PBS News Weekend full episode, November 20, 2022

Good night. I'm Jeff Bennett tonight on PBS News Weekend, the latest on the deadly nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs. Then climate solutions and also Norway's unique approach to controlling the city's carbon emissions. And our

weekend

spotlight is on the acclaimed artist here, Nelson. The work I have created is I'm 10 Years Old to remind people of the best parts of themselves. So I think that has made my job as an artist. All that and the day's headlines on tonight's PBS News Weekend. For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has provided significant funding for PBS News Weekend, and has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they love.

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hour friends. Yes. Yes. This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and contributions to its PBS stations from viewers like you. Thank you. Good night. There is shock and grief in Colorado Springs tonight after a gunman opened fire inside a gay nightclub last night. At this time. Five people have died. 25 more are injured. There is a suspect in custody identified by police today as a 22-year-old man.

Several firearms were recovered at the scene, including a long rifle. Police praised the actions of at least two customers who subdued the suspect within minutes. People inside the nightclub last night or tomorrow. The lives lost and what it means for the LGBTQ community. It is a place of welcome, a place of peace. A place. So that we can be ourselves and now look. What are we going to do? The club calls the shooting a hate attack. Local officials say the motive for the latest from Colorado Springs is under investigation. We're joined by Haley Sánchez from Colorado Public Radio.

Thanks for being with us. Thank you for inviting me and Haley, Colorado Governor Jared Police, as you know, said in a statement today, citing all state resources available to local authorities and that he is eternally grateful for the brave individuals who stopped the gunman. You spent the day reporting at the scene. What do officials know about what happened? Well, what we know now is that five people are dead and 25 are injured. That's a little more than we originally thought. The gunman's name is Anderson Lee Aldrich. He is 22 years old and entered the Q club shortly before midnight on Sunday and shot people with a rifle.

Um, two people in the club fought with the gunman and prevented him from shooting anyone else and he was arrested within minutes. We don't know the motive for the shooting, of course, Club Q has called it a hate crime. But authorities have not yet confirmed it and there are still some victims receiving treatment in nearby hospitals. Haley You live in Colorado Springs. You grew up there. What do you hear from people in the community today? It's really heartbreaking. I think Club Q is one of two gay clubs in Colorado Springs, so it's sad that people went there for community.

People have been gathering outside the site, leaving flowers and signs. One of my colleagues met with a chaplain and former police officer who was playing the bugle at the place, and he told his partner and he thought about going to the club last night. They decided not to, but they have friends who work and do their jobs and they are still worried about those people. There will be vigils this afternoon and tonight and there was a church service where he was honored. It is an LGBTQ friendly church and they caused some casualties in their regular Sunday service.

Sánchez from Colorado Public Radio, Hayley, Thank you for sharing your report with us. Thank you so much. In other headlines today, the UN Cop 27 climate summit came to a close today with a groundbreaking agreement: the creation of a fund that will help the world's poorest nations recover financially from future climate disasters. But big questions remain about who exactly will pay for the fund and how it will work. A 24-nation committee will discuss those issues over the next year. Donald Trump is back on Twitter, although the former president says he will not use the platform. Trump has been banned since January. 2021 the attack on the United States Capitol for continually spreading lies about the 2020 election.

New CEO Elon Musk reinstated Trump's personal account after conducting a Twitter poll. And Western New York continues to recover from a record snowfall today as this historic snowstorm hits the region. Today's heaviest snow came from Lake Ontario, avoiding the Buffalo metropolitan area, where more than six feet of snow has already fallen. New York Governor Kathy Hopeful says hundreds of people have been rescued and two have died from heart problems. The FIFA World Cup, which has been mired in controversy for months, began today in Qatar. It is the first time that the world tournament is held in the Middle East.

But the host nation would not prevail in today's opening match, falling to Ecuador two to zero and becoming the first host country to lose its first match in World Cup history. And President Biden turns 80 today. No president has held office after the age of eighty. The White House says the president celebrated his birthday with a family brunch hosted by the first lady and yet to be held on PBS NEWS Weekend. A look at the city of Oslo's solution to curbing carbon emissions and my conversation with award-winning artist Dear Nelson. This is PBS News Weekend from W.E to the studios in Washington, home of the weekday PBS News Hour on PBS.

In today's

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briefing. We are taking stock of this important moment and political history. Last week, former President Donald Trump launched a third bid for the White House as he faces multiple federal and state investigations. As Democrats, that's a generational shift in House leadership. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was 82, announced that she will not seek re-election to the office. Her heir apparent, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, is 52 years old. Beverly Gauge is here to help us put all of this into perspective. She is a professor of history and American studies at Yale University. It's good to have you with us.

So what is your assessment of this moment? Having a former president twice accused of trying to overturn an election he lost by running for the White House again, combined with the rise of copycat candidates endorsing his undemocratic tactics? Well, we definitely haven't seen this before in American history, I can say that very officially. Early as a historian, although the mere fact of running again is not that strange in American history. Before the 1970s, we had many Candidates who would lose would run again as their party's nominees. Ah, try again and many times you lose again. We haven't seen that as much since we moved to a popular primary system in the 1970s.

So there is some precedent for what we've been seeing, but not much for the particular person who is Donald Trump. Is there anything in American history that can speak to this moment in Republican politics? Well, I think we're really looking at something of a war for the soul of the Republican Party. At the moment, we have some quite different factions that will put forward quite different candidates. I think in the Republican primaries Trump, of course, will be one of them. One of the big remaining questions is how many more there will be if the rest of the Republican Party and, in particular, the Republican establishment, which doesn't like Trump and doesn't want Trump to win again.

We will rally around any particular candidate. It reminds me a little of what happened in 1964, when there was a really powerful faction behind Barry Goldwater as the Conservative candidate. Many other establishment Republicans did not want him as a candidate and there was a real fight, because that was how presidential candidates were chosen in 1964 over what the future of the party itself was going to be. On the Democratic side. As we said, a generational shift is occurring in House Democratic leadership. It strikes me that institutional traditions can be a real impediment to a younger generation, especially in a place like Congress where power is built on seniority that takes years to accumulate at this point.

In reality, we have an entire generation, in some ways generations of Republicans but also of Democrats, especially politicians who have been waiting for their moment in the sun. Pelosi stepping aside for the Democrats will really make that kind of generational change possible. And as you say, there are many aspects of the way we structure our politics that tend to favor older people who stay in office longer. Famously, the White South, when it was in the Democratic Party, really consolidated its entirety. Keep the Senate in particular because it had a lot of members who came back year after year and term after term and ended up with a lot of concentrated power.

So this is a big moment for a lot of Democrats who have been waiting to play a really important leadership role. As we have this conversation, President Biden turns 80 today and there are some who wonder how many years too old he is to run for re-election. But Democrats don't exactly have a generational star waiting in the wings to rise to power. That seems to be the case. And it would be incredibly unusual, not completely unprecedented, but extremely unusual, for Biden to, in fact, step aside after one term; We have a couple of examples. As Harry Truman technically could have been rerun.

Lyndon Johnson, of course, stepped aside, but each of them had served more than one term in office because his predecessors had died in office. So we don't have that many examples of people volunteering during a term, and I would be very surprised if Biden did that in the end. Dr. Beverly Gauge is a professor of history and American studies at Yale University. It's great to talk to you. Thanks for being with us. Excellent. Thank you so much. As the UN climate summit in Egypt concluded today, negotiators made progress on some issues but stalled on reducing global emissions.

This comes on top of a recent report showing that fossil fuel burning is on track to increase by 1%. At the end of this year. Let's now take a look at a country that is on track to be almost emissions-free this year. 2030. Oslo, Norway Every year. The capital city calculates how much a mission-producing activity will contribute to greenhouse gases and then implements a carbon budget to keep those levels low. Last week, Lisa Desjardin spoke with Heidi Sorenson, director of the Oslo climate agency. Hello. Oslo has been able to significantly reduce its emissions, and it has only been about two decades.

The big question is how and then the more specific question is. Industries are not required to comply. Then why? I think one of the reasons is that they put this climate budget in place. That was important because we actually have the budget each year, which tells what needs to be done by whom, when, and when it's needed on the job. Budget cost. So there was a way to move from just political goals and boats to concrete actions, and we looked like general statements weren't enough. You had to target specific parts of your society and say This is what you have to do.

How did that work? It works in the municipality every year. If this carbon climate budget is introduced, all community entities will become stakeholders in this climate budget. I actually know what to do and three times a year, but I want them to tell the climate agency. How are you doing with your climate measures so we can adjust? See if they have to do other things and talk. When the going gets tough, we've been able to lower the goal of reducing life's climate emissions by 5% by 2040. I know. Part of this is also that to get contracts with the city, for example, some industries had to meet those goals.

They were not forced to do so. But if they wanted to do business in the city, they had to prove they were reducing emissions. You know, ideas like that are quite controversial here in the United States, in part because of the idea of ​​sacrificing government involvement. This was controversial at first in Oslo. And what for most citizens there is thinking about it right now. Some measures are controversial and were introduced for the first time, but no, I am a Dorothy of the population who thinks the climate measures they have been given are bettercities and I have a city for everyone.

I think one of the things we were able to incorporate into the business was the way we have to use public procurement. As a very active tool to achieve and reduce emissions. So we've been able to develop technologies like dual-mission construction sites, but actually a lot of Oslo's emissions have been eliminated. How are you doing with that goal? That is an ambitious goal. You had a 95% emissions reduction by 2030. Where are you? You are going for the good way? We're not completely focused on Jack. The latest estimate says that we will reach 62% in 2030 with the measures we have identified and adopted so far.

We still have a way to go, but we are quite optimistic. There is definitely a chance that we can reach that 95%. Eight more years left. They have done better than national leaders in this country and global leaders around the world who just can't seem to agree on goals. Do you think cities should be the ones leading the way on climate? I think all cities lead on climate. I think many American cities do wonderful things too. And trying to talk. People who live in cities tend to be more progressive. Do you want to do this? See concrete actions and be part of the development of solutions, and I think that is necessary and the most necessary thing is the demonstration.

But in reality, combating climate change will create a better city and a better life for everyone. One last question. Climate

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is often distressing and continues to be distressing. I talked to some of our politicians here who almost seemed detached from the sense that they might not be able to fight the climate where we are now. How do you respond to those fears that maybe we've gone too far and we've definitely gone too far, but that they're also definitely a way forward so that climate change does less harm to us than we would have otherwise? But I think the most important thing is that climate issues have been about sacrifice and sacrifice.

I think we should start looking at fighting climate change as a way to create a better life for everyone, because that's the correlation. If you fight climate change, we actually create that life that everyone I know has had the experience of there in Oslo and Heidi Sorenson. Thank you very much for telling us about it. Thanks for having me. Finally tonight, it's time to focus on our weekend with acclaimed artist Kadir Nelson. Perhaps you've seen his work on the cover of the New Yorker magazine or hanging in the United States House of Representatives, lining the walls of a museum or gallery, or appearing on the pages of one of his more than 30 children's books.

Dear Nelson's work is unmistakable. His superlative oil paintings of him. His rich palette and exceptional technique evoke both modern urban realism and the masterful works of turn-of-the-century American painters. I spoke with Kadir Nelson while he was in Washington, D.C for the unveiling of his portrait of humanitarian chef José Andrés at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. He explained how he tried to capture Andrés, whose world Central Kitchen serves hot meals around the world to people in areas hard hit by natural disasters and conflict. Well, my idea was to represent José Andrés and his surroundings like this.

Um, being the activist who is the philanthropist? Um, amazing chef. Um, and how all of that has come together and in his world he would emphasize that he wants to feed people. Family food. He looks at the food somehow. That is very intimate, very personal, and it is a way to not only sustain people, but to encourage them to overcome these difficult times that they face. Can you explain your technique to us? I mean, how do you imagine something like this in your mind? And really make it happen. How do you make this happen? Well, first I had to meet José and his family and try to get to know him to understand him and his mission.

Um and what's important to him. I think we were having dinner and he mentioned that his mother was like a force of nature. And I thought it was really interesting because Joseph often appears after this force of nature has occurred, so I thought it would be a really good idea to depict Joseph appearing after this storm has occurred. You started drawing and painting at a fairly young age. And it was your uncle and a high school art teacher who taught you technique? Alright? My Uncle Mike, who lives in Maryland? Basically, he identified my gift at a very young age and encouraged my parents as well.

Um, to support him. So my uncle gave me a lot of instruction, artistic instruction. Mmm, my mother and my father. They gave me a lot of art supplies to work with. Um, when I got to high school, I was a little bit further along and I had a lot of kids because I got that instruction at a really young age and I think it really helped propel me into the art world. Let's look at two more of your works. This is sweet freedom and distant summer. And what catches my attention about these two is the game of patriotism.

So the one on the far left, summer, seemed very appropriate for that moment because I did this painting during the pandemic, so it was really my take on what it would be like for kids experiencing social distancing during the pandemic. One of the last images of 2020 that I did was this Sweet Freedom, which was published around the time of the very controversial election and in November 2020. And they end up getting kind of patriotic because of course they're red, white. and blue. But the one on the right is especially very patriotic because it is a comment on the elections.

How do you describe your style? You know, I think it's very difficult for me to describe my style. I think what is identifiable is my palate. And then also, I would say, um. Much of my work is figurative. And it's emotional. All of this influences or is enhanced by the tools I use, lighting, composition, color, etc. So I started to describe my style, but I think it's pretty identifiable. And this was the cover of Rolling Stone in the summer of 2020, inspired by the famous Delacroix painting, and at the center of his piece. You have this heroic African American woman with a flag bandana around her neck and a little boy.

What was the intention? The idea behind that someone described. My work is very American. Believe. Very sure. Um, it's certainly a topic that comes up often in my work, of course, being in America as an African American. I think it influences my work a lot, and I think a lot of that came to a head during the pandemic. When you know, a lot of my work used to be very historical and then it became more contemporary when I started doing set paintings. In real time, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, all the protests started happening around us.

Um, it made a lot of sense too. Create works of art that speak of that moment, and that's where this painting came from. You mentioned the pandemic. Let's look after the storm, because this is truly a celebration of the human spirit. Connected to the pandemic. This painting was done right at the beginning of the pandemic. When we all thought we were going to be locked down for only two weeks, I felt it was very important to create a painting that was

full

of light and celebrated humanity. And at a time when I think the intimacy of social contact was missing in our lives because we were all, you know, quarantined.

And like they're not really able to hug us and shake our hands for me. It was like creating an image that gay people had a sense of security, a reminder of humanity and something to look forward to to get us through that moment. Your work is exhibited in museums and galleries. Collectors sought you out, but your art is also very accessible. You do album covers, two album covers. There was the Drake album cover, and then you also did a Michael Jackson album cover. What was the story behind the painting of Michael Jackson that hung in the Los Angeles recording studio that used to be owned by Marvin Gaye and the man who was remodeling this studio?

I wanted to turn it into a Marvin Gaye shrine. I did a lot of Marvin Gaye paintings. In fact, Michael Jackson recorded there, and he often went to the studio just to look at the paintings and, you know, also record, you know, so he saw the paintings and called me and asked if he could do one. for him. Uh, but, you know, bigger Jackson. When were you able to do what you've done for Marvin Gaye? But bigger and better. That's how it is. That's how it is. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could begin to do so.

But I ended up painting anyway for the studio owner and then Drake was done. Later he recorded his solo paintings, and I thought, you know, it would be a good choice to create the album cover art of him as you see it. When is art most effective? I think art is most effective when there is something inside people, the work I create. I intend to remind people of the best parts of themselves because I feel like if you see something it reminds you of something that is beautiful about yourself. Integris or something like that that reminds you of your inner strength.

And and then. It pushes you to move in that direction. So I think I've also done my job as an artist. You know, for that purpose, could your Nelson? I appreciate that you appreciate your time. And thank you very much for coming. Thank you very much for inviting me. He is a unique talent and that is our program for tonight. I'm Jeff Bennett for all of us here at PBS News Weekend. Thank you for spending part of your Sunday with us, have a great week. And with the continued support of these individuals and institutions it has provided significant funding for PBS News Weekend.

This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and contributions to its PBS stations from viewers like you. Thank you.