GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: President Trump signs an order to dismantle the Department of Education.

What changes could be made without congressional approval?

GEOFF BENNETT: At town halls across the country, Republican lawmakers are facing backlash over Trump administration policies.

We take you inside one in the state of Nebraska.

AMNA NAWAZ: And what's behind the skyrocketing cost of eggs beyond the spread of bird flu?

BRIAN MOSCOGIURI, Eggs Unlimited: It really depends on the contracts the buyers and sellers have and also the strategy of the retailer and how they want to position eggs as potentially a tool to get people coming into the store.

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

President Donald Trump made good on a pledge today to try to eliminate the federal Department of Education, which was created more than four decades ago.

GEOFF BENNETT: That department has been a target of critics for nearly as long as it's existed, but President Trump and other Republicans want to go all the way this time, calling the department wasteful and arguing it fails too many students.

Many educators today argued it's critical and provides key services that states and localities cannot.

President Trump today signed an executive order aimed at shutting down the Department of Education.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country, and spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country, and it's not even close.

But yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.

GEOFF BENNETT: But the order might be more of a first step than a final blow.

Congress created the department in 1979, and the Constitution doesn't give the president the power to shut it down by executive order alone.

But technicalities haven't stopped Trump's agenda so far.

His goal, he says, return education to the states and have other agencies absorb the department's responsibilities.

DONALD TRUMP: But we're going to take care of our teachers, and I believe, I believe the states will take actually better care of them than they are -- than they are taken care of right now.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Education Department is largely responsible for managing federal funding, enforcing civil rights laws and access for students with disabilities, and servicing more than a trillion dollars worth of student loans.

DONALD TRUMP: If you look at the Pell Grants, supposed to be a very good program, Title I funding and resources for children with special disabilities and special needs, they're going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.

GEOFF BENNETT: Even if some of that work shifts to other departments and agencies, critics say losing the umbrella of the Education Department could mean the work loses its larger mission, ensuring equal access for American students.

Democrats have been unified against the Trump administration's plan.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): And this is why every single Democrat said hell no to the nomination of Linda McMahon, one of the only nominees in history tasked with destroying the very agency she's trying to lead.

GEOFF BENNETT: States have long held the primary responsibility for education.

There is no national curriculum and federal money makes up about 14 percent of public school budgets.

But that money is critical for the most vulnerable students, like meals for homeless students or Title I funding for low-income schools.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): But for the working-class of this country, high-quality public education is an imperative if their kids are going to do well in life.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Trump administration has already downsized the department's work force through terminations and buyouts.

Firings last week left the department with roughly half of the 4,100 staff it had when President Trump took office, prompting protests.

PORTIA ALLEN-KYLE, Interim Executive Director, Color of Change: I want people to know that we're fighting.

And we may not win today.

We may not -- people may not get their jobs back.

There are things going through the courts.

But there is momentum.

People are upset.

People are energized.

And people want to see something different.

GEOFF BENNETT: This afternoon, Senator Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Senate committee overseeing education, said he would introduce legislation to have Congress eliminate the department.

We should note we reached out to the Trump White House to request an interview with an official on this matter, but did not receive a response.

To help us understand the implications of President Trump's order to dismantle the Education Department, we get two perspectives tonight.

Let's first turn to Rick Hess.

He's a senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Thanks for being with us.

And you wrote in a column recently that you think, in principle, downsizing the Education Department makes sense.

Let's start there.

Why do you think an overhaul is called for?

RICK HESS, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute: Sure.

There's a lot of confusion about what the department is.

The best description is that it's a megabank with a small policy shop attached.

The biggest thing the department does is manage about a $1.5 trillion portfolio in student loans.

That's a disproportionate share of the work force.

In K-12, the two big programs are Title I for schools serving children of poverty and IDEA for children with special needs.

Combined, those two programs are about $35 billion a year, which is about 3 cents on the dollar of what we spend in K-12 education.

So, look, we have got a lot of adults who aren't educators creating a lot of paperwork, costing a lot of money in salary and benefits in ways that frequently frustrate the ability of schools or colleges to serve kids.

I think you can dramatically downsize that department, shrink the work force, reduce the red tape in ways that are good for learning and good for America's schools and colleges.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about the way it's being dismantled, the mass firings, the lack of transparency?

Any concerns on that front?

RICK HESS: Yes.

I mean, I think there's reasonable concerns about, if you are entrusted with a public agency and you are going to either ask it to do something that's never done, like under President Biden, the student loan forgiveness, or what we are seeing here, firing roughly half the work force, announcing you're going to try to fundamentally limit its activities, it's entirely fair to ask questions about how's this going to work, explain the legal authority for the specific actions.

And, most importantly, in this case, if you are cutting the department in half in terms of staffing, but you're continuing to run all the programs, how are you going to manage that transition in ways that ideally yield a more agile, more responsive, more accountable department?

It's up to the administration to explain that to the American public.

GEOFF BENNETT: The states that rely most heavily on federal funding tend to lean Republican.

These are states that voted for Donald Trump in the last election.

Do you see any political risk in this for him?

RICK HESS: One of the points of confusion here is that whether you -- whether the department disappeared tomorrow or not would not have any impact on the funding for students or -- in schools or colleges.

That is a different conversation.

The Title I program, Pell Grants, IDEA, student loans, those are not directly affected by cuts to staff at the department or by even the abolition of the department.

Doing away with those congressionally authorized programs requires Congress to actually vote to reduce or zero out or change the formulas.

So, one of the things that's going on here is, what we're actually having a debate about is how to run the federal bureaucratic machinery over those programs.

But many in the American public, many students and teachers think we're arguing about something else.

They think we're arguing about the funding streams.

GEOFF BENNETT: Rick Hess, thanks, as always, for your insights.

We appreciate it.

RICK HESS: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And for another perspective, we turn now to Catherine Lhamon, who served as assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education under both the Obama and Biden administrations.

Good to see you.

Do you agree with that assessment that the DOE is essentially a megabank that provides the machinery to disburse federal funding?

CATHERINE LHAMON, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Department of Education: Well, what Congress has said about what the Department of Education is that it's a civil rights agency.

It's an agency that's designed to make sure that there's fair and equal education for all students in our P-12 schools, as well as our institutions of higher education.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what would happen if you lose that umbrella of the Department of Education for civil rights enforcement?

I mean, the reason why the Department of Education was created was because states, especially in the South, didn't do a good job of ensuring equal access for students with disabilities, students of color.

CATHERINE LHAMON: Right.

GEOFF BENNETT: The list goes on.

CATHERINE LHAMON: Right.

Well, we don't have to wonder what will happen.

We have a historical analog, right?

And in the state of Virginia, just to take one example, a school district in the late 1950s, early 1960s decided that, after courts had ordered that that district integrate to allow all school students equal opportunity, it would shut down every public school.

It would offer no public education to anyone.

And then what it did was to turn around and fund private schools for white students only.

So Black students in that district had no education opportunity.

Unless and until there is a federal backstop against that kind of harm, we will see students discriminated against, we will see students with unequal education.

My mother went to racially segregated schools in Richmond, Virginia, when she was growing up.

We don't need to go back to that kind of education opportunity that is not opportunity for everyone.

GEOFF BENNETT: When you hear President Trump and other Republicans say public education is failing and that we need to dismantle the Department of Education and send this back to the states, the states can do this better, what's your response to that?

I mean, how do you go about improving educational outcomes?

CATHERINE LHAMON: Well I want to first say it is demonstrably untrue that the Trump administration is trying to return education to the states.

There is no administration in the history of the United States that has tried to dictate more what is taught in a K-12 school or what is taught in a college or university.

So it is just not the case that this administration is trying to return education to the states.

It's trying to dictate what our kids learn and it's trying to dictate how -- in a micromanagement that we have no historical precedent for.

And that is unlawful in this country.

But separate and apart from that, what would happen if we don't have a federal backstop against harm is that we will have harm in schools.

We know that the 26 million students who rely, low-income students who rely on federal funding for their equal access to education don't have a minute to waste.

We know that the 6.5 million students who rely on Pell Grants to be able to go to and realize their dreams in college don't have time to mess around with, does it work or does it not work?

What they need is to learn today and to be prepared for their futures tomorrow.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the minute we have left, this idea that current tasks performed by the Department of Education can sort of be dispersed to other agencies, practically, does -- can that work?

CATHERINE LHAMON: No.

And here's how we know.

One, 63 percent of Americans don't want it, so this is not something that anybody is calling to have happen, other than the president.

And, two, the reason that Congress in 1979 created the U.S. Department of Education was that it found -- this is the congressional record -- it found that diffuse educational opportunity leads to harm, leads to incorrect, inconsistent information being released to the states.

It doesn't work.

We know it doesn't work.

We should not be pretending otherwise.

GEOFF BENNETT: Catherine Lhamon, thank you.

Thanks for coming in.

We appreciate it.

CATHERINE LHAMON: Thanks so much.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Trump administration's standoff with the judiciary continues, as some of the president's top allies and advisers are ramping up their criticism of federal judges.

The Justice Department today again refused to provide to a federal judge detailed information about deportation flights carrying hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering the latest and joins us now.

So, Laura, we know that this judge gave the Department of Justice until noon today to submit answers, more detailed information that he's demanded about those deportation flights over the weekend to El Salvador.

They responded late.

Where do things stand now?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So the Justice Department again refused to provide answers.

Those are answers about, what times did the flights take off?

What time did they land in a foreign country?

What time were the migrants transferred out of U.S. custody?

They did not provide answers to Justice - - to Judge James Boasberg.

And he called the Justice Department submission -- quote -- "woefully insufficient."

He said -- quote -- "The government again evaded its obligations."

And an ICE official in that sworn declaration said that currently Cabinet secretaries are considering whether or not to invoke the state secrets privilege, meaning that they wouldn't have to necessarily provide this information.

And that's typically only invoked, Amna, for classified information.

Ultimately, Judge Boasberg was not satisfied.

And this comes as, simultaneously, he is considering whether or not the president legally invoked the Alien Enemies Act.

And so tomorrow there is going to be a hearing on the merits of that case and the president's invocation of Alien Enemies.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, we know the administration is already deported with some 200 migrants to El Salvador.

They claim that they were all members of a violent gang, Tren de Aragua.

Family members and lawyers have since been coming out and saying these men are not all gang members, they were wrongfully arrested and deported.

What are we learning?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So we have new sworn declarations that were made overnight to the court.

And in one of those, a lawyer representing one of the Venezuelan nationals who was deported to El Salvador provided information about this Venezuelan national.

And so this Venezuelan migrant is Jerce Reyes Barrios.

He's a 26-year-old professional soccer player and coach.

He protested the authoritarian rule of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

And then he fled Venezuela in early 2024 after being tortured with electric shock.

And he legally applied for asylum and entered the U.S. and then was detained, and as his case, his asylum case was playing out.

But his lawyers said that the government accused him of being a member of Tren de Aragua based on two things, first, an arm tattoo -- quote -- "of a crown sitting atop a soccer ball with a rosary and the word dios."

In reality, he chose this tattoo because it is similar to the logo for his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid.

The second thing that DHS points to is a photo of Mr. Reyes Barrios on social media of him making a hand gesture that the DHS alleges is proof of gang membership.

And his lawyer said that -- quote -- "In fact, the gesture is a common one that means I love you in sign language and is commonly used as a rock 'n' roll symbol."

His lawyer also added that his legal counsel as well as his family have lost all contact with him and have no information about his condition.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, there's another case that I know that you're following.

There's a Georgetown University academic who was taken into custody by DHS agents outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, told that his student visa had been revoked.

What should we know about him?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, Badar Khan Suri a native of India and he was here on a student visa, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University.

He was teaching at Georgetown Monday night and then was returning to his home when masked Homeland Security agents approached him and started to arrest him.

They wouldn't disclose who they were.

They wouldn't say anything about why they were arresting him.

And this was done under the same rare immigration provision that was invoked to arrest Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist.

And that provision, again, Amna, it allows the secretary of state to revoke legal status of noncitizens if they believe that their presence in the country is a foreign policy threat.

Now, the DHS is alleging that Suri was -- quote -- "actively spreading Hamas propaganda" and -- quote -- "has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist who is a senior adviser to Hamas."

We believe that that is based on a 2018 article in an Indian newspaper that has to do with Suri's father-in-law and his connections to Hamas leadership.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, I know you connected with one of his lawyers today.

What did they have to say about the case?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: I spoke to Sophia Gregg of ACLU, who is an attorney representing Mr. Suri, and she says that he has not been charged with the crime, that he is being targeted for his political speech for his pro-Palestinian views, and also for the Palestinian heritage of his American citizen wife.

They say that the last known location of Suri was a facility in Louisiana, and they have been unable to get in touch with him.

And she said that ultimately they believe that this is about chilling speech in the United States.

We also have some news, though, this afternoon, Amna, which is that a judge ruled that Mr. Suri cannot be removed from the United States unless a court approves his deportation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura Barron-Lopez with the very latest.

Thank you, Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: The day's other headlines start in the Middle East and the ratcheting up of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

For the first time since the resumption of fighting this week, Hamas fired rockets at Israel today, causing little damage.

Israel, meanwhile, restarted its blockade on Northern Gaza and ordered evacuations in several areas.

Hospital officials in Gaza say at least 85 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes overnight and into today.

In Southern Gaza, crews rescued a 1-month-old baby girl from a pile of rubble following an airstrike that killed her parents.

HAZEM ATTAR, Gaza Civil Defense (through translator): When we asked people, they said she's a month old and she's been under the rubble.

Since dawn, she's been screaming and falling silent from time to time, until we were able to get her out a short while ago.

Thank God she is safe.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meantime in Israel, police clashed with demonstrators near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem home as they protested his handling of the hostage crisis.

An American detained by the Taliban for more than two years has been freed.

George Glezmann is en route from Afghanistan to the United States via Qatar, which helped to mediate his release.

Officials say the U.S. did not swap anyone in return for his freedom.

The airline mechanic from Atlanta was traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist when he was abducted in 2022.

He is the third American freed by the Taliban since January.

A U.S. official says that seven Americans remain in Taliban custody.

Turning now to the war in Ukraine, officials from across Europe are moving to form an international peacekeeping force as Russia and Ukraine work out the details of a partial cease-fire.

The tentative deal was agreed to in principle yesterday.

While in Brussels today, E.U.

leaders heard a pitch from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via video call seeking approval for a $5.4 billion weapons package.

He also said talks with President Trump to broker a broader peace deal have been productive.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: On going diplomatic efforts do not mean Russia should face less pressure.

That's why we must keep pushing Russia toward peace.

Together with you, of course, with United States, and with our other partners, we can do this.

AMNA NAWAZ: Negotiators from Moscow are set to meet with the U.S. team on Monday in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Russia, officials say a Soviet-era bomber base seen here on security footage was struck by Ukrainian drones.

It triggered a massive explosion that damaged a hospital as well as nearby schools and homes.

The airfield hosts Russia's White Swan bombers, which are nuclear-capable.

In Turkey, thousands of protesters gathered for a second day following the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor.

Some students clashed with police amid growing anger over the detention of Ekrem Imamoglu.

He was arrested early Wednesday as part of a broader investigation into alleged corruption and terror links.

By nightfall, thousands had gathered outside city hall to protest what they see as an attempt to remove a potential rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next election.

Erdogan today dismissed such criticism as -- quote -- "theatrics."

The International Olympic Committee elected its first woman and first African president in its 130-year history today.

Zimbabwe's sports minister, Kirsty Coventry, won in a landslide in the first round of voting, beating out six other candidates.

The 41-year-old swimming legend and former Olympian is also the youngest person to hold the powerful position.

She's set to serve an eight-year term, during which she will oversee the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and the selection of a host for the 2036 Olympics.

The release this week of tens of thousands of pages related to President John F. Kennedy's assassination has revealed a bit more than intended.

The largely unredacted pages include Social Security numbers and other private information for hundreds of congressional staff, intelligence analysts and others.

Many of them are still alive.

In one instance, the complete personnel file of a CIA agent was laid bare.

The White House says the National Archives and the Social Security Administration are working on an action plan for the people whose information was compromised.

Tesla is recalling nearly all of its Cybertrucks in the United States to fix an exterior panel that could fall off while driving.

In a filing, Tesla said the recall affects just over 46,000 vehicles.

It covers trucks made between November of 2023 and February of this year.

And it's the eighth recall involving the SUV since January of 2024.

The recall is the latest setback for Tesla.

Its stock has lost about half its value since December, amid increased competition and backlash over CEO Elon Musk's role in slashing government spending.

On Wall Street today, stocks drifted lower amid general concerns about tariffs and the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 11 points, so basically unchanged.

The Nasdaq gave back nearly 60 points on the day, and the S&P 500 also ended modestly lower.

And there's still plenty to be happy about in the world, especially if you live in a Nordic nation.

That is according to the 2025 World Happiness Report published today by Gallup, which ranked Finland as the happiest country for the eighth year in a row.

Fellow Nordic nations Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, along with the Netherlands, round out the top five.

But, here at home, unhappiness is on the rise, with the U.S. falling to 24th, its lowest ever.

Rankings were based on how participants across more than 140 countries rate their own lives.

Once again, Afghanistan came in last.

Still to come on the "News Hour": we speak with the Houthi foreign minister, as the U.S. resumes strikes on Yemen; a restaurant owner's view on the lasting impact of the COVID pandemic; and how one artist transforms everyday objects into surreal sculptures.

GEOFF BENNETT: While Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, they have been losing control of many of their events back home.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Desjardins attended one of the only town halls held by a Republican member during this congressional recess, catching up with him and the constituents seeking to give him an earful.

LISA DESJARDINS: The line is long at Columbus High School in Eastern Nebraska, and it is also unusual.

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): Is your cousin coming tonight?

LISA DESJARDINS: Republican Congressman Mike Flood is greeting people at his town hall one by one.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: You can write down questions.

You can stand up.

LISA DESJARDINS: There is no organized protest, but in this deep-red congressional district, those here have deep-seated concern about President Trump and Elon Musk.

STEVEN MOORE, Lincoln Resident: So are we going to sit on the couch and let these billionaires control the country?

Hell no.

We are the poor people.

We're a red state.

JENNY LABOY, North Bend Resident: I'm really sad and petrified.

I almost kind of want to cry.

It just I don't see any hope.

LISA DESJARDINS: Hi.

One by one, we asked, and confirmed, people are from here.

Where are you from?

MAN: Columbus.

LISA DESJARDINS: Columbus.

Contrary to some Republican claims that outside groups come to disrupt.

You're from the congressional district?

All of you are from the congressional district?

Has anyone been paid to be here?

CROWD: No.

LISA DESJARDINS: No one.

OK. MAN: I'm actually taking work off to be here.

I'm losing money to be here.

MAN: Same here.

(LAUGHTER) LISA DESJARDINS: All this after raucous, sharply critical town halls across the country in past weeks.

GOP leaders in Washington suggested that members stop holding them, making this one even more of a statement.

JOHN THOMAS, North Bend Resident: We are the boss, not the president.

We are their constituents.

You don't have to follow all of us, but we have to have a voice.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: I know some of you in this room are angry.

I know some of you in this room... LISA DESJARDINS: Inside, Flood starts by acknowledging those voices.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: I want you to feel comfortable telling me what you want me to know.

LISA DESJARDINS: And they most certainly do, on Trump's slices to research.

WOMAN: I have a 20-year-old daughter and I lost a sister to breast cancer.

LISA DESJARDINS: On coming cuts to the Veterans Administration.

WOMAN: I want to hear your comments on providing our veterans with the services that they have earned and that they deserve.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE) LISA DESJARDINS: And slashes under way to federal workers.

WOMAN: I have not seen any Republicans stand up for the hardworking federal work force.

(CHEERING) LISA DESJARDINS: Flood stands his conservative ground.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: I get it.

There's a lot of people in this room that don't support what DOGE is doing, but for the first time, we are making some progress identifying places that we can reduce the budget.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: And this is something we have to do as a country, as a nation.

This doesn't go away unless we deal with the spending.

(BOOING) LISA DESJARDINS: Frustration rises.

WOMAN: Lies!

LISA DESJARDINS: And, for some, so does the shouting.

MAN: Raise the cap, Mike!

LISA DESJARDINS: Within the crowd... WOMAN: Our taxes!

LISA DESJARDINS: ... discomfort at the tone sits side by side with anger and attempts to quell it.

MAN: Please be quiet and let him talk.

I don't like him either.

LISA DESJARDINS: Those we speak with identify mostly as Democrats or independents drawn by their concerns and disagreements with Trump's actions.

They do find some things to applaud, like on Ukraine.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: I do not feel like Ukraine should have to give up any land to Russia.

LISA DESJARDINS: Throughout, a cry for accountability, leading to one of the most heated moments of the night, sparked by 21-year-old University of Nebraska student Jackson Hatcher.

JACKSON HATCHER, College Student: Why is Elon Musk a better person to audit our government for waste, fraud, and abuse than the inspectors general that Donald Trump fired?

REP. MIKE FLOOD: I support Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

JACKSON HATCHER: That didn't sound like someone wanting to answer my question.

I don't think we can count on congressional Republicans to grow a spine and actually fight Elon Musk or stand up for us, because they're too afraid to be primaried by him.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: And I want to thank all of you for coming.

LISA DESJARDINS: Afterward, wildly mixed reactions.

DAN LUTJENS, Columbus Resident: They didn't show this congressman respect, I didn't think, to give him a chance to explain stuff.

They -- it was wild.

JOHN WILD, Lincoln Resident: I don't feel he was here and really listening and taking the input to heart.

He was responding in platitudes.

LISA DESJARDINS: We spoke with Flood.

Why do you think people are so angry?

REP. MIKE FLOOD: Well, because we have competing 24-hour news programs that are... LISA DESJARDINS: But that almost makes it seem like they don't really have those opinions on their own.

You know what I mean?

I think they really -- I think they're really angry.

I don't think they're getting us from anywhere else.

REP. MIKE FLOOD: It doesn't matter, Democrats or Republicans, people don't like change.

People don't like change.

LISA DESJARDINS: Neither Flood nor those listening seemed changed by the town hall.

He says he's planning his next ones now.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Lisa Desjardins in Columbus, Nebraska.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, tomorrow, we will take a closer look at what Democrats in Congress are hearing from their constituents during this recess week.

GEOFF BENNETT: Egg prices have soared to new records over the last couple of months.

The wholesale price for a dozen white eggs climbed to over $8 in February.

Since then, that price has come down, but prices consumers pay at the grocery store are still high.

Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, takes a look at what's been going on.

PAUL SOLMAN: Egg prices once again no joke, the price for a dozen eggs, up 60 percent in a year.

But why?

Typically, some 300 million American hens lay some 90 billion American eggs every year.

Seems like enough to go around.

So why would prices suddenly take wing?

The answer appears to be the oldest cliche in economics, supply and demand.

So first, supply.

It's been drastically reduced by the flu.

Here's agricultural economist Jada Thompson.

JADA THOMPSON, University of Arkansas: Highly pathogenic avian influenza, or we kind of call it bird flu, is a disease of poultry.

It leads to at least 75 percent mortality.

And that's in chickens.

And this one is more like 90 to 94 percent mortality.

And so you have this huge mortality either dying from the disease or being depopulated in order to keep the viral loads down.

And so as of November of last year to February of this year, I think we're down 50 million egg-laying birds.

PAUL SOLMAN: But wait, avian flu also hit back in 2015.

That outbreak was pretty much over in months.

Emily Metz speaks for the egg industry.

EMILY METZ, CEO, American Egg Board: This virus is clearly evolving.

And our entire supply chain has been impacted, including our young birds, which has made recovery so much slower for this industry.

JADA THOMPSON: We're in unprecedented number of birds out of the system, and that's coming with unprecedented prices.

PAUL SOLMAN: So the supply story is simple.

But it's supply and demand.

EMILY METZ: We have had 23 consecutive months of year-over-year record demand.

PAUL SOLMAN: But here's a question, doesn't demand go down when prices go up?

Well, not if the demand for eggs or anything else is pretty constant and largely unresponsive to price hikes.

JADA THOMPSON: We demand eggs.

Think about all those egg processors that are making breads.

I still buy my bread.

They still have to make bread.

In order to make that bread, they need eggs.

In order to buy those eggs, there's a low supply, so they're going to keep bidding until they get those eggs.

PAUL SOLMAN: The bidding happens on an electronic auction-style market, which helps set the daily wholesale egg price.

More bidders willing to pay more for diminished supply means the price goes up.

And consumer behavior is driving up demand as well because of anxiety buying.

Egg broker Brian Moscogiuri: BRIAN MOSCOGIURI, Eggs Unlimited: Now we have increased demand from the consumers that are buying more eggs than they have ever purchased before.

Some of my friends and my family have sent me pictures where they're typically buying a dozen a week.

They have eight to 10 dozen in their refrigerators because they're seeing the news about what's going on with egg prices and potential scarcity of eggs and stores running out of eggs.

PAUL SOLMAN: Happens to be true of both me and producer Diane Lincoln Estes.

We'd been stocking up before even being assigned this story.

Here's my fridge.

May not look like that many, but three to five more eggs than usual.

Multiply that by America's almost 130 million households and you would have demand for over 600 million more eggs.

EMILY METZ: And I think that's probably happening in a lot of households.

Egg buying has become a paranoia.

PAUL SOLMAN: OK, low supply, high demand, and thus higher prices.

But about 90 percent of wholesale eggs are sold based on long-term contracts between buyers and sellers.

Doesn't that stabilize prices?

BRIAN MOSCOGIURI: It's really the 10 percent of eggs that are negotiated that ultimately set the price, because that's where true value in all commodities is discovered.

It's that day-to-day negotiation to really identify what the value of the eggs are in the open market.

That's where commodity markets are priced and discovered.

And that's not just in eggs.

That could be in oil and gas and different types of commodities as well.

PAUL SOLMAN: Moreover, many of the long-term contracts are based on what short-term buyers have to pay on the daily spot market.

BRIAN MOSCOGIURI: The market is adjusting based on the spot value of eggs, and the contracts are tied to that market, which ultimately will go up or down depending on what the actual market is doing on a day-to-day basis.

PAUL SOLMAN: But here's another question.

Why are egg prices all over the place at grocery stores?

Our producer wanted to know.

WOMAN: When I went shopping for eggs, like, the first place had no eggs whatsoever.

The second place, eggs were anywhere from $8 over $13.

And then I finally ended up at Aldi, where they had a dozen eggs for only $5.79, but they limited two egg cartons per person.

BRIAN MOSCOGIURI: It really depends on the contracts the buyers and sellers have and also the strategy of the retailer and how they want to position eggs as potentially a tool to get people coming into the store.

Eggs are sometimes used as a loss leader, meaning that they will keep egg prices artificially low in order to drive consumers into the store so that they buy other higher-margin items.

When you found the cheapest egg as you shopped around to three or four different stores, did you just buy eggs?

Did you buy more eggs?

Like, what was your shopping experience like?

WOMAN: I never shop at Aldi, but I went and I got my two cartons of eggs and then I looked around and I got other stuff.

And I have been going back ever since.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, to be fair, skeptics think something else is scrambling the cost of eggs, price fixing.

Cal-Maine, the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the U.S., reported an 82 percent jump in revenue in its most recent earnings report.

And the jury did find that large producers were guilty of price fixing back in 2011, but there could be a justification for higher profits right now.

JADA THOMPSON: Cal-Maine or any other company that is able to sell eggs during periods of high price are going to basically win out.

So they get additional prices because they have the only supply that exists.

PAUL SOLMAN: The Department of Justice is now investigating, however.

The industry's response?

EMILY METZ: I can't speak to why the Justice Department is doing what they're doing, but I can speak to the facts, and the facts are very simple.

The price of eggs are set on the commodity market.

PAUL SOLMAN: OK, last question.

What next?

BRIAN MOSCOGIURI: Luckily, right now, it looks like potentially it's slowing, but now we're moving into this spring migratory period, where the wild birds fly across the country, potentially bringing additional risk, as we go into now another demand period, which is the Easter and Passover holiday period, which are typically and seasonally the second highest market levels of the year if you look at the long-term market dynamics.

PAUL SOLMAN: In other words, at the grocery store, you might plan to continue spending eggs-tra.

Sorry.

For the "PBS News Hour," Paul Solman.

AMNA NAWAZ: Overnight, Houthi rebels fired another missile at Israel from their base in Yemen.

The Houthis are labeled by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization supported by Iran.

And, yesterday, President Trump once again demanded Iran cease its support and wrote of the Houthis, "They will be completely annihilated."

Nick Schifrin speaks to a top Houthi official and reports how the Trump administration hopes its new airstrike campaign will succeed where previous ones have failed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In the Red Sea once again, the U.S. Navy is at war.

For six days, the U.S. has launched dozens of strikes and sorties attacking Houthi targets in Yemen, including for the first time Houthi leadership.

JAMAL AMER, Houthi Foreign Minister (through translator): At the end of the day, we are at war with America.

And, of course, there will be casualties.

But these casualties do not include senior leadership.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jamal Amer is the Houthi foreign minister.

We spoke to him from the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

JAMAL AMER (through translator): Civilians in Sanaa were bombed because the capital was targeted.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Houthi authorities say the strikes have wounded or killed dozens, including children.

The U.S. denies any civilian casualties and instead blames the Houthis for bringing it on themselves.

Beginning in November 2023, Houthi rebels targeted, seized commercial vessels and kidnapped and killed foreign sailors.

The Houthis claimed to target ships linked to Israel in solidarity with Gaza, but their targets were much wider.

During the Gaza cease-fire, they paused their attacks on ships.

But when Israel blocked humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Houthis vowed to respond.

And, last Saturday, President Trump ordered the new strikes that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told FOX News will continue until the Houthis stop.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. Defense Secretary: This will continue until you say, we're done shooting at ships, we're done shooting at assets.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Will you stop your targeting of Navy ships and commercial ships?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): When the siege on Gaza ends, the tension in the Red Sea will end.

Therefore, when Gaza receives aid and Israel implements the agreement, everything will end.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Will you expand your attacks to U.S. bases in Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): Now that the USS Truman is targeting Yemen, Truman is being targeted back.

But as the war expands, missiles and aircrafts launched against Yemen will be hit.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group that in 2014 seized Sanaa, their enemy, the soldiers of the internationally recognized government of Yemen supported by a Saudi-led coalition that failed to defeat the Houthis with seven years of U.S.-backed airstrikes.

PETE HEGSETH: We don't want a long, limited war in the Middle East.

We don't care what happens in the Yemeni civil war.

This is about stopping the shooting at assets in that critical waterway to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States.

And Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long.

They better back off.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. and U.N. say Iran provides the Houthis parts for its advanced missiles, as well as funding, training and intelligence, something the Houthis in Iran deny.

Has Iran asked you to restrain your response to the U.S. strikes?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): Iran doesn't direct Yemen.

Yemen is a sovereign state, and we do not accept directives from anyone.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Iran has had its strategic air defense removed by Israel.

Hezbollah has had its leaders killed and its political influence in Lebanon diminished.

And Hamas itself has had its leaders killed and its military capacity severely diminished.

Do you acknowledge that the so-called Axis of Resistance is at its weakest point in years?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): We are not entirely dependent on our allies.

We merely help our allies.

So this is a Yemeni decision, allies or not.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Houthis run a de facto government that oversees most of Yemen's population.

Their critics say they govern not for the people, but for themselves, and collect taxes to wage war, despite claims they want peace.

You bombed government ports.

You have refused to recognize the U.N.-backed government.

Until you take that step of recognition, how can anyone take seriously your claim that you want peace?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): The so-called legitimate government is a byproduct of Saudi Arabia, of course.

So we have never spoken to them.

There's always been dialogue and discussion with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But over the last year, the Houthis have arrested dozens of U.N. workers.

One World Food Program employee died in Houthi custody.

Why do you keep detaining U.N. staff?

Many of these people have spent their lives trying to help others, doing humanitarian work.

JAMAL AMER (through translator): Only 23 of the 2,000 Yemeni employees working with international organizations were detained.

Therefore, we confirm that our government will work on strengthening relations with the United Nations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the U.S. military says the Houthis seized food from a World Food Program storage depot in Saada.

Why are you doing this when that food is designed for the Yemeni people?

JAMAL AMER (through translator): The food that belongs to the civilians is only taken when there were attacks on Sanaa and the warehouse was threatened.

So we took the food and distributed it to people in need.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And they are in need.

Yemen is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and now faces a new round of violence that the U.S. hopes can succeed where previous efforts failed to silence the Houthis.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: We now continue our look at the COVID pandemic five years after it started, hearing from Americans with a range of opinions on that time and the government's response.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tonight, a reflection from someone who spent much of his life working at his family's restaurant, only to have to shut it down when COVID hit.

MICHAEL FRATANTUONO, Former Manager, Sunset Restaurant: My name is Michael Fratantuono.

I was one of the managers of our family-owned Sunset Restaurant in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

Our family bought the business back in 1960.

I started working there in 1989, and I was there for 32 years.

Sunset Restaurant was a family-style restaurant that anyone could bring their folks in, young, old.

We had heard all this stuff going on in the news about the COVID stuff.

And then the day before St. Patrick's Day, we were told, shut it down; 90 percent of our employees, we had to lay off.

And after that, we had to rewrite the wheel on doing carryouts and food.

After we opened back up, we were at 50 percent.

We were losing $10,000 a month.

So we brought the accountants in, and the accountants sat down with us and said: "Guys, I'd close it up if I was you."

It was like someone just knocked me upside the head, knowing that something that I had always had my heart and soul into, all I had known was the Sunset all my life.

As a child growing up, everything was that building.

It was a lump in my throat.

I think things were locked down too much, too fast, too soon without research.

Now that I know what's going on, hindsight, money morning quarterback, it shows you that there's a lot of conspiracy going on with the governments.

It shows that you can't always trust these guys.

January of '20, my father passed.

And if he was still alive during this -- all this COVID, it would have killed him.

He really would have gotten very, very mad for the government to come in and shut you down for something that we really don't know, we don't understand.

And you're stuck holding the bag.

I blame the federal government.

I blame Fauci.

I blame all the bureaucrats at the National Institution of Health.

Knowing what I know now, my opinion, knowing that I'm not a doctor, treat it like the normal flu.

These guys are telling us to do this and to do that, stand six foot apart.

Wear a mask.

It was all a bunch of hoo-ha.

All things happen for a reason.

It probably worked out better for my family.

The guy that was selling us our insurance for the building came to me and said, hey, what are you going to do afterwards?

You want to try selling insurance?

Sure.

Sales are sales.

I have been in sales for 40-plus years.

So I wanted to try that.

I will try that.

And I have been doing that since.

I'm not making a ton of money, but I'm making money.

My life is easier.

My life is more relaxed.

I'm off every night and I'm off every weekend.

I went out on Saturday and was playing golf with family members up here, and we were driving the tee.

And I said: "So, this is what it's like to be off on a Saturday."

Never got to do it.

I do not like going down to Glen Burnie, Maryland, anymore.

It's kind of like bad blood.

I just don't want to go back.

It hurts.

It hurts.

AMNA NAWAZ: Artist Hugh Hayden takes everyday objects, from school desks to basketball hoops to cookware, and transforms them into something surreal.

Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston visits the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University for a look at how Hayden's work challenges our perceptions of the American dream.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JARED BOWEN: Nestled on a field of white plushness, this home, quaint with dormer and windowpanes, could read as the fruits of the American dream realized.

HUGH HAYDEN, Artist: It's also like a row of bushes of hedges and this idea of the collection of wood or sticks as a bird's nest, a bird's home.

JARED BOWEN: That's the take of artist Hugh Hayden, who is a connoisseur of contradictions.

He knows his installation titled Hedges will have myriad interpretations, that these branches thrusting forward in a prickly joust can also read as a barrier to the American dream, preventing access to this home and the others mirrored in Hayden's infinite neighborhood.

HUGH HAYDEN: It's like a fantasy, the American dream being like a myth or a fantasy sometimes of the thing that's hard to obtain or achieve or difficult to inhabit.

But it is possible to also find your way in it because also the branches are also being protective.

JARED BOWEN: Hayden, who is receiving a major mid-career survey at Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum outside Boston, dwells in dichotomy, in the dual nature of frying pans as melting pots, a finely crafted baby's crib with teeth, and in this ladder titled Higher Education, with its teetering shears, it grows more menacing the higher one climbs.

Or does it?

HUGH HAYDEN: Some of them are open, some of them are closed, but scissors or pruners or hedgers are sharp and could be a knife, per se, but there's a notion of cultivation in education, this idea that education, the higher you go, is supposed to be helping you and it's cultivating you and molding you to this model citizen.

SARAH MONTROSS, Chief Curator, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum: I think he's a force of nature.

JARED BOWEN: Sarah Montross is co-curator of the show and chief curator of the nearby deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, featuring Hayden's outdoor sculpture Huff and a Puff, one of many installations presented by the artist at parks and museums around the country.

It offers a warped take on Henry David Thoreau's famed one-room cabin at nearby Walden Pond.

SARAH MONTROSS: He is a very precise, dedicated maker, often working late into the hours himself, still kind of perfecting his own work, and that to me is the sign of a great artist.

JARED BOWEN: Hayden is a trained architect, but left the practice after 10 years to become a full-time artist.

Gannit Ankori, the Rose's director and co-curator of the show, says Hayden's background in design makes him the perfect disrupter of the ordinary.

GANNIT ANKORI, Chief Curator, Rose Art Museum: There's enough that's familiar that draws you in.

Yes, this is a desk, this is a school desk, this is a chair, this is a coat, this is a house, but then it's also strange, so uncanny, unheimlich, as Freud would say.

JARED BOWEN: Hayden keeps his materials familiar too and works primarily in wood, because virtually everyone has a connection to trees.

HUGH HAYDEN: If I'm able to change the -- what you think a piece of wood or a tree can be, the thing that's been around you subliminally your whole life, it's a way in of maybe changing your perspective on some of the more social or cultural, more complex issues my work is kind of attempting to explore.

JARED BOWEN: Like these football helmets, enmeshed, as he's titled it, in The Kiss.

HUGH HAYDEN: The football, and it's hypermasculine, which is this sort of can be homoerotic sport, but the interior of these wooden helmets that are contrasting colors, oak and walnut, are filled with these sort of thorny spikes, instead of padding.

It could instantly go into concussions and the dangers of high-impact sports.

JARED BOWEN: Much of Hayden's work is autobiographical.

The artist says, as a tall Black kid growing up in Texas, he was pressured to play football, despite his zero interest.

But it also gave rise to his ongoing exploration of what it means to fit in.

You're dressed in camouflage.

HUGH HAYDEN: Yes.

JARED BOWEN: We see camouflage in the show.

In what way is this a reoccurring theme for you?

HUGH HAYDEN: One of the aspects of the American dream I'm exploring is trying to inhabit a difficult space that's desirable, but also risky and challenging.

I see camouflage as this sort of metaphor for blending into a natural landscape as vis-a-vis a social landscape.

JARED BOWEN: Which may be Hugh Hayden's deepest layer, the irony of blending in while also calling glaring attention to the world.

SARAH MONTROSS: You can see how accomplished and how prolific and how diverse the means through which he's creating sculpture can be.

So that, to me, sets him up to become one of the leading generational voices of our time.

JARED BOWEN: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jared Bowen in Waltham, Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

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