July 11, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The Department of Veterans Affairs recently launched a major expansion aimed to improve veteran health care by opening up access to private doctors. But critics say the program offloads government responsibility to the private sector. Judy Woodruff sits down with the department’s head, Sec. Robert Wilkie, to discuss that issue as well as mental health, homelessness and supporting female veterans.

As marijuana has been legalized in states across the country, investors have identified a major business opportunity. Still, the cannabis market isn’t all easy money. In California, new companies are scaling up operations, but some smaller ones fight to survive, challenged by the new regulations that accompany legalization and stiffer competition. Economics correspondent Paul Solman has the story.

Of the record 36 women newly elected to Congress in the 2018 midterms, only one was a Republican. The party’s continued struggle to attract female candidates hit a new setback recently when political newcomer Joan Perry lost her North Carolina primary. Lisa Desjardins talks to Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., about why it’s so hard to put Republican women in Congress, especially in leadership roles.

A newspaper’s comics section often provides a lighthearted escape from serious frontpage headlines. But comic writer Hector Cantú feels a duty to reflect reality in his "Baldo” series, which debuted in 2000. The only nationally syndicated comic strip about a Latino family, its characters have encountered sensitive political issues over the years, such as immigration. John Yang reports.

Falu is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer who grew up in India, where she studied music religiously before even having the opportunity to touch a microphone. Although she had long blended American influences into her music, it wasn’t until she moved to New York that she started creating in English. Falu offers her brief but spectacular take on finding identity through music.