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They have the ear of the most powerful person in the country. They pillow talk with the president. They are... the first ladies.

As Americans celebrate with fireworks and talks of the Founding Fathers, it's the women behind these presidents that leave an often overlooked mark.

Abigail Adams wrote a letter to future president John Adams to "remember the ladies" while drafting the Declaration of Independence.

The country's first ladies play a significant and unique role – and it's always evolving. We talk about the role and some of America's most memorable first ladies.

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Being healthy in America these days looks a little different than it did in years gone by.

We sit down with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to talk about how he's tackling the job this time around. He also served as surgeon general under the Obama administration.

Murthy has set a few priorities for this term, including addressing loneliness, youth mental health, and health disinformation. And last week he announced gun violence as a public health crisis.

We discuss what we can expect from him and his office.

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School's out and summer is in session. But for some, this season is anything but relaxing. That's because many colleges have shut their doors, for good.

Since the onset of the pandemic, colleges have been shutting down rapidly, now at a rate of one every week.

We discuss what happens to students and faculty when their college closes, and why so many of them finding it difficult to stay open.

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Going into the beginning of July, we take stock of the Supreme Court's recent term, including a rush of a dozen cases it released in the last week.

The Supreme Court considered controversial topics this summer, including Donald Trump and presidential immunity, charges against Jan. 6 rioters, emergency abortion care, gun rights for people with a history of domestic violence, interactions between the government and social media companies, and the discretion that federal agencies can have in implementing laws.

As part of our weekly politics series "If You Can Keep It," we hear from our legal experts about what the court's decisions mean for the country and for the stakes of this election.

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President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump meet in Atlanta, Georgia for a memorable debate.

The Supreme Court temporarily blocks the Environmental Protection Agency's "Good Neighbor Plan" and blocks the multibillion Purdue opioid settlement, finding it inappropriately protected the Sackler family. And the Court sides with the Biden Administration in a challenge to Idaho's strict abortion ban.

Meanwhile, Bolivia foils a military coup attempt. Army General Juan José Zúñiga is arrested hours after he led troops and tanks to storm the presidential palace in the capital, La Paz.

In Kenya, protests resume a day after President Ruto makes a dramatic U-turn and withdraws contentious tax hikes.

And Israel warns it can send Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" as the United Nations humanitarian affairs chief warns a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic."

We cover all this and more during this week's News Roundup.

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Since the dawn of mankind, humans have been have been taking food to fire.

After thousands of years — and probably tons of really awful woolly mammoth meat — we've learned to make grilling taste good.

With summer here and summer holidays just around the corner, it's almost impossible to head outside and not catch a whiff of a grill somewhere.

But the world of grilling has gone through a lot of innovation since our ancestors first held ingredients to the sacred fire.

We're here to help you make sense of it all. For our latest installment of our "Ask A..." series, we're asking grillmasters all about their craft and answering your questions.

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What do bison, beaver, wolves and sea otters all have in common?

They're keystone species. That means they have an outsized impact on their ecosystem. It took humans driving some of these to near extinction to realize just how important they are.

Now animals like the American Bison and North American Beaver are some of the Endangered Species Act's most notable success stories.

As part of our series marking the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, we're taking a closer look at the efforts to save keystone species.

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What are the consequences of America's unresolved history?

That's the question raised by a new book by journalist and historian Nick Bryant, "The Forever War: America's Unending Conflict with Itself." The book maps a path from the founding of the United States to the current political state of the country, and argues that the political divisiveness we see today is a natural part of the country's story.

Nick Bryant joins us to talk about the lessons we can learn from America's history, and what that history can tell us about the stakes of the election.

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Voter surveys show Americans list immigration and the southern border as a top concern in this election year.

At the Southern border, encounters between law enforcement and people seeking entry reached their highest numbers on record last December.

Trump has seized on the issue in the campaign and President Biden recently changed asylum rules for people arriving at the border.

We discuss how U.S. immigration policy could change in the next four years when it comes to protected status, deportations, and more.

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America's top doctor weighs in and says social media should come with a health warning like a pack of cigarettes.

In Maryland, Governor Wes Moore is pardoning more than 175,000 convictions for marijuana.

And baseball pays tribute to the "Say Hey Kid" the late, great Willie Mays.

Meanwhile, Russia's President Putin and North Korea deepen, what western leaders have dubbed 'a dangerous bromance.'

Israel raises the prospect of 'all-out war' with Hezbollah. The U.S. sends new military aid to Israel.

In France, President Macron rolls the dice as the country prepares to vote in an election being watched far beyond its borders.

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