March 21, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. will now recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic 40-mile strip of land on the Syrian-Israeli border. The decision, which Trump announced via Tweet, overturns decades of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The Woodrow Wilson Center's Aaron David Miller joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the implications for politics and policy.

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday requiring that U.S. colleges seeking federal research funding must certify that their policies support free speech in order to receive it. Amna Nawaz talks to Jerry Falwell Jr., and Georgetown University’s Sanford Ungar about how free expression is constrained on college campuses and what the president’s action will do to change that.

Franklin Leonard is the founder of The Black List, a website that aims to connect potential screenwriters with filmmakers. The site allows users to upload their screenplays and earn ratings from the site’s community, with the possibility of seeing their work actually produced into a movie. Leonard shares a brief but spectacular take on how the tool could help grow Hollywood inclusivity.

Nowruz, the Persian holiday celebrating the new year, is observed in Iran and parts of Western and Central Asia. It marks the first day of the vernal equinox. Najmieh Batmanglij, author of eight cookbooks on Iranian cuisine that are widely celebrated among the Iranian diaspora, reminisces about her Iranian childhood while cooking Persian new year soup with Jeffrey Brown.

Nowruz, the Persian holiday celebrating the new year, is observed in Iran and parts of Western and Central Asia. It marks the first day of the vernal equinox. Najmieh Batmanglij, author of eight cookbooks on Iranian cuisine that are widely celebrated among the Iranian diaspora, reminisces about her Iranian childhood while cooking Persian new year soup with Jeffrey Brown.

UC Berkeley sociologist Arlie Hochschild traveled to Louisiana, the second-poorest state, to explore why its neediest populations simultaneously rely on federal aid and reject the concept of “big government.” As Paul Solman reports, the author and professor discovered many residents feel betrayed by their state's government for failing to protect them from toxic pollution that risks their health.