April 10, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Is inflation under control enough for the Fed to lower interest rates?

We will talk with one key player watching the health of the economy.

The Environmental Protection Agency puts strict limits on the amount of so-called forever chemicals in drinking water.

And Christian groups face a violent crackdown in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

STEVEN MOORE, Founder, Ukraine Freedom Project: They go to the churches.

They shut them down.

They frequently torture the pastor, and, sometimes, they murder believers for their faith.

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

Inflation came in higher than expected last month, raising concerns once again about its persistence.

Some experts also worry this rise could either delay or prevent a series of interest rate cuts expected from the Federal Reserve later this year.

Last month, the Consumer Price Index climbed 3.5 percent year over year, pushed up by gas, rent and car insurance.

Neel Kashkari is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and he joins us now.

It's great to have you with us.

NEEL KASHKARI, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: Thank you.

It's great to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, federal officials, Federal Reserve officials, initially penciled in at least three interest rate cuts by the end of 2024.

You have raised the possibility that we potentially shouldn't have as many or any cuts this year.

How does this report today affect your thinking on this?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, it's a little bit concerning.

In the second half of last year, we made a lot of progress in bringing inflation down very quickly, not all the way to our 2 percent target, but to around a 3 percent level.

And then, in the beginning of this year, the first three months, some of that progress seems to have stalled.

My colleagues and I have all said that we will cut interest rates once we get convinced that inflation is well on its way back down to our 2 percent target, and we were waiting to see some more data to get that confidence.

The recent data doesn't give me that confidence yet.

So, for me personally, I think we have to wait a while longer to see more progress towards our 2 percent target.

GEOFF BENNETT: How many cuts do you anticipate and when?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, in March, I had jotted down that I would expect, if inflation continued to fall, that two cuts would be appropriate over some -- over the course of this year.

The longer that inflation just moves sideways and doesn't actually move back down, that would make me say we should pause indefinitely until we see that confidence that inflation is beat.

Now, the good news is, the job market remains very strong.

There's a low unemployment rate.

A lot of jobs are available.

And the overall economy appears to be very healthy and robust.

So we're in a good position to take our time to get this data.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, on that point, is there a risk that the Fed -- in keeping rates high to tame inflation, is there a risk that they could essentially slow down the economy?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, that's what we're -- that's what interest rate increases are trying to do.

We're trying to tap the brakes on some of the demand in the economy to bring that inflation back down.

But we will obviously -- just as you said, we want to be careful that we don't overdo it, and then slow the economy too much or potentially tip the economy into a recession.

There was a lot of concern a year ago that the economy would be headed into recession because we raised interest rates so quickly.

The good news is the U.S. economy proved to be remarkably resilient.

A lot of Americans came back to work.

We had a lot of immigration coming in, filling a lot of important jobs.

All of that put a lot of resilience in the economy.

So we're in a good position today, but we can't take that for granted.

We have to keep our eyes open on both inflation and the labor market.

GEOFF BENNETT: At this point, what is causing inflation to be so entrenched and intractable?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, a bunch of things.

I think that there's some changes in consumer behavior.

We know that, before the pandemic, consumers were saving around seven or 8 percent of their earnings.

That seems to be lower, at least indefinitely lower right now.

People are out there spending their money.

If people are spending more and saving less, that's more demand in the economy, and you would expect some more inflationary pressure.

We also have some pent-up demand for housing.

We have seen sticky housing inflation.

After the financial crisis in 2008, we didn't build enough homes to keep up with our population growth.

So there's some structural reasons that there's a lot of pressure on homes and on apartment rents, for example.

So, some of these things are going on.

We hope to unwind in the near future.

Some of them may be more persistent, and then we just have to take that on board with what we do with interest rates.

GEOFF BENNETT: What will the Fed chair need to see to feel confident that inflation is heading toward the Central Bank's 2 percent target on a sustainable basis?

NEEL KASHKARI: Well, I think -- I mean, I don't want to speak for the Fed chair, but I think, for myself, we want to continue to see progress that the inflation readings are continuing to come down and that it's coming down across different categories.

We know that goods inflation -- people bought a lot of goods in the pandemic.

Goods inflation has come back down.

Housing inflation has proven to be sticky.

Services inflation -- we're all going out on airplanes.

We're going to restaurants.

The services side of the economy, which is very labor-dependent, that also has really been quite sticky.

And so I think, for me, I want to see more progress on housing.

I want to see more progress on services, so that I have confidence that we're getting back down to our 2 percent inflation target and so that the American people can put the concerns about inflation in the rearview mirror.

GEOFF BENNETT: And realizing that the Fed operates as an independent and nonpolitical organization, what are the implications if the Fed cuts rates for the first time later this year, let's say, in September, ahead of the November election?

NEEL KASHKARI: You know, my colleagues and I are absolutely committed to making the right calls based on the economic data.

And the Congress has given us our charge.

Congress has told us, achieve our maximum employment, as many Americans as possible working, and our stable prices, which we have defined as 2 percent inflation.

And my colleagues and I are absolutely united that we're going to make the best calls that we can, based on what the data is telling us, not focusing on politics.

Politics is up to the American people.

It's up to Congress.

It's up to the executive branch.

Our jobs are to stay out of it and just focus on what the data is telling us.

And that's the best thing we can do, I think, for the economy as a whole.

GEOFF BENNETT: Neel Kashkari is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

We appreciate your time and your insights this evening.

NEEL KASHKARI: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other news: An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Israel said the men were militants.

Haniyeh accused Israel of acting -- quote -- "in the spirit of revenge."

Meantime, President Biden in a televised interview called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approach to the war a mistake.

Speaking at the White House today alongside Japan's prime minister, President Biden laid out conditions he expects Netanyahu to fulfill.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: He agreed to do several things that related to, number one, getting more aid -- both food and medicine -- into Gaza and reducing significantly the attempts -- the civilian casualties in any action taken in the region.

We'll see what he does in terms of meeting the commitments he made to me.

GEOFF BENNETT: The president also said that it's up to Hamas to move on the latest cease-fire proposal put forward by mediators at ongoing talks in Cairo.

Israel and Iran today exchanged new threats of attacks on each other's territory.

The escalation follows a suspected Israeli airstrike earlier this month on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed 12 people.

Iran's supreme leader is vowing to retaliate.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, Supreme Leader of Iran (through translator): Embassies and consulates in any country are considered part of the soil of the country that owns them.

When they attack our consulate, it's as if they have attacked our land.

They must be punished and will be punished.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel's foreign minister fired back, writing on social media: "If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran."

The European Parliament approved a major overhaul of migration laws today after years of deadlock.

Lawmakers in Brussels endorsed a series of measures that aim to speed up procedures at the E.U.

's borders and more fairly spread responsibility for migrants across the group's 27 member nations.

But human rights groups say the agreement -- quote -- "fails to offer sustainable solutions."

Floodwaters are rising even higher across parts of Russia and Kazakstan after the Ural River burst through a dam.

Europe's third longest river snakes through Russia's Orenburg region.

Surrounding towns have been transformed into swamps.

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated in Orenburg itself.

Streets are now canals.

Residents say it's the worst flooding they have seen in decades.

VLADIMIR, Flood Evacuee (through translator): Something like this happened in my life only during the Soviet years, in 1980 and 1986.

But, generally, the flooding this year from the point of view of an old-timer is very unusual.

It has never happened before that the water reached up to 10 meters.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on the situation, though he has no current plans to visit the flood zone.

Meantime, spring storms have drenched parts of the Southern U.S.

Streets flooded in New Orleans and a tornado was reported outside the city.

Emergency workers in Katy, Texas, surveyed the damage from overnight thunderstorms.

More rain, hail and potential tornadoes could come tonight across the Gulf Coast and Deep South.

In Mississippi, the six former officers who tortured two Black men last year were sentenced to 15 to 45 years in prison on state charges.

The so-called Goon Squad pleaded guilty in August to state and federal charges related to the abuse.

Last month, a federal court handed down sentences of up to 40 years.

Their state and federal sentences will run concurrently.

Former President Donald Trump today criticized Arizona's near-total abortion ban.

The state's Supreme Court revived a Civil War era law yesterday that outlaws the procedure and provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

Speaking in Georgia ahead of a campaign event, Mr. Trump was asked by reporters if he thinks the court went too far.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Yes, they did.

And that will be straightened out.

And, as you know, it's all about states' rights.

That will be straightened out.

And I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason.

And that will be taken care of, I think, very quickly.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Biden campaign has been quick to tie Mr. Trump to the Arizona ruling, with a campaign spokeswoman saying the result was -- quote -- "because Donald Trump overturned Roe v.

Wade."

Separately, a New York appeals judge has denied Mr. Trump's third attempt to delay the start of his hush money trial due to begin on Monday.

The bid was based on a request to have the judge in the case removed.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

The Trump Organization's former chief financial officer is heading back to jail for a second time.

Allen Weisselberg was sentenced in a Manhattan court today for five months for lying under oath during the former president's civil fraud trial.

He has admitted to helping Mr. Trump exaggerate his net worth for better loan terms.

Weisselberg already served 100 days in jail last year for tax fraud.

On Wall Street today, those inflation numbers renewed concerns that the Fed won't start slashing interest rates any time soon.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 422 points to close at 38461.

The Nasdaq fell 136 points.

The S&P 500 gave back 49.

And Olympic track and field champions will soon be taking home cash to go along with their gold.

Starting with this summer's Games in Paris, gold medalists will receive $50,000 for their efforts.

Track and field is the first Olympic sport to award prize money.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": Judy Woodruff travels to Oregon for a look at the growing political divide between rural and urban areas in the U.S.; Muslims in Jerusalem observe Ramadan and Eid six months after the start of the war in Gaza; and Congress honors the women who inspired Rosie the Riveter by joining the work force during World War II.

The Environmental Protection Agency has, for the first time ever, said that so-called forever chemicals, which are harmful to human health, must be removed from U.S. drinking water.

As William Brangham explains, it's a moment that public health advocates have long called for.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Geoff, the head of the EPA, Michael Regan, said these new rules could be -- quote -- "life-changing."

The agency will require municipal water suppliers to virtually eliminate six different chemicals that are currently in the water 100 million Americans drink every single day.

They're collectively known as PFAS, and they have been linked to severe health problems, including certain cancers and birth complications.

According to the CDC, nearly all Americans have measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood today.

So, for a closer look at this, we are joined by Melanie Benesh.

She is vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, which is one of the organizations that has been pressing for this for years.

Welcome.

MELANIE BENESH, Vice President for Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group: So nice to be here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These chemicals have been around for a very, very long time, and I was looking up at the list of all the different things they are in, pizza boxes, nonstick pans.

They make our clothes and furniture more steam-resistant, but they also can get out and make us sick.

So how big of a move do you think this is from the EPA today?

MELANIE BENESH: This is a consequential, historic, monumental decision from the EPA.

This is probably the most consequential decision the EPA has made with regards to drinking water in a generation.

It's really hard to overstate the importance and the impact of this rule.

PFAS are incredibly ubiquitous.

The contamination in the United States is incredibly pervasive.

And this is the single most efficient way that the EPA can reduce our exposure to these toxic chemicals.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, I mentioned Michael Regan seems to think that this could change people's lives.

You clearly seem to believe the health implications here are enormous.

MELANIE BENESH: It's hard to overstate, in fact, how significant the impacts are on public health.

Not only is this a life-changing regulation.

This is really a lifesaving regulation.

Because of these new rules, people will be exposed to significantly lower amounts of PFAS.

And, as a result of that, thousands of lives will be saved, and there will be tens of thousand fewer cases of serious illnesses, like heart attacks, strokes, bladder cancer, cardiovascular disease, reproductive harms like preeclampsia and infant deaths from low birth weights, immune effects, hypertension, and the list goes on and on and on.

So this is really an incredibly consequential, lifesaving decision by the EPA today.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Given that there are thousands of PFAS chemicals, do you have a sense as to why it took the EPA this long?

And of those thousands, why did they just pick these six to come out of the water?

MELANIE BENESH: Yes, so PFAS chemicals have been around for a long time, and the chemical companies manufacturing these chemicals have been dumping them into the water of Americans for decades.

So Americans have been drinking contaminated water for decades, and that's because the manufacturers of these chemicals lied.

They didn't tell their workers, they didn't tell the regulators, they didn't tell the EPA, they didn't tell the nearby communities, they didn't tell anyone about the risks of these chemicals, which allowed them to get away with evading environmental regulation for decades, until this EPA finally stepped in to regulate these six PFAS chemicals.

And even though this is only six of the potentially thousands of PFAS chemicals, what's really smart about this regulation is, it is targeting six of the best-studied PFAS.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These are the ones we know the clearest effects of.

MELANIE BENESH: These are the ones that we know the most about.

But, also, the regulation is crafted in such a way that it addresses them as a mixture, and it addresses a combination of PFAS chemicals that ensures that these steps that utilities will have to take to comply, be it seeking out alternative sources of water or installing filtration technology, will effectively treat for the whole class of PFAS.

And so even though the regulation is only targeting these six, when you filter them out, they're not going to just filter those six.

They're going to get much more of the class of the PFAS chemicals and actually other contaminants.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Municipal water suppliers have strongly come out against this.

They say this is going to cost a fortune.

I mean, the EPA estimates it could cost $1.5 billion per year to do this.

The industry says it's going to cost way more than that and that it will be costs that fall on consumers, including communities that may not be able to afford this.

What is your response to that?

MELANIE BENESH: I think what's really important is to think about the cost of not taking action.

The EPA has also calculated $1.5 billion in public health benefits,.

And that comes in the form of fewer cases of bladder cancer, fewer cases of hypertension, fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes, fewer infant deaths from low birth weights.

And so the cost of not taking action is more people getting sick and ultimately more people losing their lives.

And so, for decades, the public has been bearing the cost of exposure to these chemicals in the form of illness, in the form of medical cost, in the form of social cost and anxiety around being exposed to these chemicals and watching their friends and family get sick.

And so I don't want that to get lost in the conversation around cost.

For the utilities that will need to take action to upgrade their systems, there are resources available.

Congress has already provided $10 billion in infrastructure funding that can be used to help water utilities filter out these chemicals.

Some of that money is targeted to small, rural and disadvantaged communities.

The EPA is also making funds available to private well owners, which are typically not covered by drinking water regulations.

And water utilities have been successfully bringing private litigation against chemical manufacturers like 3M and DuPont and have been getting, recuperating some of their costs through legal settlements.

And so the resources will come.

But what is really important is to acknowledge the tremendous cost that comes from not taking action and how important it is that the EPA is now finally taking action, because the results of that action will be lives saved.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Melanie Benesh of the Environmental Working Group, thank you so much for being here.

MELANIE BENESH: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Russia first occupied the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol in early March 2022.

And Russian Secret Services, after persecuting pro-Ukrainian activists, former government officials and human rights defenders, have since targeted the churches and their pastors and congregants.

With support from the Pulitzer Center, special correspondent Simon Ostrovsky and videographer Yegor Troyanovsky reports from Ukraine.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: All across Russian-occupied Ukraine, soldiers are shutting down places of worship that don't fit the world Vladimir Putin wants to build.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN, Pastor, Grace Evangelical Church: September 11, 2022.

It was Sunday.

It was worship service.

It's like 20 armed people with masks, military uniform, and they were very brutal.

MARK SERGEEV, Pastor, New Generation Church: They said: "You have to stop this.

You have to stop these meetings."

And he said: "I'm a pastor.

I cannot stop the will of the people."

And they said: "If you will not stop, you're going to see the blood."

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Mikhaylo Brytsyn and Mark Sergeev are ministers who once led their flocks in the Southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, but no longer.

Since the occupation, evangelical congregations, Protestant churches, all the non-Russian Orthodox Christian faiths have been deemed undesirable and tens of thousands of believers have been forced to flee.

Those who remain gather in secret in private homes for fear of angering the new regime.

The head of that new regime makes himself out to be the defender of the faith, his faith.

With the client patriarch of the national church at his side, Vladimir Putin and his supporters make little secret of their plans to put Russian Orthodox Christianity above all other forms of Christianity.

This footage is from the Grace Evangelical Church.

The people gathered here don't know it's their last service in this building.

A Russian soldier stops the worship and tells the women and children to go downstairs to have their I.D.s checked.

No one knows what will happen next.

By this stage in the war, Russian forces had already killed five priests in the occupied parts of Ukraine.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: They start to fingerprint everybody.

They copied their I.D., make pictures, addresses.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: To keep their spirits up, believers sing as they wait their turn to be questioned by Russian soldiers.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: We were accused of being an extremist organization.

We were accused of being German spies and then American spies.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Mikhaylo Brytsyn is pretty far from being a spy.

He's been a pastor at Grace Church since 1991, when the church building was given back to the evangelical community of Melitopol after being nationalized by the Soviet Union.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: I was conveyed to their military vehicle, and they searched all church buildings.

They searched all my house.

And they told us to leave in two days.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: In two years of war, no denomination has been spared death and destruction.

This was an Orthodox church affiliated with Moscow, collateral damage in a Russian missile strike a year ago.

But two groups in particular have suffered the most in terms of sheer numbers.

And that's the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Protestant churches that have come under extreme pressure in areas occupied by Russia.

MARK SERGEEV (through translator): A Baptist Protestant church.

It's still standing but everything is destroyed.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: At least 206 evangelical churches have been expropriated or destroyed, according to the Institute for Religious Freedom, a Ukrainian watchdog group.

Steven Moore is a former Republican congressional staffer and founder of the Ukraine Freedom Project, a nonprofit.

STEVEN MOORE, Founder, Ukraine Freedom Project: When the Russians come into a town in an occupied area, they see Protestant churches, they say, this is an American religion.

You must be an agent of the American government.

So they go to the churches.

They shut them down.

They frequently torture the pastor, and, sometimes, they murder believers for their faith.

And we know of 29 Christian leaders who have been murdered in Ukraine by the Russians.

MARK SERGEEV (through translator): Today, here in Melitopol, they blew up a Ukrainian tank.

The Russians came in the city maybe in 7:00 p.m. 24 of February.

I see like chaos in the whole city.

So many families, they're afraid to stay in the houses, in apartments.

Three weeks under the occupation of Melitopol, our church was the shelter for the people.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: New Generation Church was the largest in Melitopol and the first to draw the ire of the Russian occupation.

MARK SERGEEV: I think they are looking for us, because my father, like a senior pastor, when he preached, he always said that we have our own country, our own culture, and we have to pray for Ukraine.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: The Russian Security Services approached Mark's father several times, threatening violence to pressure him to publicly pledge loyalty to Russia.

MARK SERGEEV: And they said, if you will not stop, they're going to -- you're going to see the blood.

And they said, you have to record a video.

He has to record a video that Russia already here.

We have to just relax.

Putin is great president, and everything's OK.

But father said: "I will never do this."

SIMON OSTROVSKY: A day after this incident, Mark's father, Victor, was tipped off to leave the city as soon as possible because of the imminent threat to his life.

The whole family escaped to Ukraine-controlled territory.

A few days later, Russian soldiers stormed the church building and broke through the doors.

But they didn't stop there.

MARK SERGEEV: I remember this day.

I think I'm going to remember it for the whole of my life.

We are driving with my brother, and father called me and said: "Look, there's no cross anymore.

They just cut the cross."

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Russian forces searched Mark's home and broadcast the search on state-controlled television in a ham-fisted attempt to portray his family as an armed resistance cell.

MAN (through translator): We received information that there was a weapons cache in the building.

MARK SERGEEV: They showed like they found some bomb and the guns in the garage of my father and said, look, this is the pastor who works with the United States and with CIA.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Meanwhile, the New Generation Church building was expropriated by Russia, the large cross that once stood out front replaced with a Russian flag.

Where people once prayed, officials hold secular events such as this citizenship ceremony.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: There is no protest on churches in all occupied territory.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: So the only church still open in Melitopol is the Orthodox church affiliated with Moscow?

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: Yes.

This isn't the first time religion has faced persecution, priests have been killed, and churches are being shut down.

In the 1930s, when Stalin launched his infamous campaign of Red Terror, religious leaders of all denominations were targeted, including evangelists from Mikhaylo Brytsyn's church.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: We get some documents from KGB archive, and we found the case when ministers of our church were accused during Stalin's terror, and these documents show that they were accused being extremists and German spies.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Three pastors were put to death on the espionage charges, which were declared to be false after Stalin's death.

It's incredible how similar the language in the Soviet documents is compared to the modern Russian documents declaring your organization as an extremist organization.

And this was made in December of 2022.

The wave of religious persecution has forced most evangelists to flee Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Those who remain have to pray in secret.

MIKHAYLO BRYTSYN: I don't think that a lot of Americans know about Ukraine and all the more about Protestant in Ukraine.

It's part of my mission now is just to tell the truth, just to raise awareness of what happened in occupied territory.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: Mark, who was also forced to leave occupied Melitopol, is still a preacher.

His main job is now on the front lines with soldiers as a chaplain.

MARK SERGEEV: In the name of Jesus, let us defeat and destroy this enemy.

I wanted to say to the whole English-speaking world, we have so many Protestant churches in Ukraine, and they have to understand that so many pastors were killed.

We need weapons because Russia cannot stop.

Pray for Ukraine.

Still pray.

It's only us -- what I can ask you to do, really.

SIMON OSTROVSKY: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Simon Ostrovsky in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine.

GEOFF BENNETT: Shifting our focus now to Oregon, Judy Woodruff recently traveled across that state to learn more about the perceived divide between some rural and urban areas in this country.

It's her latest installment of America at a Crossroads.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For Ian Williams, it isn't just about the caffeine buzz here at Deadstock Coffee located in the heart of Old Town Portland.

IAN WILLIAMS, Owner and Founder, Deadstock Coffee: The reason why this shop exists is for the community to come together.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The sneaker-theme shop reflects 36-year-old Williams' love for basketball, shoes, and the people who gather here.

IAN WILLIAMS: We are a city that accepts so many things, whether it be culturally or sexual orientation, whatever it might be.

Like, we accept so many things, and it's a beautiful thing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Williams, sometimes known as the mayor of Portland, is deeply involved in this community and worried about its future.

IAN WILLIAMS: Portland, the government, the city has allowed people to make the rules.

So, then, when we talk about things being dirty, and people -- like, mental health issues and things like that, we're not regulating.

We're not on top of whatever's going on.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Rachel Coady, a native Portlander who moved back here in 2018, acknowledges its problems.

A consultant by day, she's also worked to help build stronger communities in the city.

RACHEL COADY, Consultant: Portland has enough problems to take care of on its own.

I mean, obviously, the houselessness for our citizens, support in getting people who are addicted or having troubles with addiction, the services they need, at least off of the streets, feels really evident.

It's a safety issue now for people.

We have a huge violence issue in Portland that's bigger than it's been in decades.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Portland is Oregon's most populous city and is one of the economic hubs of the state.

Just 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean, it sits at the northern tip of the Willamette Valley, where the vast majority of Oregon's people live, many in urban areas like Salem and Eugene.

They have helped turn the state strongly Democratic.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) RONALD REAGAN, Former President of the United States: God bless you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A Republican presidential candidate hasn't won here in 40 years.

But east of the nearby Cascade mountain Range that divides the state, many have different worries and far more conservative views.

On the High Desert, it's a constant struggle to keep the cattle healthy, says 58-year-old Lonny Carter, and safe from Mother Nature and from the government.

LONNY CARTER, Rancher: I have had wolves right there in that field by my house.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Carter runs this 19,000-acre ranch with a small team of family members and ranch hands.

LONNY CARTER: She wouldn't have made it out there by herself.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Chief among their concerns are the uncertainties.

LONNY CARTER: Every ranch out here has water rights and the state of Oregon controls that.

We don't own the water.

If the primary reservoir is low on water, they say they can come take our water without even nothing, just they will take it.

And they will drain my reservoir and they don't care about my fish.

They don't care about fire protection.

They don't care about my irrigation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: This ranch not only sits literally at the geographic center of Oregon.

The people here find themselves at the center of a passionate debate.

Increasingly, Americans in rural and urban areas are growing farther and farther apart on critical issues here in Oregon and across the country.

SUZANNE METTLER, Cornell University: This is so striking because it did not exist in the American past.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Professor Suzanne Mettler of Cornell University researches the growing divide between urban and rural Americans, which she says has grown dramatically among white Americans.

SUZANNE METTLER: It's only beginning of the 1990s that we began to see rural people in all parts of the country line up in one political party.

Prior to that, both parties had some supporters in rural places in different parts of the country.

But since the 1990s, to be a rural person means in so many places that you're a Republican, and it's led to a wider and wider divide.

It's enormous and it's growing.

MATT MCCAW, Spokesman, Greater Idaho Movement: The rural parts of the state have gotten less political power.

People are looking for a solution.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The political divide back in Oregon has been so great that some are calling for drastic changes.

Matt McCaw is the spokesman for the Greater Idaho Movement, which wants to break off the eastern, more conservative counties in Oregon and join neighboring Idaho.

MATT MCCAW: The west side of Oregon is very different than the east side.

It's populated.

It's green.

Its climate's different.

The culture's different.

You get out here on the east side, and it's high desert.

There's very little moisture.

It's agricultural.

It's culturally very conservative.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The proposed Greater Idaho would encompass all or parts of 17 counties in Eastern Oregon.

So far, 12 have passed ballot initiatives in favor of leaving.

The latest in Wallowa County passed by just seven votes out of nearly 3, 500.

The entire area represents roughly 65 percent of Oregon's land mass, but less than 10 percent of the population and just one of its six congressional districts.

MATT MCCAW: You could get those people in Eastern Oregon state government from Idaho that matches their values, is the kind of government they want.

And that longstanding problem of the urban-rural divide goes away.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It would also allow people like him, McCaw says, to be represented by a government more aligned with his views, favoring more restrictions on abortion rights, lower taxes and fewer limits on guns.

KERRY TYMCHUK, Executive Director, Oregon Historical Society: It's partisanship on steroids.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Kerry Tymchuk, the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, dates the widening chasm between the east and west to the diverging economic fortunes in the state.

In 1990, the northern spotted owl was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, marking the beginning of the end for Oregon's timber industry and, with it, jobs for many in the state.

KERRY TYMCHUK: There were union jobs, family wage union jobs.

Many of the union members, most were Democrats.

And when the environmental movement happened, the spotted owl especially, and they lost all those jobs, it moved them away from the party.

That would be equivalent to what happened in Ohio and Pennsylvania with the manufacturing jobs.

SUZANNE METTLER: This is the time period when people in rural areas start to feel like the economy is bottoming out once you get into the 2000s, and they feel that these policies are being hoisted upon them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Urban areas, Mettler says, were able to bounce back more quickly from economic downturns.

That fueled resentment from those in rural areas that account for about 20 percent of the U.S. population.

SUZANNE METTLER: That's when we start to see this politics of grievance and resentment.

People in rural places started to feel that the Democratic Party was run by elites, people who were better off than them, and who were imposing policies on them, without asking them what they would like or without listening to them or without being respectful of their communities and their values.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Tymchuk says, in any event, the political and logistical hurdles for secession are too high.

In order for the border to change, both the Idaho and Oregon legislatures would have to sign off, and it would require an act of the U.S. Congress.

KERRY TYMCHUK: The economics that that would involve, the legal issues would keep -- it would be a lawyer's dream.

There's so much going on there.

That is just never going to happen.

LONNY CARTER: So we got 400 cows.

AMNA NAWAZ: But for rancher Lonny Carter, it's not an idea he's willing to let go of.

LONNY CARTER: My grandkids, the owners' kid, it's their right to have a good life without someone coming in and taxing us to death and telling us we can't do this and we can't do that on our own piece of property.

We don't go over there and tell them what they can and can't do.

They're destroying their city over there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Have you tried to have a conversation with some of the folks who have a different view on these issues?

LONNY CARTER: Oh, yes.

They have been pretty interesting.

It's been a couple of years.

I met with a couple from Portland.

They were like, why would you want to do this?

And I said, because we don't win.

And they said, well, we don't need ranchers or farmers.

This lady actually thought you can go to your butcher and tell them what you want, and he pushes a button in a machine and out comes her meat.

And that's not a joke.

JUDY WOODRUFF: If the whole country were to say, well, we're going to organize ourselves only by our -- where -- what our politics are, so some of the country would be red.

Some of the country would be blue.

Do you think it's healthy that we divide up into our respective beliefs?

MATT MCCAW: I do.

I think it's very healthy.

In fact, I think it's far healthier than having groups of people that have radically different world views and value sets trying to force their world view and value set on another group of people.

I believe and I think most people in the United States believe that we would be better if we allow people to have government that makes sense for them and policy that their communities actually want, rather than forcing policy on people they don't want.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But Mettler says movements like Greater Idaho go against the grain of our democratic system of government.

SUZANNE METTLER: I have heard of some other efforts where bills have been introduced for parts of the state to separate that's even happened here in New York state.

We could see the whole country getting divided up and into multiple states or seceding to join other states.

And this is no way to -- it's no way to have a democracy.

It's no way to engage in trying to solve large public problems together.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Professor Mettler says divides like this can be bridged by building coalitions and respect.

SUZANNE METTLER: I think Democrats in a state like that need to work harder to listen to rural people and finding out why is it that people don't like the way some policy was put together and is there a way to do it that would make people more satisfied?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Despite the challenges, coffee shop owner Ian Williams remains convinced it's possible to learn where others are coming from.

In 2020 he took a road trip across Oregon and as far away as Texas, documenting it all on social media.

He brought his coffee setup in the back of his truck, sneakers and all, served people coffee and had conversations he otherwise never would have had.

IAN WILLIAMS: How do we meet in the middle and say, like, I understand what you got going on in your community and your -- with your family, with your people?

We don't get on the same page.

We just start with, you're wrong.

We don't do a good enough job understanding.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In Crook County in Eastern Oregon, voters will weigh in May on the next ballot measure to support talks to join Idaho.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Judy Woodruff near Post, Oregon.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has ended and with it comes celebration, Eid al-Fitr, the holiday of breaking the fast.

But in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, the mood is subdued as fellow Palestinians struggle in Gaza with hunger, even starvation, as the war between Israel and Hamas grinds on.

Nick Schifrin has this report.

NICK SCHIFRIN: At Jerusalem's Damascus gate, the main entrance to the Old City, the end of the holy month of Ramadan is usually festive and a treat for families.

But, this year, Jerusalem might say Eid's lights are dimmed and their spirits subdued.

Mustafa and Emaan Abu Sway spent Ramadan's final morning preparing za'atar... EMAAN ABU SWAY, Jerusalem Resident: Yes, I am making this for my grandkids.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... a traditional Palestinian spice made of thyme.

But in this thyme of turmoil, they say Ramadan has brought no joy.

EMAAN ABU SWAY: Everybody here in Jerusalem, they are sad just because of the situation in Gaza.

They don't have food.

They don't have clothing.

They live in tents.

It's really bad for them.

And we support them just not celebrate Eid.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Mustafa Abu Sway is an Islamic scholar and lecturer.

He's a member of the prestigious Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem and for the past 12 years has worked at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine hosting VIPs.

MUSTAFA ABU SWAY, Islamic Scholar, Al-Aqsa Mosque: Unfortunately, with all these sad stories coming from the Gaza Strip, they had a great impact on our psyche, and our hearts are broken.

We are sad.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But each day this Ramadan, the Al-Aqsa compound hosted tens of thousands of worshipers to break their fasts and pray together.

Friday prayers typically attracted more than 100,000 people.

This relative peace was kept as a kind of quiet defiance, despite Hamas military wings, spokesman Abu Obaida's urging Palestinians to march on Al-Aqsa.

ABU OBAIDA, Spokesman, Hamas Military Wing (through translator): We call on all our people not to allow the occupation, to impose facts on the ground.

We also call on the mujahideen, resistance fighters and masses of our nation to declare jihad in every battlefield, in every arena.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spokeswoman Tal Heinrich: TAL HEINRICH, Spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister: Extremist terrorist organizations like Hamas, like Palestinian Islamic Jihad are trying to inflame the region and -- even further, and not just our region.

They have already called for attacks on Israelis and Jews during Ramadan.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Netanyahu rejected calls from his own security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to ban Muslims under 70 from Al-Aqsa and restrict access even to Arab citizens of Israel.

TAL HEINRICH: The entry of worshipers to the Temple Mount will be permitted in similar numbers to previous years.

MUSTAFA ABU SWAY: Allowing all those youngsters from the -- from Jerusalem, but also those who have Israeli citizenship, did lower the temperature, I would say.

But let's not forget that those from the West Bank, only men above 55 and women above 50 were allowed.

to come to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

MUSTAFA BADER, Lecturer, Dar al-Kalima University: I can't just go.

It's like a few kilometers in the north where I am.

And I can't just go.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Mustafa Bader is a Palestinian lecturer and author at Dar al-Kalima in Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Visiting Al-Aqsa used to be his Ramadan highlight.

Not this year.

MUSTAFA BADER: I was deprived from practicing the freedom of worship, but also from the freedom of movement.

I can't visit Jerusalem.

I can't visit family members who are living there.

When you're taking Jerusalem and not allowing us to visit it, it's like taking something from inside us.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But his focus remains on Gaza, as the U.N. warns of looming famine and Gazans marked Eid prayers on ruins in Rafah.

MUSTAFA BADER: Palestine is losing lots of people, and it's very hard not to know someone who was killed in this conflict in Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As for Abu Sway, he goes to work every day and talks to worshipers about ending the war.

MUSTAFA ABU SWAY: It's about a call for cease-fire or sustained humanitarian aid, for really like Marshall Plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But that call feels far off, even in the Old City, with the sound of nearby gunfire and a war that is miles away, but also close to home.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: Some 80 years after their wartime efforts, real-life Rosie the Riveter are receiving the nation's highest civilian honor from Congress.

John Yang has the story.

ANNOUNCER: The call came clear: Wake up, Ms. America.

JOHN YANG: Some of them went to work in factories during World War II to join the war effort, some to help make ends meet while their husbands were fighting the war.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I have the distinct honor of presenting this medal to Rosie the Riveter.

JOHN YANG: Today, about 30 of them represented their millions of sister workers at the U.S. Capitol to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian honors.

As men went off to war, some six million women went off to factories and shipyards, filling the jobs the men had left.

Between 1940 and 1945, women in the work force went from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent.

They were dubbed Rosie the Riveter, celebrated with an iconic poster, a Norman Rockwell painting, even a popular song.

At age 17, Mae Krier went to work as, what else, a riveter on the B-17 assembly line at Boeing's plant in Seattle.

She says she wanted to do her part in the war effort.

MAE KRIER, World War II Riveter: I was Rosie the Riveter.

We became very patriotic and we did what our country needed and just so proud of what we were doing.

And it makes us proud to realize that we not only helped save our country.

We helped save the world.

JOHN YANG: And she says she was sending a message across the Atlantic.

MAE KRIER: I love to tell the story what Hitler said.

He said he wouldn't have any trouble defeating America because American women couldn't produce.

He said we're soft and spoiled.

We spend too much time on cosmetic and frivolous things.

I think we showed Hitler what American women were made of.

JOHN YANG: When peace came and former G.I.s went back to work, many Rosies lost their jobs or returned to more traditional roles.

Their service was quickly forgotten.

MAE KRIER: After the war, everything was for the men, which they deserved.

I don't mean to take that away at all.

But men will tell you, they couldn't have won the war without what those women built.

About 40 years ago, I wanted to recognize the women.

I wanted to.

So many of our women didn't realize that they were Rosie the Riveters.

They would build the engines.

They would build the electrical system.

They'd build the tires.

We couldn't have got that plane off the ground if it hadn't done for those women.

And so many of them didn't think that they were Rosie because they didn't fall into that category.

It's such a nice honor.

And I'm so proud to be able to symbolically accept this medal for all of you.

JOHN YANG: Today, they got that long overdue recognition.

MAE KRIER: We're so proud of the women and young girls who are following in our lead.

I think that's one of the greatest things we left behind is what we have done for women.

I think that's important.

To all of the Rosies everywhere, we have gone down in history.

Isn't that great?

I love that.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MAE KRIER: My last thought is, remember these four little words: We can do it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOHN YANG: Now 98 years old, Krier says she will never forget the day the war ended nearly seven decades ago.

And now she will likely never forget the day when she and the millions of other Rosies were honored at the Capitol.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: And there is a lot more online, including a look at how some Native nations are taking the lead on solutions for climate change.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And join us again here tomorrow night for a look at efforts to develop climate-friendly shipping vessels.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS NewsHour," thanks for joining us and have a good evening.