September 2, 2022 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Americans twelve and older should be able to start getting updated boosters for COVID within days. The CDC and FDA approved new Pfizer and Moderna shots that will hopefully provide more protection against the latest variants this coming winter. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, joined Judy Woodruff to discuss the developments.

The 2022 midterm election season is in full swing and President Biden says existential dangers are looming large. In a speech Thursday night, Biden raised the alarm about extremist forces within the Republican Party and the escalating threat they pose to democracy. The GOP criticized the president's speech, accusing him of doom and gloom theatrics. Laura Barrón-López reports.

China’s record-breaking heat wave, which lasted more than two months, has finally begun to ease. But the power shortages that came with the searing temperatures have raised questions about the region’s heavy reliance on hydropower and China’s ambitions to end its use of fossil fuels. Special correspondent Patrick Fok reports.

If all goes as planned, NASA will launch a rocket to return to the moon Saturday afternoon. This first phase will send an unmanned capsule to lunar orbit and back, but NASA wants humans to land on the moon in 2024 or 2025. As science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports, it has taken a long time and a lot of money to get Artemis going, an approach that has been the subject of some criticism.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including President Biden calling "MAGA Republicans" a direct threat to democracy, the investigation into former President Trump's handling of top secret documents and an upset in Alaska alters midterm forecasts.