November 18, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The U.S. House of Representatives is on the cusp of passing President Joe Biden's sweeping Build Back Better legislation. The $1.7 trillion bill would touch everything from child care to health care to climate change. While Democrats are ready to vote yes, Republicans are lining up in opposition. Lisa Desjardins reports.

Thursday was a big win for progressive Democrats who made passing Build Back Better their top priority. One such representative is Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of Texas. She joins Judy Woodruff from the Capitol to discuss the bill’s details and more.

In our news wrap Thursday, the defense has rested in the trial of three men accused of chasing down and murdering Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. New COVID infections in the U.S. are still accelerating, with average daily cases up nearly 25% in the last two weeks. The jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial deliberated for a third day in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and went home without reaching a verdict.

The nation’s opioid epidemic has never been deadlier. The Centers for Disease Control Prevention says 100,000 people died of drug overdoses over the last year — a 30 percent increase from the year before and an all-time high. As William Brangham reports, these deaths are fueled by the rise of the extremely potent synthetic opioid, fentanyl.

Honduras will hold elections in 10 days. While President Juan Orlando Hernandez is not on the ballot, he may soon be in the running for a U.S. federal drug trafficking indictment. As special correspondent Tania Rashid and producer-videographer Neil Brandvold report, the nation is a way station for violent drug cartels, and the first family of Honduras appears to be deeply involved.

A New York judge on Thursday exonerated two men of assassinating Malcolm X. The iconic civil rights figure was gunned down in Manhattan in 1965. Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam were convicted, and imprisoned until the 1980's. A 22-month review of the convictions by the district attorney's office and lawyers for the two men found they had been wrongfully convicted. John Yang reports.

The number of women behind bars has risen dramatically in the U.S. over the last four decades. Amna Nawaz and producer Lena Jackson examine why so many women in prison are survivors of domestic violence, and why the trauma left behind from those relationships have such devastating consequences. It’s part of our ongoing series, Searching for Justice.