defend our democracy, access to expand voting rights and improve the process of our elections. look, i'm hopeful the feds will act, but if they don't, we will act in the state to defend our democracy. >> i'm going to ask my director steve to put up another blush from your op-ed and ask the question, this trend you're talking about state wise, what are you seeing in the state of pennsylvania? >> i can just tell you from the voters i've talked to in pennsylvania, they're worried about covid, right. they're worried about the economy. they're worried about their kids' education. they shouldn't have to worry about the instability of our democracy too. then when i talk to the folks who run the elections, the county officials, republicans, democrats, independents, they just want to make sure that they're protected, that they're safe, able to do their krifb vick duty of running our elections. they don't deserve the type of harassment they'll experienced. these are good patriotic pennsylvanians trying to make sure our democracy is firm. the problem is, of course, when the big lie is told, when the litigation comes, what follows that is threats. what follows that is acts of violence which undermine our safety and security and creates a real instability in our democracy. pennsylvanians deserve better. >> yeah. you have the co-authors there from the attorneys general of michigan as well as nevada joining you in this op-ed and to what extent are you concerned about violence either before or around the midterm elections or after, depending on what the outcome might be? >> look. i'm deeply concerned. it's one of the reasons why we've been so active and engaged in this effort to protect our democracy. the good news is looking back at 2020, we had a free and fair, safe and secure election here in pennsylvania where millions of people either voted in person or by mail and we've had our results certified now twice by legally required audits. i'm hopeful we'll be able to continue to do that. one of the best ways we can continue to do that is by shoring up our democracy, either passing this federal legislation or passing the kind of state laws that i think we need to do to make sure we have automatic voter registration, early voting, allow for precanvassing for our clerk, making sure we have secretaries of -- secretary of state in pennsylvania willing to uphold the rule of law as my secretary of state would be as opposed to the other side which seems to want to pledge allegiance not to our democracy or flag, but to the former president. that's not what we need. what we need is a concerted effort to defend our democracy. let me explain why that's so important. it is the foundation for all the progress we need to make on other issues, whether it's health care or education or other issues. if we can't count on everybody being part of the conversation and the way you get to be part of the conversation in our american democracy is by being able to vote. if we exclude people from that conversation, it makes it harder for us to make progress on these other issues. so that's why i am so active on this issue and pushing so hard, both at the state and pushing at the federal level because we need to make sure that we make progress on those important issues and the best way to do that is to have a strong democracy. >> indeed. do not let up on that at all. attorney general of pennsylvania josh shapiro, gubernatorial candidate, thank you for your time with us. omicron cases are skyrocketing, so are the number of pediatric cases in hospitals. do you send kids or keep them at home. we have a debate heating up again, next. bate heating up again, next. holding this bottle, so the light hits it just right, and people think... wow... ...he knows what he's doing... ...when i'm actually pretty lost with my payroll taxes. intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes. cheers. 100% accurate payroll tax calculations guaranteed. people everywhere living with cheers. type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. 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>> you know, it's difficult. it's a difficult time to be a teacher, it's a difficult time to be a parent, it's a really difficult time to be a kid. here in san jose, ther, as you said, struggling to keep things open. they've managed thus far, but they have about 800 out with covid or about 3% of the school community and we're hearing about classes with double digit absences. take a look at the situation nationwide and how in that first week back after the holiday break last week things were soaring in terms of disruptions. the number of districts with at least one day of disruption last week up over 5,000. by far the largest of this academic year. among those districts included san francisco where the superintendent was teaching middle school in oakland where teachers staged a sick out because they don't feel like there's enough protection going on and they say they're really taking things day by day. >> we had almost a quarter of our student body absent on monday, and then we are one of the schools that's lucky enough to have testing and yet we still saw a large majority of the schools come back positive, so we're really concerned. it feels like there is a large amount of covid on our campus and we're concerned that our students aren't safe and we need better masks. we need better testing for all students. >> reporter: testing is a big deal here in california, as it is across the country. a number of districts like this one with mand attorney general testing. governor gavin newsom has activated the national guard to help with that, but they also need the test kits themselves. like it is across the country, those are in short supplies. >> scott cohen from sympathy, thank you. joining me now california congresswoman sara jacobs a member of the house democratic steering and policy foreign affairs and armed services committees. welcome back to the broadcast. good to see you. as we talk about omicron racing through our state, in l.a. as we look at the numbers, the highest number of covid cases in one day was just recorded about 43,000. in san diego county, that includes your district, the cases are not as high in number but the effects are still very wide ranging with a growing case count impacting schools and businesses there. so what are your constituents telling you about this and what are their biggest concerns about this omicron wave? >> look, it's an inxwlids difficult time for everyone. i know we were all hoping we were through the worst part of this pandemic and i know that people and my constituents are feeling frustrated. i'm feeling frustrated. i was hoping we would be through the hardest part of this pandemic and we know that omicron is incredibly transmissible. we know that it is wreaking havoc on our small businesses and our hospital and health care systems and i can tell you people are frustrated. they're tired. they're really looking for us as leaders to give them a sense of what the future can look like, how this will end, and how we can move forward from here. >> how in the world do you do that at this point? talk about the state leadership and what has been done and what you would like to still see done relative to covid? >> look, i think the most important thing is that everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated, gets boosted. i'm hopeful that we are continuing to see those numbers increase and that is the most important thing we can be doing. we know that doesn't substitute for testing. we need to ramp up our testing capacity across california and the country to make sure that we are keeping people safe, and the fact of the matter is this surge is happening as so many of the protections that we in congress passed have expired. we need to make sure we're giving people the ability to stay home when they're sick, that we're giving them the support they need if they need to shut down their small business to keep people safe, and that is up to us and congress to make sure we're putting those supports and protections in place so people can make the decisions that keep all of us safe and healthy. >> speaking of things you've passed in congress, if we talk about the build back better legislation, that has stalled in the senate. "the washington post" is reporting that senator joe manchin's $1.8 trillion spending offer, which i remind viewers he made to the white house before christmas, it now appears to be off the table because he's no longer supporting it. that is according to three people with knowledge of the matter. what is your reaction to that? given all of this, how does the congress move forward? >> look, i'm angry and frustrated. i think the build back better act is exactly what our country needs right now. i can tell you my constituents talk to me all the time about the costs of child care, the costs of prescription drugs, how much these programs that we put in place in the build back better act would directly impact their lives and make their lives better. so i'm frustrated, but i don't think this is the ended. i do think that there is still an opportunity to come together and find some bill that we can pass, and i'm working diligently with my colleagues in the house and senate to figure out what that bill would be. >> okay. let's talk about something frels "the washington post" which reports mitt romney tried to see if he could broker an agreement with joe manchin. two people reported that. what do you make of this? in fact, where do you see an avenue where democrats would break up some of the priorities in build back better, like the child tax credit, and try to pass standalone measures that might be able to better get bipartisan support? >> look, i am always looking for a bipartisan solutions to the challenges that we're facing, and frankly, i don't understand why there's a single republican who doesn't support putting in place the single most effective thing we can do to prevent childhood poverty, we should all want to do, so i'm hopeful that there are these conversations ongoing. i will say, we have an expanded child tax credit that we know works, that has been in place for the last six months, and so my preference is to put -- is to continue and extend that expanded child tax credit because we already have in place what we need to implement and know it's successful in cutting childhood poverty. >> thank you for the chat. sara jacobs, good to see you. a new week of talks with russia, whether the russians are bargaining in good faith, that's the question next. next. ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest gin norway,es. there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. maybe it's another refill at your favorite diner... or waiting for the 7:12 bus... or sunday afternoon in the produce aisle. these moments may not seem remarkable. but at pfizer, protecting the regular routine, and everyday drives us to reach for exceptional. working to impact hundreds of millions of lives... young and old. it's what we call, the pursuit of normal. ♪ ♪ age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. 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(vo) yep, it's our best plan ever. verizon is going ultra, so you can too. breaking news and new details on the massive fire under way in the bronx. at least 63 people are injured and that includes several children, we're told. the new york city fire commissioner expects, quote, numerous fatalities i'm sorry to say. firefighters say they discovered victims on all, nearly every floor in fact, of this 19-story building, which is remarkable to report. residents who described the chaos and managed to escape, here's what they had to say. >> i live on the third floor and i went upstairs to fix breakfast and i noticed smoke coming inside the door, black smoke, and heard people screaming help, help, help. we see flames coming out the back windows and stuff, and then we smell the smoke. next thing we know the whole upstairs and my apartment is black, and we hear the fire department breaking in the door to come get us. we had to climb out the window and everything. >> this is incredibly scary and tragic and again, firefighters say they have already discovered victims. it's a 19-story building. on nearly every floor. but here's what we are most recently learning from investigators. apparently they pinpointed the fire's origin to a duplex apartment on the second and third floor is what they say may have happened the apartment door was left open and that is what allowed the fire and smoke to spread. again, a 19-story building. some are saying this may be the worst fire in decades in the city of new york. so we're going to keep following this and bring you updates as we get them here. meantime desperate to avoid an all-out war the u.s. and nato will be meeting which russia amid the concern they may invade campaign as the fate of europe's post-cold war borders are at stake. the countries remain sharply divided. ahead of those meetings tomorrow in geneva, white house officials warned of debilitating economic sanctions if russia does not back down, down, but also left some room for cooperation. here's secretary of state antony blinken this morning. >> president biden has been clear that we are looking and taking steps that we've not taken in the past and that the consequences for russia would be severe and that's something that president putin is going to have to factor into his calculus. our strong preference is a diplomatic resolution of this challenge, but ultimately that's up to russia. >> joining me now is michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia and msnbc international affairs analyst and the best person to chat about this with us. the secretary of state said today he does not expect any breakthroughs this week but a sign that all parties are willing to come to the table. given to you how you know the russians and vladimir putin, are they meeting, in your esteem, in good faith? >> i do know something about vladimir putin. i used to interact with him for five years in the obama administration, and i don't know the answer to your question. secretary blinken doesn't know, president biden doesn't know, deputy secretary sherman doesn't know and why this meeting that starts tonight and will go into tomorrow, is so critical because i think there will be some indication on the russian side headed by their deputy foreign minister, somebody i used to deal with on a fairly regular basis when i was ambassador, whether or not they really want to negotiate or whether this is all just a pretext for some other kind of military -- and by the way, when i say military action, it could be all kinds of things, from cyber attacks to limited strikes to something much greater than that -- that just like secretary blinken said, the ball is in russia's court and i think the american side is anxious to hear what he has to say, which of those two worlds does putin want to be in? >> ahead of this meeting that begins rightfully tomorrow as you said, the u.s. officials have said the biden administration is open to discussing several things here, limiting u.s. and nato exercises in eastern europe, also curtailing any kind of future deployments of offensive weapons in ukraine if russia backs off there, then you have russia's deputy foreign minister telling the russian media the u.s. doesn't understand its goals on ukraine. they're not going to make any concessions under pressure, also warning these meetings could be short. however, the russians are still asking for some level of security guarantees, so are there areas of potential cooperation? are they enough to keep russia at least at the negotiating table and taking any kind of action? >> well, i think there is without question and i actually think, if you look at european security institutions and treaties over the last couple decades a lot of them no longer work or are significantly diminished, so a broad, big discussion of, you know, troop movements, transparency, missile defenses, on both sides in good faith, that's a good -- that's -- i applaud that. i think that should be done. not in a bilateral way, i disagree with the format, it shouldn't be the united states and russia deciding european security for europeans, but a broad, multilateral effort, maybe based at the ose. that would be a smart move. to do that in a real way takes two things so far the russians have said they don't want to talk about. one, they want immediate results. they said that, right. it's like a threat if if you don't give us everything today we're not coming back. the united states and nato has certain red lines. the idea that we will spin to putin a security guarantee that will never extend nato that's a nonstarter and that will not happen. the nato alliance doesn't support that, president biden doesn't support it, and i think politically it would be a very dangerous thing for any u.s. official to say. so if they're serious about negotiations, they have to get off their positions and talk more seriously about where the trade space is. in that trade space you mentioned some of the things that could be done in a resip pro call way. that would lead to positive outcomes. it's not clear to me whether putin really wants to negotiate or not. >> can i ask you if kazakhstan factors into this given the fact that russia sent troops into kazakhstan to quell the government uprising there? is there anything that can happen in kazakhstan that bears influence on ukraine? >> so far things have been rather quiet in kazakhstan since the russian deployment. the csto deployment to be clear. to remind everybody, we're not the only country that is part of a multilateral alliance. if things got bigger, if things got more out of control, through more violence in kazakhstan, that would give putin pause and more hesitation to try to start another military intervention in ukraine, but generally thinking, i don't think they're that related and today as they go into the negotiations, i don't think as zach stan is a particular influential factor as to whether we get a negotiating track or we march to a more confrontational track. >> okay. ambassador mcfall, thank you for your insights. america lost a legend this past week. up next the impact of a civil rights legend. what made sidney poitier the remarkable man we remember today? e remember today? fisher investments is different than other money managers. 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>> yeah. i think it's important to think about sidney poitier in some ways as the martin luther king in the sentence that what he tried to do through his films in hollywood was to try to project the ideals that the mainstream civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s sought to do as well, to reach out to the broader public, to foster integrationist ideals, to show blacks and whites as human beings together and through patterns of sacrifice. he was a character who often was there to support the white actor in their character, often sex was written out of roles for him where romances were written into roles for white actors who were stars at the same time. it was done with a degree of compromise. and so poitier had -- was incredibly significant bridge figure for hollywood because he was the only black leading man who was getting leading roles consistently throughout that era. >> his icon films in the heat of the night, to sir with love, guess who's coming to dinner, of course. let's take a look at some of this. >> i love your daughter. there is nothing i wouldn't do to try to keep her as happy as she was the day i met her. it seems to me without your approval we will make no sense at all. that is why i am asking for the clearest possible statement of what your attitude is going to be. >> i appreciate that, doctor. it's almost in the form of an ultimatum. >> not quite, mr. traden. all you have to say is goodbye. >> you know, his roles helped revolutionize pop culture. how did they come to be beloved by americans across the board? >> poitier was, you know, first of all his gift as an actor he was incredibly gifted at radiating charm, magnetism, certain inherent goodness -- >> elegance too. let me throw that in. >> he was also just -- i'm sorry? >> i said he was incredibly elegant as well, just the way he carried himself. everything about him. >> absolutely. and so that was the sort of universal qualities that black and white audiences gravitated to. for african americans it's important to think about poitier as this figure of pride, right. never really been a black man on screen like sidney poitier before. so a generation of african americans really gravitated to him and to his roles. >> yeah. talk, though, about the pretty incredible story i want to get to, shared by harry belafonte when he talks about how he and sidney poitier flew under cover to mississippi $70,000 snuffed a black doctor's bag, they were funding the civil rights movement into the fall. they were chased by armeded clans man, leaving greenwood airport when that happened, almost did not make it out of the south alive. was his activism widely known at a time that america was falling in love with his on-screen persona or deliberate about playing that down? >> it's really a fascinating story. for harry belafonte, he was consistently an activist. he was in civil rights circles. sidney poitier was an actor first, who was an activist in the sense he appeared at fund-raisers, he put his name on the line for civil rights. whenever interviewed he was asked by civil rights and support of the civil rights movement. the story harry bellefonte tells about freedom summer, exceptionally dangerous time to be a black activist in mississippi, the height of white violence against civil rights activists, the idea was that if these two celebrities, harry bellefonte and sidney poitier delivered this money to these young activists trying to register voters in mississippi, they would be at least a little bit susceptible to that violence. for both of them they tell the story of this incredibly harrowing journey and the harassment they faced and fear they faced. at the same time they tell it as an inspiring story because they are inspired by the activist they were around. was that known to the public at the time? not in a significant sort of way. poitier tells that story later in his life when he writes his first autobiography in 1980. >> a story that is remarkable and we're talking about it today with so much other fact and admiration for sydney poitier. thank you so much. the book is "sidney poitier, man, icon, actor" aptly said. this headline says it all, don't discuss the january 6th insurrection with students a bucks school tells teachers. ck. it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. a new warning to teachers in bucks county, pennsylvania. don't discuss the january insurrection with your student just the philly tribune reports it was from email from a school administrator. it's raising new questions about potential conflicts of interest. joining me now roger brooks of facing history and ourselves to help teachers tackle the tougher history lessons. welcome to you. this report says a school supervisor wrote this in the email. if students ask about the insurrection teachers should quote simply state that the investigation is ongoing and as historians we must wait to accurately interpret that. so what are your thoughts on that statement and how much does history or this particular history, how much could it look different with the passage of time? >> thank you for having me. it is a pleasure to be here. teachers have long struggled with how to teach complex and painful histories. we have a tagline that people make choices and choices make history. whenever we have the opportunity to look at the choices that folks have made we can begin to understand history. that doesn't need to take a long time. as an example we already know the actions of officer goodman who faced down rioters and moved them from the senate chambers. so we can already understand the historic nature of his actions. >> what about the millions of people, millions and the world watched this live on tv. the doj is watching thousands of hours of wort. you can taught to the holocaust and there's deniers. is there a denial aspect that's trickling down into our education system? >> there might be. but all of us, educators, parents, community members we should want the students to understand the fullness of the history with so many different experiences. actually i think the national motto out of many, one, applies here. out of the experiences together teachers explore one history. there can be a grave danger and i think we see this in the hesitancy you talk about. prescribing what the their tiff is going to be and what it should exclude and especially important with the exclugs are critical almosts. >> what is the role of politics? specifically that of bucks county school officials. are you seeing similar edicts going out in schools around the country? >> we are not seeing many, many of them. history is under attack right now. the mission is to use lessons of history to challenge teachers and students to stand up to pig tri and hate. that is more important than ever while history education is under attack. all that said across the nation there is skilled educators who are ready like they have been to have interpersonal awareness that these conversations require. they're under a great deal of stress because of the harsh and potentially punitive pieces of legislation. >> yeah. >> teaching history is nuanced and complex but with the guidance of caring educators who are coached and trained to do this work with empathy and real analytic skill history is well within the students to understand. >> i want to tell the viewers that you have a january 6 teaching guide on the website. you are the president and ceo of facing history and ourselves. thank you for your time. this is a wrap. i'll see you next saturday. yasmin vossoughian is ahead. inner voice (kombucha brewer): as a new small business owner, i find it useful to dramatically stare out of the window... ...so that no one knows i'm secretly terrified inside. inner voice (sneaker shop owner): i'm using hand gestures and pointing... ...so no one can tell i'm unsure about my business finances. inner voice (furniture maker): i'm constantly nodding... ...because i know everything about furniture... ...but with the business side... ...i'm feeling a little lost. quickbooks can help. an easy way to get paid, pay your staff and know where your business stands. new business? 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(vo) subaru and our retailers volunteer and support charities all year long. and...through the subaru share the love event, we are proud to have donated over two hundred and twenty five million dollars to charity. you can get a car from any company, but none will make a difference like subaru. (jeff) thank you. (bonnie) thank you. (robert) thank you. subaru. more than a car company. good afternoon, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian with a lot to cover. we are following breaking news out of new york city. dozens in life threatening conditions from a major fire. reports of residents jumping from the high-rise to try to survive. we'll have the latest on that. a major push this week. democrats trying to get voting rights passed. it is the centerpiece of an upcoming speech from the president. the latest to get former vice president mike pence to appear