December 12, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

President Biden announced he's commuting the prison sentences of some 1,500 people and issuing pardons to 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes. That marks the largest number of commutations by a president in a single day. Lisa Desjardins discussed more with Mark Osler, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis and an expert on presidential clemency.

The animated PBS Kids series, "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum," follows Xavier as he, his sister and friend meet historical figures portrayed as children. In a recent episode, they meet a person very dear to us, Gwen Ifill.

New data from the CDC shows a drop in drug overdose deaths, down nearly 17 percent compared year-over-year. The annual death toll dropped from approximately 113,000 to just over 94,000. It’s a rare bit of good news after decades of rising fatalities. Overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 2002 and spiked to record highs during the pandemic. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Brian Mann of NPR.

President-elect Trump said he is willing to enlist the military to deport migrants and is open to new detention camps to facilitate those deportations. The comments are the latest on his key campaign pledge, mounting the largest deportation operation in American history. Stephanie Sy reports from Colorado, a state that found itself at the center of the immigration debate during the campaign.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has faced allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement, all of which he denies. Laura Barrón-López and Brad Onishi discussed something else that’s drawn scrutiny, the influence of Hegseth’s religious beliefs and how they may impact his leadership at the Pentagon.

The Assad legacy is one of horror with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced or in exile. Perhaps nothing illustrates the depths of the depravity more than the archipelago of prisons and torture centers where tens of thousands were killed by the regime. Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen takes us inside some of these now-liberated facilities as Syrians search for answers.

Days after Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow, Syria's capital appears to be functioning. Streets are getting busier by the day and shops and government institutions are slowly returning to work. Apart from the joy and relief, the mundane but vital work of making a country function is job number one for many. Simona Foltyn reports on that huge task and the mess the Assad family left behind.