August 30, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Monday, the U.S. Department of Education announced it is investigating five Republican-led states that have banned universal indoor masking. The European Union has advised its member nations to reinstate travel restrictions for American tourists. The entire city of South Lake Tahoe is now under an evacuation order due to the threat from the Caldor Fire.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Yamiche Alcindor to discuss the latest political news, including the end of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, how Republican politicians and voters may react to Afghan refugees, and the latest developments in the pandemic as the delta variant spreads in the country and schools reopen.

We close Monday's NewsHour by remembering the 13 American service members who were killed last week during the terror attack in Kabul, Afghanistan — losing their lives during the effort to help U.S. and Afghan allies flee in the wake of the Taliban takeover.

The final flight of American troops left Afghanistan just before midnight on what is now Tuesday, August 31, in Kabul, after 20 years of war. The U.S. airlifted more than 120,000 American civilians and Afghan allies from Kabul, but thousands of Afghans who wanted to leave were left behind, at least for now. And the deaths of Americans and Afghans last week haunt this exit. Jane Ferguson reports.

As the Afghanistan withdrawal began, thousands of images of people scrambling to escape Afghanistan surfaced. Tonight, the NewsHour looks at a Herculean effort by former U.S. service members, diplomats and private citizens to help afghans leave the country. Jane Ferguson provides an inside look at who was at work, and why.

Judy Woodruff speaks to Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser about the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Plaquemines Parish and what rebuilding efforts will look like.