January 19, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode

With election year 2024 now fully underway, the effort to understand what is dividing Americans politically has become even more urgent. For her "America at a Crossroads" series, Judy Woodruff turned to New Hampshire for a look at how popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is going all out to persuade voters to stop what looks to some like the inevitable renomination of former President Trump.

President Biden on Friday announced another $5 billion in student loan forgiveness for 74,000 borrowers. It’s the latest batch of student debt cancellations after the Supreme Court struck down his larger forgiveness plan last year. John Yang reports on Biden's efforts and speaks with Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, who covers the economics of higher education for The Washington Post, to learn more.

This week has brought fresh questions about the futures of some of the country’s most storied newspapers. The Baltimore Sun has a new owner with a political background that's sparked concerns and Los Angeles Times staffers walked off the job to protest planned layoffs. Anne Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, joins Geoff Bennett to discuss.

For more than 500 days, an American citizen has been wrongfully detained in Afghanistan. Ryan Corbett lived in Afghanistan for 12 years, where he worked with local NGOs and advised small Afghan businesses. Amna Nawaz sat down with his wife, Anna Corbett, after she met this week with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to push for her husband's release.

One of the year’s most acclaimed acting performances, now receiving Oscar buzz, came from Annette Bening, a four-time Academy Award nominee known for such films as “The Grifters,” “American Beauty” and “The Kids Are Alright.” In her latest performance she portrays another formidable woman: famed long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad. Jeffrey Brown reports for our arts and culture series, "CANVAS."