Sam Matthews

    Editor

    Sam Matthews is the executive producer for Yahoo News. Before joining Yahoo News in 2017, he produced series for ABC, Travel Channel, and VICE, among others.

  • Biden has dropped out of the presidential race. What happens now?

    President Biden announced on Sunday that he’s dropping out of the 2024 presidential race — and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as the Democratic candidate. While Harris has vowed to “earn and win” the nomination, with less than a month before the convention, we’re in uncharted territory with what exactly happens next. Yahoo News explains what to know. Update, July 22, 3:10 p.m. ET: This video was originally published on July 21 and was updated to include additional information about Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy for president, endorsements she has received and potential legal challenges. Read the latest coverage on President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 election here.

  • Who is J.D. Vance? Your guide to the Republican nominee for vice president

    On the first day of the Republican National Convention, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio was announced as former President Donald Trump’s pick for vice president — and then promptly nominated by the party. Yahoo News presents a guide to how the Hillbilly Elegy writer went from Trump critic to the potential heir to the Trump-led GOP.

  • What it was like to be part of the O.J. Bronco chase: Firsthand accounts on the 30th anniversary

    Monday, June 17, marks 30 years since the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase, an event watched on live TV by an estimated 95 million people in the U.S. Yahoo News spoke with three reporters — Jane Wells, Conan Nolan and Zoey Tur — who covered the murders of Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman and were involved in the slow-speed chase of Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings. They give their memories of the chase and their reflections 30 years later.

  • What does Biden’s executive order on immigration do?

    Earlier this month, President Biden issued an executive order widely viewed as the most aggressive immigration crackdown by a Democratic president in modern history. While Biden has been criticized by some for giving himself the power to “shut down” the border, the reality of what the order does is more complicated than that. Yahoo News explains why the order was issued — and how it’s intended to provide relief to the United States’s backlogged asylum system.

  • What is the Hunter Biden trial about?

    The first criminal trial of a sitting president’s child is underway as Hunter Biden faces three charges related to a firearm purchase made in 2018. Yahoo News explains what the case is about and how first lady Jill Biden and President Biden have taken different approaches to supporting their son as witness testimony begins in Delaware federal court.

  • Why do House Republicans want to change voter registration laws?

    Ahead of the 2024 election, a group of House Republicans have introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (or SAVE) Act, which they say is vital to protecting the integrity of our elections. The bill would make it illegal for noncitizens to vote, and order states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. However, critics say there’s a small issue with the plan: It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote — and states have safeguards in place to weed out those who may register in error. Yahoo News explains the arguments for and against the SAVE Act.

  • The It List: 'Civil War' depicts a dystopian America, 'Bluey' fans await 'The Sign,' Vampire Weekend release first album in 5 years

    Tensions run high in the radically divided America seen in "Civil War."

  • 2024 election: Is being an alternative to Trump enough for Biden to win a second time?

    With a general election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump all but official, some Democrats worry that simply being an alternative to Trump might not be enough for Biden to win this time around. Yahoo News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward explains how the anti-Trump playbook’s record has fared in past elections and what makes the 2024 election different.

  • Super Tuesday: Which states vote, and when will we know the results?

    Super Tuesday is coming on March 5, and it will mark a major turning point in the 2024 presidential election. Yahoo News presents a guide to which states will hold their party nominations, who can vote and why it may take a few days to learn exactly how many delegates each candidate has won.

  • 2024 election: What to make of the protest votes against Biden and Trump

    Less than two months into the 2024 presidential primary calendar, a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump appears to be the most likely scenario. However, recent protest votes against both Biden and Trump point to dissatisfaction with the current frontrunners of the Democratic and Republican parties. Yahoo News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward explains what to make of the intraparty discord.

  • Why Nikki Haley is already looking beyond the South Carolina primary

    In presidential politics, there’s an unwritten rule that losing in your home state should be avoided at all costs. However, as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley faces off against former President Donald Trump in South Carolina this weekend, polls suggest Haley, the state's former governor, may need to prove herself the exception to that rule if her campaign is to continue. Yahoo News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward explains why Haley’s announcement that she has no plans to withdraw from the race ahead of her home state’s primary is less surprising than you might think.

  • The psychology of celebrity worship

    When does being a fan of someone go from normal and healthy to a serious problem? Well, it depends on the person and the behavior — but there is a psychology to celebrity worship. Yahoo Life’s Kerry Justich explains how media trends led to the study of parasocial relationships and how psychologists categorize the phenomenon on a “celebrity attitude scale.”

  • Concerns over Biden’s age aren’t going away. What options do Democrats have?

    Democrats are in an odd position: They’ve got an incumbent president with no significant competition in securing the party’s 2024 nomination — yet concerns over Joe Biden’s age heading into a possible second term don’t seem to be fading. Despite handily winning in early primaries and poll data showing growing support for Biden’s candidacy among Democratic voters, the release of a special counsel report describing the president as "an elderly man with a poor memory" has sparked panic about his ability to do the job if elected for another term. Yahoo News Chief National Correspondent Jon Ward offers a guide to the conversations taking place among Democratic strategists and the options being explored to overcome voters’ fears.

  • What does 'EGOT' mean?

    What do Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks, Audrey Hepburn and John Legend have in common? They’re all part of an elite club known as “EGOT winners” — artists who’ve snagged at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award over the span of their careers. Yahoo Entertainment’s David Artavia explains the unlikely origin of the acronym and how a sitcom joke turned it into a common term.

  • Is 'Die Hard' a Christmas movie? Half of Americans say ‘no’.

    More than 35 years since the film's release in July 1988, we may finally have an answer to one of the holiday season's biggest debates: Is "Die Hard" a Christmas movie? Yahoo Entertainment’s David Artavia explains.

  • Spaceflight and the human body: Astronauts on the health effects of long missions

    As NASA plans years-long missions to the moon — and beyond — astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Andreas Mogensen, currently aboard the International Space Station, join Yahoo Life’s Rebecca Corey to discuss how extended time outside the safety of Earth’s atmosphere and gravity affect the human body and mind.

  • How to watch the 'ring of fire' solar eclipse this weekend

    Sky-gazers in the western half of North, Central and South America will be treated on Saturday to a spectacular annular solar eclipse that will create a “ring of fire” in the sky — for those lucky enough to see it.

  • Why China is taking pandas back from the U.S.

    In 2024, for the first time in more than 50 years, there will be no pandas in the United States, after zoos in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., return pandas that have been on loan from Beijing.

  • Even Marianne Williamson knows she's a long shot for the Democratic nomination

    After a short-lived presidential campaign in 2020, bestselling author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson is back at it again. This time she's challenging President Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination — and she's well aware her chances of victory are slim. Yahoo News explains why, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, Williamson is determined to stay in the race to deliver her message of peace and love.

  • Morocco earthquake: Survivors spend nights sleeping on streets amid fear of aftershocks

    Since the deadly 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco Friday night, thousands of people have decided not to risk going back into their houses and apartment buildings, many of which were damaged.