July 17, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

The stage at the Republican National Convention belongs to JD Vance Wednesday night as he will headline the evening and accept his party’s nomination for vice president. Tuesday night belonged to Donald Trump's one-time rivals in the bruising primary race, making peace with the nominee and urging the party to put aside its differences. Lisa Desjardins reports from the convention floor.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is a one-time critic of former President Trump who has turned into a fierce defender. Geoff Bennett discussed Vance's views and how they've shifted with David Weigel, a national political reporter for Semafor who’s covered JD Vance for years.

Speakers at the Republican convention have repeated falsehoods that Democrats are rigging the election and that non-citizens will vote in November. That claim is just one of many conspiracy theories about the security of America’s election system that are being spread in the lead up to November. White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.

While the battle at the top of the ticket has dominated the news this election cycle, there are key down-ballot races that could shift the balance of power in Congress. The majorities in the House and Senate are razor-thin with Republicans in the House leading by five seats and Democrats in the Senate holding on by only two seats. Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett discussed more with Amy Walter.

In our news wrap Wednesday, upstate New York is cleaning up after a tornado ripped through Oneida County, prosecutors formally appealed a federal judge's ruling to toss out Donald Trump's classified documents case, an Israeli delegation touched down in Cairo where international mediators are trying to push forward a cease-fire deal with Hamas and Russia and Ukraine completed a prisoner swap.

A new report released by Human Rights Watch concludes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Oct. 7 attacks last year. The report says fighters conducted a coordinated assault "designed to kill civilians and take as many hostages with them." Stephanie Sy discussed more with Ida Sawyer of Human Rights Watch.

More than a week after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, utility crews across Houston are still working to restore power to the last 50,000 customers who have been without electricity through a stretch of hot weather. Some residents and politicians say they've had enough and their frustration is directed at CenterPoint Energy. William Brangham discussed more with Dug Begley of the Houston Chronicle.