JOHN YANG: Finally tonight, some news about us.

As you may know, this is the last broadcast of PBS News Weekend, at least for the foreseeable future.

PBS canceled the show due to the loss of federal funding for public media.

We're grateful that you've chosen us over the years as the place to get news on Saturdays and Sundays.

Tonight on PBS News Weekend, we've brought you breaking news.

Months of escalating tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have erupted into a firestorm.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): It began as a routine scene.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S.

President: Take a look at what happened.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): President Biden says he's dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be his party's nominee.

On the scene, reports from around the world.

WOMAN: This series of strikes really was a new front in this war.

WOMAN: Here in the capital, Damascus, Syrians are certainly happy that Bashir al Assad is gone.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): The broadcast began in 2013 as PBS NewsHour Weekend.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Good evening and thanks for joining us.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): It was anchored by Hari Sreenivasan and produced in New York.

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett, and this is PBS News Weekend.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): In 2022, a new name, PBS News Weekend, a new anchor, Geoff Bennett from a New City, Washington, DC.

ALI ROGIN: About an hour outside of Salt Lake City.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Ali Rogin was weekend correspondent, and three years ago, I moved behind the anchor desk.

We reported from the West Coast.

MAN: This light is going out 17 miles in this entire direction.

WOMAN: Yes.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): To the east coast and places in between.

JOHN YANG: This vacant lot is all that's left of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant.

Residents of this neighborhood worry what hazardous chemicals may have been left behind.

ALI ROGIN: The MAHA movement has largely been driven by moms.

WOMAN: Yeah, I've been on a MAHA journey for about the last 15 years.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): We went to the U.S.

Mint to learn about quarters featuring late 19th and early 20th century investigative journalist Ida B. Wells.

It was part of our series highlighting often overlooked figures from America's past.

New technology allowed us to speak with three Scottish brothers while they were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Ewan McLean, Jamie McLean, and Lachlan back there doing all the work.

MAN: John, thank you so much for having us on.

Really appreciate it.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Our reach was further extended by stories from our PBS partner stations.

MAN (voice-over): For ranchers like the Nolans Grassland Conservation is about survival.

WOMAN: If we're not taking good care of the land, we're not going to be here anymore.

WOMAN (voice-over): At Rhode Island School for the Deaf, parents are learning American Sign Language or ASL.

MAN: Here, here.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): We shined our weekend spotlight on familiar faces.

RICK STEVES: It's easy to travel when you know where your home is.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): PBS travel guru Rick Steves.

WOMAN: It's a very old farmhouse.

1728.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): children's book author Sandra Boynton.

There were well known musicians in your fantasy.

MAN: I don't think of songs as I'm going to write a hit.

Occasionally I'll think, well, this could be a hit.

MAN: Sinatra sang on the vowels, but I can tell.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): And a popular trio that can be hard to describe.

MARK SPEER, Khruangbin: People still ask me like, hey, so oh you're what genre do you play?

I don't know.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): There were also new fresh faces like 14 year old Heman Bekele who came up with a soap that fights skin cancer.

HEMAN BEKELE: My main goal here was not only to fight against skin cancer, but to find a more affordable and accessible approach to it.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): Nine year old Molly Sampson, who found a prehistoric fossil that was the envy of experts.

MOLLY SAMPSON: It would have been a 50 foot shark, he said.

It was a five foot lifetime.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): We covered the quirky.

MAN: It's called a shrimp rave.

JOHN YANG: Everything old is new again.

MAN: Any news about typewriters is good news about typewriters.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): We dealt with serious issues like family estrangement.

WOMAN: A little heart achy that I don't have a mom for some of these like big events and holidays and whatnot.

But it's not like I want her there.

It's like I want who I wanted as a mom there.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): With our series Unequal Treatment, we devoted time to women's health issues.

WOMAN: We know that 70 to 80 percent of all women will be diagnosed with uterine fibroids by the age that they're 50.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): And our series Saving Species brought attention to some of the world's most vulnerable creatures.

WOMAN: This is Stink Pot and she has seven babies.

JOHN YANG (voice-over): It's all been the product of a lot of hard work by our small but mighty team of dedicated professionals, producers in the newsroom and in the field, and the technical wizards in the control room and the studio, all striving to give you the best, most interesting programs we possibly can.

JOHN YANG: Starting next week, new programs will be in this time slot.

Horizons from PBS News, hosted by William Brangham and focusing on science, health and technology.

And Compass Points from PBS News, hosted by Nick Schifrin with a focus on foreign affairs.

But for now, I wanted you to meet all the folks who have worked so hard week in and week out to bring you PBS News Weekend.

They're usually behind the scenes and also I hope you can stick around to see all their names on the on screen credits.

And it has been a privilege to work with each and every one of you.

And on behalf of all of them, thanks for joining us over the years and good night.