AIDS - After 40 Years

"After 40 years of AIDS, progress has been made but major problems remain" PBS NewsHour 6/10/2021

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SUMMARY:  Four decades ago this past week, the first ever cases of the HIV/AIDS epidemic were publicly noted, and hardly noticed.  But soon after, cases exploded around the world.  It's estimated that roughly 35 million people have died from AIDS in the years since.  William Brangham reports and speaks with two people deeply immersed in the issue for a look back at the epidemic and the best way forward.

GEORGE FLOYD - On Anniversary of His Death

"George Floyd died last year.  Here’s what has changed since then" PBS NewsHour 5/23/2021

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SUMMARY:  This week marks one year since George Floyd, an unarmed Black man was killed by then police officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd for nearly nine minutes.  His death, recorded on video by a bystander, sparked widespread protests globally, and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and conversations around race.  NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro joins to reflect on the past year.

JAPAN - Fukushima 10th Anniversary

"Japan marks 10th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster" PBS NewsHour 3/11/2021

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SUMMARY:  Japan on Thursday marked another grim anniversary: 10 years since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the nation's coast triggered a 130-foot-high tsunami that crashed ashore at more than 500 miles per hour.  It killed thousands and triggered a nuclear disaster at a plant in Fukushima.  Nick Schifrin looks at that nuclear explosion in detail, and Grace Lee reports from Tokyo on the quake's aftermath.

DENMARK - Lament Rise of Anti-Semitism

"In Denmark, Auschwitz survivors lament the rise of anti-Semitism" PBS NewsHour 2/10/2020

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SUMMARY:  January marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, but there is growing concern throughout Europe that anti-Semitism is on the rise.  Historically tolerant Denmark, for example, has seen a resurgence of neo-Nazi groups opposed to immigration.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from Denmark, where he met a Jewish Auschwitz survivor worried about her family amid the hate.

BERLIN WALL - 30th Anniversary

"Why German divisions remain, 30 years after fall of the Berlin Wall" PBS NewsHour 11/8/2019

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SUMMARY:  It's been 30 years since one of the 20th century's biggest historic events: the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Although the East German dictatorship subsequently collapsed, cultural and political divisions remain, more than a generation after reunification.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports on the wall's legacy, the polarizing issue of immigration and the lingering stain of anti-Semitism.

WOODSTOCK AT 50 - What it Taught Us

"What Woodstock taught us about protest in a time of polarization" PBS NewsHour 8/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  It’s been 50 years since Woodstock made music history.  The groundbreaking festival is seen today as a nexus of freedom, drugs and rock and roll -- and as a defining symbol of 1960s counter-culture, idealism and anti-war sentiment.  Jeffrey Brown and producer Courtney Norris spoke with the people who made it all happen about what the seminal event means now, five decades later.

APOLLO 11 - 50th Anniversary

"What Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins feared most during critical NASA mission" PBS NewsHour 7/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which first landed American astronauts on the moon's surface.  Of the intrepid crew, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have tended to dominate public attention, but it was pilot Michael Collins who flew the command module to the moon -- and faced his own distinct concerns about the return trip.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.

"NASA opens a new collection of moon rocks to researchers" PBS NewsHour 7/20/2019

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SUMMARY:  Johnson Space Center in Houston houses more than 2,000 samples collected over six Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 from various parts of the moon.  The collection includes rocks, core samples, pebbles and dust that scientists are still learning from 50 years later.  Hari Sreenivasan reports on the laboratory keeping these artifacts safe.

"This retired astronaut captured hundreds of images in space" PBS NewsHour 7/20/2019

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SUMMARY:  Retired astronaut Scott Kelly spent a record-setting 340 days on the International Space Station.  And while he was there, he took hundreds of photographs that he compiled into a book: "Infinite Wonder: An Astronaut’s Photographs From A Year In Space."  He spoke with NewsHour Weekend about his experiences in space and the spectacular views of Earth.

"NASA looks to return astronauts to the moon" PBS NewsHour 7/20/2019

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SUMMARY:  Fifty years ago today, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the surface of the moon.  Now, for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972, NASA is planning an ambitious launch in 2024 to return astronauts to the moon, and to sustain a human presence there by 2028.  Hari Sreenivasan reports from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

STONEWALL - 50 Years Later

"50 years after Stonewall, why so many LGBTQ people are ‘still grieving’" PBS NewsHour 6/25/2019

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SUMMARY:  During the era of 1969’s Stonewall Riots, police raids against LGBTQ establishments were common.  But when Stonewall patrons fought back, the modern gay rights movement was launched.  On Stonewall’s 50th anniversary, Judy Woodruff gets perspective from Reverend Emma Chattin, activist and journalist George Johnson, The Anti-Violence Project’s Beverly Tillery and Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News.

"Stonewall exhibit showcases flash point in LGBTQ community" PBS NewsHour 6/29/2019

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SUMMARY:  It was 50 years ago this week that gay, lesbian, trans and other gender-nonconforming people rioted at a bar called the Stonewall Inn after a police raid.  The New York Public Library has one of the largest collections of LGBTQ artifacts from that tumultuous period, which is now being displayed in a major exhibit, "Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50."  NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano reports.

ANNIVERSARY - 'Stonewall' at 50

"2 gay veterans on their 25 years of love" PBS NewsHour 6/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  The 1969 police raid at Stonewall Inn in New York City was a watershed moment in LGBTQ history.  After years of police harassment and mistreatment, the bar’s patrons fought back.  As part of the NewsHour’s coverage of the 50th anniversary, we share an animated StoryCorps conversation between two gay veterans about their 25 years of love.  It's part of StoryCorps' “Stonewall Outloud” collection.

75th ANNIVERSARY - D-Day

"In Normandy, gratitude and grief ahead of D-Day’s 75th anniversary" PBS NewsHour 6/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  In 1944, thousands of Allied soldiers landed on five different beaches in Normandy.  The operation set the stage for liberation of German-occupied France during World War II.  For those who participated in the critical mission, the challenges they faced and the losses they suffered will never disappear.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant speaks to veterans commemorating D-Day's 75th anniversary.

"On the shores of Normandy, world leaders honor the living and the lost" PBS NewsHour 6/6/2019

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SUMMARY:  Seventy-five years ago [today], tens of thousands of American, European and Canadian soldiers waded ashore France’s foggy northern coast to achieve a pivotal victory against Nazi Germany.  In honor of the milestone D-Day anniversary, President Trump and other leaders convened at the American cemetery above the bloodiest landing site: Omaha Beach.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from Normandy.

CHINA - 30th Anniversary of Tienanmen Square

"30 years later, the ‘lasting tragedy’ of Tiananmen Square" PBS NewsHour 6/4/2019

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SUMMARY:  Tuesday marked 30 years since China's military suppressed a pro-democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square with deadly force.  But today, Chinese authorities made sure everything was normal at the site of the massacre.  Remember the NewsHour's coverage of the tragedy, as Nick Schifrin talks to Minxin Pei of Claremont McKenna College, and Orville Schell of the Asia Society, about Tiananmen’s legacy.

CHERNOBYL - 33 Years Later

"The impact of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster 33 years later" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2019

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SUMMARY:  It will be 33 years this week that the former Soviet Union experienced a devastating nuclear disaster in what is now a part of Chernobyl, Ukraine, killing 29 people and causing permanent evacuations for miles.  For more on the aftermath of the accident, Hari Sreenivasan is joined by Adam Higginbotham, author of “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster.”

COLUMBINE - Mass Shooting 20 Years Later

"How survivors of Columbine are coping, 20 years later" PBS NewsHour 4/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  It has been nearly 20 years since the first mass school shooting in the U.S. -- the shocking tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999.  As a “credible” threat closed Columbine and hundreds of other Denver schools Wednesday, John Ferrugia of Rocky Mountain PBS shares part of an upcoming documentary [video link] featuring survivors of the massacre in their own words.

"What we have learned, 20 years after Columbine" PBS NewsHour 4/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  How are those closest to the Columbine school shooting observing its 20th anniversary?  Coni Sanders’ father, David, was a teacher and coach at Columbine and the only adult killed -- but not before he warned hundreds of students to safety.  David Cullen is a journalist who was at the scene.  Lisa Desjardins talks to both of them about their memories of horror and how life has moved forward since.

"Twenty years after Columbine, what’s changed and what hasn’t" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2019

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SUMMARY:  Today marks 20 years since the Columbine High School shooting near Denver, Colorado, where two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves.  As members of the community gathered Saturday for a day of remembrance, Dave Cullen who wrote a book about the massacre, joined Hari Sreenivasan to talk about what’s changed, and what hasn’t, since Columbine.

RWANDAN GENOCIDE - 25 Years Later

"How young Rwandan genocide survivors are documenting 25 years of healing" PBS NewsHour 4/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  April marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, in which upwards of 800,000 people were killed in 100 days, leaving 95,000 children orphaned.  The massacre wiped out 75 percent of the Tutsi ethnic group.  Now three young men affected by the violence have turned to photography to document their country’s resilience.  Special correspondent Beth Murphy of the Groundtruth Project reports.

ANNIVERSARY - NATO at 70

"As NATO turns 70, alliance increases aid to Ukraine to confront Russia" PBS NewsHour 4/4/2019

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SUMMARY:  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization turned 70 years old Thursday.  As the foreign ministers of its member nations gathered in Washington, one their actions was to endorse a support package for Ukraine, now in the fifth year of a war with Russia.  Nick Schifrin sits down with Kurt Volker, Special Envoy to Ukraine and former Ambassador to NATO, to discuss how best to engage with Russia.

ERA - 40th Anniversary

"40 years later, the ERA is still not a part of the Constitution" PBS NewsHour 1/29/2019

40 additional years of male domination in American, SICK.

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SUMMARY:  Forty years ago, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment [ERA], guaranteeing protection from discrimination on the basis of sex -- but it has never been ratified as a constitutional amendment.  Now a campaign to ratify the ERA is gathering momentum, in part because of fallout from the #MeToo movement of the past two years.  Amna Nawaz talks to Kate Kelly of Equality Now.

MLK DAY - Poor People’s Campaign

"On MLK Day, the need for a ‘deeply moral argument’ about American injustice" PBS NewsHour 1/21/2019

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SUMMARY:  On Martin Luther King Day, we return to a segment we first aired last year, about an effort to revive one of Dr. King’s signature programs, what he called the Poor People’s Campaign.  Judy Woodruff sat down with Reverend William J. Barber, co-chair of the 2018 organization, to discuss its mission of reducing poverty and inequality and tackling issues of social injustice.

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION - As the 'Noose' Tightens

"Where Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation stands, one year later" PBS NewsHour 5/16/2018

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SUMMARY:  As Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe marks its first year, the Senate Judiciary Committee released thousands of pages of documents providing the most comprehensive look at an undisclosed meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer.  Nick Schiffren talks with Wired magazine contributor Garrett Graff, and Matt Olsen former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

INEQUALITY IN AMERICA - 50 Years Later

"‘Plague of inequality’ haunts U.S. 50 years after a landmark study on racial division" PBS NewsHour 2/28/2018

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SUMMARY:  This weeks marks the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission, a bipartisan assessment of race in America that revealed the nation to be both separate and unequal.  A half century later, a new report ["Healing Our Divided Society"] takes stock of what we’ve begun to fix, and what still needs to be done.  Hari Sreenivasan talks to the author of the new report, Fred Harris, and Darren Walker president of the Ford Foundation.

"Healing Our Divided Society" (PDF download)

SANDY HOOK - Every Day We Waste

"To this Sandy Hook mom, ‘every day we waste, more people are dying’" PBS NewsHour 12/14/2017

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SUMMARY:  For many parents of children at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun violence and how to prevent it was barely on their radar.  Now, five years after 20 children lost their lives, parents are finding ways to cope through education.  Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week sits down with Nicole Hockley, who founded Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that combats gun violence in schools.