AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: A jury convicts members of the far right Proud Boys of seditious conspiracy in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

AMNA NAWAZ: A Republican megadonor paid tuition for a relative of Justice Clarence Thomas, the revelations adding to ethical concerns about the High Court.

GEOFF BENNETT: And privacy advocates warn of the risks that spyware poses to journalists, activists, and government officials, despite a push by the Biden White House to limit its use.

ROMAN GRESSIER, El Faro English: I felt violated.

It's a feeling that many around the world have expressed when they have been targeted with these tools.

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

A partial verdict has been handed down for members of the far right extremist group the Proud Boys and their involvement in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

AMNA NAWAZ: A federal jury today found four members of the Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy.

That includes the group's former leader, Enrique Tarrio, along with members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl.

A fifth member, Dominic Pezzola, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy.

But he and the others were convicted of obstruction and destruction of property.

Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about the Justice Department's victory earlier today.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. Attorney General: The department has secured more than 600 convictions for a wide range of criminal conduct on January 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack.

We have secured the convictions of defendants who fought, punched, tackled, and even Tased police officers who were defending the Capitol that day.

AMNA NAWAZ: NPR's national justice correspondent, Carrie Johnson, has been following all of this closely from the courtroom and joins us now.

Carrie, let's begin with that sedition conviction, four of the five defendants there.

What did prosecutors argue they did on January 6, and how did they prove their case?

CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR: Prosecutors basically argue that these men lined up as a fighting force for former President Donald Trump and agreed to do everything they could, including force, to keep Trump in power and basically overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

They started the story with that presidential debate, where Trump asked the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by, continued it through December 2020 with Trump encouraging people to come to the Capitol and saying "It will be wild," and then tracing a number of chat messages and videos and podcasts to the day of January 6 itself, when some of these men were involved in some of the earliest breaches at the Capitol Complex that day.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carrie, as you as you have reported, as many have, Enrico -- Enrique Tarrio wasn't even at the Capitol on January 6.

He wasn't in Washington.

What did we hear from their defense attorneys?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Tarrio's lawyers basically said he's a scapegoat for the former president, that it was too hard or too complicated for the Justice Department to charge Donald Trump with wrongdoing, and so the government went after Enrique Tarrio.

Instead, they did point out the Tarrio watched the events of January 6 from a hotel room in Baltimore, in part because he was in trouble for defacing a banner at an African American church in D.C. in December of 2020.

But the government said that Tarrio was monitoring the action from afar and sometimes directing his troops on the ground.

They pointed to a chat message Tarrio posted on January 6, saying: "Make no mistake, we did this."

AMNA NAWAZ: As you know, the Proud Boys are a far right extremist group.

They were founded in 2016.

More than 20 of their other members have been charged in connection with the January 6 attack.

How much did the trial reveal about their culture and how much of a danger do they still post today?

CARRIE JOHNSON: (AUDIO GAP) much about their culture.

The Proud Boys call themselves a Western chauvinist organization.

The defendants tried to portray themselves as involved in like a drinking club and in a partying group.

But the government cast a much darker shadow and said that there were people actively fomenting violence, encouraging it, posting videos, expressing themselves as so-called lords of war, and taking a victory smoke after the siege on the Capitol.

And so there was this tug-of-war between the party boy culture of the Proud Boys and the rally boy culture.

And the jury seem to believe in the government's view that these defendants were bent on violence on January 6, and before as well.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carrie, you covered the previous sedition prosecutions against members of another far right extremist group, the Oath Keepers and their role in January 6.

Did that trial and outcome in any way relate to today's outcome?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Only in that the Justice Department has now successfully convicted leaders of both of these far right groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge we have seen to come out of this sprawling investigation of January 6.

And that certainly is a vindication of the Justice Department's strategy in this case.

Those charges are very hard to prove.

Now they have proved that leaders of two different far right groups that played enormous roles on the ground on January 6 were engaged in a violent effort to overthrow the government.

And that's significant as part of this broader investigation, which continues, as Attorney General Merrick Garland said today.

AMNA NAWAZ: As part of today's outcome, there was a mistrial declared on a few counts on which the jury could not reach a verdict.

What's important to understand about that?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Well, these defendants, including Dominic Pezzola, who was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, were all convicted on other pretty serious felonies.

Some of them carry a 20-year maximum behind bars.

So, when they're sentenced, probably some time in August, these men are all certainly facing a long prison term.

And it's not clear to me the Justice Department is going to want to pursue a retrial on those 10 counts.

So it may be that they will take their victory and go home.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carrie, is there any word on whether or not the men will appeal?

CARRIE JOHNSON: There's a strong word on appeal.

In fact, Tarrio's lawyers said that they're disappointed in the verdict, and they're placing their hopes in the appeals courts.

Throughout this trial, there have been so many motions for a mistrial, I can't even count them.

All of these defense lawyers have been raising objections and making them for the record.

I think there will be a very hearty appeal moving forward from all of these defendants who were convicted today.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that is NPR's national justice correspondent, Carrie Johnson, joining us tonight.

Carrie, thank you.

Always good to talk to you.

CARRIE JOHNSON: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: The debate over the debt ceiling deadlock heated up in Congress today.

Democrats condemned Republican calls for demanding deep spending cuts first.

Republicans argued the cuts are critical to curbing inflation.

At a Senate hearing today, economist Mark Zandi warned the impasse could end in a federal default and economic disaster.

MARK ZANDI, Chief Economist, Moody's Analytics: We need to end this drama as quickly as possible.

If we don't, we're going to go into recession and our fiscal challenges will be made even worse.

GEOFF BENNETT: Zandi said, if nothing changes, the government could default by June 8.

Leaders from both parties are set to meet with President Biden on Tuesday.

Police in Atlanta are still trying to work out what led to Wednesday's shooting attack in the city's busy Midtown; 24-year-old Deion Patterson was captured last night and charged with murder.

He waived his court appearance today and was denied bail.

Police say he opened fire in a doctor's office with a handgun.

But it's not clear why.

One woman was killed and four others remained hospitalized today.

In Serbia, thousands of people turned out today to mourn eight students and a security guard killed in a school shooting on Wednesday.

The shooter was a 13-year-old boy.

In Belgrade, people gathered to lay flowers and say prayers.

Many expressed shock that it could happen in a country where mass shootings are rare.

BRANISLAV GRUBACI, Belgrade Resident (through translator): The overwhelming feeling I have is that this tragedy is of cosmic proportions.

The horror of it is indescribable.

We were aware that our society is capable of such events, but the possibility of such an escalation among elementary school children was unforeseen.

GEOFF BENNETT: Police there are now urging Serbians to lock up their guns after it emerged that the shooter used his father's weapons.

Russia is accusing the U.S. of ordering what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin.

The White House today called the claim ludicrous and denied any role in Wednesday's incident.

Meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

He urged that Russian President Vladimir Putin be convicted of war crimes.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia visited jailed American Paul Whelan today at a remote prison.

He's serving a 16-year sentence for espionage, something that Washington denies.

On Twitter, Ambassador Lynne Tracy wrote that - - quote -- "The U.S. government will continue to engage Russian authorities so Paul can come home as soon as possible."

Tracy did not elaborate on his condition.

Fierce new fighting raged around Sudan's capital, Khartoum, today, as the army tried to push back paramilitary fighters.

Plumes of smoke rose above the skyline, disrupting any efforts to help trapped civilians.

Both sides had agreed to a new cease-fire, but the U.S. director of national intelligence told a Senate hearing that there's a little prospect of peace.

AVRIL HAINES, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Nominee: Both sides believe that they can win militarily and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table.

Both sides are seeking external sources of support, which, if successful, is likely to intensify the conflict and create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region.

GEOFF BENNETT: In a bid to stem the fighting, President Biden signed an executive order authorizing possible sanctions on leaders of the warring factions.

Israeli soldiers have killed three Palestinians linked to the fatal shooting of a British Israeli woman and her two daughters.

It happened today in Nablus in the occupied West Bank when a gun battle broke out during an army raid.

Later, hundreds of Palestinians marched in a funeral to mourn the slain gunmen.

The militant group Hamas said they were members and vowed to avenge their deaths.

Back in this country, California and New York state announced investigations of alleged workplace discrimination at the National Football League.

It involves possible pay disparities, sexual harassment and racial bias at league offices, not specific teams or players.

The NFL said in a statement that it does not tolerate discrimination in any form.

On Wall Street, stocks struggled again amid worries that more bank failures are on the way.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 286 points, nearly 1 percent, to close it 33127.

The Nasdaq fell 59 points.

The S&P 500 was down 29.

And on this May the 4th, Star Wars Day, the late Carrie Fisher received a star of her own on the Hollywood walk of fame.

She played Princess Leia in six films of the franchise, starting out as a princess and ending as a general.

Co-stars Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill already have stars on the Walk of Fame.

And still to come on the "NewsHour": India faces the challenge of feeding its people as it becomes the world's most populous nation; poor test scores reveal shortcomings in the students' understanding of history and civics; and a story of forgiveness -- a woman agrees to meet the man who shot and paralyzed her decades earlier.

The billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow for several years paid the pricey boarding school tuition for a grandnephew of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

That's according to exclusive new reporting by ProPublica.

Justice Thomas never disclosed in official filings that Crow was paying tuition for the boy, who Thomas at the time was raising as his son.

Combined with ProPublica's previous reporting on Thomas and Crow, it paints a picture of a billionaire political donor providing a Supreme Court justice with lavish vacations and purchasing a house where Thomas' mother lives, apparently rent-free.

Josh Kaplan is among the ProPublica reporters who broke this story and joins us now.

Josh, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

And we should say, this was nearly 20 years ago.

Justice Thomas says that he was raising his grandnephew as his son because the boy's father at the time was imprisoned in connection with a drug case.

Walk us through your reporting about this tuition arrangement and Justice Thomas' failure to disclose it.

JOSHUA KAPLAN, ProPublica: Yes, so we found that this billionaire Republican megadonor, Harlan Crow, secretly paid private school tuition for Thomas' grandnephew.

And, as you said, I mean, this was not a distant relative of Thomas'.

He was his legal guardian.

He had taken custody of him at the age of 6.

And he said in his own words that he was raising him as a son.

And then, for high schools, Thomas sent the child to private boarding school -- two private boarding schools, actually, one in Georgia, one in Virginia.

And Harlan Crow secretly footed the bill.

So, as you mentioned, we have been reporting on Crow's unusual role helping fund the life of Thomas and his family.

And this adds a whole new dimension to that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, there is another unusual dimension here, in that Justice Thomas did not disclose that Crow was paying for tuition, but he did disclose another much less generous payment of $5,000 by another friend that was paid toward the tuition.

It raises the question, why disclose one payment and not the other?

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Yes, we had that question too.

And we asked Thomas.

He didn't respond.

Ethics experts told us this could be seen as evidence that he understood his legal obligation to disclose such gifts.

So there's a federal law passed after Watergate that requires justices and most other officials to report most gifts to the public.

And experts told us that they believe Thomas is required by law to disclose these payments.

They said he could argue that the gifts were to the child, not to him, and so he didn't have to, but they said that was far-fetched.

Children generally don't pay their own tuition.

It's the legal guardian's responsibility to do so.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

But Mr. Crow's office told your publication in part in a statement that reads this way: "Harlan Crow has long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth.

It's disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political."

Josh, he is not disputing the facts presented in the story.

JOSHUA KAPLAN: No, he's not.

And, actually, after we published this, a longtime friend of Thomas' and who's served as a lawyer for his wife released a statement also confirming the reporting and saying that Crow paid for two years of tuition, one at one school and one at the other.

Yes, I mean, I think in general, in these discussions about disclosure laws, something that can be lost is this conversation of the ethics of that sort of payment, how we should expect our public officials to conduct themselves, what gifts we think it's OK for them to accept, especially in secret.

We talked to a former White House ethics lawyer for George Bush, who said that this is way beyond anything he's ever seen.

And he said that, when he was at the White House, if an official had accepted what Thomas had, they would have been fired.

GEOFF BENNETT: Josh Kaplan, a reporter with ProPublica, thanks for sharing your reporting with us.

JOSHUA KAPLAN: Thanks so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: The use of commercially developed spyware that's allowed some governments to hack into phones is booming.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration banned federal agencies from using commercial spyware that the U.S. assesses poses human rights or national security risks.

But, as Nick Schifrin reports, some of the most powerful surveillance technology has already targeted journalists, dissidents and activists around the world.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Saudi advocate who fought the government to gain a woman's right to drive, the Mexican journalist who reported on government corruption... WOMAN: It can turn your microphone on.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... the fiancee of a murdered Saudi critic, and the reporter whose newsroom exposed El Salvador's drift into authoritarianism.

ROMAN GRESSIER, El Faro English: I felt violated.

It's a feeling that many around the world have expressed when they have been targeted with these tools.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Those tools are commercial spyware, including one named Pegasus from the Israeli firm NSO Group.

They can secretly steal all of a phone's data, location, messages conversations, social media.

They have been installed on the phones of government officials, dissidents and journalists around the world, including Roman Gressier.

ROMAN GRESSIER: If gives you unfettered access to a device.

There's no corner of your phone, there's no stone unturned for Pegasus.

And this breaks through all of the security.

NICK SCHIFRIN: How was your phone infected with Pegasus?

ROMAN GRESSIER: I'm pretty convinced that I didn't click on a link.

Somebody had access to even information on doctor's appointments.

That was very challenging for me personally.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Gressier moved to El Salvador in January 2021 and reporter for El Faro English, an investigative news outlet.

They revealed President Nayib Bukele's consolidation of power, alleged corruption and a secret truce with criminal gangs.

Bukele and his government disparaged the stories and attacked the storytellers.

An investigation by the organizations Citizen Lab and Access Now concluded at least 35 individuals from media organizations and two independent journalists were hacked with Pegasus.

The investigation also said: "There is a range of circumstantial evidence pointing to a strong El Salvador government nexus."

ROMAN GRESSIER: I definitely agree with the opinion of El Faro's editorial board, which is that the Salvadoran government is, by any and all indicators, responsible.

RONALD DEIBERT Founder, Citizen Lab: So this is, if you think about it, almost godlike powers that have been developed by these sophisticated surveillance firms and put into the hands of some of the most ruthless, despotic leaders around the world.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ron Deibert is the founder and director of Citizen Lab, the Canadian cybersecurity research group that exposed the El Faro and other hacks.

U.S. officials say at least 50 U.S. government employees working overseas in at least 10 countries were targeted by commercial spyware.

And a massive leak in 2021 revealed some 50,000 potential victims of Pegasus in 50 countries.

RONALD DEIBERT: The use of spyware has really exploded over the last decade.

One minute, you have the most up-to-date iPhone, it's clean, sitting on your bedside table, and then, the next minute, it's vacuuming up information and sending it over to some security agency on the other side of the planet.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Earlier this week, I signed an executive order here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But it's not only foreign governments.

The Biden administration has launched guardrails around the use of commercial spyware by the United States.

JOE BIDEN: U.S. taxpayer dollars should not, should not support companies that are willing to sell their products to abet human rights violations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The March executive order bans U.S. federal agencies from using commercial spyware that's been employed against activists, used to track Americans, or sold to governments that systematically repress.

RONALD DEIBERT: From the perspective of companies in this industry, the United States market is the pot of gold at the end of their rainbow.

This executive order really deals a significant blow to some of these firms' aspirations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But other experts aren't so sure.

STEWART BAKER, Former General Counsel, National Security Agency: That's not a problem that can be solved just by the U.S. or even by the U.S. and a few like-minded countries.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Stewart Baker is a former general counsel for the National Security Agency with three decades of intelligence community experience.

He says, the executive order won't prevent authoritarian governments from using commercial spyware.

STEWART BAKER: There are countries who need these tools or think they need these tools are going to go looking for them.

The Chinese have plenty of people, plenty of companies that would be glad to fill any gap that is created in the market by Western companies getting out.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. has also imposed export controls to stop foreign spyware firms from using U.S. technology.

And the intelligence community has now limited former intelligence officials' ability to work for foreign spyware companies.

In 2021, former intelligence and military officials paid the U.S. government a fine for helping the Emirati firm DarkMatter creates spyware.

RONALD DEIBERT: You want to make sure that your investment in personnel and resources doesn't end up being used in ways that will contribute to human rights violations abroad or, more importantly, turn around and bite you in the back.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But what the executive order doesn't do, ban spyware entirely or commit the U.S. to helping companies find phone vulnerabilities that spyware exploits.

Do you believe the administration should go even further and issue guidance that would require all agencies of the U.S. government not to exploit the vulnerabilities, but instead to help the companies patch them?

RONALD DEIBERT: I absolutely think there should be an obligation written into law that this is a requirement.

And then you can build in exceptions.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the U.S. intelligence community uses those vulnerabilities in the phones' operating systems to spy on enemies.

STEWART BAKER: They're immensely important, because they get you into communications that are deeply targeted on a particular person.

There are usually a lot of vulnerabilities to choose from.

Any one of them can be picked to turn into a kind of Pegasus.

If you're told, no, we can't use that Pegasus because we have now insisted on having that particular vulnerability patched, all that will happen with other countries is, they will say, fine, that was patched, but there were dozens of vulnerabilities.

We will pick a different one, and then we will spend money to develop it into a full-fledged piece of spyware.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As for Gressier, he wants accountability against the commercial spyware Pegasus and the government that weaponized it against its critics.

He's joined the first case brought by journalists against NSO Group in a U.S. court.

ROMAN GRESSIER: Unless a court steps in to order them to take significant measures to investigate and rectify some of these harms, they will not do it.

It's not an El Salvador issue, in particular.

It's not even a Central American issue, in and of itself.

It's a global issue.

And it's one that we see ourselves as deeply embedded in.

NICK SCHIFRIN: One that experts call a pandemic of spyware abuse that's already spread across borders.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: Eighth grade U.S. history and civics test scores dropped last year to their lowest levels ever recorded by the Department of Education.

These are just the latest declines among subjects tested since the pandemic.

John Yang has a look at what's behind the numbers.

JOHN YANG: Geoff, we have talked before about the drop in math and reading scores during the pandemic.

But this is our first look at eighth grade test scores for U.S. history and civics during that period.

About 40 percent of eighth graders scored below basic in history, and a third of them scored below basic in civics.

Patrick Kelly teaches advanced placement U.S. government in Blythewood, South Carolina, which is outside Columbia.

He also sits on the Governing Board of the National Assessment of Education Progress, which administers these tests.

Mr. Kelly, you had an op-ed piece in the -- in USA Today the day these scores came out.

You said you were not surprised by the results at all.

Why is that?

PATRICK KELLY, Governing Board, National Assessment of Education Progress: Yes, I mean, it's one of those things where it's still disconcerting and disappointing to see the scores.

But, as a social studies teacher, I have been doing this for 18 years.

And what I have seen over the course of my career is what I will call marginalization of social studies instruction in the United States, where it's been pushed to the side to devote increased time and resources to subjects like math and reading, which, of course, are critically important.

But when you marginalize a subject area like social studies, you can't be surprised when you see results like what we see this week on this exam.

JOHN YANG: And what's been driving that shift?

PATRICK KELLY: I think there's a lot of things that we can point to.

I mean, one of them is very clearly around state accountability systems.

In education, we tend to value what we measure.

And both under No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act, states, in order to receive Title 1 funds, have to administer assessments in reading and math in grades three through eight, as well as once in high school.

But there's never been a requirement for social studies.

And especially in the last decade, I have seen states, including my own state, walk away from prioritizing that.

But I think what that data shows us is instructional time and access to high-quality curriculum matters when it comes to student achievement.

JOHN YANG: What else can be done to sort of reverse this trend?

PATRICK KELLY: Students need to have dedicated time every school year to have access to high-quality social studies instruction, not on a every two- or three-year cycle, as often happens with U.S. history or civics instruction.

They need consistent civics instruction.

And we also need to really focus on recruiting our best and our brightest into teaching, period, in order to best serve our students, but especially in social studies.

I think that we really need to have an urgent call to arms to get really talented individuals that are passionate about their subject, that can convey that passion to students.

JOHN YANG: Given the drop in reading skills or reading test scores, do you think that's - - there's a link there?

Because, obviously, in history and civics, you're reading.

It's critical thought.

You're reading a material and absorbing it.

PATRICK KELLY: Absolutely, especially on this NAEP assessment, because to score NAEP-proficient, a student really has to show command of content, but also command of skills, of analysis, of primary sources, and being able to evaluate different perspectives.

And those are things that are connected to literacy skills.

I think it also gives us a unique opportunity, when we think about enhancing social studies curriculum, to marry instruction of literacy and social studies.

My students in AP U.S. government read what I consider to be some of the greatest works of American literature.

And it's not fiction.

It's "A Letter From a Birmingham Jail."

It's the opinion in Brown v. Board of Education.

These are seminal literary achievements in American society.

If we infuse those into literary or reading instructional environments, we can help students find relevance in their reading instruction, while getting social studies learning during their literacy block.

JOHN YANG: There's been a lot of emphasis in recent years on the STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering, math, and they -- in terms of preparing students for the work force, for high-paying jobs and industry that's going to lift the United States.

What's the argument for why they should know history and civics?

PATRICK KELLY: When we're talking about history and civics, we're talking about our collective trajectory as a society.

On every syllabus I have ever handed out to my AP U.S. government students, I lead it with the James Madison quote that a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge brings.

We live in the longest-running republican form of government in world history.

But that's something that has to be sustained from generation to generation.

And if each subsequent generation hasn't armed themselves with the power that knowledge brings, a collective knowledge of our shared history and a collective knowledge of our institutions and political processes and how to engage in respectful civic discourse, then we won't be able to sustain into the future the gift that prior generations gave us of a democratic framework to govern our society.

JOHN YANG: You talked about a collective knowledge of the history of the United States.

But history and social studies have become very politicized in recent -- recent years, in recent days.

Do you worry that there -- that some states are going to restrict what can be taught in the classroom?

PATRICK KELLY: Well, I think that what the survey data from the NAEP exam shows us is, this is not the moment to be restricting history instruction.

We need to be going the opposite direction.

And I think that what we need to do is, we need to realize that struggling with the hard parts of our history can also help us struggle with the hard moments we face in society right now.

By not giving students the opportunity to wrestle with the challenging aspects of our history, we're not giving them a chance to exercise the muscles they need to take on the challenges they will face as the future leadership in our country.

JOHN YANG: Patrick Kelly, a government teacher at Blythewood High School in Blythewood, South Carolina, thank you very much.

PATRICK KELLY: Thank you so much for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: As India takes on the title of the world's most populous nation, one question that looms ever larger thanks to climate change is how to feed 1.4 billion people.

Small-scale farming families, who account for the majority of India's people, complain of crops withering under record high temperatures, cycles of drought and extreme rainfall, and pest infestations.

Fred de Sam Lazaro has our report from Southern India.

It's produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center and part of Fred's series Agents for Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The consultation is usually brief, with a quick diagnosis.

WOMAN (through translator): When they get big, they infest the field.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And prescription for a new insecticide spray.

WOMAN (through translator): So two milliliters in each liter of water.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: This plant clinic is one of several so-called village knowledge centers set up by the nonprofit M.S.

Swaminathan Research Foundation to help farmers cope with myriad challenges, especially those brought on by the changing climate here.

KUPPUSAMY SUBRAMANIYAN, Farmer (through translator): Before, we used to have pests, but now the quantity or number we have to deal with is much higher.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Like most small scale family farmers, K. Subramaniyan doesn't have irrigation systems, relies entirely on rainfall, and must deal with increasingly unpredictable weather conditions.

KUPPUSAMY SUBRAMANIYAN (through translator): Ten years ago, we had clear seasons, rain in the rainy season.

We could plant when the sun was out.

Now rain has become very erratic.

There's too much rain.

Sometimes, there's no rain.

Sometimes, it even rains during the harvest, and that causes more losses.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It's been unseasonably hot in March and April, which he worries will add stress on the crop.

But to protect his burdened paddy fields from pests, it's ringed with rows of unrelated species like lentils to repel bugs, an approach he learned after consulting with the Swaminathan Foundation, where veteran scientist G.N.

Hariharan is a leader.

G.N.

HARIHARAN, Executive Director, M.S.

Swaminathan Research Foundation: It is a two-way process.

So, by listening to them or sitting with them, we can understand what exactly the issues are.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The goal, he says, is to help farmers adopt sustainable practices and to develop hardier crops, one example, cultivating more saline-tolerant species of rice, a key staple crop in a country with 4,600 miles of coastline.

G.N.

HARIHARAN: When sea level is increasing, most of our production system along the coastline are going to get inundated with seawater.

And, after that, the area will be salinized, and our normal crops cannot be grown.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, Chair, M.S.

Swaminathan Research Foundation: The foundation has focused on resilience and adaptation.

We know that, already, there are changes which cannot be reversed.

And, therefore, there has to be adaptation.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Dr. Soumya Swaminathan is a pediatrician and, until recently, the World Health Organization's chief scientist during the pandemic.

She now chairs the foundation named after her father.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN: The whole aim was to really take science to societies.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Nearly 60 years ago, M.S.

Swaminathan used science to launch India's so-called Green Revolution.

It transformed India into one of the world's leading producers of major crops, like wheat and rice.

However, the widespread use, most experts say overuse, of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides has degraded soil quality.

That's pushed farmers to use even more chemicals to sustain productivity and contain disease.

Climate change has further aggravated the problem.

Soumya Swaminathan says the challenge now is to bring a balanced approach to India's food production.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN: Keeping in mind that you have to feed 1.4 billion people, so the changes cannot be done in a way that compromises food production and the self-sufficiency that we have today.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The foundation's approach is to get critical information to farmers, sending audio messages with meteorological data to help inform what crops or seed varieties to plant and the best time to plant and how to diversify crops for income and improved nutrition, adding protein and vegetables.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN: Today, we -- everyone has a mobile phone in their hands.

We have artificial intelligence, for example, that offers a lot of potential.

How do we see that those actually benefit, particularly the most small and marginalized farmers.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Arjunan Jayaraman says he has benefited.

He grows okra alongside the family's rice fields, and for years tried to control pests with chemical products.

Today, he has an organic approach.

The crop is robust, protected, it turns out, by marigolds and sunflowers, flowers that take the brunt of a pest that attacks the okra.

And Jayaraman now has his own beehives.

ARJUNAN JAYARAMAN, Farmer (through translator): When I was using inorganic methods of farming, the honeybee population declined because we used more pesticides.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Experts say the key challenge is to adapt and scale such models across a vast nation with varied landscapes, soils, social mores, and unpredictable weather.

ABHISHEK JAIN, Council on Energy, Environment and Water: It is a real day-to-day concern.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Abhishek Jain is with the Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

ABHISHEK JAIN: Almost eight in 10 Indians are living in districts which are going to be climate-vulnerable.

Areas which were traditionally flood-prone are becoming drought-prone, and areas which were traditionally drought-prone and becoming flood-prone.

So, almost 40 percent of India's districts are showing this swapping trend.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Exacerbating the challenges for the agriculture sector, a lack of workers.

To create employment for India's growing youthful population, the government has emphasized manufacturing, trying to lure multinational companies to build their factories in India.

That's likely to accelerate the urbanization of this country, with profound impacts on rural agricultural communities.

Arjunan Jayaraman says, farming is becoming increasingly lonely and devalued today.

ARJUNAN JAYARAMAN (through translator): We used to have plenty of people to work, because, in the home, the mother, the father, the child, all the siblings, they worked in the field.

But, today, they're going outside, working in companies.

Dr. Swaminathan says rural prosperity will be critical to India's future food security.

DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN: Young people growing up in rural areas, perhaps in agricultural families, they need to see hope in pursuing an agricultural profession, but, at the same time, they also have a good physical and mental quality of life.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: That will require agriculture-based industries like food processing, which in turn require hefty investment in better infrastructure, storage facilities, roads and schools in rural areas.

And in a rapidly urbanizing country, Jayaraman says, he hopes people become more aware of where its food comes from, returning the traditional reverence he was raised with for farmwork.

He cites a Tamil proverb: If you don't have mud on your feet, you won't see food on your plate.

For the "PBS NewsHour" I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in Puducherry, India.

AMNA NAWAZ: And a reminder Fred's reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

GEOFF BENNETT: Every week, it seems, we cover America's epidemic of gun violence, but we don't focus nearly enough on the victims living with the lifelong impacts of that violence.

Tonight, the story of what happens when one of those survivors meets the person who pulled the trigger.

William Brangham reveals how an unlikely reunion recently came about in Florida.

It's part of our ongoing series Searching for Justice.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-four years ago, then 17-year-old Craig Dean shot at another teenager who he says robbed him.

CRAIG DEAN, Shot Tiaquandra Addison: So, I got out of the car and went to shoot him and got back in the car and left.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But he missed.

The bullet hit then-13-year-old Tiaquandra Addison, paralyzing her from the waist down.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON, Shooting Victim: My mom, she came in and she told me, she was like: "Baby, I don't know how to tell you, but you can't walk."

CRAIG DEAN: I was very nervous.

Very scared.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-four years after the night that changed both their lives forever, these two would come back together again.

Were you surprised that she said, I'm willing to meet up with him?

CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What did you expect?

CRAIG DEAN: No, I never want to see him.

I'm in a wheelchair for life because of this person.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: It wasn't meant for me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That bullet.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: That -- it wasn't meant for me.

It was meant for somebody else.

Not saying that it's right.

It hit me, but it wasn't meant for me.

It was an accident.

We all make mistakes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Their tragic encounter came back in April 1999 in Miami's Overtown neighborhood.

CRAIG DEAN: I haven't been in this area, this whole neighborhood of in Overtown since I have been out.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At the time, both of Craig Dean's parents had died from heavy drug use, orphaning him and his older brother.

Dean started selling cocaine.

CRAIG DEAN: You see stuff and, like, it is my only way of survival is selling drugs.

It's all you know.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But after being held up by a rival, the 17-year-old went looking for revenge.

That rival was the older cousin of Tiaquandra Addison.

At the time, Addison was a 13-year-old star basketball player.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I used to say I was going to be the first woman to make it to the NBA.

That was my dream, because I thought I was that... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Wait, not the Women's NBA... TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: No, but I.... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: ... the actual NBA?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes, I thought I was that good.

So... CRAIG DEAN: And the shooting took place like right here.

And that's where it all -- everything happened right there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That fateful night, Addison was out riding a bike with that cousin.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: And the minute I jumped off the bike, I just heard gunshots.

So I went to run, and I just felt the impact of that bullet.

It just -- I hit the wall and fell down and landed on a crate that was sitting on our porch.

I knew I was shot, but I didn't know... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: How bad?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After that night, she never walked again.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I went through depression.

Every now and then, I still go through it, but it's not as bad as it used to be.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Craig Dean was convicted of first-degree attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison.

CRAIG DEAN: I honestly changed an innocent person's life.

That was the hardest thing to, like, live with every day.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tiaquandra Addison is now 37, and lives in Orlando near her mother.

She has two sons, 3-year-old Nigel (ph) and 17-year-old Khaled (ph).

Addison says these boys are the silver lining of this tragedy.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Had it not happened, I probably wouldn't have my kids.

Who knows where I would have been?

I wouldn't trade them for the world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And, in 2010, when The Miami Herald interviewed her for a story about lifers who'd been sentenced as juveniles, like Craig Dean, she told the paper she didn't want him to stay in prison.

"Everybody deserves a second chance," she said.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: It was no point of me holding a grudge against him.

What would that do for me?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And so you don't hold any anger or resentment towards him and what he did?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: No, I really don't.

I understood it was the environment that we grew up in.

I was mad at the situation, not him.

CRAIG DEAN: And when I read her words, it brought me to tears.

That's the moment, like, my whole life changed, because I feel, if a person can forgive a person that took so much away from them, you can forgive anybody in this world.

JUDGE FRANK LEDEE, Broward County Circuit Court: She was never someone that was vengeful.

She didn't want revenge.

She didn't want any of that.

She just -- she knew that her life had been changed completely.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Frank Ledee was the prosecutor who put Craig Dean in prison for life.

He's now a circuit court judge in Broward County, Florida.

Ledee says it was because of Tiaquandra Addison that, in 2012, when Dean became eligible for a sentence reduction, he agreed.

JUDGE FRANK LEDEE: I deferred to Tia and what her wishes, because she was the one whose life was truly changed.

And I think that he's accepted responsibility for his actions.

He has paid his debt to society and that he deserves a chance at a life.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, in January of this year, Craig Dean got that second chance.

After 24 years behind bars, he was released from prison.

Since he's been out, the 41-year-old has tried to rebuild a relationship with his old girlfriend, Charmaine Hampton (ph).

CRAIG DEAN: She understands that, sometimes, I needed somebody just to talk to.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And he's reconnected with some family he lost touch with while locked up.

But much of these first few months has been a struggle.

He got a commercial trucking license, but his record has made it hard to land a job.

He set up a GoFundMe page, but, with no income, he can't afford a home.

More than anything, he says he wanted to meet Tiaquandra Addison.

CRAIG DEAN: It's the only way I feel I can move forward, is letting a person know how deeply sorry I am and grateful for the opportunity to meet them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, the "NewsHour" helped bring them together, and they allowed us to be present when they finally met, 24 years later.

CRAIG DEAN: It is good to meet you.

I would like to say a prayer with you, please.

I'm sorry.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, God, for this opportunity to be here and just meet you.

I know I did so much damage.

Words can't never change what I did.

And I am so sorry.

I'm a totally different person.

And I know ain't nothing I could do to change the path that I did, but only thing I can do is help somebody else not make the mistake I did, because I tell everybody I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.

Thank you.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: You're welcome.

CRAIG DEAN: Thank you.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I just knew you needed it.

So... CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I didn't want this following you around.

CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

I had a mind-set that I was going to die in prison.

And, really, everything in my whole life changed for you to just forgive me the way you have.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I was never mad at you.

You get what I mean?

Because I knew the environment we all grew up around.

But, for the most part, I wasn't mad at you.

CRAIG DEAN: I look at you as an angel.

God said, I'm going to bring you before one of my guardian angels, so you could meet them.

And I'm here today to meet an angel.

And I mean that.

I really do.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Can I ask you what this - - what that was like when she rolled in here?

CRAIG DEAN: It was like breathless.

It was like this -- I ain't never think the opportunity would come.

And it was like I just wanted her to know I was a different person from the person I was 24 years ago, and that we can change, and she believed that I can change.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I could not let him carry that weight around.

(CROSSTALK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The weight of guilt?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: What happened, yes, what happened to me.

You know what I mean?

It happened, and there is nothing that nobody can do about it.

I had to let him see that I am still living.

I still got people in my life that love me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, I have been noticing you guys are hold -- have been holding hands for about 20 minutes now.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes, he is sincere.

I can feel it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Are you surprised how you feel?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes.

Not -- not really.

I didn't think I would be this comfortable with him, but I'm comfortable with him.

He has a good spirit.

I -- I like him.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the few weeks since their meeting, Dean and Addison say they have talked on the phone several times, and a friendship seems to be growing.

They hope one day to go out and speak publicly together to testify about the power of forgiveness and second chances.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: See you later.

AMNA NAWAZ: Since anti-government protests erupted in Iran last year, people around the world have taken to social media to show their support.

That includes an Iranian American ballerina who's tapping into her own heritage and her art, in solidarity with those pushing for more rights.

The "NewsHour"'s Julia Griffin reports for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Tutus and tiaras, penches and pirouettes, Tara Ghassemieh's Instagram feed is filled with athletic feats of grace befitting a professional ballerina.

But, in the past year, her posts have also included advocacy.

Like these fouette turns.

The high bar normally set in the ballet world is to perform 32 in a row, as iconically danced by the black swan in the classic ballet "Swan Lake."

Ghassemieh posted herself executing 50 to mark what was at the time 50 days of protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country's so-called morality police.

TARA GHASSEMIEH, Principal Dancer, Golden State Ballet: Knowing that social media has literally been the driving force in bringing awareness to what is going on in Iran, I needed to do my part.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Ghassemieh feels that need because she herself is half Persian, born in California to an American mother and Iranian father who left the country shortly before the 1979 revolution.

Now Ghassemieh, who performs with Golden State Ballet in Southern California, says she is the first Iranian-American principal dancer in the U.S. TARA GHASSEMIEH: To be the first Iranian-American principal dancer, as it is an honor, is actually a big sadness for me, because why I am the first is due to dictatorship and suppression of men and women and the fact that they are not given the freedom of artistic expression.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Following the revolution, Western forms of art, like classical ballet, were banned in Iran, which makes Ghassemieh's passion a liability.

TARA GHASSEMIEH: My dad never let me go to Iran.

I was too well-known of a ballerina.

And so that's really heartbreaking for me, because that's the only place I really want to be.

JULIA GRIFFIN: The strict artistic restrictions implemented after the revolution also led to the disbanding of the Iranian National Ballet, a fact she herself only discovered five years ago.

TARA GHASSEMIEH: I realized, wait a minute, they were the biggest ballet company in the Middle East for 20 years.

And then another moment, oh, my God, they were exiled from Iran for being a ballet dancer.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Using the hashtag #DanceforIran, she dedicates posts to and amplifying posts of Iranians arrested or missing for removing hijabs, dancing in the streets, and other acts of defiance and self-expression, like these teenagers in Ekbatan, Iran, who were arrested and forced to apologize for their now viral video dancing in Western clothing without hijabs.

TARA GHASSEMIEH: I had to scream in a pillow because I just didn't know what else to do with that kind of frustration and pain and just rage.

And so the only thing I could do was do their dance.

That was it.

Do a little bit of improv for myself in there, because I'm not as good as them, just to do it in pointe shoes.

If we're all artists, all co-creating, this is about being able to just express your being freely, to be able to express who you are in a free world.

And because my choice of expression is ballet, I'm using that medium to get that message across.

JULIA GRIFFIN: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Julia Griffin.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, online, you can learn more about Ghassemieh's work, including a film she produced paying tribute to the Iranian National Ballet.

That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.

AMNA NAWAZ: And join us again here tomorrow night, when we will speak with the so-called godfather of A.I.

about why he quit his job at Google so he could speak out about the dangers of artificial intelligence.

And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.