April 18, 2025 - PBS News Hour full episode

Maggie Doyne's decision to postpone college and work with refugees in India transformed her life and the lives of many others. Her story has been captured through the lens of filmmaker and partner Jeremy Power Regimbal. Maggie and Jeremy give us their Brief But Spectacular take on family.

President Trump advanced his plans to make it easier to fire tens of thousands of federal workers. He said he would move forward with a rule, previously known as Schedule F, allowing agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions. White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.

For more than a month, Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been in prison in El Salvador after the Trump administration deported the Maryland resident along with hundreds of others. Thursday, his family and the world saw photos of Abrego Garcia and heard a first-hand report of his condition after Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with him. William Brangham discussed the latest with attorney Rina Gandhi.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday challenging the constitutionality of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires most private health insurance plans to cover preventive care at no cost to the patient. As Laura Barrón-López reports, the case could have a profound impact on the health care millions of Americans use to stay healthy and prevent disease.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join William Brangham to discuss the week in politics, including President Trump's continued faceoff with the courts, if Republicans will begin pushing back against the president and Harvard rejecting Trump's demands.

Along certain parts of the ocean floor lies a bounty of rare minerals and metals, critical components for batteries, electric cars and other electronics. But mining for them in the deep sea is a controversial and potentially destructive process. Special correspondent Willem Marx joined William Brangham to discuss how the Trump administration is considering pushing ahead with the practice.

Earlier this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to end the federal recommendation that municipalities add fluoride to their drinking water. Amid the renewed debate, William Brangham spoke with Lindsay McLaren of the University of Calgary to discuss why that community removed fluoride from its water and why fluoridation started in the first place.

In our news wrap Friday, the international effort to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine appears to have stalled, Houthi rebels say U.S. airstrikes killed at least 74 people and injured more than 170 others and power has been mostly restored in Puerto Rico almost two days after a blackout put the entire island in the dark.