PBS News Hour

As new, highly contagious mutations are making this summer’s COVID surge significantly bigger than expected, the FDA approved updated COVID vaccines on Friday. But funding runs out this month for a federal program providing free vaccines to uninsured and underinsured Americans. John Yang speaks with PBS News digital health reporter Laura Santhanam for more.

Financial markets rallied Friday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that it’s time to start cutting interest rates. The question now is by how much, and how quickly fed policymakers will act. Powell said inflation is low enough and that the bigger threat to the economy is now a weakening jobs market. John Yang speaks with Rachel Siegel, who covers the Fed for The Washington Post, for more.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including major moments from the Democratic National Convention and what’s next in the battle for the White House.

Kamala Harris is now the first woman of color to become a major party’s presidential nominee. That history was made Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Speaking to an energetic crowd, Harris formally accepted her party’s nomination and made her case for why she should be the next president of the United States. Lisa Desjardins reports.

With the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention, both parties now have their official presidential nominees, and the race to Election Day begins in earnest. For her series, America at a Crossroads, Judy Woodruff takes us back to both convention floors, where she spoke to Republican and Democratic delegates for a sense of how they see the road ahead and the divide between the parties.

Eight-year-old Miles Bonham and his music production videos are striking a chord with millions of social media followers around the world. William Brangham reports for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that he is suspending his campaign and that he wants to help former President Donald Trump win the election. Lisa Desjardins joins Geoff Bennett to discuss the announcement and what’s next.

The development of artificial intelligence is speeding up so quickly that it was addressed briefly at both Republican and Democratic conventions. Science fiction has long theorized about the ways in which machines might one day usurp their human overlords. As the capabilities of modern AI grow, Paul Solman looks at the existential threats some experts fear and that some see as hyperbole.