January 5, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Tuesday, the white police officer who shot and paralyzed a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin last summer will not be charged, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 tops 356,000, the nation’s top national security agencies acknowledge Russia is likely responsible for the recent cyberattack in the U.S., and the Trump administration rolls back more government regulations.

The United Kingdom is in the midst of a lockdown, as the U.S. faces a surge in hospitalizations from COVID-19. The coronavirus has been particularly bad in Los Angeles County, California, where the daily death toll is nearing 400 and hospitals are running short on supplies. Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, joins William Brangham to discuss.

It is a transition like no other with President Trump denying election results and defying the democratic process. In Washington D.C., hundreds met outside the U.S. Capitol in support of the president -- a preview of what's expected to be a much larger protest Wednesday as Congress begins certifying election results. Lisa Desjardins reports, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

It has been one year since Iranian Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani was assassinated at Baghdad airport by an American drone, and tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been heating up over the past few weeks. Iraqi militias, with ties to Iran, still want revenge. Special correspondent Jack Hewson reports, and Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

All 10 living former secretaries of defense signed a column published in The Washington Post on Sunday that urged the Trump administration to allow a peaceful transition of power and to keep the Pentagon out of it. One of the signatories was William Cohen, a former Republican senator who served as secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

More than 397,000 people at American colleges and universities have contracted the coronavirus since March. As campuses nationwide look to start the third pandemic semester in coming weeks, the grim toll on higher education is mounting, with the basic survival of entire institutions also on the line. Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our series, “Rethinking College.”

All eyes are on Georgia, where polls closed in two runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. Stephen Fowler, a political reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting and host of the Battleground: Ballot Box podcast, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest.