PBS News Hour

Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine and freelance journalist, is one of the longest-held American hostages abroad. The recent fall of Bashar al-Assad and his brutal regime in Syria has renewed hope that Tice will be found some 12 years after he was abducted during a reporting trip outside of Damascus. Amna Nawaz discussed the latest with Austin's mother, Debra Tice.

The Library of Congress announced the 25 films that made it into this year's National Film Registry. The registry, started in 1989, now includes some 900 movies, chosen for their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to preserving the nation’s film heritage. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has more for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

In our news wrap Tuesday, prosecutors in New York charged the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO with murder as an act of terrorism, Wisconsin officials say the motive behind a school shooting appears to be a "combination of factors" and Ukraine claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in Moscow that killed one of Russia's top generals.

Congressional leaders should be ready to go home for the holidays. Instead, they are staring at another government funding deadline and scrambling to make it. The deal coming together could have much larger implications, but lawmakers have not yet released the full text of an agreement. Lisa Desjardins reports.

The election may have ended over a month ago, but Tuesday marks the day Donald Trump’s victory becomes official. Across the country, hundreds of presidential electors gathered in their states to cast their Electoral College votes, an often ceremonial but essential step in the process of confirming the election results. Geoff Bennett discussed the significance with Jessica Huseman of Votebeat.

In Syria, people are returning home after years of a civil war that displaced millions and left the country divided and destroyed. Assad regime checkpoints that severed any chance of seeing loved ones are now gone like the government. Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen spoke to families overjoyed to be reunited, but now facing the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and their families.

During a press conference Monday, President-elect Trump discussed how CEOs and business leaders from Wall Street to Silicon Valley are rushing to meet with him and build personal relationships in the weeks before his inauguration. Trump took note of just how different a tone it has been compared to 2016. To break down why, Geoff Bennett spoke with Brian Schwartz of The Wall Street Journal.

In 2011, as the Arab Spring took hold across the Middle East, the seeds of Syria's revolution were sown by students and young people in the city of Daraa. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports on how the city that fostered the uprising is celebrating the deposing of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, how Trump's team is preparing for his “Day 1” agenda and what the public is expecting from his second term.

President-elect Trump settled a defamation lawsuit with ABC News for $15 million. That suit followed a segment in which George Stephanopolous inaccurately said Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carrol when in fact, he had been found liable in a civil case for sexual abuse. Amna Nawaz discussed more with New York Times reporter David Enrich.

In our news wrap Monday, officials in the French territory of Mayotte say the worst storm in almost a century has devastated the archipelago, health officials in Gaza say more than 45,000 Palestinians have now been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war and Ukrainian and U.S. military officials say some North Korean troops were killed or wounded while fighting alongside Russian forces.

Yuma County, Arizona, is known as the "Winter Salad Bowl Capital." From lettuce to cilantro to broccoli, the region produces almost all the leafy green vegetables consumed in the U.S. during winter months. Farmers there rely on the nearby Colorado River and as the West contends with drought and a changing climate, they've had to adapt. Stephanie Sy reports.