PBS News Hour

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including Donald Trump getting a political reprieve after the judge overseeing his New York criminal case delays his sentencing, if there's a double standard for what Trump and Harris say and former Vice President Dick Cheney announces he's voting for Harris.

It’s back-to-school season, but in Gaza, 625,000 students have no building to return to. Most of Gaza’s 560 schools have been either damaged or destroyed. More than half of the schools have been directly hit by Israel and the few remaining are now shelters for the displaced. Nick Schifrin reports with producer Shams Odeh.

Fans and families will pack the bleachers in high school stadiums across the country as football season ramps up. But after at least seven deaths tied to the sport in August, including two teenagers who sustained brain injuries on the same day, questions are again being raised about the safety of the game. William Brangham discussed more with Chris Nowinski.

The 2024 presidential campaign is entering the final weekend before the critical first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. While the vice president huddles with her team for debate prep, the Republican nominee was in federal court fighting to overturn a guilty verdict while another case saw a big delay. John Yang reports.

U.N.-backed human rights investigators accused both sides in the Sudanese civil war of war crimes and advocated for an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians. More than 10 million are displaced, millions are hungry and tens of thousands have been killed. Nick Schifrin discussed the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with Tom Perriello, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan.

In our news wrap Friday, the teenager charged with killing four in a Georgia school shooting made his first court appearance, Southern California is sweltering in the peak of a late-summer heat wave, the White House called on Israel to investigate the death of an American in the occupied West Bank and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. will provide additional weapons to Ukraine.

The Democratic Republic of Congo received its first delivery of mpox vaccines. It comes nearly a month after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Mpox has infected an estimated 18,000 people and killed more than 600 in the DRC alone. William Brangham discussed the outbreak and response with Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University.

In our news wrap Thursday, Secretary of State Blinken made a rare visit to Haiti, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the nation since 2015, Ukraine has a new top diplomat amid a broader shake-up of Zelenskyy's government and FBI agents reportedly searched the homes of at least three top deputies to New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Georgia is mourning the lives of the four people killed in a high school shooting Wednesday. Reports of the 14-year-old suspect’s past run-ins with law enforcement raised even more questions about his motive, how he accessed a gun and how potential warning signs went unaddressed. Geoff Bennett reports.

More than 11 million DirecTV customers were left in the dark after Disney pulled ESPN, ABC and other channels from the provider on a busy sports night. Viewers were cut off in the middle of a U.S. Open tennis match and before the kickoff of a college football game. The dispute centers around what channels DirectTV must carry. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Meg James of The Los Angeles Times.

Key details at the center of former President Trump’s election interference criminal case were debated in a Washington courtroom Thursday. Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to slow down proceedings in the case, giving prosecutors a chance to unseal crucial, and potentially politically damaging, evidence against Trump. Amna Nawaz discussed the latest with NPR's Carrie Johnson.

The Washington National Cathedral hired its first female stonemason this year. She joins a team overseeing the installation of stone tablets that symbolize the cathedral’s mission to be a sacred gathering place where all Americans see themselves reflected. Bella Major has the story from the PBS News Student Reporting Labs.