October 31, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode

West Virginia University made headlines in the world of higher education this year when it announced it was making major cuts to some academic programs and faculty. There's concern about whether other public universities may follow suit. Special correspondent Hari Sreenivasan has reports for our series, Rethinking College.

Lewiston, Maine, is in mourning after last week’s shooting that killed 18 people. Along with the grief, there’s growing scrutiny about why law enforcement didn't find or stop Robert Card before the shooting. Friends, family and the Army Reserve all reported concerns about his behavior and access to guns months before the shooting. Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Margaret Groban.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in two key cases about how public officials use social media. The cases explore whether two school board members in California and a city manager in Michigan violated the First Amendment by blocking constituents from posting criticism on their personal social media pages. Geoff Bennett discussed the stakes with NewsHour Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle.

For a fifth day, Israel's military pushed into Gaza on the ground and reported its first soldiers killed in action there. From the skies, a punishing air campaign continued with a strike that killed many Palestinians. Hamas militants said they would release foreign hostages in the coming days, and some wounded Palestinians may soon be allowed into Egypt for treatment. Leila Molana-Allen reports.

The Vietnamese-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen has long written on themes of war, refugees and exile. He covers those directly and personally in a new memoir about his own family’s experience, "A Man of Two Faces." Jeffrey Brown spoke with Nguyen for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.