matter of fact, i'm soledad o'brien. south carolina's primary voters have a record of picking the eventual nominee for president. south carolina republicans have

picked the winner every single time that 2012, in just a few days, they head to the polls for the republican contest. we talked to an expert in south carolina politics about the issues driving these voters, and whether nikki haley's personal connection with the state is enough to close the gap with donald trump and chinatowns across america are struggling to survive the death of this community. we would devastate us. we go to philadelphia, where a community is trying toalance the preservation of identity with development that's happening around them. plus, schools are struggling with staffing shortages, from teachers to bus drivers, both of our mechanics are driving busses. we explore the lengths some schools are going to to make sure students can get to class. those stories now on matter of fact. just a few months ago, more than a dozen people were running to be the republican presidential candidate.

now it's down to just two donald trump and nikki haley. you'd think things would be looking up for haley, who managed to cut through that pack the next primary is in her home state of south carolina, a state she won twice as governor. but trump also has a winning record there, taking the state in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential races. so where does south carolina voters loyalties lie? gibbs knotts is a professor at the college of charleston. he's also the author of first in the south. gibbs knotts always nice to see you. so i guess the short version is nikki haley would be a shoo in if donald trump wasn'a shoo in already. tell me a little bit about the electorate out there and and how it's looking at this moment. you're exactly right. i mean, she got elected twice as governor. she went on to serve in the un. she was popular in south carolina. she still is popular in south carolina. but i think it's it's really interesting to think about the pre-trump electorate and the

post-trump electorate. the last time haley was on the ballot was 2014, and it's a much different south carolina gop. there's a different tone to the politics, and she's really not catching a lot of momentum right now. who will be able to vote in this primary? yeah, it's really important to know that we have an open primary. and one thing to note was that joe biden just won 96% of vote in the democratic primary, but only about 130,000 people voted that is 400,000 less than voted four years ago. and so there are some people that could potentially come out in the republican primary, maybe folks that sometimes will vote in democratic primaries that could help haley. nikki haley has positioned herself as the anti-establishment candidate, which is so weird when you think like you're the you're the governor twice. what's happening? is that going to work? i think that's really her only choice. when. you look at what the other statewide elected officials and rick, publicans in this state who they're backing, i mean, henry mcmaster was an early

trump supporter. he's a popular two time governor. he's still with trump, lindsey graham and tim scott, the guy she appointed to the senate are also for donald trump. and so haley's got pretty much all of the establishment lined up against her. walk me through the what people like abo nikki haley and what they like about donald trump. where are their strengths when it comes to the electorate? some of the things when i look back on haley's six years in office as south carolina governor was she tended to shine when things got bad for the state. she did a really good job. when some tropical storms hit the state. and then the issue that really put her on the national map was the tragedy at charleston's mother, emanuel ame church did a good job of, you know, working with the city and the state to try to heal. obviously called for the confederate flag to come down from statehouse grounds. and so i think she's somebody, especially when there's a difficult time, is able to kind of steer the ship and be a

leader in terms of donald trump. i mean, i think it's, you know, a fondness for the economic conditions under the trump administration. let's take evangelicals. that's a that's a big group that supports donald trump in south carolina. and it's a big group that you need to get if you're going to win a republican primary in south carolina, that's white evangelical christians. they feel like donald trump is out there fighting for him. and so even though donald trp certainly not a southern evangelical christian, that's a group of supporters, he's been able to get a really loyal following from south carolina, has an excellent record when it comes to predicting who, in fact, could win the election. but even outside of some of predictions, if nikki haley fails, it's going to speak volumes about her vulnerability in a much bigger election. absolutely. nikki haley in some ways, she's got her dream scenario. she's one on one against donald trump. she's coming to her home state,

she has support from the koch brothers network. a lot of things are lining up for her. but the problem is she's coming to a place where donald trump is also very, very popular. and, you know, to me, if she can't win in south carolina, it's going to be really difficult to see how she continues. i mean, i guess there's a possibility that she just decides to hang around in case some of the legal issues finally catch up with trump. but currently it's not looking very good for her. gibbs knotts always nice to talk to you. thank you so much. next on matter of fact, philadelphia's chinatown was established centuries ago. so why is it one of the most endangered historic sites in the country when our businesses die, the community dies inside the effort to preserve a cultural institution, asian. plus seeing their son board the bus for school was a special moment. i choked up, but their community is struggling to keep all its busses running. how one iowa family is grappling with america's bus driver shortage.

plus hundreds of malls are shuttering. but could these spaces fina new purpose? helping keep people healthy? you're watching matter of fact, america's number one nationally syndicated public affairs news magazine. this weekend marks an important when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis takes you off course. put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid symptom relief and helped leave bathroom urgency behind. check. when uc tried to slow me down... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc caused damage rinvoq came through by visibly repairing my colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief... lasting steroid-free remission... ...and the chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check, check, and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer;

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one in chinese communities as they celebrate the lunar new year. the chinese celebration welcoming the year of the dragon lasts for two weeks. the year of the dragon is particularly auspicious since the dragon is known for its power and its ability to achieve great things that good fortune might be especially important for one asian american community. that's fighting for its survival. our special correspondent joey chen is in philadelphia. it's the big kids versus the

littles at this saturday morning scrimmage of the philly suns. and these guys are clearly the underdogs. but the littlest players in chinatown are up for a fight. they're twice our size, but we don't give up a rallying cry echoed by chinatowns other outsized team leading their fight is activist debbie way. it's an existential threat. it will destroy chinatown. what she calls a threat is a $1.5 billion arena complex planned by the owners of the philadelphia 76 ers to be built right next to chinatown. developers promise it will bring jobs and new energy to a struggling district. but chinatown activists fear the arrival of a juggernaut. it's literally next door to the first business of chinatown. xu lin takes us on a walk in the neighborhood. he's called home for more than two decades, where his kids now go to school, where he, along with ten siblings and cousins of

all, started small businesses, including his restaurant bubblefish chinatown is is our connection to this land here. the friendship gate gleaming in gold leaf and pig's blood, has welcomed generations of asian immigrants to a community built more than 150 years ago. chinatown is the only majority minority neighborhood in center city. left. yes, everybody is gone. every other neighborhood is gone. we are the last neighborhood in the cityand we want to keep it the way it is. but development has repeatedly threatened this community, sliced in half by a freeway, activists fought off two casinos and a baseball stadium, building a charter school on the site instead. and then this would have been a parking lot. we'd be standing in a parking lot. yeah. now, activists fear the 76 ers, six year long construction project will block chinatown's already jammed streets. if you can't get here because the roads are blocked, our

businesses die. and when our businesses die, the community dies. it's not just locals who are concerned. the national trust for historic preservation named philadelphia's chinatown one of the most endangered places in the country, citing the arena project as the key threat. and activists point to washington, d. c. s chinatown as a cautionary tale. this is what people think of when you think of chinatown, urban planning and preservation scholar michelle magalong explains what happened when another nba arena moved in a quarter century ago. while the city tried to preserve the flavor of chinatown, local merchants were pced out and residents followed. what's missing in chinatown, dc are the people. it's the chinese people. the chinese people, asian people. um, it's missing its businesses. dc chinatown's asian population plunged from several thousand to about 300 people. they say it's not chinatown

town, it's china block. right? like, i hope that's not the story of philadelphia. 76th place developers insist their project will be different, citing plans for. significant community benefits, promising they won't need city taxpayers. for support. and in an email statement noting private investment. is critical for the long terme health and vibrance of center city. but their opponents on the hardcourt aren't backing down. we are seasoned resistance in chinatown. we pass on to our young people. you will need to fight for this community because we've been under attack for so long, even in the face of overwhelming odds. in philadelphia, i'm joey chen for matter of fact. hey, there you go. philadelphia's china town is not alone in the struggle for existence. the national trust for historic preservation counts 83 chinatowns in the u.s. today,

fewer than half are historic preservationists say the small businesses and restaurants in chinatown were especially hard hit during the pandemic by missing information and discrimination. coming up, he oversees the busses at an iowa school. it's been a wild day, but short. several drivers. he had to call in backup step in as a teacher. that was a very new role to play today, the challenges schools are facing amid a national shortage of bus drivers and shopping malls across america are getting makeovers find out how medical malls could revolutionize accessible and convenient care for patients. we're about halfway through the

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easy and now i'mcook. winning again. blue-emu is the powerful relief i need. shop our expanded family of products at major online retailers. school year, and staffing is still a big problem at schools across the nation. in a recent survey shows, nearly 9 in 10 districts struggled to hire teachers. but just getting students to school is also proving. to be a challenge. as of september 2023, there were fewethan 200,000 bus drivers. that's down about 15% since 2019. drivers aren't full time employees. they work a split shift. the median weekly pay is about. $548. rural areas are being especially hard hit, so school districts are getting creative to fill the gaps. our correspondent laura chavez visited carroll, iowa to see how drivers and families are

managing. it's 6 a.m. on a tuesday morning at the carroll community school bus barn, and transportation director jeff cullen and his team are in crisis mode. it's been a while. day eight of my 24 drivers are out today for various reasons. so many drivers are out. even superintendent casey burlau is picking up a route today. we're utilizing, um, any sub that we have. our transportation director is driving both of our mechanics are driving busses. teachers and school staff have been stepping up over the last few years to make sure the 1700 students in carroll community get to school, but if things don't change, the driver shortage could have a much larger impact here. ultimately, if i lose another 4 or 5 drivers, i'll have to do away with in town. bussing daddy in my toolbox. adam and bailey warnke live in town about a mile from their son ryder's preschool. three year old ryder has.

an undiagnosed muscular issue. his wheelchair gets him around, so without a specially equipped bus, he's stuck at home and falling behind. you got it? yep. good job. and there's another reason the bus system is so important to ryder and his family. it's the special bond between ryder and his driver. rick hamilton. he loves to joke around with rick. like i told rick, like he can't retire. ryder is just a sweetheart. i just love him to death. he's a great kid. rick's been driving a school bus for almost 30 years, and he's seen a lot, but nothing like the current driver shortage. i don't remember when i started that there was there was near the problem of filling routes or finding subs. it seems to me like the last few years has gotten really critical, according to rick and other drivers i spoke to this shortage has been building for a cnn insight. or is this just the new normal? i don't see an end in sight because you just can't get drivers. they don't want to do it. no benefits really, but money's

not the only barrier. jeff cullen says not everyone is cut out for the job. you have to want to do it or you wouldn't last. i always have loved working with kids. we do a lot of talking, a lot of sharing, and so i get really close to my kids, which ryder and his family know first hand. it helps with the start of the day. i'll tell him ryder, your bus is coming up the road and he bolts he bolts right to the end of the driveway and waits for rick to pick him up in carroll, iowa. i'm laura chavez, for matter of fact, ahead on matter of fact, a plan aimed at making it easier for people to do everything from seeing a physician to picking up prescriptions. all in one place. plus, a new kind of rock has been found in 11 countries. what scientists say is happening to the earth's geology. we need to stay up to date with matter of fact, sign up for our newsletter. matter of fact, sign up for our newsletter. at matteroffacttv. this ad? typical.

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decline. in the 1980s, there were more than 2000 malls in the u.s. by 2021, half of those had closed. and that's because people are increasingly shopping online. so what can be done with these vacant spaces called dead malls? one idea is to convert them into medical malls, a space where someone can visit the doctor, then walk to the pharmacy, get lab tests and mri, go to pt, all under one roof. in the mid 1990s, doctor aaron shirley opened the first medical mall in jackson, mississippi. doctor shirley's vision was to provide this one stop shop health care facility for people living in disadvantaged communitie today, there are. about 30 medical malls throughout the united states, but the majority of them are not in marginalized neighborhoods. doctor resa lewis is a professor of emergency medicine at the university of alabama in birmingham, and a physician

health care designer, lobbying for more of these health care centers in disadvantaged communities. studies show that people access health care where it's convenient, so there's a convenience factor. there is a familiarity factor. we all know that going to the hospital can be very stressful. well, also, if these medical malls allow for public transportation and sometimes in these mall areas, there's there can be other factors that can help people's health, such as healthy food access. s community education programs and more. so who would foot the bill for these conversions in many of the existing cases, it's hospital chains choosing to invest. but lewis says there's an additional financial benefit to the community. these medical malls create a new source of jobs. still ahead on, matter of fact,

how plastic pollution is changing the geology of the planet (luke) this will be a gold mine of local intel. just you wait. (marci) right. so, tell us about this corn festival? (stylist 1) oooh you got your corn pudding... you got your corn chowder... (marci) so... is it safe around here? (stylist 2) sometimes. (luke) if a family of eight were to need a cold plunge, where would they find it? (stylist 1) ...and then they dip it in butter, then bam, it goes right in. (stylist 2) ...really cute vampire bar. (stylist 1) the reverend does like a blessing on the corn. (luke) donut shops. how far from here? (marci) no eyebrows? (luke) think of how light it'll feel in the summer. we've got to run. eleven thousand more neighborhoods to go! (vo) ding dong! homes-dot-com. nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years mainly because i just love helping people. as i got older, it was just a natural part of aging, i felt that my memory was beginning to decline and that's when i started looking for something that would help. when i first started taking prevagen, i noticed my memory was so much better. just stuff seemed to come together and fit like a jigsaw puzzle in my mind.

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artists say there is a new type of rock emerging around the world that merits its own distinct classification. well, come to my science class. you might remember there are three different types of rocks. the most common one here on the earth's surface is sedimentary rock. but in the online database science direct two scientists say that we need to expand what we consider a sedimentary rock. that's because plastics are starting to merge with rocks. the stones can be formed by heat, chemical bonding, or the ocean fuzing rocks and particles and plastic together, the so-called plastistones have been found in 11 countries across five continents. the first known report of plastic merging with rock was in 2013 by a geologist in hawaii. not surprisingly, these

formations alter the micro biology of the surrounding environment and shed substantial amounts of micro and nanoplastics. scientists say it is compelling evidence of how humans are changing the geology of our planet, and it's a reminder of our impact on everything from the air we breathe to the ground we walk on. that's it for this edition of matter of fact, i'm soledad o'brien. i'll see you back here next week to watch more stories like this. any time, head to matter wfac-tv.

today on "asian pacific america," the musician and producer deejay is with us today to talk about a very unique musical and personal journey. you'll want to hear about this artist and what she had to go through to be alive and well to perform now. then it's time for the annual films of