PBS News Hour - Full Show - July 21, 2026 - PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

Anna Deavere Smith is well known for her acting in films and TV, including on "The West Wing" and "Nurse Jackie." She's also made an impact as a playwright, creating her own style of theatrical dramas that explore aspects of American life. Now, she's doing something new: looking back at her own family history. Jeffrey Brown met with Smith in Philadelphia for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. And I'm Jeff Bennett. On the news hour tonight, military leadership faces congressional scrutiny over the ongoing war against Iran and over the cost to the U.S. and global economies. A deal to end the long history of conflicts with Israel faces opposition in the devastated villages of southern Lebanon. And we report from Janesville, Wisconsin, a city that became a symbol of the 2008 economic crisis and is now at the center of the debate over. the massive data centers powering artificial intelligence. The risk is if something happens with that revenue stream, it's the current residents that end up having to pick up the tab on short notice. Welcome to the News Hour. Today, the president's top military advisors were on Capitol Hill to make the case for the war in Iran and additional money to fund the Pentagon.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsef and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Kane argued for an additional $67 billion. dollars, what Heggseth called an urgent and necessary injection of funds. Nick Schifrin's been tracking this all and he joins us now. So Nick, what did Hegg Seth and Kane say about why those funds are needed? And how did senators respond? Hegg Seth and Kane requested the additional money to restock weapons that have been used against Iran and to avoid budget shortfalls. And there are apparently military shortfalls right now.

Subcommittee chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine said that there were, quote, near-term solvency challenges in some of the military services. So the Pentagon says this money is especially needed, especially after the war in Iran, which Hegesse said cost $37.5 billion up until today. That's up from $29 billion, their last estimate, but frankly, 37.5 is probably an undercount itself. Democrats question their request. They said that many of the weapons requested today had already been requested by the Pentagon, and that the money was earmarked, frankly, for administration priorities that had nothing to do with Iran as Americans' prices were rising. So take a listen to New York Democrat, Kirsten Gillibrand.

You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can't feed their families. And I don't know how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people. Not unlimited bombs, Senator. I'm asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries into the future. And that's why this is a generational investment. And it was the previous administration that didn't fund this department. They didn't fund it. The reason why they are so upset with you and this administration is because the words you have used in the past don't add up. Republicans argued, Amna, that the war in Iran is necessary and that if the U.S. were to pull back right now, Iran would charge tolls in the straight-of-form moves and likely reconstitute its nuclear programs.

So take a listen to South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds. I think the decision to take out Iran's nuclear program and their missile production capacity was the right one. And it should have been done a long time ago. But when the president did that, we also assumed that there would be risk involved. And on that point today, the Pentagon identified that Sergeant Michael Swinton, 30 years old from Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed over the weekend in Iraq. in addition to two other Americans killed in Jordan, First Lieutenant 25-year-old Tyler Feehan and private 19-year-old Isabella Gonzalez.

Nick, as we've been reporting, those service members were killed as that war with Iran has essentially restarted now. Where is it now? Is it just continuing to escalate? It's definitely expanding the war. The U.S. has finished its 10th straight night of strikes, not only on military targets,

but also on infrastructure targets, including bridges across southwest Iran. An Iran intact in the last 24 hours, three tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but also civilian targets inside of the Gulf allies along the Persian Gulf, including Kuwait, a desalinization plant was struck. You see it there multiple times in a row. Kuwait needs that plant in order to have water for its population. Now, that said, both sides are saying diplomacy is still open. We saw Iranian officials in Pakistan, one of the mediators, of course, but today President Trump took a dimly. view toward diplomacy. I will tell you, they want to desperately meet, and until they're ready to meet in a meaningful

way, we have no interest in even further. No interest in stopping, no interest in diplomacy. What do you finish there? Another threat is the Iranian-back Houthis in Yemen, and this is another example of the war expanding. They are now threatening to close the Bab al-Mandev. You see that 1,200 miles to the southwest of the Strait of Hormuz. the Baba Mondez is the gateway to the Red Sea.

Today, President Trump referenced a previous U.S. military campaign against Ahuthis and said, it could be repeated. That was about 45 days of very powerful action we took against the Houthis. And we've had no problem with the Houthis. They've had no problem with us for a long period of time, including during this conflict. I think that if there is something like that, we'll just have to take care of business. Now, today, the Houthis did claim that they warned six ships heading toward the Babelamandab and that those ships rerouted themselves.

It's not clear that's true. But even the threat, Omna, of the Houthis closing the Baba al-Mondep will force ships not to try and go there. And if the Strait of Hormuz and the Baba-a-Mondep are both closed, it is clear that prices around the world will increase if that happens, especially gas prices here at home. All right. Nick, Shiff, and beginning our coverage tonight. Nick, thank you. Thank you. In the day's other headlines, millions of Americans along the Gulf Coast are bracing for tropical storm Bertha.

In Mississippi and Louisiana, people-filled sandbags to keep out the rain and high surf that's expected. This swirling storm is turning off the coast of Florida and Alabama. It's expected to weaken as it makes its way slowly toward land and west toward Texas, bringing heavy rain and the chance of coastal flooding. Tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect from Florida to Florida. central Louisiana. Meantime, severe thunderstorms will bring more heavy rain, flash floods, and even tornadoes to parts of the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and northeast throughout tonight. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces and what's the latest shake-up of his top military ranks. The dismissal of General

Olexander Siersky came just days after Zelensky fired the country's defense minister, who was credited with implementing drone technology in Ukraine's war against Russia. That firing sparked mass protests in Kiev and across Ukraine. Today President Zelenskyy sought to ease tension, saying all sides are working toward the same goal. We all want the same thing, to defeat the enemy and create the conditions on the front line and through pressure on Russia. That would allow us to force Russia into peace.

must emerge from the situation stronger, and it will be harder for Russia. Earlier today, officials in the southern city of Zafarisha said a Russian-guided bomb attack killed at least three people and injured more than a dozen. New Jersey's governor said today that more than 6,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in that state in 2023 and 24, and that fewer than 400 of those actually cast a ballot. At a press conference, Governor Mikey Sherrill cited a software glitch at a software glitch at New Jersey's motor vehicle system and announced a full investigation. This failure didn't occur under my watch, but accountability starts now.

Because the people of New Jersey shouldn't have to wait a year for a problem to get solved, or two years to learn it even happened. Cheryl says the individuals were mistakenly added when they registered either for a driver's license or a state ID. The White House quickly seized on the New Jersey revelations to bolster President Trump's broader push to overhaul the nation's election laws. Former President Joe Biden lost a legal bid to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with his longtime ghostwriter that were used in special counsel Robert Herr's investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.

Biden's lawyers argued the 2016 and 2017 conversations were candid and intended to remain private. But in a two-to-one ruling, the panel found the public interest in releasing the redacted outweighed any remaining privacy concerns. The court suspended its decision until August 3rd, giving Biden's team time to consider another appeal. On Capitol Hill today, a top Smithsonian official pushed back against Republican criticism over how the institution tells the nation's history,

which included this exchange on exhibits related to gender and equality. What is a woman, Dr. Hartig? As a director and as a historian, it's not my opportunity. You sexualize the American History Museum. So this is a fair question. What is a woman? Appearing before a House Oversight Subcommittee, the director of the National Museum of American History,

Anthea Hartig, defended the Smithsonian's collections, exhibits, and programming. Hartig was named in a scathing White House report earlier this month, accusing the museum of what it called extreme political activism. Hartig countered that the institution, as she put it, does not take sides in America's political debates. When historians talk about reframing a traditional narrative, we don't mean erasing it.

We mean adding the evidence, the voices, the objects that earlier tellings left out so that more Americans can see themselves reflected in the national story. Several Democrats at the hearing defended the Smithsonian and criticized what they called attempts by the Trump administration to rewrite moments of history. in its museums. The Justice Department is investigating whether scholarships at Harvard University funded by Chinese donors

favor foreign students. It's the latest inquiry the Trump administration has levied against the Ivy League school. The DOJ announced a probe yesterday citing concerns about possible discrimination against American students. It did not specify which scholarship programs are under review.

In a statement, Harvard said it, quote, does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin in allocating financial aid. France is now the latest country to pass a sweeping social media ban for children under the age of 15. The measure which also bans the use of cell phones in high schools passed in both chambers of France's parliament.

France joins a growing list of countries implementing or considering such bans, including Australia, Greece and the UK. On Wall Street today, a rebound in AI stocks drove the markets higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added nearly 400 points on the day. The NASDAQ rose more than 1%. The SMP 500 also ended with a solid gain. Still to come on the news hour, President Trump's latest tariffs heightened tensions between the U.S. and Canada. One of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse discusses a recent meeting with the acting attorney general.

And renowned actor and playwright Anna DeVier Smith. its latest work examines her own family history. This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington, headquarters of PBS News. When Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, met President Trump at the White House today. It was the first such visit by a Lebanese head of state in nearly two decades. It comes after Lebanon and Israel resumed diplomatic relations under the auspices of the Trump administration, signing a trilateral agreement last month meant to end a long history of wars.

But as special correspondent Simona Fultin reports from southern Lebanon, the deal is facing stiff opposition. The Lebanese government has agreed to make peace with Israel, but there's little hope for that here among the ruins of a war that has yet to stop. We're in Nabatia, once a bustling commercial town, now devastated by Israel's punishing aerial campaign. The shops are all gone, and Nabatia, as you see, is mostly destroyed. With these strikes, they set us back 10, 15, 20 years for Nabatia to return to what it once was.

Israeli troops have occupied the hills southeast of Nabatia. Even as talks with Israel continue, the fear of renewed escalation hangs in the air. With shovels and bare hands, Mohammed, his son, Hardy and a nephew are trying to salvage what's left at their shop in the old market. Like much of the city, the Ottoman-era buildings lie in ruins. Israel are criminals who like to destroy. They don't want us to have a good country. Many here do still support Hezbollah, in spite of the group's decision to re-enter the regional war last March

in support of its ally, Iran. Mohamed is against Lebanon's deal with Israel, which he sees as a capitulation to Israeli and U.S. demands. This agreement, protects them more than it protects us. It's more in there than in our interests. They're playing games. Why haven't they withdrawn? What is their intention? Is their intention to take the south? Israel currently occupies a six-mile strip all along its border with Lebanon, demarcated by a yellow line similar to Gaza. This area accounts for roughly 7% of Lebanon's territory. As per the agreement

signed on June 26th, the Lebanese government must first disarm Hezbollah and only then will there be a quote progressive redeployment of Israeli troops. In Washington, the deal has been hailed as a success. The trilateral framework we signed today is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land. But not not, much is left to return to. Israel has continued to raise border villages to create a depopulated buffer zone. Rights groups say such systematic demolitions could amount to war crimes. Israeli attacks have killed dozens of people since the agreement was signed, according to Lebanon's health

ministry. Esperanza Gandur, a beloved kindergarten principal, is one of them. This is her, when the kindergarten celebrated Lebanese Army Day, and here she is during last year's Christmas party. She was killed on July 6th while on a quick trip to check on her house near Dambatia. Her husband, Weissam Kanso, explains what happened. Esperanza was driving. Her mother was next to her. The maid and the plumber were sitting in the back. The strike came from here, directly at my wife.

None of the car's four occupants survived. Given Israel's advanced surveillance capabilities, in the police, Weissam finds it difficult to believe that a strike was a mistake. The Israeli enemy knows every needle on the ground. They know her car, they know her plate number. They have the phone numbers. They have all the information. Weissam feels that Lebanon's deal with Israel has come at the expense of justice for victims like his wife.

We haven't heard any condemnation for the killings. killings, not from the President of the Republic, not from the Prime Minister, nor from any official in this government. To better understand why the school principal might have been targeted, we drove towards the strike location. Only a few cars make the perilous journey this close to Israel's yellow line. In describing the incident, the Israeli military said it had struck a vehicle that was approaching what it calls a security zone, posing a threat to its forces.

This is where Esperanza Ghandur was hit by an Israeli drone while on her way back from her village, driving away from the front line. So it's difficult to imagine how she would have been perceived as a threat to Israeli forces who are stationed over there. At the entrance to the village, flanked by billboards of Hezbollah's past and present leaders, we met the mayor of Nabatia al-Folka. Her house is about 400 yards away from here on the main road. Zayn Ghandur believes Esperanza's killing was intentional. It's clear that this is a message to every civilian who wants to go to this area, that they will target him. She wasn't just a school principal. She was a symbol of patriotism, a symbol of resisting the occupation, a symbol of dignity and steadfastness, and clinging to the land.

The municipality has now erected a symbolic barrier to signal to civilians that it's not seen. safe to go any further. Inquisitive young men on motorcycles occasionally whizzed by. Hezbollah, like Israel, keeps a close eye on this area. The village sits at the foot of the strategic Ali Ataha Ridge, and embattled hilltop the Israeli military has yet to fully capture. Why have the people of Nabatiy al-Fouca not returned home until now, despite the ceasefire? This is the crux of the matter. trucks of the matter. There is no occupation here, and the people are supposed to go back. But the Israeli enemy is occupying these areas through the media and through fire from the sky.

The villages adjacent to the occupation zone have become a no man's land, with no people and no state. The Lebanese state should take the political decision for the Lebanese army to deploy to the heart of the whole village, to make people feel safe that the state is present. We traveled further south to the village of Thrun. It lies in one of two areas designated as so-called pilot zones. The Lebanese army is building up a presence here. This is one of the new Lebanese army positions that have been established to implement the Israel-Lebanon framework agreement and to ensure disarmament of Hezbollah in areas that the

Israeli army is not occupying. Once Israel is satisfied with this process, it should be deploy from Lebanese territory. But the agreement doesn't mention the word withdrawal, nor does it stipulate a timeline for it, raising fears of an indefinite Israeli occupation. To people here, it seems as though Israel wants the Lebanese army to finish its job and disarm Hezbollah in areas it could not cease. The Israeli army is based on the other side of the valley, about 2.5 miles away. They chose Frun as a pilot zone because of the stupidity of the Lebanese state.

Hassan Bazi is the mayor here. Israel is inside the yellow line, but they chose areas adjacent to the yellow line which Israel couldn't take during the war, so they're trying to take during the ceasefire. The mayor says there's no Hezbollah military infrastructure left in the village, but the group is deeply embedded in the social fabric of the South. Hezbollah's yellow flags are firmly planted in the ruins, a message that it's here to stay with or without weapons. Posters thank fighters for their sacrifice. Those young men protected us. If it weren't for them, Israel would have taken frown and destroyed it like the other villages.

More than 200 homes in this village alone, including Zainab's, were destroyed in Israeli strikes. This house belongs to one of her relatives. My house was destroyed. During the 2006 war, it was also destroyed. We then bought another piece of land and built another house. We were so happy. Then this war came and it was destroyed again. So little is left of the village this war around that it's difficult to imagine how people can rebuild again. To many here, Lebanon's agreement with Israel feels not like a path to peace, but surrender. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Simona Fultein. in southern Lebanon. The Trump administration is imposing a new round of tariffs on Canada,

accusing the country of unfairly discriminating against American autos, dairy products, and alcohol. The 50% tariffs would cover some $20 billion worth of Canadian imports on goods ranging from cement to hockey sticks. They're set to take effect in 30 days. In the Oval Office today, President Trump defended the move. Canada's been very, very tough on us over the years. for many years, and no other president's done anything about it. I love Canada. I love the people of Canada.

Many friends that live in Canada, but their leadership from Trudeau to the current leadership, I mean, in all fairness to them, they need us to survive. Without us, there's no way they can survive. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to intensify talks with the U.S. in the coming weeks in hopes of reaching a deal. We're joined now by Natasha Sarin, co-founder, of the Yale Budget Lab.

Welcome back to the program. Thanks for having me. So how significant would these tariffs be, these 50% tariffs be if they take effect in 30 days, not just for Canada, but for U.S. businesses and consumers? Yeah, the important thing to understand about these tariffs, to put them in some context, is they cover about 5% of imports from Canada.

And so they're hugely important to the particular product line, that we're talking about here. My colleagues at the Budget Lab estimate that's about 550 of them, things like dairy, alcohol, hockey sticks, as you mentioned. But in the aggregate picture of our trading relationship with Canada, this is one particular sliver. It would drive up the effective tariff rate with Canada quite significantly, in part because the tariffs are being levied at such a high rate you're talking about on a narrow base of products, a 50% tariff, that is very consequential, but it's not covering the swath of everything that we're importing from Canada. So this high tariff rate on a narrow base of products, is there reason to believe that these

tariffs never take effect, that this is all just designed to negotiate a deal? You know, it's, the effective tariff rate in the U.S. has changed some 60,000. plus times in the second Trump administration. And that's just counting tariffs that actually went into effect, not the fact that we've seen a lot of announcements about future activities with respect to our trading partners that were ultimately rolled back or changed in the process of negotiating. And so obviously, this is a very active and live conversation. Obviously, the administration was very clear about giving themselves a delay of 30 days with

respect to the implementation of these tariffs in order to continue talks with Canada. But I think in some sense, one shouldn't take comfort in the fact that you might not actually see tariffs at this level on these swath of products implemented. Because the volatility of the trading environment, the fact that if you are someone who is importing some of these goods from Canada, you have no idea essentially what the trading environment is under which you're going to be bringing goods into this country in just a few weeks makes it really, really challenging to try and run businesses and really, really difficult from the perspective of the American consumer who is seeing as a result of this volatility and increase in the prices that they're paying.

When the administration says that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American products, that's the argument they're making, how strong is that case? You know, one thing that I think it's really important to sort of clarify a bit is the timing of the alleged inappropriate practices on behalf of Canada with respect to our products. A lot of what is happening in this context is there's frustration in the United States or among some administration officials that Canada has actually retaliated to increase terrorism. by us on Canadian imports over the course of the last year and a half. And so a lot of the practices you're talking about, particularly in sectors like alcohol, they are about retaliatory measures that were taken once the United States undertook this trade war. And so it seems a little sort of hard to make the argument that we're as a result of the fact

that there have been prior tariffs that we've levied against them, have prompted these retaliatory actions, you're then going to see another swath of tariffs instituted. And that makes it challenging because it's kind of like a never-ending cycle with respect to escalation in ways that make it difficult to see what the path forward actually is. Challenging and confusing, to be sure. There are viewers who will watch this conversation and they might wonder, didn't the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Trump administration's tariff regime? And they would be right. So what's the... Yeah, so what's the legal authority that the administration is using for this?

That's such a good question. And the way I've been describing the nature of the administration's actions in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in February is that they're certainly in keeping with the text of the ruling since the case was about one particular authority, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, that the administration was using to impose these broad-based tariffs. But they're not in keeping with kind of the spirit of that ruling, which made clear that the power to tax and impose these types of wide-ranging tariffs on allies and adversaries alike is a power that rests with Congress and Congress alone. And so ultimately, we are going to see these new authorities that the administration is deploying to kind of patchwork together its old trading practices. We are going to see those legally challenged and a bunch of those cases are already making their way up. to the Supreme Court. And ultimately, it'll be for the court to rule and decide whether or not that type of broad-based power exists from these other laws.

But I speculate that their answer is unlikely to be yes, given that this set of authorities sits with Congress. Natasha Sarin, co-founder of the Yale Budget Lab. Always good to speak with you. Thanks. Thanks so much. AI is fueling stock market highs, economic growth, and a construction boom across the country. But it's also igniting fierce local debates.

about the benefits, the costs, and in many cases, whether the data centers that power AI should be built at all. Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks at how one of those battles is playing out in the Midwest right now. Just right there is the cozy inn. George Cullen has been in Janesville, Wisconsin for quite a while. Which is the oldest, continuously owned Chinese restaurant in America. In all of America. In all of America. The family construction business, J.P. Cullen, has worked on some of Wisconsin's most famous structures. We've been here for six generations and have been proudly building here all that time. In fact, we built the original tractor factory that was then turned into being the GM site.

On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin. Once the economic cornerstone of Jamesville, the giant GM plant, in its heyday, employing 7,000 people. But when the plant idled in 2008, unemployment soared to 13 percent. and the town became a non-partisan symbol of the Great Recession. The promise of Janesville has been the promise of America. Hello, Janesville, and hello, Wisconsin. We love Wisconsin. Even I was dispatched to the plant to cover the economic catastrophe.

But almost a decade later, says Cullen, who also heads Janesville's Chamber of Commerce. Amazingly, we have replaced the number of jobs since that GM plant closed. It was hard and it took a lot of time, but we did. have positive momentum here. Positive momentum that could finally revive 250 acres of empty lot, where GM's plant used to sit, and possibly revive the city's budget with the data center. There's nothing there. Our taxes are not being offset by a large user providing their property taxes.

Those property taxes will help our schools, help our technical college and help our city. What was your initial reaction when you heard a data center might go there? with that site having set empty as long as it has, the positive nature that somebody was interested to put a new building on that site. That's good. That's a positive. Especially since no one would fork out some $30 million

to clean up the contaminated site once GM's plant was demolished eight years ago. Then, last year, a Colorado-based developer offered to buy the lot, remediate, and build an $8 billion data center campus. I think if there's an opportunity to bring some industry back that could really add to the tax base and employ a bunch of people, I'd love to see that being used. Electrician Garrick Harwick is a business manager for IBEW Local 890. With data centers blooming nationwide, unions are reporting new significant demand for their members.

Janesville's data center proposal came with a promise of hundreds of permanent jobs and at least 13,000 during construction. A major plus. It could be, you know, Joe the plumber up the street that gets a job because this comes here, you know, and that kid goes to school with your kid, and it just affects the whole community. And then, of course, there's the case for data centers in general. My administration will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the United States can build and maintain the largest, most powerful and most advanced AI infrastructure anywhere on the planet. So last year, an executive order to fast-track environmental reviews and return. turn sites like GM Janesville to, quote, productive use as expeditiously as possible, unquote. Hey, hey, ho!

That seems I've got to go! But now, given the nationwide groundswell against data centers, you're not going to be surprised to hear that some in Janesville aren't sold. I'm not against economic development. I just wanted to be reasonable, thought out, done in a way that is not going to put people in danger. people in danger and harm the environment. You see the power plant there. Pastor Roy Jewell lives less than a mile from the site, where his dad worked for 30 years. Among his concerns, excessive water use, noise and light pollution.

This is right in the middle of a residential area. And of course he's worried about energy prices. The nation's largest electrical grid operator recently announced it will add more than $6 billion in costs to consumers over the next three years. years because of power demand from data centers. While the developer in Janesville declined an on-camera interview, it vowed that data center would minimize its impact on residents and the environment. Jewell is, well, skeptical.

What's existing now across the country, they can't prove it. So he's part of what's become a wave of data center opposition. According to a recent Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans opposed the construction of an AI data center in their community. There's something about AI and its involvement, its impacts on people's employment prospects in the future, as well as the way they see the world in general that has people especially riled up about these projects. J.L. Holtzman reports on the AI data center backlash for climate website HeatMap. It's a uniquely unifying topic, she says, bringing together both those on the left. While the American people are suffering, big tech continues to demand more. More data centers, more energy, more. more data collection, more American jobs replaced by AI, all on the feet of the American people.

And on the right, Tucker Carlson, for example. The future that AI promises is worse for the overwhelming majority of the people, but it empowers and enriches a tiny percentage of population. Like, that's so crazy. There are so many political constituencies movements that have found common cause here, as well as, you know, the climate movement. And so altogether, you have, honestly, a pretty cosmic gumbo of politics. According to a recent report by Data Center Watch,

opponents delayed or blocked at least 75 projects worth $130 billion across the country in the first three months of this year alone. We organized around a set of arguments that ultimately convinced Microsoft in this case and our village board to say no thanks. Former bank executive Prescott Bouch came out of retirement when Microsoft offered to build a data center in his small Wisconsin town, Caledonia. Were you leery of data center development at first?

I was not. In fact, if anything, I'm on the opposite side. I made a healthy living using them. It would be hypocritical to say that we should stop building them now that I'm retired. The state of Wisconsin passed a sales sales tax break in 2023 to lure data centers and enhance economic development. But having now crunch the numbers for many projects, Balch says the promised windfall isn't

nearly what it seems. Moreover, small communities might be betting on a bubble. The volatility of the industry, the fact that it likes to disrupt itself all the time, that it's constantly changing. The risk is if something happens with that revenue stream, it's the current residents that end up having to pick up the tab. on short notice. Boucher's skepticism has resonated in Janesville.

This spring, two opponents of the data center were elected to its city council, which promptly ended the agreement with a developer. Even the Chamber of Commerce withdrew its support. I think the mere scale of them, particularly in smaller communities, has woken people up. If it's something that big and that grand and that impactful,

you have an obligation as civic leaders to step back, and say, we are going to bring the community along to get them to agree that this is the right idea, or we're not going to do it. The developer, however, says it's hoping to revive the project. But Janesville has stole the deal for now, still looking for an economic engine to drive its future and clean up those 250 acres. Data Center cash seemed an offer a city just can't refuse. Turns out, some can. For the PBS News hour, Paul Solman, in Janesville, Wisconsin.

The U.S. Senate is weighing President Trump's nomination of acting attorney general Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department as questions continue over the administration's handling of legal investigations into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It comes days after Blanche met privately with several survivors of Epstein's abuse. Our justice correspondent, Ali Rogan, spoke with a survivor who attended that meeting. Jeff, the meeting came as Blanche works to win Senate confirmation. while facing continued questions about the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein case. Politico is reporting today the White House is now actively lobbying two Republican senators seen as potential holdouts, Tom Tillis and John Cornyn to support the nomination. A group of survivors who met with Blanche Thursday wrote an open letter to those senators today,

urging them to vote against Blanche, calling their meeting with him, quote, an hour of deflection, interruption, and gaslighting. Joining me now is Liz Stein, one of the survivors who met with Blanche on Thursday. Liz, thank you so much for being here. Welcome back to the News Hour. Thanks for having me. This meeting came on the urging of Senator Tillis, who said it was a condition of his yes vote.

What was the takeaway for yourself and your fellow survivors? Well, I think that when Senator Tillis asked Todd Blanche to meet with us, I think that he wanted it to be a substantive meeting, and that's not what it was at all. I don't know if we had extremely high hopes going into the meeting, but we really met Todd Blanche in hopes to work with him. We have been more than willing to work with the Department of Justice. We've been requesting meetings for months with Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice. And we've gotten nowhere until last week. and it feels to us thought it was a bit of a performative move

so he could check a box for his promotion. Can you expand on that a little bit? What about it made you come away with that impression? Well, like I said, we went into the meeting really in earnest looking to work with Todd Blanche in the Department of Justice. We went into the meeting with an agenda, questions that we had that we wanted answered. And when we got into the meeting, we didn't receive any answers to any of the questions that we were asking. He talked around the subjects that we were trying to press him on.

And we couldn't really get him to commit to anything. I think that if Todd Blanche even offered us the slightest bit of an olive branch, we would have been satisfied with that, but it just felt like more of the same over and over again. You know, earlier this year when Pam Bondi testified and refused to acknowledge that we were in the room, that sent a really strong message to us about what the DOJ thinks of us as victims of crime. And our meeting with Blanche only reiterated those feelings for me. What were some of the questions or the action items that you came in with that you felt went unanswered or unacknowledged? We couldn't get a real clear answer on the redaction process, how it was handled.

why we saw over and over survivors' names and information being released. While we simultaneously were seeing perpetrators' information redacted. We did find out from Todd Blanche that there were over 800 individuals who were reviewing these files, but they were reviewing them for redactions only. They were not looking for additional investigative leads. They weren't looking to put pieces of the puzzle together. They were merely just looking at names. That's concerning to us.

There were 800 eyes on these files and they were doing nothing but just looking for redactions instead of information. It feels like a waste of time. You and your fellow survivors have called for the Department of Justice to follow up on the investigative leads revealed in these documents. Did Acting Attorney General Blanche acknowledge that at all? Was there any movement on that? There wasn't.

And that I think was really concerning to us because when we look at the Epstein files, we can I can see investigative leads on almost every page, but the DOJ isn't interested. And I need people to remember that there's been so much political emotion infused into what is a case about sex trafficking. This is a crime, and it's beyond concerning that our Department of Justice doesn't want

to follow investigative leads in what is quite possibly the largest international sex trafficking ring we've ever seen. Given how badly this meeting when, according to the recounting of yourself and your fellow survivors, do you think Senator Tillis' vote should be conditioned on more than the fact that the meeting took place? I think that Tillis wanted us to have a substantive meeting with Todd Blanche, and that's not what happened. And, you know, Senator Tillis is a businessman, right? And if he was looking at the

Department of Justice, the way that he would look at any other business enterprise, Todd Blanche has not shown the leadership to be the head of the Department of Justice. And I think that Senator Tillis and Cornyn really need to consider what Todd Blanche's record has been in regards to the Epstein case and how we were treated by the Department of Justice just last week. If Todd Blanche is confirmed as Attorney General, how do you hope the DOJ proceeds when it comes to Epstein? We've heard Todd Blanche say over and over and over again that there are no investigative leads, that for as much as the Epstein saga has been a part of culture in the past year, it shouldn't be part of anything going forward. In the release of these files, there were survivors who were Jane Doe's and had never ever thought that they would ever have to be public.

yet they were thrown into the spotlight. People that they work with, friends, family, are now reading the most intimate details of these women's lives. There's one survivor named Rosa who came out and testified publicly in Palm Beach and said that she had been exposed more than 500 times. I don't know how anyone could look at that as a mistake. The Department of Justice is really not treating us with respect that crime victims should be treated, and it begs the question why.

Liz Stein, Survivor and Advocate, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks. Anna DeVier Smith is well known for her acting in films and TV, including on the West Wing and Nurse Jackie. She's also made an impact as a playwright, creating her own style of theatrical drawings, that explore aspects of American life. Now she's doing something new, looking back at her own family history. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown

met with Smith recently in Philadelphia for our arts and culture series, Canvas. Still, you must sit perfectly steam. A photograph for the 1843 wedding of Basil and Mary Biggs, real life figures who lived in Maryland and later Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I'm getting married to a wonderful girl.

girl, that missed you smile. Now imagined for the theater by their great-great-granddaughter, Anna Devere Smith. Because this is the one about my family. A renowned playwright and actor of our time. Of all the stories that we uncovered, we saved the most remarkable one for last. Who learned of the extraordinary life of Basil Biggs, including his work on the Underground Railroad, on an episode of Finding Your Roots, the PBS program hosted by Henry Lewis Gates Jr.

While slavery existed, he was an active agent in the Underground Railroad, helping fugitives to freedom. Oh, this is amazing. This man was amazing. I knew this from the minute that Henry Lewis Gates told me the story and showed me the picture. I knew that this was an important piece of the puzzle I needed to understand my stake in the country. Your own stake? My own stake in the country. So these are some of the kinds of things.

Making sense of her country has been Smith's long-running project. That qualifies slavery as the most outrageous crime. But typically through the words and voices of others, as she's helped pioneer a style of documentary theater that has explored traumas and social issues in American life. In works such as 1992's, fires in the mirror. And people would say to me, gee, I like your new hair, cut, and I'd have to say it's not mine.

Now, when I first heard about this case. And Twilight Los Angeles the next year. Both focused on riots in major American cities, for which she interviewed real protagonists and then portrayed them, taking on a wide variety of personas in a one-woman show. And if I had to choose between argue with people by my hairstyle or giving James Brown that one tribute, he acts. The work that I got known for was work about looking at moments of disarray. And when you look at those kind of issues, number one, nobody agrees, and I love that.

That's dramatic. Nobody agrees. And two, there's no one answer. So this work was about trying to make sense by putting the pieces together. In 2015, we watched her in action as she researched and talked to residents of her hometown of Baltimore for a show titled Notes from the Field. You put leg shackles on a man who can barely walk. About how students of color from poor communities are often funneled into the criminal justice

system, known as the school to prison pipeline. I made a decision to go on the road, as I call it, to search for American character. And so that was going to, in particular, cause me to, well, chase that which I'm not. But why? Tell me why. What has been the goal in that? The goal was to come close to strangers quickly in order to try to touch the American spirit. I felt I had to go outside of my, you know, metaphoric home outside of what I knew to understand a country so vast as ours. In her new play Basil Big, she's done something different. We recently joined Smith for a workshop production at Philadelphia's Wilma Theater.

A work in progress put on as part of a citywide arts festival called. called What Now? For Smith, What Now involves looking hard at what then. For the mixed-race son of a slave owner and enslaved woman, now living as a Freeman with his family and working as a veterinarian. You rocked that baby like you want another a-oh. That's well. It made sense.

I'm trying to figure out who he was because he didn't read a right. So given the fact that what I've trained myself to do is to study words and language to find identity, here I have no words. What she did have, photographs of Basil Biggs and his family. Archives describing life in Gettysburg at the time. And a record of another astounding aspect of Biggs' life revealed on finding your roots and also portrayed in the play. After the Battle of Gettysburg, he disinterred the Union dead for reburial in a new cemetery

ahead of Abraham Lincoln's famous address delivered on November 19, 1863. Most important, Smith says, she was a new cemetery. able to visit the actual farm and homes where Biggs and his family lived. So this gave me a sense of place, and it turned out that the sense of place was as grounding as words had been before. Really? Yeah. So place meaning what you see, what you smell, the wind and your... In my sense of belonging in it, in belonging in the story myself, that the fact that myself belong, and I haven't thought about this still talking to you, but that myself belonged in this story, that I could believe myself in this story, because it was in the house and in the barn and on the

creek, helped me begin to imagine this man, Basil Biggs. What did it teach you about yourself, or what did it make you think about yourself today, as an American today? I know why I care. I know, and I can't give you the words for it. it, but in a kind of intuitive way, I know why I care about America. Because, for one thing, my great-great-grandfather cared enough about America, that he wanted these soldiers to have a decent burial.

The play takes its characters and us up to 1872. The Civil War is over, but the struggles continue. I hate Supreme and Furor and uniforms of blue. including the new presence of the Ku Klux Klan. The audience is left with a rebel yell, and I hope they are therefore going to think about the work we have to do now. Before we can sing the songs about everything's going to be all right, because we all know it's not all right.

It's an ambiguous ending for Anna DeVier Smith's great-great-grandfather and for the country down to today. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jeffrey Brown at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. And that is The News Hour for tonight. I'm Omna Nawaz. And I'm Jeff Bennett. For all of us here at The News Hour, thanks for spending part of your evening with us.