September 19, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The United Nations has called climate change the “defining issue of our time.” But new analyses suggest the planet’s temperature will rise by even more than the UN had estimated -- and that warming creates ever-increasing energy consumption due to the need for more air conditioning. Paul Solman takes an updated look at the extreme risks the globe faces from potential worst-case scenarios.

After a series of shooting massacres over the summer and renewed calls for stricter gun regulation, Senate Republicans have indicated some willingness to consider new legislation. But according to Sen. Mitch McConnell, President Trump has not yet weighed in on what type of proposal he would support, leaving the congressional GOP feeling pressure without a plan. Lisa Desjardins joins Amna Nawaz.

Toyin Ojih Odutola was born in Nigeria but moved to the U.S. as a child. When her classmates hesitated to interact with her “otherness,” Toyin turned to drawing as an alternate world in which to immerse herself. She found that portraiture in particular enabled her to build characters with whom she identified. Ojih Odutola shares her brief but spectacular take on drawing from a vivid imagination.

Joy Harjo, the new poet laureate of the United States, is the first Native American to achieve that honor. Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with Harjo, a member of Oklahoma's Muscogee Creek Nation, in Tulsa to discuss how arts shaped her upbringing, her perspective on contemporary "forces of hatred" and why her accomplishment represents a “doorway of hope” for other indigenous people.

A whistleblower complaint dubbed a matter of "urgent concern" by the intelligence community’s inspector general may involve a communication between President Trump and a foreign leader, according to reports. Now, a standoff is ensuing between the White House and Congress over access to the details. California Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

The cost of running Guantanamo Bay’s prison and court system climbed by nearly $90 million from 2013 to 2018, even though the number of prisoners housed there has fallen. Amna Nawaz talks to The New York Times' Carol Rosenberg about the factors contributing to the rising costs and whether there's any political appetite to move Guantanamo's so-called "forever prisoners" to another site.