AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: The European Union and Canada announce retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., escalating President Trump's trade war.

The Trump administration takes aim at the Department of Education, firing nearly half its work force.

And hundreds of thousands of Afghans who worked with America live in fear of Taliban retribution after the U.S. suspended its refugee program.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The trade war between the U.S. and dozens of countries escalated yet again today.

Canada and the European Union announced their own tariffs designed to inflict economic pain and pressure on America.

But President Trump said he would not be deterred from his campaign to get better and more fair trading agreements over time.

Stephanie Sy begins with this report.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, President, European Commission: The European Union must act to protect.

STEPHANIE SY: Today, U.S. allies punched back.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN: The countermeasures we take today as strong, but proportionate.

STEPHANIE SY: This morning, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announcing tariffs on U.S. goods totaling some $28 billion.

They're set to take effect in two stages starting April 1 and cover a wide range of products from textiles to home appliances to agricultural goods.

The E.U.

is targeting many products made in Republican-held states, like beef, poultry and bourbon.

But von der Leyen said there's still time to reverse course.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN: We will always remain open to negotiations.

We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geo-economic and political uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with such tariffs.

STEPHANIE SY: Meanwhile in Canada: MAN: We're hitting back against these unjustified U.S. tariffs.

STEPHANIE SY: Twenty-five percent reciprocal tariffs take effect tomorrow on more than $20 billion worth of steel, aluminum and other U.S. imports.

That's in addition to the 25 percent tariffs Canada imposed last week on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods.

During the announcement today, Canada's foreign affairs minister spoke directly to Americans.

MELANIE JOLY, Canadian Foreign Minister: Canada is not the one driving up the cost of your groceries or of your gasoline or any of your construction.

President Trump's tariffs against you are causing that.

And there are no winners in a trade war.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Canada is absolutely one of the worst, worst in terms of charging tariffs.

STEPHANIE SY: In an Oval Office meeting with Ireland's leader today, President Trump suggested he was prepared to escalate the charges.

DONALD TRUMP: We're going to be doing reciprocal tariffs.

If they charge us 25 or 20 percent or 10 percent or 2 percent or 200 percent, then that's what we're charging them.

STEPHANIE SY: The president defended his measures.

DONALD TRUMP: We have been abused really for a long time and we will be abused no longer.

STEPHANIE SY: Saying other countries have taken advantage of the U.S. and that tariffs will protect domestic industries.

STEPHEN CAPONE, President, Capone Iron Corporation: The tariffs actually align with something that I have been working on for over 30 years.

STEPHANIE SY: Stephen Capone is the president of Capone Iron Corporation of Raleigh, Massachusetts.

He agrees that tariffs will benefit his business.

STEPHEN CAPONE: I think it's a positive thing.

I am supportive of the tariffs.

We are being decimated by the Canadian steel fabricators, and they're just coming down and taking jobs at will.

They control 95 percent of the publicly funded construction projects and over 80 percent of the private market.

And there aren't much of us left, actually.

They have been systematically and intentionally boring their prices and putting us out of business.

STEPHANIE SY: He says that, although tariffs may come with a cost, they will benefit U.S. businesses down the line.

STEPHEN CAPONE: What people don't realize, OK, there's a cost to a tariff.

I get that.

But there's also something associated with keeping projects domestic.

In my industry, it's an economic multiplier of 1.5.

So a $10 million steel job resonates $15 million through the local and regional economy.

That's real money.

And that could do a lot of good for the economy and the communities.

STEPHANIE SY: But outside of steel, many American companies are worried.

Despite a positive report out of the Labor Department today showing inflation slowed by more than expected last month, the optimism is constrained by fears of higher prices to come.

The Consumer Price Index increased 2.8 percent from last year, down from 3 percent the previous month.

But the latest data does not reflect the casualties of the current tariff war.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more on the U.S. trade war with Europe, we turn now to Jovita Neliupsiene, the European Union's ambassador to the United States.

Madam Ambassador, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE, European Union Ambassador to the United States: Well, thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as we reported, these tariffs largely target products made in Republican states, products from Kansas and Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana.

Is it your hope here that Republican lawmakers will speak up and apply pressure to President Trump to roll back the tariffs, or do you hope that President Trump starts to lose support from his base in these states?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, first of all, let's start from the beginning.

We actually deeply regret that the tariffs are introduced for the E.U.

products on steel and aluminum.

We never saw the tariffs as really the measure to foster trade, or -- and we see it actually as a harm for the transatlantic trade relations.

But we have to react, and our reaction will be prompt, and we will reinstitute the tariffs we already had and discussed back in 2018 and 2020.

AMNA NAWAZ: And is it your hope here that Republican lawmakers will see that and want to save their states and start to apply pressure?

Have you been in touch with any of them?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, we really had a lot of conversations with senators and congressmen here in D.C. trying to send one single message that tariffs are really not for the best of the transatlantic relations, so we hope that everyone can send a message, the same message.

AMNA NAWAZ: We did see how quickly the terms -- even between the U.S. and Ontario, for example, there was an escalation there, then it was a quick de-escalation.

You saw Ontario slap a surcharge on electricity exports; 24 hours later after a call between the premier there and the U.S. commerce secretary, Ontario rolled back that surcharge, and now the two are meeting in Washington tomorrow.

What would it take for the E.U.

to roll back your tariffs?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: We stand ready for talks and for the negotiations.

We repeatedly expressed our interest in talking.

And if you -- you probably noticed that we not only published our intended reciprocal measures.

We as well informed public that they will be they come into effect at the 1st of April, so there is enough time for the conversations.

AMNA NAWAZ: And is it your hope that something happens before April 1 that means you don't have to put the tariffs into place?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, we always have a hope for their for the really constructive, constructive talks, because none of us will benefit from the tariffs, because, one, it's always -- it raise the cost for the business.

It may inflict inflation in the U.S.

It weakens in general supply chains, which are the supply chains of transatlantic partners and in general supply chains of allies.

So we don't see how it could be beneficial for both sides of Atlantic.

AMNA NAWAZ: Madam Ambassador, as you know, when the E.U.

trade commissioner was here in Washington to meet with the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, last month, he was trying to head off these tariffs.

He came out of that meeting and he said -- quote -- "The E.U.

is not the problem."

Is Commerce Secretary Lutnick someone you can work with on this?

And if not who in the White House can you work with.

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, of course, commerce -- Secretary of Commerce Lutnick is really our prime contact, as well as USTR Greer.

We are ready to talk whoever is willing to talk and make an action that those tariffs would be -- revert.

AMNA NAWAZ: You say you're ready to talk.

Is it fair to say those conversations are already under way?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, we always say here have to have them.

And we already -- as you mentioned, we already had a very in-depth conversation with Secretary Lutnick, and we are ready to continue them.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you about the U.S. tariffs on steel, because the E.U.

does stand to lose millions of tons in steel exports under those tariffs.

As you know, the U.S. is the second biggest export market for E.U.

steel.

We know European markets were already deeply impacted by the energy crisis that was spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine.

What has been and what could be the impact of those tariffs not just on the E.U.

steel industry, but on European economies?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: As the E.U., we are not the major trading partner in steel and aluminum for U.S.

So we don't constitute a problem since 2018 that our exports of steel and aluminum actually decreased.

I really do believe that the impact for economies is always there, because we not only kind of -- it not only impacts the certain sector which get tariffs on, but as well there are the services around that.

It contributes to the weakening of the trade links and the trust of the supply chains.

AMNA NAWAZ: Madam ambassador, beyond commodities, the E.U.

bought an estimated $61 billion of military equipment from the U.S. between 2022 and 2024.

And, as you know, after the U.S. cut off arms and intelligence support to Ukraine, there were a number of European leaders who were reportedly very worried that the U.S. could do the same to them.

Will the E.U.

continue to buy military equipment from the U.S.?

Do you see that changing?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, so far as we see from the reports, we have no evidence that the U.S. would be cutting some kind of the sales or productions for the European countries.

And we very much rely on the supplies from U.S., because a lot of NATO capabilities are actually built on U.S. platforms.

AMNA NAWAZ: But is there a concern about the reliance on America?

I mean, is the U.S. still considered a reliable partner to you on this front?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: We spend almost 60 percent of our defense budgets in acquiring capabilities, ammunition and different defense-related products from U.S.

I really strongly believe it will remain so.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is the European Union's ambassador to the United States, Jovita Neliupsiene, joining us tonight.

Madam Ambassador, thank you so much for your time.

Good to speak with you.

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines in New York with the fate of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil.

The 30-year-old will remain detained in Louisiana at least until next week following an initial court hearing in New York today.

Protesters gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse as a government lawyer asked the federal judge to move his case to either New Jersey or Louisiana.

Those are two places where Khalil has been held, as the Trump administration tries to deport him for his role in pro-Palestinian protests at the school, but has yet to charge him with any crime.

Outside the court, Khalil's lawyer said what's happened to him is shocking and outrageous.

RAMZI KASSEM, Attorney for Mahmoud Khalil: Every day that Mahmoud spends in detention in Louisiana is a day too long.

We and he fully intend to vindicate not just his First Amendment rights, but those of all Americans, frankly, and all lawful permanent residents and anybody who wants to speak out.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump has vowed to deport those he describes as taking part in -- quote -- "pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity."

But a judge held up Khalil's deportation, as the court considers a legal challenge from his lawyers.

Khalil is a legal permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen.

Turning now to the war in Ukraine, a Kremlin spokesperson said today that Moscow is waiting for detailed information a cease-fire proposal before responding.

That plan for a 30-day pause in fighting is endorsed by both Ukraine and the U.S. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly ruled out a cease-fire, saying it gives Ukraine and its allies time to regroup.

On his way to a G7 summit, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that U.S.-Russian talks continue and that a cease-fire could happen within days if Russia agrees.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: We're going to say that Ukraine is prepared to stop all battlefield activity and begin the immediate process of negotiating an enduring end to the war.

We hope to have a positive answer from them.

The ball is truly in their court.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, in Ukraine, officials say the latest round of Russian missiles killed at least five civilians.

This comes as the Kremlin released footage of President Putin visiting the Western Russian region of Kursk.

It was his first visit there since Ukrainian forces seized some territory in the area.

Putin said Russian forces should be able to kick the Ukrainians out in the near future.

In Pakistan, a standoff between the military and insurgents who hijacked a passenger train finally ended today in bloodshed.

It happened in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, claimed responsibility.

They released a video of the attack seen here as still images.

Officials say at least 21 hostages were killed, along with three Pakistani soldiers.

Security forces say they rescued hundreds of remaining passengers and killed all 33 assailants.

Survivors were treated at a train station which had been turned into a makeshift hospital.

A pro-independence party is celebrating a surprise win in Greenland's parliamentary elections.

The opposition Demokraatit Party benefited from high voter turnout amid President Trump's stated goal of taking control of the Arctic island.

The party's chairman told reporters last night that he hopes the results send -- quote -- "a clear message to him that we are not for sale."

Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

It holds large reserves of rare earth minerals and is strategically located in the North Atlantic.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to roll back dozens of environmental regulations.

In an essay in The Wall Street Journal today, Administrator Lee Zeldin said 31 environmental rules would be affected.

They include regulations on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles.

That includes the agency's own finding in 2009 that greenhouse gases threaten public health.

Zeldin says his actions will eliminate trillions of dollars in regulatory costs.

One climate scientist called it -- quote -- "just the latest form of Republican climate denial."

New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said today that she will not seek reelection next year.

In a video posted on social media, the 78-year-old Democrat called it a -- quote -- "difficult decision."

Shaheen made history as the first woman elected as both governor and senator.

Her decision is a blow to Democrats, already facing a difficult path to a win a Senate majority.

But a Democratic Party spokesman said today Republicans haven't won a New Hampshire Senate race in more than a decade, and they're confident that trend will continue.

And on Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed after cooler inflation data offset the latest worries about President Trump's tariffs.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 80 points, but the Nasdaq added more than 200 points after steep sell-offs in recent days.

The S&P 500 also ended in positive territory.

And NASA has launched two missions aboard one rocket in the latest effort to explore the sun and the stars.

SPHEREx and PUNCH hitched a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California late last night.

SPHEREx is NASA's latest telescope it looks like a giant megaphone and will create a sweeping view of hundreds of millions of galaxies.

Scientists are hoping for clues into how the universe expanded from its very first moments.

And the four satellites that make up PUNCH will be the first to study solar winds in 3-D.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Judy Woodruff visits a California town attempting to reverse its fortunes after decades of decline; and two Native American artists discuss the complexities, what it means to be First People.

President Trump has previously said he wants to eliminate the Department of Education completely.

Just yesterday, his administration slash nearly 50 percent of its work force.

William Brangham joins us now with more -- William.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, 1,300 workers were laid off on Tuesday, on top of another 572 who took separation packages earlier.

It is an enormous reduction for the agency that's currently responsible for managing $1.5 trillion in college loans, issuing guidance on civil rights laws, and providing funding for low-income schools.

So, for more on how this will impact teachers and students, we are joined by John King.

He's the chancellor for the State University of New York and was education secretary under President Obama.

Chancellor King, thank you very much for being here.

The Trump administration argues that the current academic progress of American students, which is alarming and well-documented, is proof that the federal Department of Education has failed in its mission, and thus it can be dismantled.

And I just wonder, what what's your response to that?

JOHN KING, Chancellor, The State University of New York: Unfortunately, they have got it exactly backwards.

The Education Department has played a key role in the progress we have made over the last 40 years in terms of student performance.

It's when the federal government is leaning in, providing clear accountability, mobilizing the country to improve outcomes, particularly for low-income students, students with disabilities, other vulnerable student populations, that we have seen the most progress.

Where we stalled was when the first Trump administration took office, and then certainly COVID set the whole country back.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So let's say that the Trump administration continues this progress.

They have already halved the size of the work force.

If they continue to go forward, as the president has said he wants to do, and eliminate it totally, what specific programs are you most concerned about going away?

JOHN KING: I'm very concerned about Title I, which is the program that directs resources to schools serving low-income students.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act implementation, this is funding that goes to schools to support students with disabilities and the services they desperately need.

The Pell Grant program and the federal student loan program, which are key to helping students get to and through college, in the absence of these programs, students and families will be hurt and the country's economic future will be damaged.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: My colleague spoke earlier today with Jonathan Butcher.

He's an education policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation.

He was part of writing Project 2025, which very specifically called for the elimination of the department.

And he argued that many of the most important functions of the department can be shopped out to other departments.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

JONATHAN BUTCHER, The Heritage Foundation: Collecting data on student achievement, I think that's an appropriate function of this agency, but that can be handled -- it's an appropriate function of the federal government, but it can be handled by different departments.

So, for example, programs for children with special needs can move to Health and Human Services.

The collection of data and measuring student progress, that can be handled by census, which already collects data for federal offices.

The student loan program, which, of course, is a huge part of what the department does now, can be moved to Treasury.

So the department itself as a Cabinet-level agency should be taken apart.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Chancellor, what is your response to that?

Can the principal functions of the department be shopped out elsewhere?

JOHN KING: Look, I think that analysis is disingenuous.

If the real intention was just efficiency, then you wouldn't see these dramatic layoffs of hundreds upon hundreds of people who have expertise and have been performing vital functions.

You have layoffs today of folks who have been working on special education, folks who've been working on civil rights enforcement.

And those jobs aren't being created somewhere else.

They're just sending those people home and losing their experience for the country.

So I think that's actually a false narrative that's being created.

The real agenda here is to undermine public education.

And that's tragic.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Again, if this progress, if you can call it that, continues, how confident are you that the states, which supply 90 percent, I believe it is, of funding for schools all across the country, if they are more in the driver's seat, do you think that states and localities can pick up the slack if the federal responsibility disappears?

JOHN KING: You know, the reality is, most decision-making in K-12 education already happens at the state and local level.

But states and districts aren't going to be able to make up for the billions of dollars of federal funding that comes to them specifically to help vulnerable students, and they aren't going to make up for the accountability role that the department plays, that civil rights role.

Remember, the department's history is as an agency that was created because states and districts were failing to protect the civil rights of students.

That's why we needed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

That's why we needed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to ensure that students would be protected and that states and districts would do the right thing with federal oversight.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, that is Chancellor John King of the State University System of New York and former education secretary.

Thank you so much for talking with us.

JOHN KING: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Some 200,000 Afghans who were left behind during the Biden administration and its botched 2021 withdrawal have now been left in further limbo by the Trump administration's suspension of the refugee program.

Many fought alongside U.S. soldiers and received refugee visas last year, but they now fear they may never be allowed to come to the U.S. Nick Schifrin and producer Sonia Kopelev spoke to refugees hoping to fulfill an American dream they thought they'd been promised.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For nearly two decades, they fought, sacrificed and lived side by side with their American partners bound by a mutual mission, create a safe, smart Afghanistan, that dream now replaced by the nightmare of Taliban persecution.

What would happen if you were forced to go back to Afghanistan?

"MOHAMMED," Former Afghan Soldier: People like me, that they have a lot of information, especially work with the U.S. Special Forces, they are not going directly to kill them.

They are going to torture them, their family, their friends.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A man we will call Mohammed and keep anonymous was an Afghan Special Forces soldier who served with U.S. Green Berets from 2019 until the U.S.' 2021 withdrawal.

He filmed this video, their missions, often at night, always dangerous against a common enemy.

"MOHAMMED": We have been serving, fight shoulder by shoulder to each other for many years against the Taliban, al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

We lost a lot of our colleagues, 150 people that I personally knew them.

I'm so proud of what we did in Afghanistan for humanity and for freedom.

NICK SCHIFRIN: During the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation, Mohammed, like so many other Afghans, tried but failed to evacuate via Kabul's airport.

So he fled first to the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he filmed these scenes, and then eight months later he walked across the border into Pakistan.

He wasn't eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa, so he applied for a P-2 refugee visa, and was approved in April 2024 through a program designed for Afghans left behind.

All that remained, the processing of his flight to his new American home.

MAN: To better align with American principles and American interests.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, soon after inauguration, President Trump suspended the Refugee Admissions Program.

An executive order reads: "The U.S. lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of refugees in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees."

"MOHAMMED": We are not immigrants.

We are wartime allies.

And 20 years before, America, when came to Afghanistan, they promised to Afghan people that we are with you people and we are standing when no one should be left behind.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Those left behind, the Taliban have hunted mercilessly.

And now the Pakistani government has imprisoned Afghans living in the country, including entire families, and deported 40,000 back to Afghanistan.

"SAMIRA", Afghan Refugee in Pakistan (through translator): If I go back to Afghanistan, which is beyond my imagination, of course, the Taliban knows that I was cooperating with the U.S. government, and they might kill me.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A woman will call Samira is a human rights lawyer from northern Afghanistan who worked with the U.S. and foreign aid organizations to help the war's youngest victims.

She provided food, medicine and clothing.

After the Taliban takeover, she went into hiding before fleeing with her family to Pakistan.

"SAMIRA" (through translator): We sold our home, all our belongings and left our beloved country to save our lives and have stayed in Pakistan for the past three long years with a lot of hope and American promises, living without any income and suffering financially and emotionally here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: She too was approved for a P-2 refugee visa and was waiting for her flight, which means the dreams of her daughter are deferred.

Afghan children can't attend Pakistani public schools and Samira can't afford private school, so her daughter has not been able to study for three years.

"SAMIRA" (through translator): She cries every day and asks me to send her to school, but I keep promising her that soon we will go to the United States and you can continue your education in an American school.

I do not know how to explain to her my promises.

I really do not have any answer now.

SHAWN VANDIVER, Founder, AfghanEvac: The idea that the United States was helping get these folks to their American dream offered some level of protection, whether they were in Pakistan.

They were being allowed to exist there.

And now the Pakistani government has said, no, you got to get out by March 31 unless the United States picks up refugee processing again.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Shawn VanDiver is the chairman of AfghanEvac, a coalition of 250 organizations that worked with the Biden administration to resettle Afghans who worked with the U.S. SHAWN VANDIVER: Every one of these people is somebody who stood up for the idea of democracy.

Because of something that they did, they're at risk or something -- somebody in their immediate family did.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And many immediate families have been separated since the chaotic evacuation, awaiting a reunification they now fear may never come, including an Afghan woman we will call Zahra.

She worked for the U.S. military and says her family of four, two older kids, one younger son, has been cut in two.

ZAHRA, Afghan Refugee in America: We entered to the airport on August 17, which was two days after the fall of Kabul.

They told us that we don't need to bring any family members right now.

As a single mom, it was hard for me to believe that, but there was not any other choice.

But I couldn't leave my 4-year-old baby because I was breast-feeding him.

NICK SCHIFRIN: At the Kabul Airport, she spent days without food or water and was no longer able to breast-feed her 4-month-old son.

ZAHRA: When they saw the baby, they saw dehydrated, and me, and, like, walking with no shoes and stuff under the sun, they forced me to take a plane, forced to go to a second country, leaving my two other kids.

I have been promised that they will be reunited with me as soon as possible.

Now it has been almost four years.

And now I am struggling here with my almost-4-year-old baby.

He underwent a brain surgery.

He got a tumor resection on January 15.

And, for me, it's so hard to be alone, take care of my youngest son here, and being worried about my other two kids in Pakistan without any resolution.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And in the middle of that incalculable sacrifice, her father was executed by the Taliban.

Today, her children's refugee visas that had been approved are now blocked, and the sacrifice feels insurmountable.

ZAHRA: Handling the death of my father, separation of my two kids, struggling with a baby here alone without any support is just awful situation.

I would regret working with the -- for the United States government for all of my life.

NICK SCHIFRIN: An ally abandoned, an American promise broken.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

AMNA NAWAZ: In Judy Woodruff's previous report, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam said that strengthening the country's democracy would begin in places far from Washington, with grassroots efforts by people stepping up in their own communities.

Now she visits a down, but not out community in California that's fighting for a comeback one round at a time.

It's part of her ongoing series, America at a Crossroads.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Just over 60 miles east of Los Angeles lies California's Inland Empire, where 20-year old Terry Washington is attempting to beat the odds.

TERRY WASHINGTON, Professional Boxer: I will definitely be a world champion, definitely be a world champion.

It's going to definitely happen.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Some very high aspirations, despite growing up in one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

TERRY WASHINGTON: I have seen a lot of stuff.

I have lost a lot of friends, more than five friends, while I was boxing.

Lost a lot of family members in this city all over.

And it's tough.

JAMES FALLOWS, Co-Author, "Our Towns": This was a bustling downtown.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Journalist Jim Fallows grew up near San Bernardino, a place that in 1977 won the award for All-America City.

But in the years since, its fortunes flipped.

I met up with him and his wife, Deborah, for a tour of the city that they have reported on in depth for years.

JAMES FALLOWS: This is just a few miles from where I grew up in the neighboring city of Redlands.

So it's a story I have known my whole life.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Blocks of vacant buildings and homeless camps now dot the city that was once home to the bustling Norton Air Force Base that closed in 1994.

That followed the shuttering of a nearby steel mill a decade earlier.

Together, the closures gutted the economy.

In the years after the 2008 financial crisis, the city declared bankruptcy, along with many others.

JAMES FALLOWS: Places that have depended on a couple of big industries have generally had a harder time to -- adapting to the inevitable transformation of the U.S. economy.

You see that with steel mills in the Midwest.

You see at the textile mills.

You see it here in San Bernardino.

And the question is how -- whether the community can respond and recover.

JUDY WOODRUFF: President Trump won San Bernardino County in November, the first Republican to do so in 20 years.

And researchers say the question of whether it can recover is not just driving the future of this place, but of the country more broadly, as it wrestles with growing polarization, inequality, gridlock in Washington, and the devastation of local news.

JAMES FALLOWS: We asked people to tell us the story of your town.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Communities like this sparked the Fallows' interest in starting a five-year, 100,000-mile reporting project in 2012 that became their book and an HBO documentary, "Our Towns," chronicling their journey across the country in their single-engine propeller plane.

We met up recently at Alice's Restaurant here in San Bernardino to talk about what they learned.

JAMES FALLOWS: When we started doing this 10-plus years ago, our main reaction was surprise at all the things we didn't know about.

We felt like people who followed the U.S. media knew all about New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco and D.C., but not necessarily about Duluth or about Sioux Falls, South Dakota, or about Columbus, Mississippi.

DEBORAH FALLOWS, Co-Author, "Our Towns": One of the strongest impressions that we got were that the people who lived in the towns knew the towns best.

They knew that they knew their strengths.

They knew their problems.

People knew if their schools weren't working quite right, or they knew if they needed to improve the infrastructure of their library, or they knew if they needed new town leadership.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you think you were able to learn and to report to the American people?

JAMES FALLOWS: By the time we'd finished several years of this, we thought that the view Americans had of their country was imbalanced in a negative way, that most people felt better about where they lived, the part of America they knew about firsthand, than the part of America they only heard about.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For boxer Terry Washington, his life began to change at just age 8, when he met his coach, Ian Franklin.

TERRY WASHINGTON: I was a fighter.

You know, one of the days he passed by, he said he saw me fighting in the front premises of our apartments.

IAN FRANKLIN, Founder and President, Project Fighting Chance: As a person, he's a champion.

I see the influence he has on kids.

I see how he handles the youth in here.

He works for us.

He's one of our boxing coaches, and kids gravitate toward him.

He has a God-given ability to influence kids in the right way.

It's been so long.

Nice to see you again.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Franklin's nonprofit, Project Fighting Chance, has worked for 26 years to put kids on the right path.

Between 30 and 60 students show up here every day after school for a meal, a tutoring session, a game of chess, and, of course, boxing.

IAN FRANKLIN: What we say we do is, we reduce childhood violence, aggression, and trauma.

It's about people that want something to change.

But if they're not doing something, I think everybody has to look in the mirror and say, OK, if I don't like the environment that I'm in, what can I do?

MICHAEL SEGURA, San Bernardino Generation Now: I feel like it's been in the hands of the community since you were here 10 years ago, right?

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Fallows also introduced me to Michael Segura, who has worked to make social change through public art and engagement.

MICHAEL SEGURA: There's always going to be struggles, right?

And with the city, it's still done grassroots.

I don't think there's really a lot of support from the actual city of San Bernardino.

It's nonprofits,it's community members that are taking on that movement of doing the public art, creating these beautiful spaces.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Part of his work now focuses on new education programs.

MICHAEL SEGURA: We're looking at the purposeful pathways, which is, how do we work within the school district to ensure that the pathways are leading to careers that make sense in industries that make sense and not just logistics?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Over the past two decades, citrus groves have slowly given way to warehouses.

The relatively cheap flat land around San Bernardino fueled the logistics, transportation, and distribution economy that's now the primary source of jobs in the county.

The Fallows found that high schools were adjusting to take advantage of the new economy.

DEBORAH FALLOWS: It's a very realistic approach to both keeping kids in school, supporting the kind of work that is necessary in that community, and kind of uplifting the whole scene.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jim, it made things better than they might have been without this kind of training and education, but it wasn't enough to completely turn around.

JAMES FALLOWS: There's a category of cities that have real fundamental challenges, the same kind of industrial dislocation, the same kind of impoverishment, the same kind of governing problem.

So the challenge is being simultaneously aware of all the realistic obstacles that the community faces and noticing the people who are trying to work around them, work against them, work for some better way.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But there's one topic the Fallows try to avoid in these local communities national politics.

JAMES FALLOWS: It sort of immediately ends the conversation.

People are either in one camp or the other.

If you ask them, what's the story of this town, are kids moving in or moving away, what's happening with the port, what's happening with the water supply, they are the experts and you can learn from them.

DEBORAH FALLOWS: And people know so much about their hometowns.

I think they're there in a comfort zone talking about where they live in a way that national responses are a bit separate from you, a bit abstract from your everyday, busy life.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Since the Fallows first met Ian Franklin, Project Fighting Chance moved into a new gym and has expanded to 10 school sites, with plans to spread into neighboring districts.

IAN FRANKLIN: I have had 16 national champions.

And the one thing I do tell all these youth, in order to achieve, you first have to believe, because, if you don't believe, you're not going to achieve it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's something the Fallows have witnessed in recent years, a new dawn of community, local stories they also continue to track on their Our Towns Civic Foundation's Web site.

JAMES FALLOWS: We hope and now believe that the history of the 2020s will be of all the problems we know at the national level and this emerging diaspora of people across the country figuring out solutions for the future.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in San Bernardino, California.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we'll be back shortly with PBS News Student Reporting Labs' look at two Native American artists whose work is on exhibit in Los Angeles.

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

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

For those of you staying with us, an encore report now from our science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, on how scientists, researchers, and some big companies are trying to jump-start the next generation of computing.

It's a major challenge, but the payoff could be enormous for science, tech and industry.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a chandelier that may soon shed light on the true nature of nature, a quantum computer designed to understand the rules of the physical world to find new ways to cure diseases, stop pandemics, develop renewable energy, and tackle the climate emergency.

DARIO GIL, Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research: If we want to understand nature, since nature obeys quantum mechanics, let's build a machine.

Let's build technology that works like nature.

MILES O'BRIEN: Dario Gil is senior vice president and the director of IBM research in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Computers today operate in the binary language of ones and zeros.

Fast and capable, sure, but they are, after all, digital totems of reality.

DARIO GIL: So, no matter how hard we try, the best we can do is to approximate the complexity of our world.

And quantum machines are the first technology that we have created that allows us to, by mimicking that behavior of the natural world of quantum physics, to be able to simulate it, to understand it better.

MILES O'BRIEN: These intricate machines are designed to do just that.

At the bottom are simulated atomic particles called qubits which act in mysterious, nonintuitive ways.

The manner in which they spin and interact can greatly increase the capability and efficiency of computers.

Besides being a potential game changer for solving problems in the natural world, quantum computers may lead to greater optimization in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and finance.

And they have the potential to challenge and revolutionize encryption.

DAVID AWSCHALOM, University of Chicago: I believe we are at the birth of a revolution in technology, a different way of thinking about information.

MILES O'BRIEN: Quantum physicist David Awschalom is a professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago.

DAVID AWSCHALOM: Well, I think our classical view of the world and classical modeling of the world has worked very well.

And it's helped us quite a bit and it continues to help us.

But some of us think about this moving a little bit from a world of black and white into color.

MILES O'BRIEN: He gave me a tour of his quantum measurement laboratory.

What is the goal of this lab anyway?

What are you up to here?

DAVID AWSCHALOM: Yes, so, here, we're developing new experimental techniques to be able to look at individual electrons and atoms and see how they convey quantum information.

MILES O'BRIEN: They combine fast pulses of light and microwaves to experiment with individual atoms and electrons.

DAVID AWSCHALOM: And measure their properties.

This is a way to investigate them, atom and electron by atom.

MILES O'BRIEN: But controlling atoms is no small feat.

It turns out qubits are very delicate, creating a big engineering challenge in designing quantum computers.

ERIK LUCERO, Director, Google Quantum A.I.

Lab: So we are in the Google Quantum A.I.

lab and we are surrounded by a fleet of quantum computers.

MILES O'BRIEN: Physicist Erik Lucero is a lead engineer for Google's quantum computing enterprise based in Santa Barbara, California.

ERIK LUCERO: Each one of these are testing something slightly different.

MILES O'BRIEN: Quantum computers look like a Rube Goldberg espresso maker in order to keep their finicky qubits happy.

For them to remain able to compute problems, they cannot be disturbed by the slightest bit of noise, electromagnetic or thermal.

ERIK LUCERO: We want to make sure that the thermal noise is well below our quantum signal, OK, so we make our systems out of superconducting electronics.

MILES O'BRIEN: Which means they have to be kept cold, extremely cold.

Everywhere we went, the computers had to be chilled to almost absolute zero, or about 460-degrees-below-zero Fahrenheit.

Simply sending commands to and receiving responses from qubits without disturbing them is a Herculean task.

ERIK LUCERO: We're learning about information that it's so much more delicate in the ways that we have to interact with it.

When we go and actually interact with these systems, we can alter it.

MILES O'BRIEN: As a result, the quantum computers that exist today are riddled with errors.

Researchers deal with this through statistical analysis and sophisticated error correction techniques.

But achieving a fully error-corrected quantum computer is their goal.

ERIK LUCERO: The summit for us is to build a fault-tolerant, error-corrected quantum computer.

MILES O'BRIEN: The race is on to be first.

And China appears to be the leader.

Its announced investment in quantum computing is more than $15 billion.

IBM and Google don't share the amount they are spending internally on quantum computing research and development, but, in May of 2023, the companies announced a $150 million gift to the universities of Chicago and Tokyo to try and keep pace with the Chinese.

JAY GAMBETTA, IBM Vice President of Quantum: You're probably standing between two of the biggest quantum computers in the world.

MILES O'BRIEN: So if I stay here long enough, I will get smarter?

JAY GAMBETTA: Possibly.

MILES O'BRIEN: Back in Yorktown Heights, I met IBM's V.P.

of quantum, Jay Gambetta.

The company is already rolling out quantum computers that are not perfect, but are built with some error correction.

MILES O'BRIEN: The company has already deployed more than 75 quantum computers.

Mostly, users are trying to find ways to program these machines.

It's entirely different than classical computer coding.

DARIO GIL: It is definitely going to be a huge competition.

I think this needs to be the decade where quantum computing emerges as a technology that will be a permanent part of the landscape of the world of computing.

But a race also has a connotation that, like, you run something and it ends.

I don't see this as ending.

MILES O'BRIEN: Researchers say a practical, error-free quantum computer may be a decade away, but the goal of solving huge problems with the smallest particles in the universe is alluring enough to quicken their work.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien in Yorktown Heights, New York.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Autry Museum's Future Imaginaries exhibit brings together works from indigenous artists to reimagine science fiction characters and storylines.

In this story from PBS News Student Reporting Labs, two Native artists, Mercedes Dorame and Angelica Trimble-Yanu, met at the museum to discuss their own work and how contemporary Native artists draw upon their culture and connections to envision the future.

MERCEDES DORAME, Artist: I worked with the camera a lot, but it was not really until I shifted into using it different ways that I began my art practice.

And that shift really was around looking at some of my experience as a Tongva person, my family's experience, growing up in Los Angeles, what that meant to be in a place that was really trying to erase your ancestral presence.

ANGELICA TRIMBLE-YANU, Artist: So I am a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation.

I was born and raised in Oakland, California, and I was actually adopted out of the reservation as a child.

So I was raised apart from my Lakota family.

MERCEDES DORAME: We're here to talk about this exhibition at the Autry Museum.

What I am interested in doing is creating a permanent record of indigenous presence in Los Angeles.

ANGELICA TRIMBLE-YANU: I only work in black, white, yellow, and red.

It's a way for me to honor my ancestral's language through color.

MERCEDES DORAME: I always feel like I'm tying back into my ancestral knowledge, practice, and I need that to go forward.

ANGELICA TRIMBLE-YANU: There's been this like resurgence of genuine authenticity, like, within these spaces, and there's more openness around what Native art can look like and versus what it should look like.

MERCEDES DORAME: I don't know if you have dealt with this, but like this idea of like authenticity and what is authentic and people want you to go into like a past tense place to be authentic.

I hope that people come away from my work curious, wanting to know more, and also understanding that we do have ability to connect.

ANGELICA TRIMBLE-YANU: I want us to not be placed always in the past, but really in the present and in the future.

And I think, historically, museum institutions have placed us in the past.

AMNA NAWAZ: And don't forget, there's always much more online, including this look at a bipartisan effort in Oklahoma aiming to boost the state's academic performance by limiting cell phone use in schools.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.