March 30, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode

A looming global financial crisis of Congress’s own making is still months away, but time is already running short on Capitol Hill. Congressional Correspondent Lisa Desjardins caught up with lawmakers before they left town for the long Easter break.

A federal judge in Texas ruled that employers can not be required to cover key preventative health care benefits under the Affordable Care Act. It jeopardizes free coverage of a wide range of preventative services for some 160 million Americans. The Biden administration is expected to request a stay on the ruling. Amna Nawaz discussed the case with Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

At the start of the pandemic, we were all urged to stay at home and avoid crowds. But for homeless people, packed shelters made COVID transmission nearly unavoidable. Many cities used federal money to house people in vacant hotels to better protect them. This year, Washington announced it would phase out its program leaving some unhoused people unsure where they will go. William Brangham reports.

After the U.S. invaded Iraq 20 years ago, Iraqi American playwright and actor Heather Raffo created and starred in an acclaimed play “Nine Parts of Desire” about the lives of Iraqi women. She’s returned to the subject on film and through a distinctly American lens, setting a new version in Michigan. Jeffrey Brown went there to see the work for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Satirist Mark Russell, who poked fun at America's political elite for more than half a century, died Thursday at the age of 90. He was best known for his PBS comedy specials that aired from 1975 to 2004. Russell died at his home in Washington, D.C. of complications from prostate cancer, his wife told the Washington Post.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in a hush-money case involving a sexual encounter, his lawyer says. It's the first time any ex-president has been charged in a criminal case and it comes as Trump is running again. Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett discussed the case with two former federal prosecutors, Renato Mariotti and Jessica Roth.