August 24, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Donald Trump's legal issues were one of the many topics featured in the first Republican presidential debate, even though the former president skipped it. Eight other candidates took the stage in hopes of establishing themselves as viable contenders for the nomination. Lisa Desjardins recaps the event and discusses it with Geoff Bennett and Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.

Russian President Putin offered his first public acknowledgment of Yevgeny Prigozhin's presumed death as investigators comb through the wreckage of his jet that crashed outside Moscow, a Russian court ruled American journalist Evan Gershkovich must remain in jail until at least November 30 and Tropical Storm Franklin killed two after unleashing floods and landslides in the Dominican Republic.

On August 24, 1991, Ukraine issued a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. But 32 years later, Ukraine is fighting to be free of Russian attacks and occupation. Nick Schifrin spoke with Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova on a solemn Independence Day.

For too many American women, giving birth can be deadly. The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations, but the risk is even higher for Black American women who are three times as likely to die from labor complications. Amna Nawaz reports on the people working to help Black women have safer pregnancies.

Tennessee lawmakers returned to the state capitol this week for a special legislative session in response to the Covenant School shooting, where three children and three school staff members were killed in March. Laura Barrón-López discussed what lawmakers will or won’t do amid public outcry with Nashville Public Radio’s Blaise Gainey.

Hala Alyan is an award-winning poet, author, and clinical psychologist. She was born in Illinois but spent time in several other states as well as in Kuwait and Lebanon. Alyan shares her Brief But Spectacular take on how those experiences formed what she calls a hyphenated identity.