To the Point

Guest host Todd Purdum explores Hillary Clinton's challenges in wooing younger voters.

Police killings of black people in two more American cities have raised the total of such incidents to more than 200 in this year alone.  It now goes almost without saying that black Americans don't believe official explanations, and the Congressional black caucus is demanding Justice Department action. We hear about recent developments deeply rooted in American history.

America's "service economy" features fast food and retail industries that depend on part-time workers. That's great for business, but it's hard on the workers involved. This week the Seattle City Council passed new rules that might provide them a better chance for survival. We update the always controversial relationship between employers and employees. 

Starting back in the 1940s, antibiotics revolutionized the science and practice of medicine. But they're being used so often, and for so many reasons, that bacteria are learning to strike back — mutating to develop resistance. Now, the UN is trying to slow down a life-and-death crisis of global proportions.

Bombs in New York and New Jersey and stabbings in Minnesota are raising familiar issues about national security. They might well influence ongoing debate about Edward Snowden. Did he perform public service by leaking classified information about intrusive surveillance, or is he a traitor who made Americans more vulnerable?

In America's big, metropolitan counties, prison populations are going down, but in suburban and rural communities, more people are doing big time than ever before. We hear how prosecutors and judges are cracking down on drug addicts in the white, middle class. 

Unlike Republicans before him — or Democrats, for that matter — White House candidate Donald Trump has been full of praise for the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. What's the attraction? And how is it resonating in this year's presidential campaign?

Hillary Clinton has labeled half of Donald Trump’s supporters "deplorables." Trump has said, "Fifty percent of Americans just sit back and do nothing." As the rhetoric of this campaign becomes more divisive than ever, how difficult will be to govern — whoever ends up in the White House?

While the presidential candidates are being asked to reveal their personal medical profiles, the prices of life-saving medications are increasing dramatically. We look at how that's happening and what might be done.

After North Korea's latest test of a weapon of mass destruction last Friday, President Obama said, "The United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state."  Others warn that the US and its allies may not have a choice.