AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: The United States pauses student visa interviews and promises additional social media vetting, causing more disruptions for colleges and universities.

The CDC's abrupt changes to COVID vaccine recommendations spark concerns among some health professionals.

And in a turn of fate, the site of America's worst nuclear accident gets another chance to become a power hub.

BRYAN HANSON, Chief Generation Officer, Constellation: For many years after the accident, the industry kept their head down, and now we're standing at the top of the hill shouting, nuclear is clean energy.

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

We begin with the war in Ukraine and new developments on defense, diplomacy and accountability, first defense.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Berlin today, appealing to his country's biggest military backer in Europe.

Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, offered to help Ukraine build its own long-range missile systems that could strike deep into Russia, a move Moscow called provocative.

Zelenskyy said the military muscle is necessary.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): You can all see what Putin is doing every night, massive drone attacks, hundreds of drones.

In order to protect lives in our cities, we need constant support.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ukraine said that Russia's latest strikes on the city of Kharkiv overnight killed one person and injured seven others, including a child.

That comes as a United Nations panel today found that Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine's Kherson province amounted to crimes against humanity.

Its report concluded that -- quote -- "These acts were committed with the primary purpose to spread terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law."

Meantime, back in Washington, President Trump expressed frustration at the timing of recent attacks.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I'm very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation.

I'm very disappointed by that.

AMNA NAWAZ: That frustration comes as Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, pushed a new round of talks for next Monday in Istanbul.

Ukraine has not yet committed to taking part.

A judge in Vermont today ordered the release of a Russian-born scientist and Harvard researcher, saying she was being unlawfully held by immigration authorities.

Kseniia Petrova, who recently spoke to "News Hour" from detention, still faces a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos after she failed to declare them at Boston's Logan Airport in February.

Petrova says she uses them for research.

An immigration officer stripped Petrova of her visa, and she was sent to an ICE facility in Louisiana.

At a hearing today, Judge Christina Reiss said -- quote -- "There does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer's actions."

Petrova is expected to face a bail hearing next week on the smuggling charge.

The White House said today that President Trump issued a full pardon for former Congressman Michael Grimm.

The Republican from New York's Staten Island was convicted in 2014 of tax fraud and related charges.

The former Marine and FBI agent had admitted to underreporting wages and revenues from a restaurant he owned before joining Congress.

He left office in 2015 and served eight months in prison.

Also today, Trump commuted the sentence of Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover, who's serving multiple life sentences for crimes including murder.

But it's unclear how soon he would be released as he still faces the remainder of a 200-year sentence on state charges.

A federal judge in Minnesota sentenced the ringleader of a human smuggling case to 10 years in prison today for his role in the freezing deaths of a family of four from India.

Canadian police found the bodies of the Patel family, including their 11- and 3-year-old children, just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota in January of 2022.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, no relation to the family, received half the jail sentence the prosecutors were seeking.

His accomplice, Steve Anthony Shand, received 6.5 years.

The two were found guilty last November.

Before sentencing, Patel's lawyer said his client maintains that he's innocent.

The World Food Program says at least two Palestinians died today when hundreds of people stormed its food warehouse in Central Gaza.

It comes after a U.S.-backed agency largely took over aid distribution from the U.N. earlier this week.

That had a chaotic start amid conflicting reports over casualties.

Gaza health officials say one person was killed yesterday and dozens more wounded when shots were fired into a crowd of Palestinians who had overrun a distribution site.

Israeli forces say they only fired warning shots in the area outside the compound.

And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation insists that there were no deaths and only two minor injuries.

The agency also reported that today's operations were completed without incident.

But many Palestinians say the distribution sites are hard to access.

UMM MEHDAT, Displaced Gazan (through translator): With this mechanism, many people are left out.

Some of them can't get to the sites.

Some of them are paralyzed or have their legs amputated.

They are talking about going walking.

Not everyone can carry the aid boxes.

Some of them have their arms amputated.

AMNA NAWAZ: The GHF wrote in a statement that it's distributed more than 840,000 meals so far at two sites.

And it says it's working to open additional locations across Gaza.

Separately, Israel's prime minister today confirmed the death of the man believed to be the leader of Hamas' armed wing in Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Mohammed Sinwar was killed in an airstrike earlier this month.

Hamas has not confirmed his death.

Sinwar's brother, former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, helped mastermind the October 7 attacks.

He was killed by Israeli forces last year.

Prosecutors in the U.K. say that the influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been charged with rape, human trafficking and other crimes.

Officials say the charges were authorized last year and are only now being confirmed.

The Tates were arrested in Romania in 2022 and indicted last year on charges of sexually exploiting women.

Andrew Tate was also charged with rape there.

British prosecutors say the two will be extradited to the U.K. once the Romanian case is concluded.

The Tates are dual citizens of the U.S. and U.K. and they deny any wrongdoing.

Two of the world's top weather agencies are warning that temperatures across the globe are likely to hit new records in the coming few years.

Climate scientists at the World Meteorological Organization and its counterpart in the U.K. say there's an 80 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will surpass 2024 as the hottest ever recorded.

Officials say that means more wildfires and heat-related deaths, plus stronger hurricanes, droughts and downpours.

Just today, San Antonio saw record rainfall for a single day, stranding cars in high floodwaters.

On Wall Street today, stocks drifted lower after yesterday's strong gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 250 points on the day.

The Nasdaq fell nearly 100 points, or about half-a-percent.

The S&P 500 also closed in negative territory.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the impact of potential cuts to Medicaid under Republicans' budget bill; President Trump's media company seeks to invest more in cryptocurrency, an industry he's championed; and an ancient Indian musical tradition flips the idea of playing a violin on its head.

The United States is pausing all new student and exchange visitor visa interviews, which covers a broad swathe of professions, from doctors to camp counselors, while it studies how to expand screening of applicants' social media posts, according to a State Department cable obtained by the "News Hour" and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

This comes as part of a broader crackdown on immigration and higher education by the Trump administration.

And the larger battles with the administration have been the focus of our series this month on Rethinking College.

Joining us now to discuss the latest is Simon Hankinson, who had a 23-year career in the State Department and is now at The Heritage Foundation, and Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA.

That's the association of international educators.

Welcome to you both.

Fanta, just kick us off here.

For context, is there precedent for this kind of pause on all new visa interviews in these categories?

And how different is this from what we saw during COVID, for example, or during the first Trump administration?

FANTA AW, CEO, NAFSA: No, I think there's not any precedents that I can recall in having worked in this field for over 35 years.

I think, during the COVID period, we understood because of COVID and because of mobility and health issues and all of that, there were certainly complex issues that made travel very difficult during that period of time.

And so this is really, I think, in some way, on some level unprecedented, in that the focus is specifically on international students in F, J and M is definitely the part that is very much unprecedented.

AMNA NAWAZ: And those are, again, the types of different visa categories, F,J and M, as you mentioned there.

Simon, there are already, as you know, a number of reasons people are ineligible for these kinds of visas.

That's supporting terrorism or having a criminal record.

What would this level of screening catch that previous screening didn't already?

SIMON HANKINSON, The Heritage Foundation: Well, when I started doing visas in India in 2000, it was a half-sheet of paper front and back with a bit of information it in pen.

And then, over the years, we had 9/11.

All the attackers were admitted under non-immigrant visas.

We asked for more information.

It got more complicated.

Now it's online.

So this is the next logical step.

We have tools now that can search enormous volumes of information very, very quickly.

And if they're adding social media and other profiles to the application form, then presumably this is the next logical step in screening.

AMNA NAWAZ: And logical how?

I mean, given your experience too, is it possible to screen through everyone's social media posts going back in time?

SIMON HANKINSON: Well, it's not possible to search absolutely every single item of information about every single human being, particularly if they don't give you those handles and the information that you need.

But, yes, I think, these days, particularly with -- we have all seen ChatGPT and these other A.I.-powered search engines that can go through just tons of information incredibly quickly.

So we have these tools, and I think it's probably a good idea to use them so that we know as much as possible about anyone that we admit into this country, particularly students who are going to be here for a long time.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Fanta, to that point, the cable from Secretary Rubio that went to the U.S. consulates and embassies alluded to executive orders that were aimed at keeping out terrorists, battling antisemitism.

Shouldn't the administration, to Simon's point, be able to screen for language or a post that it considers either dangerous or potentially dangerous from people coming to the U.S.?

FANTA AW: Well, I think we should all take national security seriously.

And so we do understand that.

But I think the bigger question is, why international students specifically, right?

As was pointed out with 9/11, and non-immigrants, but non-immigrants, it wasn't only -- it wasn't F-1 students.

We had people on tourist visas.

And so this idea that the sole focus is on students, who, by the way, make up less than 6 percent of total enrollment in U.S. universities, and if, in fact, the point here is national security and safety, I really -- I think we felt to understand why the focus is specifically and solely on students.

AMNA NAWAZ: Simon, what would you say to that?

Why this focus?

SIMON HANKINSON: Well, it may be 6 percent across the country, but, in Columbia, it's over 50 percent.

At NYU, it's over 50 percent.

And where was all of the worst violence and antisemitism and the most violent protests and takeovers of buildings?

It was Columbia.

It was Harvard.

It was these schools with very high percentage of foreign students.

And, overall, these people are coming for a long period of time.

Unlike a tourist who's going to Disneyland or New York City for a couple of weeks, a student could be here four years, six years, and in many cases, they remain and become legal permanent residents and citizens.

And if someone is posting antisemitic, anti-capitalist, anti-American, or violent content on their social media, I don't think they're going to make a good tourist or a good student and certainly not a good American.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fanta, to Simon's point, many of these students who come -- and it's not just students, we should mention, as we mentioned earlier, doctors, camp counselors.

Have you looked at the broader economic implications in terms of the ripple effects of this population not being able to come to the United States?

FANTA AW: Well, we certainly have.

We provide every year data on international students and the economic value of international students.

And the latest data that we produce shows that they basically contribute close to $44 billion, and that translates into over 330,000 jobs.

So the economic impact is not only to the universities, but in fact to the local economy and to the economy overall of this country.

And the other piece that I did want to also address is this idea that, yes, students are here for a longer period of time, but non-immigrant students are the most tracked of any other category of non-immigrants.

The international -- the student exchange visitor information system was created to track international students.

So, the government knows where they're studying.

The government knows.

Every semester, every quarter universities are required to update the system indicating that they're bona fide students.

They have their addresses and all of those information.

No other non-immigrant has a tracking system the way international students do.

So, in addition to the economic contributions that we have talked about to the economy and to the institution, we also have the fact that these are the most tracked of any non-immigrant students.

AMNA NAWAZ: Simon, what's your response to that,the idea that these are already people who are tracked within the system, who have to register wherever they go?

And, also, is that economic cost that Fanta mentioned there, is that worth it?

SIMON HANKINSON: They're two completely separate arguments.

They're not particularly well tracked, and when they do fall off the system, nobody does anything.

We have people in this country, 1.2 million people who have final deportation orders who have not left.

We have students who've quit school, gotten jobs, and nobody's following up.

Hopefully, they will soon.

And I think it's kind of jumping ahead a bit here to assume that, all of a sudden, they're not going to issue any student visas.

This is a leaked cable that describes a change in processing.

I think it's an improvement, and my expectation is that they will improve the efficiency, as well as the transparency of the process, and continue to adjudicate half-a million student visas a year, including au pairs and professors and all the rest of the good categories, while filtering out a few of the bad apples that they will be able to find.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fanta, separate from the economic argument, you have also said you have concerned about what this means for the diversity of viewpoints on university campuses, and what this means reputationally for higher ed in America.

FANTA AW: Well, I think, again, one of the strengths of this country and what has drawn international students to this country is really the strength of its academic program and world-class education that students are able to receive in this country.

And so I agree that this is a pause, but we also know with a pause, when you then add that to the other actions that have been taken over the last several months, and given the data that we have analyzed, we already saw with this spring a 43 percent decline in interest in the United States.

This is high-stake for students and their families.

And so they will seek other destinations as a result of that.

And so we do have to take into account, yes, it is a pause, but I think along with the pause is, what's the message that's being sent?

Additionally, U.S. consulates, as we know, are always strapped when it comes to capacity.

We see in several countries the wait time for visas are long in some countries where there's been an increase in students.

So, yes, we really hope that the pause will be lifted and that it will be streamlined, but also we know that,from precedents, the embassies are already strapped when it comes to their ability to issue visas on time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Simon, I will give you the last word here.

Does this send a chilling message?

Does the U.S. stand to lose international talent?

SIMON HANKINSON: I have heard that panic button pushed for 25 years.

And, look, the message should be, come to America, we want you and study.

Don't spend your time on the campus wearing a keffiyeh and burning American flags and telling us how to run our foreign policy and how much you hate capitalism.

Do your job of being a student, and we welcome you.

I think, if viewpoint diversity is lacking on the campus of Columbia and Harvard, it's probably not the left-wing viewpoint.

AMNA NAWAZ: Simon Hankinson and Fanta Aw, I thank you both for your time.

Really appreciate it.

SIMON HANKINSON: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: The World Health Organization said today that a new COVID variant is causing an uptick in cases around the world, and it's been detected in some states here in the U.S.

The COVID vaccine is expected to provide good protection against the variant, but the news comes after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced yesterday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would drop the COVID vaccines from its list of recommended shots for pregnant women and children.

That decision and other recent changes under Kennedy are leading to major worries and unease among medical and public health groups.

Ali Rogin has more.

ALI ROGIN: Amna, many experts are calling the move unprecedented.

Typically, the CDC makes recommendations about who should be vaccinated and when based on advice from an advisory committee of experts.

But it's unclear if they were consulted before the announcement.

Joining us to discuss the potential impact of this announcement and wider concerns from public health experts is Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and now CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And we should note, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a funder of the "News Hour."

Dr. Besser, thank you so much for being here.

I want to take these two categories in turn.

First, pregnant women, there are many public health experts who are expressing concern that they should absolutely still be getting the vaccine to protect not just themselves, but also their infants.

What are the concerns there?

DR. RICHARD BESSER, Former Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Yes, well, thanks for having me on, Ali.

It's very concerning.

I'm a general pediatrician.

I practiced for more than 30 years.

And one of the wonderful things about vaccinations in pregnant women is, it not only protects them, but it provides protective factors to their babies, who often can't get vaccinated against many infectious diseases during that first year of life.

And so those factors will not be coming across to the babies of moms who are now going to be denied access to this vaccine.

And the American College of OB-GYN -- this is the body of experts who are in -- who are obstetricians and gynecologists - - raised concerns about this recommendation.

And a big concern for me is that the announcement didn't provide the thought behind it.

It didn't provide the data.

And that's what we're losing, is that ability to really understand the decision.

ALI ROGIN: Now I want to talk specifically about children over the age of 6 months.

FDA Commissioner Makary said there's no evidence healthy kids need it.

And there are some countries that have stopped administering it routinely, including Australia, the U.K., as well as the World Health Organization.

So what are the specific risks among that group?

DR. RICHARD BESSER: Yes, thankfully, the impact of COVID has been going down over the years.

The -- talking about deaths of -- in the thousands per week, that's no longer the conversation.

But it doesn't mean that COVID isn't still causing problems.

And it does cause problems for children.

One of the things that I like to see each year is the Advisory Committee.

That expert body you were talking about to the CDC, they wrestle with these questions.

They look and see, well, how many children are getting infected?

Is the vaccine effective at preventing long COVID that we know so many people are suffering from?

What about a child who lives in a family where there's someone who has an immune problem, who's at greater risk?

Would vaccinating that child help protect the others in that family?

We didn't get to hear any of those conversations, because this was the decision that just came down from the secretary, a secretary who told Congress just within the past couple of weeks that we should not take health advice from him and told Congress during his confirmation hearing that he would not be messing with the childhood vaccination schedule.

It's very concerning.

ALI ROGIN: Insurance plans have to cover recommended vaccines.

So, if these vaccines are no longer recommended for these groups, how do you anticipate health insurance companies are going to respond?

DR. RICHARD BESSER: Yes, it goes even beyond that.

The Affordable Care Act says that, if it's a recommended vaccine, it has to be provided at no cost to people with health insurance.

But one of the things that's wonderful about our childhood vaccination system in the United States is, if there is a recommended vaccination, there's a program called the Vaccines for Children Program.

And that requires Congress to pay for vaccinations for all children, regardless of whether they have insurance.

So a child who is from a lower-income family is going to get vaccinated just as easily as someone whose family has more income.

Without that recommendation, there will not be those vaccines provided for free for lower-income children.

So there won't be that choice.

A family with money can decide, well, maybe a doctor will give it to my child what's called off-label, so beyond the recommended vaccination schedule, but you won't have that opportunity for other children.

And that's concerning as well, that we are going to have even more of a two-tier system, where, if you have money, you can get something.

If you don't, you don't have a choice.

ALI ROGIN: And, Dr. Besser, lastly, on a slightly different topic, The Washington Post was reporting about an outbreak of E. coli that the FDA investigated, but never publicized, reportedly sickened 90 people.

Commissioner Makary, not referring to this specifically, but he has said that cuts to the agency have been all about reversing regulatory creep.

They're not influencing any regulatory operations.

But how does that square with what you see as the role of the FDA in communicating these public health risks and advisories?

DR. RICHARD BESSER: Yes, I mean, one of the important roles of the Food and Drug Administration is to make sure our food supply is safe.

And there's a lot of work that goes on between FDA and CDC on that.

I started my career at CDC as a foodborne disease investigator.

And my first outbreak was one of this very same strain of deadly E. coli.

You want people to know about it.

You want people to know so that they can understand where risk comes from and how to protect themselves.

By not sharing that information, you miss the opportunity to tell people about safe food practices, what things to avoid and how to make sure you stay safe.

And I worry that those massive cuts and layoffs at the FDA and at CDC have undermined this system.

One of the groups that's critical are communicators.

And my understanding is that, in both agencies, a lot of the public health communicators have been let go.

Without them, public health is not going to be able to do its job the way it's supposed to.

ALI ROGIN: Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, thank you so much.

DR. RICHARD BESSER: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump signed executive orders last week to boost production of nuclear power, an energy source with a complicated history in the U.S. After World War II, nuclear was heralded as the future of American energy.

Then, the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 marked a turning point and solidified opposition.

In the last two decades, a dozen reactors in the U.S. have closed and only three new ones have come online.

But, as William Brangham reports, the site of America's worst nuclear accident may now be the site of its rebirth.

It's part of our series Tipping Point.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: They sit quietly now, perched on an island in the middle of the Susquehanna River, four giant cooling towers, two nuclear reactors, and one terrifying chapter in American history.

ROBERT MACNEIL, Former Anchor, "PBS NewsHour": Good evening.

We're sorry to interrupt your regular programs, but we have been waiting all evening to go to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Back in 1979, a combination of mechanical failures and human error caused the radioactive core of one of the site's nuclear reactors to start overheating.

For nearly a week, local communities around Harrisburg were on edge, fearing a full meltdown or explosion.

While the worst-case scenarios didn't happen, small amounts of radioactive material were released.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it had negligible effects on health and the environment, but a lasting impact on the nation and the industry.

BRYAN HANSON, Chief Generation Officer, Constellation: We learned so much from that particular incident, and now we have got 45-plus years of operational excellence to show what we have learned and continue to operate.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Bryan Hanson is chief generation officer for Constellation, the energy company which owns the other reactor on Three Mile Island, known as Unit 1.

We talked in its control room, which still looks very much like it did decades ago.

Unit 1 was closed at the time of the accident for refueling.

And while Unit 2, where the accident occurred, never reopened, Unit 1 restarted in 1985, a controversial move covered by the "News Hour."

PATRICIA SMITH, Anti-Nuclear Power Activist: I think it's an accident waiting to happen again.

We couldn't bear to have another nuclear accident.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It generated power until the economics of electricity changed, and Constellation closed it down in 2019.

BRYAN HANSON: Gas in Pennsylvania is very cheap, so gas plants were being built.

We had to make that tough decision to say, we're going to have to shut you down because it's not economical anymore.

It was our responsibility to the shareholders to do so.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: When you brought that curtain down on this place, did you ever think we'd be talking about now reopening it?

BRYAN HANSON: Everybody in that room knew, when we turned the switch for the final time, we'd never see a restart again.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But, in the years since, nuclear's fortunes have started to turn around, including the understanding that, given the realities of climate change, nuclear emits no greenhouse gases and, unlike solar and wind, it can produce energy 24/7.

Last September, Constellation announced it would invest over $1.5 billion to restart the Unit 1 reactor.

But the real reason Three Mile Island is coming back to life is because Microsoft, the tech company, has pledged to purchase the equivalent of all the energy that Three Mile Island would produce carbon-free for the next 20 years in order to meet the company's climate goals.

NARRATOR: Those of us who can afford to move faster and go further should do so.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Microsoft says it wants to be carbon-negative by 2030, meaning it would remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it pollutes.

That's an even steeper challenge, given that Microsoft is also plowing billions into building new energy-intensive data centers for A.I.

and other computing work, hence the deal with Three Mile Island.

So, absent Microsoft's involvement, would we be talking about reopening this place?

BRYAN HANSON: I don't think so.

The market doesn't support it right now.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And Microsoft isn't the only tech company turning to nuclear for its increasing energy demand.

JUDI GREENWALD, President and CEO, Nuclear Innovation Alliance: They're turning out to be a really important catalyst for new nuclear.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Judi Greenwald runs the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonpartisan research group that supports nuclear as a climate solution.

JUDI GREENWALD: We are probably more appreciative of its benefits now than perhaps we were a few decades ago, particularly with regard to the fact that it doesn't have any air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions.

NARRATOR: Helping pioneer the future.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She points to tech companies like Amazon and Google and chemical giant Dow, which have all invested in helping develop new nuclear technology to generate power with much smaller modular reactors.

JUDI GREENWALD: They have to make sure that they demonstrate to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they're safe, and we have a number of different sizes that different companies and different parts of the government are pursuing, so it's very exciting.

NARRATOR: Technologies like advanced nuclear power.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While many of these projects are still years from fruition, it will also take years to get Three Mile Island back online.

So even though this thing looks like it is decades-old, this button, that dial, you can be confident that this is going to work like it was brand-new?

BRYAN HANSON: Yes, we will make it as good as new.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's not just the control room.

Hanson says every element of this old plant is being reinspected.

Constellation is preparing its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart operations in mid-2028.

BRYAN HANSON: So this is the end of the generator.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In addition to fixing and replacing parts inside, Constellation is also investing nearly $100 million in new transformers to connect the plant to the electrical grid.

BRYAN HANSON: If you look at the robustness of the design, you look at the material condition, the craftsmanship, there's nothing that prevents these plants from operating for 100 years.

M.V.

RAMANA, University of British Columbia: I don't think we should think of this as actually dusting off an old plant.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Physicist M.V.

Ramana is a professor at the University of British Columbia and the author of the recent book "Nuclear Is Not the Solution."

He says there's still no permanent solution for what to do with radioactive waste.

He argues accidents at Three Mile Island, at Chernobyl and at Fukushima prove these plants pose a grave risk, and that spreading the know-how about nuclear energy increases the risk of nuclear weapons spreading.

But, practically, he says nuclear plants take too long and cost too much to build.

M.V.

RAMANA: Renewables are the cheapest way to generate power today around the world, and they are cheaper by a factor of three, four, five compared to nuclear power.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He argues that batteries and diversifying the types of renewable energy can help deal with the variability of sources like solar and wind.

M.V.

RAMANA: The environmental community is not paying enough attention to the feasibility of using nuclear power.

The current estimates of how much it is going to take to restart the plant are underestimates, and this is not new for the nuclear industry.

They have always underestimated stuff.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He points to the Vogtle plant in Georgia, the first new nuclear power reactors built from scratch in decades.

The project went more than $17 billion over budget and was seven years behind schedule when it first opened in 2023.

JUDI GREENWALD: To some extent, the nuclear industry in the U.S. needs to get its groove back.

We kind of lost know-how in building things.

But when Vogtle came on, it was the biggest source of clean and firm power in the country.

So success sort of breeds success.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Two other retired nuclear plants are also hoping to restart, but very few others are in good enough shape to come back online.

BRYAN HANSON: The plant looks like just a normal operating plant today.

It's just not running.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Constellations Bryan Hanson acknowledges that there are challenges, including where nuclear waste will eventually go.

Right now, at Three Mile Island, it's stored on site.

But he's confident that nuclear has a big role to play, even at the site of America's worst nuclear accident.

BRYAN HANSON: For many years after the accident, the industry kept their head down.

No news is good news.

And now we're standing at the top of the hill shouting, nuclear is clean energy.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the industry has a lot of ground to make up.

In recent years, renewables like solar, wind and hydro now surpass the amount of electricity generated by nuclear.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

AMNA NAWAZ: As Republicans work to advance a massive bill containing much of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda, one of the central flash points is its potential impact on Medicaid, affecting health care access for millions of lower-income Americans, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Geoff Bennett recorded this conversation about that earlier today.

GEOFF BENNETT: That bill remains subject to change as it moves through the legislative process, but, in its current form, the House version proposes cutting more than $600 billion from Medicaid.

It would also impose work requirements for adults without dependents or disabilities up to the age of 64, require 80 hours of work a month, with documentation twice a month in most cases, and reduce funding for state Medicaid expansion.

We're joined now by Jennifer Tolbert, the deputy director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Thanks so much for being here.

JENNIFER TOLBERT, Deputy Director, Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, KFF: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So this bill introduces a work requirement for Medicaid in 2026.

What exactly would that look like, given what we know about what happened in states like Arkansas and Georgia when they implemented a work requirement?

JENNIFER TOLBERT: Right.

So this bill for the first time imposes a national work requirement on the Medicaid program.

It would require people, certain individuals covered by Medicaid, to work at least 80 hours a month or to engage in community service or work training or to be enrolled in school.

Now, there are some exemptions.

Parents who -- of dependent children, as well as people who are medically frail, are exempt from these requirements.

But, nevertheless, new rules are being added to Medicaid, despite the fact that the majority of people who will be subject to the new requirements are in fact already working or are not working for reasons that would likely qualify them for an exemption, because, for example, they are caring for young children or aging parents, or they're in school, or they have a chronic condition or other health condition that limits their ability to work.

And what we know about experience in Arkansas and Georgia, two states that have implemented work requirements at the state level, is that these new rules pose barriers to people enrolling in coverage and lead to coverage loss.

And this is losses of coverage among people who are eligible for the requirements, but who have difficulty navigating the reporting requirements and providing the documentation needed to verify that they in fact meet the requirement.

GEOFF BENNETT: So how would the states that have the Medicaid expansion protections, how would they navigate these changes coming from Capitol Hill?

JENNIFER TOLBERT: Right.

So this bill really does take aim at the Medicaid expansion.

This was -- allowed states to expand coverage to parents and adults without dependent children with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty.

And it was adopted as part of the Affordable Care Act.

So, today, 40 states and D.C. have adopted the Medicaid expansion.

And this bill really does try to weaken that expansion coverage in a number of ways.

First, it imposes work requirements, so the expansion adults are the subject of the new work requirements.

It also requires more frequent eligibility determinations and imposes new cost-sharing requirements on this population.

In addition, states that have adopted this expansion coverage and also provide coverage to certain immigrant children and adults using their own funds are at risk of losing certain federal funding for this group because of that coverage they provide to immigrants.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, if the federal government is reducing funding to states, and if states can't offset the costs, then what happens?

JENNIFER TOLBERT: Medicaid financing is shared between the states and the federal government, so any loss of federal funding will shift cost onto the states.

So, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this bill and the changes included for Medicaid would lead to a reduction of over $700 billion in federal Medicaid spending over the next 10 years.

So, states are going to face some tough choices over how or whether they offset those costs or that loss of federal funding.

And, if they don't, if for some reason they are unable to or choose not to offset the costs, it is estimated that over 10 million people will lose Medicaid coverage.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's talk about elderly Americans who rely on Medicaid for long-term care services, for nursing home services.

How might they be affected by these cuts?

JENNIFER TOLBERT: Right.

So this bill really does take aim at that Medicaid expansion population, but the effects are definitely more widespread.

One of the things it does is rescinds a rule that had been implemented during the Biden administration that made it easier for seniors and people with disabilities who also have Medicare coverage to enroll in Medicaid, which will then pay for their premiums and cost-sharing, as well as provide them access to supplemental benefits that Medicare doesn't provide, including long-term care, dental benefits, as well as vision care.

So the Congressional Budget Office estimates that over a million people, these seniors and people with disabilities, will lose their access to Medicaid and therefore will lose their access to those additional benefits.

GEOFF BENNETT: Certainly more to come.

Jennifer Tolbert, thanks so much for sharing your insights with us.

We appreciate it.

JENNIFER TOLBERT: Thank you.

It was a pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: This week, Trump Media and Technology Group, the publicly traded parent company that owns the president's social media platform, TRUTH Social, announced that it's selling shares and bonds to raise $2.5 billion to create a Bitcoin treasury.

It marks the Trump family's latest addition to their cryptocurrency empire, as Trump Media share prices take a hit.

A day after announcing plans to buy more Bitcoin, President Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric, both of whom run the family's multiple crypto ventures, spoke at the world's largest Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.

ERIC TRUMP, Executive Vice President, Trump Organization: America is going to win the crypto revolution.

That much, I can tell you right now.

(CHEERING) ERIC TRUMP: We finally have a competent president in the White House.

And we have a president who loves this industry and is behind this industry 100 percent.

AMNA NAWAZ: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joins us now with the latest.

Good to see you, Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Good to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So just remind us what we're talking about when we're talking about cryptocurrency here, and then tell us more about what kinds of related businesses the Trump family has.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So cryptocurrency is a digital currency designed to be an alternative payment method or speculative investment.

Now, the Trump family has four crypto ventures, the latest, the Trump Media Bitcoin investment, which is essentially transforming that company into -- further into a crypto holding company.

Then there's the Trump meme coin, which is a type of cryptocurrency normally inspired by Internet and popular culture.

There's American Bitcoin.

That's a Bitcoin mining firm set up by Donald Trump's eldest sons, Eric and Don Jr. and then there's World Liberty Financial, which is the Trump family crypto firm that recently launched a stablecoin.

Now, some crypto, like Bitcoin and stablecoin, is meant to compete with the U.S. dollar and is designed to replace traditional money.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, when you take a step back and look at this, because the Trump family's investments in this one currency isn't happening in a vacuum, when you look at the larger economic picture, there are some allegations that President Trump's policies are actually weakening another currency.

That's the U.S. dollar.

What do we know about that?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So I spoke to Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff.

And he said that, yes, that the president's policies are weakening the long-term standing of the U.S. dollar.

Now, the U.S. dollar was declining already, but Ken Rogoff said that Trump's policies are accelerating that.

KENNETH ROGOFF, Economist, Harvard University: A lot of his policies are weakening the long-run standing of the dollar, the U.S. as a safe haven, the U.S. where the rule of law stands, the U.S. as an open economy.

And, above all, the tariff war, which I just don't begin to understand, unnerves not only our trading partners.

It unnerves investors.

If he's willing to do this, what else is he willing to do?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Now, Rogoff said that he doesn't think the dollar's strength will disappear, but tariffs, as well as the GOP megabill that could potentially add to the U.S. debt and deficit, could cost the dollar its dominant position.

AMNA NAWAZ: And what's the connection there to the Trump family's growing cryptocurrency empire?

I mean, could those ventures actually benefit from a diminished U.S. dollar?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The economist from Harvard, ken Rogoff, says, yes, that if Trump is scaring people about the U.S. dollar, then it's good for crypto and therefore it can be good for his holdings in crypto.

Now we should say that the dollar is far from being replaced by crypto.

But I also spoke to Noah Bookbinder, who's an ethics watchdog and former public corruption attorney for the Justice Department, and he agreed with Rogoff's assessment.

NOAH BOOKBINDER, Executive Director, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: As other things that were seen as safe investments like the dollar potentially become less safe, that could drive more money into cryptocurrency.

It could make that seem comparatively stable.

And at this point, Donald Trump and his companies are poised to gain tremendously if more money starts being invested in cryptocurrencies.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The other big potential impact of this, Amna, according to Harvard economist Ken Rogoff, is that this could very well end in -- quote -- "a giant financial crisis" within Trump's term.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as the president and his family are promoting and building their crypto holdings, I know you have been reporting on another potential conflict of interest here.

Tell us more about that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, as President Trump -- President Trump is in charge of the potential regulation of cryptocurrency, all as he and his family stand to benefit from this very industry.

And his crypto companies may be in a trust, but the president is the financial beneficiary of all of those crypto ventures.

And, currently, crypto is unregulated.

So, Noah Bookbinder and other ethics lawyers that I have talked to said that whether and how President Trump and lawmakers in Congress decide to regulate crypto could significantly affect how the industry does, which ultimately could have a huge effect on President Trump and his family's bottom line.

And that is a massive conflict of interest, according to Noah Bookbinder, that ultimately does not probably benefit the American public.

AMNA NAWAZ: Another story we know you will continue to follow.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: The violin has held a storied place in much of European classical music.

But some time in the 17th century, it began to intrigue maestros from a very different and ancient musical tradition, who then adopted it.

This is the story of one American violinist who sought to explore what's become known as the Carnatic violin.

Fred de Sam Lazaro that report from Southern India for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The violinists come from musical traditions as distant as their respective hometowns.

Sumanth Manjunath home is right here in Mysuru, a rising star in Carnatic music who has performed across the world.

Ariana Kim from St. Paul, Minnesota, Grammy nominated, a violin professor at Cornell University, far more familiar with the musical scores of Bach or Handel than this raga in the Carnatic tradition improvised entirely.

Kim is spending a sabbatical in India learning a very different adaptation of her instrument, learning that's taken some unlearning, like posture.

ARIANA KIM, Cornell University: One of the hard things is to resist the temptation to do what my Western sort of muscles and ear want to do, like learning how to use these muscles differently, and using this muscle differently.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The instrument sits like an inverted cello, resting on the foot, artist seated on the floor, the traditional tamboura strings here replicated via a phone app.

ARIANA KIM: You just plug it in and it makes this beautiful drone to play against.

And wherever they set that up is their sa.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The sa, another adjustment for Kim, tuning her instrument to the Carnatic scale or raga.

ARIANA KIM: So, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and si is (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

So they all have a direct equivalent.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Not quite that simple.

The scales are, as she puts it, ornamented.

ARIANA KIM: It might sound... (MUSIC) FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Carnatic music is played mostly in South India, the oldest form of Indian classical music, originally intended as devotional, not necessarily entertainment, and oriented toward the human voice.

That likely explains why Carnatic maestros from the 18th and 19th centuries saw the violin as a good fit.

Kim's three weekly sessions are with both Sumanth Manjunath and his father, Mysore Manjunath, one of India's most renowned Carnatic violinists, who was away when we visited.

SUMANTH MANJUNATH, Musician: Beautiful.

Once again.

(MUSIC) SUMANTH MANJUNATH: Yes, there, there is no tension.

You can play it peacefully.

We don't need to make it a little bit faster.

You can also take time when you play.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The learning here is oral, though she takes copious notes.

The ancient ragas, if written at all, were only loosely outlined by their composers.

Individual artists improvise and build on them, just as jazz musicians do.

It's a big change for a musician's schooled to faithfully follow notes or scores as the composer wrote them.

ARIANA KIM: I have always had sort of an interest in music from other parts of the world and how symbiotic they can be.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: A curiosity likely fed by her professional violinist parents, mom from Ohio, dad from Korea.

Here, she's tried to soak up the total experience of getting around in auto rickshaws, sampling the food and nature preserves like this bird sanctuary, a particular favorite of husband Jordan Boersma, an ornithologist also at Cornell.

Just as nature inspired thousands of ragas, she says, the experience here will profoundly inform all her work and future.

ARIANA KIM: It inspires new creativity in the way I think about Bach.

And when I play American bluegrass and old-time music, it makes me think differently about how I might improvise a cadenza in Mozart, and, likewise, the similarities between Korean music, which I studied in my last sabbatical, and Carnatic music, how the gamakas function, how you sort of unveil a raga, how you sort of welcome the audience into a raga.

And you have the responsibility of understanding sort of the tone and the feeling.

Dr. Manjunath and his son, Sumanth, they're just -- they're masters at feeling that internal pulse.

SUMANTH MANJUNATH: Ariana has been grasping all the minute microtones.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Sumanth Manjunath was himself complimentary at this recital in the home of a retired Indian diplomat.

SUMANTH MANJUNATH: The amount of observation that she does about the fingering techniques that we play is amazing.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She will return home soon and hopes to jam occasionally with Carnatic artists in America, helping preserve memories, including those in the muscles she awakened while learning Carnatic violin.

(MUSIC) FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in Mysuru, India.

(MUSIC) (APPLAUSE) SUMANTH MANJUNATH: Wow.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just incredible.

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

And, remember, there's always a lot more online, including a look at how businesses and consumers are navigating President Trump's frequently changing tariff policies.

That is 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.