July 18, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Thursday, President Trump said a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone when it came too close to the vessel and ignored warnings to move off. He criticized “Iran's attempt to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce.” Also, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan drew fire from Congress over conditions for detained migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died during a national opioid addiction crisis. As the drug manufacturers face a possible legal reckoning from multiple lawsuits, a newly uncovered database sheds more light on the scope of the disaster. William Brangham talks to Scott Higham, an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, about the "jaw-dropping" data.

The growing popularity of FaceApp, a photo filter app that allows users to transform their features by adding or removing wrinkles, is sounding alarm bells among privacy advocates and lawmakers. There are questions about how the images of people's faces could be used, especially as the app's company is based in Russia. Amna Nawaz talks to the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Joseph Jerome.

Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, has just become the 14th head of the Smithsonian Institution -- and its first black leader. He sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss the challenges facing the world’s largest museum and research complex and why the Smithsonian is as much about today and tomorrow as it is about the past.

The state government of California is currently developing rules that will define whether a geographic area can be deemed a marijuana growing region. For small farmers, who are threatened by industrial competitors and the cost of regulation, survival may depend on customers caring about the specific location and soil in which their cannabis is grown. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

The documentary “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” about a community in the Alabama Black Belt, received an Academy Award nomination for best documentary earlier this year. RaMell Ross spent more than five years making the film, exploring the South as a black American from the North. He offers his brief but spectacular take on the black experience in documentary film.