AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: A major dam breach in Ukraine endangers several cities and prompts evacuations, as Russia and Ukraine trade blame.

AMNA NAWAZ: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, signaling he plans to take former President Trump head on.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the mayor of Los Angeles on her city's strategy to counteract the alarming increase in homelessness.

KAREN BASS (D), Mayor of Los Angeles, California: We are not just pushing them away.

We are getting them housed, with the commitment to address the underlying causes, as well as to put them in permanent supportive housing.

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

Water is pouring through a giant gap in a dam in Southern Ukraine tonight.

It gave way early this morning, forcing thousands of people to flee and touching off competing claims about the cause.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ukraine accused the Russians of blowing up the dam.

Moscow charged that Ukrainian shelling caused the rupture.

Neither side offered any direct evidence, but the results were catastrophic.

The massive structure that sustained Ukraine's largest reservoir now overtaken by a thick wall of water.

Satellite images show the ruptured Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the violent stream it unleashed.

The torrent burst through the dam, down the Dnipro River and toward the Black Sea.

Flooding threatened tens of thousands of residents of low-lying villages in the water's path.

Ukrainian police surveyed the Kherson region by boat, at times wading through thigh-deep water to carry people to safety.

LIDIA ZUBOVA, Kherson Resident (through translator): Our local school and stadium downtown were flooded.

The stadium was completely underwater and the floodwaters were reaching the school.

The road was completely flooded.

The bus was stuck.

Only one elevated point could be reached by the bus, and this is where we were taken from.

AMNA NAWAZ: In occupied Nova Kakhovka, Russian officials said water levels had risen past 30 feet with more than 600 homes submerged.

The Soviet-era dam was captured by Russian forces at the start of the war and is surrounded by major flash points on the front lines.

It spans the Dnipro River, separating Ukrainian forces from the Russian-occupied south, including Crimea.

To the Northeast, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant sit's along the Kakhovka Reservoir, and just downstream, Kherson, the port city retaken by Ukraine last fall, which has seen some of the war's most intense fighting.

Both sides were quick to blame the other for the breach.

Moscow said it was Ukrainian explosives.

SERGEI SHOIGU, Russian Defense Minister (through translator): Aiming to prevent the offensive operations by the Russian army on this section of the front line, the Kyiv regime committed an act of sabotage.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): It is physically impossible to blow it up from the outside by shelling.

It was mined by the Russian occupiers.

They blew it up.

And this once again demonstrates the cynicism with which Russia treats the people whose land it has captured.

AMNA NAWAZ: At the White House today, U.S. officials said they are still assessing who is responsible.

JOHN KIRBY, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications: We are working with the Ukrainians to gather more information, but we cannot say conclusively what happened at this point.

What is clear and what we absolutely can say is that the damage to the Ukrainian people and to the region will be significant.

AMNA NAWAZ: Some reports say Russian mismanagement of the facility led to the incident.

In recent days, high water levels suggest the reservoir could have been perilously overfilled, causing the dam collapse.

Whatever the cause, experts warn of a potential humanitarian and environmental crisis.

The dam provides electricity and drinking water to a huge swathe of Southern Ukraine.

And, in Zaporizhzhia the nuclear power plant relies on the reservoir to cool its systems.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said its six reactors are in shutdown mode, leaving enough water to supply the plant for several months.

While not presently in danger, he warned any further harm to the reservoir could be catastrophic.

RAFAEL GROSSI, Director General, IAEA: It is vital this cooling pond remains intact.

Nothing must be done to potentially undermine its integrity.

I call on all sides to ensure nothing is done to undermine that.

The consequences may be grave.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more on the destruction of the dam and its impact on Ukraine and on the war, we turn to Michael Kofman, senior fellow for Russian studies at the Center for Naval Analyses.

That's a federally funded research and analysis organization that focuses primarily on national security issues.

Michael, as we just saw there, the breach has certainly impacted both Russian-controlled areas and Ukrainian-held areas.

As U.S. officials work to see if they can assess who is responsible, how do you see it?

Would this breach benefit either side?

MICHAEL KOFMAN, Center for Naval Analyses: Now, unfortunately, this breach is an ecological and a humanitarian disaster.

It actually results on a lose-lose proposition for both sides.

The flooding is going to substantially affect the Ukrainian-controlled right side of the riverbank.

It's going to probably damage even more the currently Russian-occupied side of Kherson, because it's on a lower floodplain.

And it will also potentially damage the water canal that supplies water all the way down to Russian-occupied Crimea.

So this is a disaster on many levels, and it will have long-lasting economic and humanitarian implications for the region.

I think, unfortunately, it's still unclear whether the dam was destroyed resulting from a deliberate act by Russian forces or due to negligence, given this dam was previously damaged during the Russian withdrawal from Kherson back in November.

And there was significant rain.

And there was a raising of the water level in the deeper water reservoir ahead of this over the course of the past several months.

So that situation is still unclear.

But, either way, Russia is responsible, either by virtue of action or by virtue of the fact that it controlled the dam.

At the end of the day, the outcome of the situation is the result of Russian actions in Ukraine one way or another.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as the blame game continues to play out here, what is the military impact?

You mentioned, obviously, downstream there Crimea being impacted.

That's a Russian-occupied area.

Could the loss of that water supply impact the Russian occupation there?

MICHAEL KOFMAN: So, the impact there's likely to be long term and is still unclear.

I think, unfortunately, many of the models projecting what could happen in the situation that were done back in the fall didn't even anticipate this high of a water level coming through the dam.

That being said, I don't think this will substantially affect Ukrainian military prospects when it comes to their offensive this summer.

I think, when you look on a situation along the Dnipro River, on the one hand, the flooding is going to damage the defenses that the Russian military built alongside the riverbank.

On the other hand, it's going to make a Ukrainian cross-river operation exceedingly difficult.

And it was always a precarious proposition or at least a higher risk or low-likelihood proposition to begin with.

So, I don't think it's going to substantially shape outcomes when it comes to Ukraine's offensive operation, which seems to have begun over the course of at least the last two days.

AMNA NAWAZ: What about that Ukrainian counteroffensive?

As you just indicated, there seems to be consensus around the idea that it has, in fact, begun.

It seems like you agree with that.

But what does this mean for both the direction and for the duration of the war?

MICHAEL KOFMAN: So, I think it's fair to say that the Ukrainian offensive has begun and we're probably in initial phases.

I think we're beyond what people consider to be shaping operations or other activities to set the conditions that were taking place over the past several weeks.

There's been a significant uptick in fighting.

There was a limited Ukrainian offensive that has made some headway in one part of the region, Southern Donetsk between Vuhledar and (INAUDIBLE).

So there does seem to be a significant increase in fighting.

That said, the Ukraine offensive is likely to proceed over the course of several months, not days and weeks.

And I don't think we're seeing the main effort or the forces that were likely to be involved in the main effort yet.

So, unfortunately, it's too early to make any predictions or assessment in this regard, except that Ukraine is taking the initiative.

And I'm deeply skeptical that what's happened with this dam and the resultant flooding is actually going to affect their military prospects.

AMNA NAWAZ: Michael, in the minute or so we have left, on the long-term impacts of this flooding, you're talking about tens of thousands of people who have now been deeply impacted who are being evacuated, the disaster on top of the 16 months of war that Russia has been waging there.

What will this now require from the international community that is so invested in supporting Ukraine?

MICHAEL KOFMAN: I think it's going to require a tremendous amount of assistance, especially once Ukraine is able to liberate the territory in Kherson, because that's the territory that will be substantially flooded on the left side of the riverbank, the eastern part of the country.

And it's going to lead to lasting damage to agriculture, provision of drinkable water - - water.

And it's going to wipe out entire communities.

It honestly depends.

We will have to see what happens when the water levels to some extent recede.

But I think there will be lasting damage from this incident.

AMNA NAWAZ: Disaster on top of disaster.

That is Michael Kofman, senior fellow for Russian studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, joining us tonight.

Michael, thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: Lawyers for Ukraine branded Russia a terrorist state before the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

They spoke during an initial hearing into Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The Kyiv government has challenged that move, as well as Russia's arming of rebels in Eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainians are demanding that Moscow pay reparations.

The war in Ukraine shadowed today's ceremonies and France marking 79 years since the D-Day landings.

It was the largest naval, air and land operation in history, and it began the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control.

Today's ceremonies paid tribute to the fallen.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with aging veterans who fought on D-Day, and he also delivered remarks.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: We all see a world where oppression is a sin, where human rights are sacred.

If the troops of the world's democracy could risk their live for freedom them, surely, the citizens of the world's democracy can risk our comfort for freedom now.

GEOFF BENNETT: Some 4,400 Allied troops lost their lives on D-Day.

More than half were Americans.

Back in this country, Atlanta's City Council approved funding for a police and firefighter training center that sparked sometimes violent protests.

Critics call the $90 million project Cop City.

Hundreds of people packed city hall last night and spoke for 14 hours before the predawn vote.

They argued the project would further militarize the police.

The city says it will greatly improve training.

Republican discontent with last week's debt ceiling deal spilled over today at the U.S. Capitol; 11 far right lawmakers blocked action bills involving regulation of gas stoves.

Some of the same lawmakers have talked of targeting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who negotiated the debt deal for Republicans.

And, on Wall Street, stocks managed slight gains on a quiet day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 10 points to close it 33573.

The Nasdaq rose 47 points.

The S&P 500 was up 10 points.

And a passing of note the French painter Francoise Gilot died today at a hospital in Manhattan.

In her early life.

She was best known as Pablo Picasso's mistress and had two children with him.

Gilot ended that relationship in 1953 and later wrote a celebrated memoir, "Life With Picasso."

She also became a highly successful artist in her own right.

Francoise Gilot was 101 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the U.S. government sues two cryptocurrency exchanges for securities violations; Golf's PGA Tour merges with the Saudi-backed LIV league following a protracted legal battle; and an educator gives her Brief But Spectacular take on teacher burnout.

AMNA NAWAZ: The race to the Republican nomination for president is picking up, as a growing number of candidates jump into an already crowded field.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission today, becoming the latest to launch his presidential bid.

Tonight, he kicks off his run with remarks at a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Laura Barron-Lopez has more.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Chris Christie hasn't been shy about his soured feelings for Donald Trump.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ): Donald Trump is a TV star, nothing more, nothing less.

If we put him back in the White House, the reruns will be worse than the original show was.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The former two-term governor from New Jersey officially kicks off his bid for president in New Hampshire, the same state where he finished in sixth place in the 2016 Republican primary and within 24 hours dropped his first bid for the presidency.

Then and now, he positioned himself as a no-holds-barred candidate, leaning into the tough-talking reputation he built his governor, but for roughly two decades, Christie considered Trump a friend and advised him throughout his 2016 campaign and presidency.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: After serving in Trump's administration as chair of the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission, Christie broke with him in 2020, as Trump spread misinformation about a stolen election.

He considers those lies a threat to the Republican Party.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: But I got off the train when he stood up in the West Wing of the White House, behind the seal of the president, and told us the election was stolen, when he didn't have one fact to back it up.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Since their fallout, Christie's also blamed the former president's rhetoric for the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I think everything that he was saying from election night forward incited people to that level of anger.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Now a presidential hopeful once again, Christie is positioning himself as Trump's foil, an alternative with his own accomplishments and a legacy of bipartisanship and moderate policy positions.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I was a pro-life governor in New Jersey, which is one of the most pro-choice states in America.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC News: But you weren't attempting to ban abortion in New Jersey.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I wasn't, but, Jon... (CROSSTALK) JONATHAN KARL: Your personal views... FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I was very clear about my personal views.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: From 2002 to 2008, he served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, carving out a tough-on-corruption reputation.

He then set his sights on the governor's mansion, elected in 2009.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Hey, New Jersey, we did it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: During his first term, he was credited for his leadership and handling of recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: That's the only message I'm here to deliver is of support and let them know I'm on the job and we're going to continue to work real hard.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: He went on to be reelected in 2013.

But his second term was marred with controversies, namely, the infamous highway traffic scandal known as Bridgegate.

One of Christie's aides and multiple political appointees colluded to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, by closing lanes to the George Washington Bridge, one of the busiest commuter bridges in the world.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I have 65,000 people working for me every day.

And I cannot know what each one of them is doing at every minute.

But that doesn't matter.

I'm ultimately responsible for what they do.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The scandal became the subject of a federal investigation and ended in the indictments of Christie's deputy chief of staff and political appointees to the Port Authority.

Christie denied any direct involvement and was never charged, but the events cast a shadow on his time as governor.

In 2017, he was unapologetic after being photographed enjoying a holiday weekend on an empty beach he had closed to the public after a state government shutdown.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: The governor has a residence at the beach.

Others don't.

It's just the way it goes.

Run for governor, then you can have the residence.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: He left office with a 15 percent approval rating down from a peak of 70 percent, one of the lowest of any governor in the history of New Jersey.

But Christie hopes to start fresh, a new chapter for himself and the party, as he takes on his former boss in the process.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today it's suing Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the U.S.

It comes one day after the SEC announced its lawsuit against Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of lying to American regulators and investors about its operations.

Stephanie Sy has more.

STEPHANIE SY: Geoff, these are big players in the crypto world.

In its most recent suit, the SEC is accusing Coinbase of breaking federal law by acting as an exchange broker and clearing agency without being registered as any of them.

For more on the crisis in crypto, I'm joined by Roben Farzad, host of public radio's "Full Disclosure."

Roben, it's good to see you.

In the simplest of terms, please explain why the SEC is suing Coinbase and what it alleges.

ROBEN FARZAD, Host, "Full Disclosure": Coinbase was operating as an exchange, something that has been regulated, in fact, intensely for the better part of 90 years.

And if they want to do things, if they want to say, we operate outside the system, that's a world that they would like to occupy.

That's their world view.

But here you have the SEC chair coming in and saying, actually, these should be regulated securities.

They should be accompanied by offering statements, disclosures, various strings attached to the SEC.

And, clearly, that's anathema to the crypto world.

You kind of want to exist in this gray area, in this Wild, Wild West, if you will.

And I think between what happened yesterday and the announcement today, I think it's that the SEC is finally putting regulatory contours around this.

STEPHANIE SY: Yes, this is a $2 trillion industry that's been around for about 10 years.

The SEC chair, Gary Gensler, on CNBC this morning said, what Coinbase is doing would be like if the New York Stock Exchange was allowed to operate a hedge fund.

So could the outcome of this case, Roben, really tame the Wild West that crypto has been for the last decade?

ROBEN FARZAD: The Wild West aspects are, I mean, truly the most profitable elements, if -- I think if you look at the revenue model for Coinbase.

And it's had a pretty harsh two years.

In these various gray areas, such as staking, I mean, where you really have to read the fine print and the legend, it's like lending out stocks if you're part of a -- a client of a brokerage firm.

You have to opt into that are getting things on margin.

They roughly rhyme with what exchanges and wire houses do, the likes of Goldman Sachs and Schwab and others.

But Coinbase's offering here, it's saying that, if you regulate us such as this, it's going to kill the whole thing.

I mean, we're supposed to be deregulated.

And what is a token?

What is one of these non-Bitcoin things?

If it's not a commodity, it's kind of a meaning of life question.

Are we an ephemeral asset?

Do we even exist?

It -- in the case of the action you saw yesterday, the mysterious CEO says, I don't even have a headquarters.

It's wherever I'm putting up my laptop at my table.

So I think that's a -- it's actually on brand for the crypto companies to say, you don't quite understand us.

But, in the same voice, they're saying, if you do want to regulate us, at least put out a blueprint for us.

At least be transparent.

So you're seeing this kind of game of chess between regulators and the cryptos.

STEPHANIE SY: I mean, it does seem like smoke and mirrors to those of us that don't invest in crypto, but plenty of Americans do.

And Gensler pointed out that investors of all kinds, especially small amateur investors, invested a lot in crypto during the pandemic.

Have recent times shown they need, these investors, the same kind of protections that other investors in, say, securities would want?

ROBEN FARZAD: Yes, if you saw the implosion of FTX last year, if you saw what happened with very well-capitalized banks and bank runs, again, these things rhyme.

They're not necessarily apples to apples, but you could have situations where your liquidity is not available.

If you thought, OK, I want the best of both worlds, I want full access to things, I want access to other markets and exchanges, but I don't want it regulated, well, what happens when these crypto assets fall?

I mean, it's like, heads, I win, tails, you lose.

Do you want to be protected in the event of a downturn?

I mean, clearly, there's been tremendous, hyperbolic upside for crypto assets over the last decade.

But when things fall apart, I think that's when mom-and-pop investors or whatever you want to call them, stakeholders, want protections as well.

STEPHANIE SY: Yes, and don't even get me started on what happens if you forget the password to your digital wallet.

But, as you say, Roben, Coinbase says the digital asset industry lacks clear rules, and the company says it's planning to -- quote - - "defend its platform vigorously" against this lawsuit, so not expecting a settlement.

How do you expect things to play out?

ROBEN FARZAD: Well, I think the best case scenario for them is if the SEC can give them contours, can regulate them modestly, but not so much that it completely harshes the mellow of what they have going on, again, liquidity, high-volatility action, without regulators coming in, without being gummed up by offering statements and disclosures and Wells notices and the like.

That is so anathema to crypto.

I just don't see how they'd be profitable.

Certainly, the stock has reflected a catastrophic scenario over the last two years, coming down from euphoria, but today, down 12 percent, it's not exactly end of times for them.

STEPHANIE SY: Yes, and the stock is up 45 percent year to date, so investors seem like they think they might be able to fight this lawsuit.

Harshes the mellow, spoken like a true crypto bro.

Thank you so much, Roben Farzad, host of "Full Disclosure."

ROBEN FARZAD: Thank you.

STEPHANIE SY: Thank you.

ROBEN FARZAD: A pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: Los Angeles is home to the country's largest homeless population.

The city's new mayor, Karen Bass, promised solutions upon entering office back in December.

Late last month, she signed a $13 billion city budget, 10 percent of it dedicated to addressing homelessness.

Much of the new investment is set aside for an initiative called Safe Inside, which aims to house the homeless and clear street encampments, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joins us now.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

KAREN BASS (D), Mayor of Los Angeles, California: Thank you.

Thanks for having me on.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about your plan, your strategy to confront the homelessness crisis.

This program, Inside Safe, has moved more than 1,200 homeless people off the streets out of encampments into interim housing.

What's the plan to make sure that those folks and others find their way into permanent housing?

KAREN BASS: Well, absolutely.

And thank you for raising the issue.

Los Angeles is really the epicenter.

We have over 40,000 people sleeping in tents around the city, and so getting them off the streets immediately, putting them in interim housing, which right now are motels and hotels, addressing why they were unhoused to begin with, and then moving them on to permanent supportive housing.

And we are having challenges doing that.

We actually have vacancies in some of our permanent supportive housing.

But we're dealing with bureaucratic barriers, and we're trying to address those.

And those barriers are on a federal level, on a county and a city level.

GEOFF BENNETT: So often, the political solution to homelessness is to make it invisible, to push people into places where they can't be seen, to clear encampments.

How is your strategy different from that approach?

KAREN BASS: Well, it's completely different, because we're not just pushing them away.

We are getting them housed, with the commitment to address the underlying causes, as well as to put them in permanent supportive housing.

And so what has happened in the past is that the priority has been to clean the streets, which is something that absolutely needs to be done, but to move them on.

And that doesn't do anything.

And when you have reached critical mass, like we have in Los Angeles, you can't hide 40,000 people.

And so that's why I ran.

That is my commitment.

That is, on day one, I declared a state of emergency, because I think we have an emergency in Los Angeles; 2,000 people died in these tents last year; 22 people died in the first three months of this year on our metro line, at the subways, because -- and that's a phenomena that I know happened around the country, where people who were unhoused started living in subway stations when people were not riding the trains.

GEOFF BENNETT: People often fall into homelessness faster than the system can catch them and help them.

Los Angeles -- the social services system in Los Angeles has a number of gaps.

There is a major affordability crisis, as you well know.

How do you address this urgent need, when it takes time to build or acquire housing for folks, and it takes time to roll out new social services?

KAREN BASS: And you know what?

You are so right.

My biggest concern right now is that, since the COVID protections, like the eviction moratorium, the rental assistance and all of that, since those programs have gone away, I'm actually worried that we're going to experience another increase in homelessness in Los Angeles.

At the end of the day, there has to be a comprehensive approach.

We need to prevent homelessness to begin with.

So, for example, our City Council passed tenant protections.

But we need to make sure that the public knows about that.

So we're doing grassroots outreach, as well as mainstream outreach, and then, again, putting people into temporary housing, which are hotels and motels.

One of the things that we have not encountered really at all are people refusing the housing.

And that was one of the biggest myths around, that people are on the street because they choose to be there, because they're all strung out on drugs.

As a matter of fact, we have had the opposite problem.

When we go to move people out of an encampment, we plan for 20 people, and the day that we're moving, folks, 30 people show up.

So we have learned to rent additional rooms.

Now, we have had a few examples of people refusing, but it has been extremely rare.

GEOFF BENNETT: In your inaugural speech, you talked about how you were raised in Los Angeles and how your father was able to own home, raise a family on a single income.

He worked for the U.S.

Postal Service.

That version of L.A. is unrecognizable now.

That dream is so far out of reach for so many people.

Big picture, beyond the homelessness crisis, what is your vision for the future of housing in Los Angeles?

KAREN BASS: Yes, you are absolutely right.

And let me just put some numbers to that.

I think, if you went to the toughest neighborhood in town, you are not going to find a house below $400,000.

A million-dollar home in Los Angeles is not necessarily a mansion at all.

And so the only solution to that is to massively increase the supply.

And one thing that Angelenos -- it's a cultural shift for us.

And that is to move up, because we are a city that is spread out with single-family homes.

And so now taking a second look at our commercial areas, taking a second look at outdoor malls that are underperforming, so we have to change some of our cultural norms here in the city in order to accommodate - - 500,000 units is what we need in the next 10 years.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you do that?

How do you change the minds of residents who don't want multifamily housing built in their neighborhoods?

KAREN BASS: Well, in one of the neighborhoods where they are the most resistant, they actually support the idea of housing on the commercial strips?

So, what I believe is that this problem has become so massive in Los Angeles that, a few years ago, where people who would have said, not in my neighborhood under any circumstances, are now going, well, I mean, what's my choice, on the streets or in housing?

Because, in addition to tents, we also have a terrible problem with recreational vehicles and people living in cars.

And so it's different forms.

But, at the end of the day, it's all homelessness.

GEOFF BENNETT: I'd like to ask you about policing while we have you because in -- over the last four years, the Los Angeles Police Department has been hemorrhaging officers, down 1,000 officers.

The department has had to ask former officers to come out of retirement.

How will you recruit and retain officers, while placing a premium on quality, not just quantity?

KAREN BASS: Well, you are so right.

It has to be on quality.

And, in my budget, I am calling to expand the police department, to offer signing -- signing bonuses, to offer raises to officers who've been there for a few years.

And we have taken a member of the police department and placed the individual in the personnel department, because one of our problems -- it's not just a recruitment problem.

It's a problem with the bureaucracy in City Hall that it takes so long to go through the hiring process.

So, we are absolutely trying to address that.

Now, in addition to that, I am also very, very committed to permitting -- to preventing crime in the first place.

So, we are opening an Office of Community Safety that's going to focus on unarmed and alternative responses, especially to calls for mental health crises.

So there is a variety of ways that we are approaching this problem.

My number one job as mayor is to keep the city safe.

GEOFF BENNETT: Throughout your political career, you have been an activist.

You have served as speaker of the California State Assembly.

You have served in leadership roles in the U.S. Congress.

You have tried to effect change at different levels of government in different capacities.

What is different and distinct about being mayor?

KAREN BASS: Well, I will tell you, everything.

(LAUGHTER) KAREN BASS: But what probably what I enjoy the most is the instant gratification, where you're working with legislation, which I also enjoyed very much, but it's 30,000 feet up and it takes years.

To be able to go to a person in a tent and get them out of that tent and put them in a motel on the same day, it's -- that brings me tremendous joy, that you can see the change that you are leading in happen right there at the moment.

GEOFF BENNETT: Karen Bass is the mayor of Los Angeles.

Thanks so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

KAREN BASS: Thanks for speaking with me.

AMNA NAWAZ: The PGA Tour is merging with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.

The stunning announcement ends months of bitter legal fights between the rival groups.

The PGA says the move will -- quote -- "unify the game of golf."

But critics and human rights activists argue the merger will stain the legacy of the tour, given LIV's close ties to the Saudi royal family.

For a closer look, I'm joined by Brendan Quinn.

He's a senior writer at The Athletic who has covered this story from the outset.

Brendan, welcome to the "NewsHour."

I saw from the reaction online this seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise.

What about you?

Did you see this merger coming?

BRENDAN QUINN, The Athletic: Well, I certainly did not.

But I will say, typically, it's the maybe the media or fans are the ones caught off guard.

Rarely do you see tour officials, the most prominent players in the game, the most powerful agents in the game have no idea this was coming, zero indication.

The PGA Tour often refers to itself as a player-run organization, that it operates differently than traditional professional sports leagues.

Well, in this instance, a player-run organization, the players had no idea that this was happening.

And the reactions were everything from confusion to anger.

And it's been reacting in real time, basically, since 10:00 a.m. this morning.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Brendan Quinn, that's really just -- it's a stunning thing to be able to say.

What does that tell you about how this deal was crafted?

BRENDAN QUINN: Can you repeat that?

AMNA NAWAZ: Of course.

I'm just asking you if you know, based on the reaction and the surprise, we saw, what does that tell you about how this deal was crafted?

BRENDAN QUINN: Well, it's certainly basically between two very small groups.

It was it was PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

He is MBS' personal banker, also the director of LIV Golf.

So, overseas, LIV Golf, for years now, basically, it has been those two parties going at each other in terms of finding who could have more leverage to get the best players in the world to play on their tours.

Over the last seven weeks, according to Jay Monahan, the two have been talking.

They met in London.

They played golf together.

They had lunch together, and eventually hammered out a deal that for everything -- that, for has happened in the past two years-plus, to suddenly get wrapped up between basically two people in seven weeks is unthinkable.

I mean, no one would have ever even considered a scenario like this to play out.

AMNA NAWAZ: I mean, Brendan, you mentioned everything that has happened.

We need to remind people LIV Golf is bankrolled by billions from Saudi Arabia.

The crown prince there, Mohammed bin Salman, was linked to the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

We know they have an abysmal human rights record when it comes to not only treatment of women, but protection of LGBTQ rights there.

And a lot of folks said that the creation of this league was what they called sportswashing, right, just pouring money into a sport to distract from all of those other issues.

Does this merger say that, essentially, that worked?

BRENDAN QUINN: I think one of the things Saudi Arabia has been looking for as much as anything is kind of twofold in terms of the sportswashing idea.

It's legitimacy and I think it's also power.

I remember speaking to Graeme Wood from "The Atlantic," not to be mistaken with The Athletic, but had met with MBS multiple times, studied Saudi Arabia and the Public Investment Fund at length.

And one thing he said to me that always stuck with me, he goes, it would be something that the Saudis would think of would be, why buy a sports team, when you can buy a sports league?

Like, there's that degree of ambition.

So, in creating LIV Golf, it was come up with an entirely new entity to try to take over a sport and gain as much leverage in that sport as possible.

Well, now, today -- two years ago, if it would have -- if it could have, I should say, the Public Investment Fund would have bought the PGA Tour outright, if they would have sold, for how many ever number of billions.

It doesn't really matter.

But the PGA Tour wouldn't sell.

And now it's the influx of cash that the PGA Tour is getting from the Public Investment Fund that is bolstering the tour and giving basically the Saudi government a controlling share of it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Brendan, in the minute or so we have left, I have to put you part of the statement from the 9/11 families that they put out today after the merger.

They said, in part -- quote -- "Now that PGA and Monahan," the PGA commissioner, "appear to have become just more paid Saudi shills, taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation."

Brendan, has the PGA commissioner addressed any of these concerns since announcing the merger?

BRENDAN QUINN: He has.

He spoke with media just about a half-an-hour ago.

And his big message was essentially that the long-term threat of the health of the PGA Tour and needing this cash, needing to get out of litigation -- there's been a drawn-out lawsuit with LIV Golf.

The Department of Justice is investigating the PGA Tour's tax-exempt statuses.

It basically was, we had to get out of that situation, and this is the only way to do it, and morality be damned, frankly.

The PGA Tour used a lot of ideas of morale and ethics, morality and ethics, to keep its best players in the fold, and kind of stand in stark contrast to what LIV Golf is as a competitor, and, essentially, at the end of the day, chose its own financial security over those concerns of morality.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Brendan Quinn, senior writer from The Athletic, joining us tonight Brendan, thank you.

BRENDAN QUINN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: The nation is in the middle of a teacher shortage.

And, at the end of another school year, burnout is causing many more teachers to call it quits.

Micaela DeSimone is a sixth grade English teacher in a charter school in Queens, New York, and explains how the past few years have changed her views on what was once her dream job.

She says her Brief But Spectacular take, as part of our open call for stories.

MICAELA DESIMONE, Educator: I don't know a teacher right now that's not struggling.

And I know a lot of teachers.

My father was a guidance counselor for 30 years.

We had a family of five on just his salary.

And he got the summers off.

He got to coach and be with people.

It looked like a joyous, fulfilling, satisfying and sustainable life.

So I just knew from an early age I wanted that.

So, I teach at a charter school in Long Island City, Queens.

We serve grades six through eight.

So, I'm at a middle school.

The biggest perk is, you get to see these people and experience these important life events with them.

I work with some of the most brilliant, incredible educators that you will ever meet.

They are open-minded, they are creative, they are collaborative, they are hardworking, and they are tired.

During COVID, teachers really had to learn a new job.

To teach over a screen was unbelievably infuriating and demoralizing.

Nobody turns their cameras on.

So you don't know if they're listening.

You don't know if they're there.

Again, I work in the midst of the largest housing projects in the country.

So, my students absolutely did not have access to this technology.

And that was during the phase of the pandemic where everyone was like, oh, my God, pay the teachers millions of dollars.

How are they doing this?

And that did not last long.

Once we finally figure out how to teach on zoom, they shove us back into the classroom without PPE.

I had 25 kids in a room.

How am I supposed to keep them six feet apart?

So what we saw when we got back to the classroom is, number one, your teachers are exhausted, but, also, the kids are exhausted.

And a lot of my students had been home for a year, a year-and-a-half without adult supervision.

The apathetic nature was frustrating and infuriating and demoralizing.

It's demoralizing because, when we asked for help, we didn't receive it.

So now I am running on a very low empathy tank and a very low resource tank, and my funds are being cut.

I'm not asking for more money for crayons.

I'm asking for a another special educator in the room, because my classroom is mandated to have one, hot spots for my students who don't have access to Internet, multilanguage learner specialists who can come help us with the immigrants that are being dropped off at our schools.

I have decided to leave teaching after this year, because it is at the point where my mental and physical health can't sustain this profession anymore.

It's a grieving process.

I'm mourning the loss of a life I expected, and I am mourning the loss of a future I'd always imagined for myself.

So, at the same time, I'm 30 years old, and I'm basically like a 22-year-old college graduate, because the only experience I have is in this very niche profession that nobody really knows what we do every day.

We're smart, and we're capable, and we manage 25 to 30 people at a time.

And yet the positions that I am qualified for are that of an intern.

So, as hard as it is to walk away from this, another even harder element is figuring out what to do next.

My name is Micaela DeSimone, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on teacher burnout.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

And we will be back shortly with a look at an academy training up the next generation of musicians.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.

It's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like this one on the air.

AMNA NAWAZ: For those of you staying with us: We spend a great deal of time looking at the impact of climate change and how it's changing our weather and environment.

That, in turn, can have an impact on how pathogens and disease could spread as well.

Our science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has this encore report.

MILES O'BRIEN: Dawn in the High Sierra, 50 miles northwest of Reno at the Clover Valley Ranch.

BRIAN BIRD, One Health Institute, University of California, Davis: Remember to check every trap.

Walk the line.

MILES O'BRIEN: The hunt is on once again... BRIAN BIRD: Make sure you take the boxes, open, closed.

They're empty if there's no animal in it.

MILES O'BRIEN: ... for clues linking a changing climate and the worsening spread of disease.

That is ranch owner Brian Bird, a veterinarian, virologist and director of the One Health Institute Laboratory at the University of California, Davis.

BRIAN BIRD: Good hunting.

MILES O'BRIEN: Overnight, 47 of their quarry took the peanut butter, oats and bacon bait.

Now it's time to retrieve the traps.

BRIAN BIRD: I believe that's the most we have ever captured here.

MILES O'BRIEN: And gather some data.

For three years now, he and his students have been systematically trapping deer mice that live here.

They're hoping to better understand hantavirus.

The rodents are the primary reservoir for this pathogen.

BRIAN BIRD: It doesn't cause any harm to the rodent at all.

They carry the virus throughout their life.

But then they shed this virus in their urine and their feces.

MILES O'BRIEN: When a human gets hantavirus, is that pretty serious?

BRIAN BIRD: It can be very serious.

There are hundreds of cases a year.

Of those, 20 to 30, maybe even 50 percent could be fatal.

So it's a relatively rare, but a high-consequence disease.

MILES O'BRIEN: Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a so-called zoonotic disease, meaning it is spread by pathogens that spill over from one species to another.

This is the primary cause of pandemics throughout human history.

Human encroachment and global travel hasten these spillover events.

And it appears the climate crisis is making matters even worse.

BRIAN BIRD: So, as the animals get more and more stressed, they're more likely to shed a particular virus or a pathogen.

There's also the impact on the animals themselves.

So where do they live?

As those environments change, well, those animals will move.

They're adaptable at a species level, certainly.

But those changes occur very gradually, over perhaps millennia.

But now we're looking at rather dramatic, fast-paced changes on the time scale of hundreds of years, if not even faster.

MILES O'BRIEN: In September of 2021, he learned just how fast.

So did the fire come through here?

BRIAN BIRD: It did.

So you're working on burned area here.

MILES O'BRIEN: It was the Dixie megafire amplified by a historic drought linked to climate change.

It burned nearly a million acres over three months.

So you had been working in this spot prior to the fire?

BRIAN BIRD: Yes, exactly in this spot prior to the fire.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

Wow.

BRIAN BIRD: And we had two seasons of sampling data here before the fire .

MILES O'BRIEN: Bird expected it would take years, even decades, to connect the dots.

But in his blackened field, he saw opportunity.

BRIAN BIRD: So, we thought, well, this would be a great time to continue that sampling and then see, well, how do the rodent populations respond to pretty much a complete destruction of their habitat?

MILES O'BRIEN: They're now finding active hantavirus in 8 percent of mice they're trapping.

In the unburned control site, it is 4 percent.

Bird says the mice are fighting to establish turf.

BRIAN BIRD: The primary method of transmitting the virus amongst the rodents is when they fight and bite each other.

So they could be transmitting the virus at a heightened rate, compared to a control site that wasn't burned.

MILES O'BRIEN: They're carving out turf and fighting, and that means more transmission, potentially.

BRIAN BIRD: Potentially, yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, climate change worsens a drought that triggers a megafire, which wipes out a habitat, causing a rodent rumble, a virus super-spreader, a nuanced link, to be sure, but not new.

The historical evidence linking the climate to zoonotic disease is growing.

Biologist Camilo Mora is a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

He led a team that pored through no less than 70,000 scientific studies dating back to the end of the Roman Empire.

CAMILO MORA, University of Hawaii at Manoa: Over 58 percent of those pathogens that have impacted humanity anywhere in the world are already affected by climatic changes.

But those are the ones that we already know.

The scary things are the ones that we just don't know about, because the ones that we know of, we know that we cannot cope with them.

You can imagine the surprise that we might get when we start unleashing all of these pathogens that could be more damaging to us.

MILES O'BRIEN: At Georgetown University, global change biologist Colin Carlson is working on a way to take the surprise out of this.

So, Colin, what are we looking at here?

COLIN CARLSON, Georgetown University: We are looking at the pathogen harmonized surveillance system.

MILES O'BRIEN: He is trying to meld existing climate and disease data in a way that allows epidemiologists to see the big picture.

COLIN CARLSON: So let's go to Berlin.

So, each of these points is somewhere that they have tested a fox for distemper virus.

What if we knew this much about viruses everywhere in the world?

What if we knew this about the diseases that we were worried about jumping into humans, right?

We can literally know within a city where spillover risk is the highest.

MILES O'BRIEN: He's building an open-source tool to forecast an outbreak sooner.

He foresees the ability to predict disease, as well as the weather.

COLIN CARLSON: If we want to get really good at predicting spillover, we need to know what the dynamics of these viruses are when we're not watching them.

MILES O'BRIEN: So can technology make it easier for public health professionals to monitor disease in wild animal populations?

Epidemiologist Christine Johnson is also a professor at the U.C.

Davis one health institute.

She is testing new ways to monitor one of the most prolific spreaders of zoonotic disease, bats.

CHRISTINE JOHNSON, One Health Institute, University of California, Davis: Well done, Jana (ph), yes.

Did you get that stream?

WOMAN: We did, yes.

(CROSSTALK) WOMAN: We got two of them.

MILES O'BRIEN: She and her team are testing thermal cameras, as well as audio devices able to record what bat echolocation sounds like.

They hope to deploy the technology to make their work more efficient and safer.

CHRISTINE JOHNSON: We don't like to go into bat caves for so many reasons, especially because they're very dark.

We're able to see them much more clearly with thermal cameras than we could just see with our own eyes.

The techniques that we're developing could be used to do that remotely.

MILES O'BRIEN: She is collaborating with the engineering department, seeking ways to monitor and test bat populations remotely.

CHRISTINE JOHNSON: And so that's what we're seeking is, with the innovative technology that we're using to try to bring much more feasibility to wildlife surveillance.

MILES O'BRIEN: There are more and more zoonotic diseases coming.

The climate crisis makes it unavoidable.

A greater investment to protect public health with some 21st century tools, along with the risky, laborious field work, might be the only way to stop a spillover from boiling over, shutting down the world once again.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien, near Portola, California.

GEOFF BENNETT: At the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, students learn the fundamentals of music, building on the long legacy of R&B and soul artists who emerged from their local communities.

This piece comes to us from the "NewsHour"'s Student Reporting Labs, which oversees journalism training at over 150 high schools and middle schools across the country, and is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

DALEN BROWN, Student: I'm going to stay in this key.

PAT MITCHELL WORLEY, President and CEO, Stax Music Academy: Here, the students learn what were the elements that went into songs of the past in order for them to create those songs of the future.

DALEN BROWN: I sing everywhere.

With me being at Stax Academy, now I feel more confident, because I'm learning how to like breathe and stuff like that, so now I can do my singing to the fullest.

ISAAC DANIEL, Executive Director, Stax Music Academy: This is an R&B institution that teaches kids the basics about rhythm and blues and soul.

PAT MITCHELL WORLEY: We have alum who are playing with Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic.

This last Grammy cycle, three of our alums were on Grammy-nominated projects from gospel to pop.

DALEN BROWN: I heard that Stax had a lot of genres.

So, then I came over here and was like, let's see what this is all about.

When it is fast, you, like -- you want to, like, dance to it.

And then, when it is real slow, you are like -- you just, like, smooth-dance a little bit, like dance with your partner or something like that.

PAT MITCHELL WORLEY: We have many long, long, long, long conversations.

DALEN BROWN: Blues can make you feel sad, but it can also make you feel good.

But then pop can make you feel sad, but then it can also make you feel good.

So, it is how you receive it, really.

So, I mostly receive it just as music.

PAT MITCHELL WORLEY: This is a musical place.

All of them, I think, are great examples of students who have found a space where they can be creative.

RICKEY FONDREN, Student: When I got in, like you're automatically being accepted into like a family, and a family that cares about you and cares about music the same as you do.

Dealing with a lot of self-doubt, it was kind of hard to kind of fit in with school.

I just knew that I loved to sing.

Performing has just become a thing that I need to do.

ISAAC DANIEL: Music is an outlet to help kids stay focused, determined.

They will come in with all these different ideas of what they can't do.

And when they walk out, they have all these ideas of what they can do.

RICKEY FONDREN: I believe that I was created to do great things and to do it through the world of acting, through the world of theater, through the world of music.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.