March 26, 2025 - PBS News Hour full episode

Americans were sharply divided over the public health response to COVID-19, including masking, remote learning, business closures and vaccines. Five years after the start of the pandemic, Judy Woodruff sat down with two people on opposing sides of that divide trying to figure out how to move forward. It's part of her series, America at a Crossroads.

On Capitol Hill, the heads of America’s public media networks, PBS and NPR, faced sharp questioning by a House oversight subcommittee about allegations of bias and why their work justifies continued federal support. That support also helps fund programs like the News Hour. President Trump, Elon Musk and many Republicans have argued those funds should be completely cut. William Brangham reports.

President Trump has put into place a very different team than his predecessors when it comes to public health and research. The CDC is very much in the thick of it. Five senior leaders at the CDC have announced their departures and staff are anticipating cuts that could affect as much as a third of its workforce. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Lena Sun of The Washington Post.

The Supreme Court upheld Biden-era regulations on ghost guns. Those are firearms that can be put together at home with partially assembled kits, making them nearly impossible to trace. Sales of those guns exploded after they came onto the market and their use in gun crimes also rose significantly. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Jennifer Mascia of The Trace, which covers gun violence in America.

In our news wrap Wednesday, an appeals court upheld a ban on the deportation of hundreds of immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, President Trump has announced new 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made automobiles and the Supreme Court in Brazil ordered former President Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges that he attempted a coup to stay in power three years ago.

To discuss the Signal chat on military strikes, Amna Nawaz spoke with Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. He spent nearly three decades in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a brigadier general.

Details about U.S. military strikes being discussed on Signal have shocked many in the national security community. But President Trump called the whole episode a "witch hunt" and said Defense Secretary Hegseth "had nothing to do with this." Geoff Bennett discussed more with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic and moderator of Washington Week.

The Atlantic published the full message exchange among the president’s national security aides right before the launch of a military campaign in Yemen. The messages were written on the non-secure, commercial app Signal and the issue dominated a hearing on Capitol Hill. Nick Schifrin reports.