June 24, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Many U.S. meatpacking plants shut down this spring due to coronavirus outbreaks. Nationwide, more than 27,000 workers have become infected, and nearly 100 have died. But in late April, President Trump ordered the facilities to stay open, deeming them critical to preserving the nation’s meat supply. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on the experiences of some of these workers.

In our news wrap Wednesday, a federal appeals court ordered criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn be dismissed. The judges ruled 2 to 1 in favor of the Justice Department’s motion to drop the case. Also, Wisconsin's governor has activated the National Guard after violent protesters outside the state capitol overnight tore down statues and injured a state senator.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on whether the federal agency tasked with enforcing the law is in fact breaking it. Two current Justice Department attorneys charged that department leaders -- including Attorney General William Barr -- ordered certain investigations and undermined others due to political motivations. Lisa Desjardins reports and talks to NPR’s Carrie Johnson.

The pandemic halted Major League Baseball's spring training in mid-March. Now, the league has announced it will start a shortened regular season in July. The plan to play 60 games comes after 40 players and staff tested positive for coronavirus in recent days. Amna Nawaz talks to author and sportswriter John Feinstein about the pandemic’s challenges for professional sports.

Amid dual national crises of a pandemic and outrage over racism and police brutality, books provide opportunities both to learn more and to find distraction from reality. Jeffrey Brown talks to writer Jason Reynolds, the Library of Congress’ ambassador for young people’s literature, about summer reading lists for youth that fit the current moment. It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

President Trump met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House Wednesday -- the first time he has hosted a foreign leader since the pandemic began. Trump reiterated his administration’s plan to base 2,000 American troops in Poland after relocating them from Germany. The move is controversial and has roiled both members of Congress and U.S. allies in Europe. Nick Schifrin reports.

The GOP version of a police reform bill stalled in the Senate Wednesday, after Democrats said it didn’t go far enough. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, one of the Republicans who worked on the bill, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his “great frustration” that the legislation won't move forward, its specific provisions regarding chokeholds and qualified immunity and the rise of COVID-19 in his state.

Les Crystal was a man at the heart of the NewsHour family. After a 20-year career at NBC, Les joined Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil in 1983, overseeing the transformation of the MacNeil/Lehrer Report into the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour -- the first national nightly newscast to extend into an hour-long show. Judy Woodruff remembers Les, who died Wednesday at the age of 85.