October 14, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Residents in Michigan's Benton Harbor — a predominantly Black city — have been advised to only use bottled water for things like cooking and bathing due to lead contamination. The warning comes just a few years after Flint’s water crisis was discovered. But this is not a new discovery. Benton Harbor has detected elevated levels of lead in its water supply for years. John Yang reports.

Missouri is now the 38th state to expand Medicaid to low-income residents as part of the Affordable Care Act. It's been over a year since voters approved it, and after many delays, the first few thousand people enrolled this month. We begin our coverage by hearing from a few people now eligible for Medicaid about the long wait and urgent need for coverage, and Lisa Desjardins has more.

Iraq's recent elections were in large part driven by a protest movement that erupted two years ago, denouncing government corruption and lack of services. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is vying for a second term while trying to balance relations with the U.S. — which still has 2,500 troops in Iraq — and Iran, which supports powerful militia in Iraq. Special correspondent Simona Foltyn reports.

Landscape architect Julie Bargmann, a woman who has made a career of turning toxic and industrial sites into usable, community spaces, has won the first prize of its kind in landscape architecture. Jeffrey Brown has more for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Gasoline prices are on the rise, along with the cost of home-heating oil and natural gas. But international energy officials at the Russian Energy Week event on Thursday warned of a global energy crunch that could slow the economic recovery from the pandemic. Nick Schifrin has more.

Tens of thousands of American film industry workers are preparing for a possible strike Monday that could stop production of movies and shows nationwide as The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union tries to negotiate better working conditions and a larger cut of profits from streaming productions. Judy Woodruff gets the story from Joy Press of the Vanity Fair.

Smoke and dust are blanketing central California. Air pollution is a chronic problem in the San Joaquin Valley but it is now reaching levels unlike any previously seen. With no measurable rainfall in weeks, and little chance of rain in the forecast, there is no end in sight. Community reporter Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado joins Judy Woodruff from Fresno with the latest updates.