August 3, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S., but children in some southern states returned to school Monday -- causing parents to worry about potential virus transmission. Meanwhile, negotiations over a new economic relief bill continued between the White House and Congress, with both sides reporting progress. Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the numbers and when to expect a deal.

In our news wrap Monday, coastal North and South Carolina braced for Hurricane Isaias. The storm is a minimal hurricane but will still challenge residents with another disruption during the coronavirus pandemic. Also, thousands of people in Southern California spent another day under evacuation orders as a wildfire burned east of Los Angeles. It began Friday and exploded in size over the weekend.

With the election nearing and many parts of the U.S. in the grips of COVID-19, mail-in ballots have become a prominent issue. But President Trump has disparaged both the U.S. Postal Service and the integrity of voting by mail. What effect could his criticism have? William Brangham talks to Mark Dimondstein of the American Postal Workers Union and then Spencer Cox, lieutenant governor of Utah.

TikTok is under intense political scrutiny. The U.S. Department of Justice has expressed concerns that the video-streaming app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, may be sharing user data with the Chinese government. Now tech giant Microsoft says it’s interested in purchasing TikTok -- an idea President Trump says he supports. Nick Schifrin talks to cybersecurity expert Samm Sacks of New America.

Summer means swimming, crafts and camaraderie for the roughly 26 million children who attend camp in the U.S. But the pandemic has closed an estimated 82 percent of the country's overnight camps and many more daytime programs, causing layoffs and lost revenue. And for parents and children, the absence of community and activity is yielding a summer they don’t want to repeat. John Yang reports.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including what to look for in upcoming state primaries, President Trump’s campaign messaging about former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s deliberations about choosing a running mate.

Sunday marked what would have been literary icon James Baldwin’s 96th birthday, in a year when the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests across the world has renewed interest in his work. A new book, “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” explores Baldwin’s ideas in current context. Amna Nawaz talks to its author, Eddie Glaude Jr. of Princeton University.