Episodes
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Former President Donald Trump is dominating headlines yet again.
Earlier this week, the FBI took several boxes of secret and top secret documents from Mar-a-Lago during a search of Trump's home. And on Friday, a federal judge unsealed the warrant for the search – plus a list of what was taken from the property.
NPR's Carrie Johnson explains what the unsealed warrant reveals, and what comes next.
But the news from Mar-a-Lago is just the latest in a litany of legal battles entangling the former president. From the civil and criminal cases in New York, to the Georgia election interference case and the Jan 6th DOJ investigation – it can be hard to keep track of it all.
Barbara McQuade is a professor at University of Michigan Law School and a former U.S. attorney, she helps us understand where these cases stand.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Up until a few weeks ago, meaningful climate legislation was sidelined in the U.S. Senate. But after months of wrangling votes — and adding concessions to oil and gas companies — Democrats in the Senate have finally passed the Inflation Reduction Act.
The bill includes more than $300 billion in climate investments — the highest amount ever allocated by the federal government to tackle climate change. This episode lays out what the bill does, what it doesn't, and tracks the ups and downs of the legislation as it wound its way through Congress.
This episode also features reporting by NPR's Laura Benshoff looking at the ways the legislation incentivizes individuals to fight climate change in their everyday life.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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In Republican politics, one of the biggest issues in the 2022 election is the 2020 election. In at least 8 states so far, Republicans have picked candidates for Secretary of State who deny the results of the last presidential election. This is despite the fact that not a shred of evidence calls President Biden's victory into question. If elected, they would become the chief elections officer in their states.
In some of the same swing states where election deniers will be on the statewide ballot in November, there's another effort underway, backed by key figures in former President Trump's orbit. Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who worked on Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election, is working to mobilize an "army" of poll watchers.
NPR's Tom Dreisbach reports on what he learned from leaked audio of one of her summits.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Miles Parks, who covers voting and election security.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Researchers at an American national laboratory spent years developing cutting-edge vanadium redox flow batteries. But now, a Chinese company is making those batteries in a factory in northeastern China.
An investigation from NPR's Laura Sullivan and Northwest News Network's Courtney Flatt shows how the U.S. federal government gave away American-made technology to China.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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All eyes are on Kherson. In Ukraine's first major offensive of the war, soldiers are pushing towards the city, trying to retake it from Russian troops. It's a transport hub and key river crossing, and reclaiming it would be a huge victory for Ukraine.
NPR's Kat Lonsdorf brings us the story of Vitaly, a 22-year-old college student in Kherson. Since the city first fell, he has sent NPR voice memos detailing life under the Russian occupation. Now, he's decided he has to get out.
And NPR's Brian Mann travels near the front lines with Ukrainian forces pushing towards Kherson. It's a vast stretch of half-abandoned villages and farms fields, old industrial sites and dense forests, where the exact point of contact between Russian and Ukrainian troops is often unclear day by day.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Bashar Murad's danceable riffs and live concerts and videos - filled with bubbles, enormous hats, and layers and layers of veils - have earned him the nickname "Palestinian Lady Gaga" from his fans. And much like Born This Way is an anthem of equality, Murad's songs challenge conservative social norms and push for LGBTQ rights while also challenging the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Earlier this summer, Murad's concert in the West Bank city of Ramallah was cancelled under threats by anti-LGBTQ activists. As an outspoken proponent of LGBTQ rights, Murad is challenging both the external conflict Palestinians face with Israel and the internal conflicts imposed by a conservative society.
This week, NPR's Daniel Estrin speaks with Bashar Murad about his music, his activism, and how anti-LGBTQ events that unfolded during the summer have added to the complexities that can come with being a voice for both the Palestinian and the LGBTQ communities.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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This week the Biden administration declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.
And as the number of cases in the U.S. continues to climb, there's a lot of confusion about the disease, how it spreads and who's most at-risk.
NPR health correspondents Pien Huang and Michaeleen Doucleff join us to discuss the current outbreak.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the U.S. airstrike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, there's a lot to talk about with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan these days.
He weighs in on all three in a sit-down interview with NPR.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, a dozen states have implemented laws banning or severely restricting abortion. Those laws have consequences for wanted pregnancies, too.
NPR's Carrie Feibel brings us the story of a woman in Texas whose pregnancy took a sudden turn. Because of the state's abortion law, her case became a medical crisis.
This episode also includes reporting from NPR's Sarah McCammon and Melissa Block
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan over the weekend. For years, al-Zawahiri was Osama Bin Laden's deputy — and was known as the mastermind behind the 9-11 attacks.
NPR's Greg Myre and Diaa Hadid discuss the implications of al-Zawahiri's death for the U.S., Afghanistan, and America's decades-long war on terror.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Steve Inskeep.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Dee Davis remembers watching his grandmother float by in a canoe during the 1957 flood that hit Whitesburg, Ky. The water crested at nearly 15 feet back then--a record that stood for over half a century, until it was obliterated last week.
The water was more than six feet higher than the 1957 mark when floodwater destroyed the gauge.
The flooding took out bridges and knocked houses off their foundations. It had claimed at least 35 lives as of Monday afternoon.
And it was just the latest record-breaking flooding event to hit the U.S. this summer.
NPR's Rebecca Hersher explains that climate change is making extreme floods more frequent. A warming atmosphere can hold more moisture, which means, when it rains, it rains harder.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Kirk Siegler, KJZZ's Michel Marizco and St. Louis Public Radio's Sarah Fentem.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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You may have never heard the phrase abortion doula, but for years they have been working to support people navigating the process and experience of ending a pregnancy.
With Roe overturned, depending on where you live, figuring out how to obtain an abortion has gotten much harder. This could make the role of abortion doulas more critical than ever --- and more risky.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Vicki Bloom. She refers to herself as a full spectrum doula and provides a range of reproductive health support services, from helping clients create a birth plan, to being present at abortions, to providing information and emotional support.
We discuss what a abortion doula does and how that role might change in a post-Roe world.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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This week, Pope Francis has been in Canada, on what he calls a "Pilgrimage of Penance". He's been going around the country to apologize for the Catholic Church's role in Canada's residential school system.
These schools – funded by the Canadian government and administered by the Catholic Church – were aimed at erasing the culture and language of indigenous people.
The apology from Pope Francis this week comes after years of allegations detailing abuse and neglect at these residential boarding schools. Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2008 to document what happened at these schools – and the lasting trauma that has followed.
Stephanie Scott is a member of the Anishinaabe from Roseau River First Nation. She's executive director of the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation – and has been part of a years-long effort to gather the testimony of survivors. She shares with us the mixed feelings about the Pope's apology, and the work that still has to be done towards reconciliation.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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The BA.5 variant is the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's highly transmissible and it's driving up COVID cases and hospitalizations.
This week NPR learned that the Biden administration may scrap plans to let more younger adults get second COVID-19 boosters this summer. Instead, officials are trying to speed up availability of the next generation of boosters in the fall — boosters that specifically target the new subvariant.
We talk to Dr. Robert Wachter, the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, about the administration's booster strategy and how people can protect themselves in the midst of the latest surge.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Rob Stein.
A heads up to listeners: we recorded this episode Thursday afternoon, before the Biden administration announced that it will hold off on offering boosters for people under 50 this summer.
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Residential hotels used to play a huge role in the American housing landscape, providing flexible accommodation for anyone who needed it, from the rich and famous to the barely scraping by. Slate staff writer Henry Grabar argues that a return of extended-stay hotels could help solve some of today's housing market dysfunction.
KNKX's Will James reports on what happened after tenants of a residential hotel in Tacoma, Wash., were forced out—into a housing market with very few affordable options.
You can read his entire series on the Merkle Hotel here, and Henry Grabar's article on extended stay hotels here.
This episode also features reporting on the US housing shortage from NPR's Chris Arnold.
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The James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of the universe that have stunned both scientists and the public. But for more than twenty years before its launch, the mission faced multiple delays, cost overruns, technical difficulties and threats from Congress to kill it altogether.
We'll speak with some of the leaders of the Webb telescope mission who fought to keep it alive — and hear from astronomers whose work is now changed forever by its images.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Food, gas, rent — prices are climbing across the board. As inflation hit a 40-year high last month, millions of Americans are adjusting their spending and looking for ways to stretch their budgets.
The Federal Reserve is taking action, too. Policy makers are meeting this week to consider whether and how much to raise interest rates in an effort to curb inflation.
We talk to NPR's chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley and business correspondent David Gura.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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This week dozens of family members of victims of the Uvalde Texas school shooting showed up at the town's first school board meeting since a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in May.
The atmosphere became tense and emotional as families confronted board members, demanding assurances that students and staff would be safe in the coming school year.
The school board meeting followed the release of surveillance footage from the day of the shooting and an investigative report released by the Texas House of Representatives.
The investigation found that a total of 376 local, state, and federal officers converged on the scene. But due to "systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making" on the part of the police, more than an hour passed before anyone confronted the gunman.
Many Americans feel that the police stand between order and chaos. Yet the massive failure by law enforcement in Uvalde may change how the public views police and how police view themselves.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
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This week the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its first set of public hearings. The final hearing focused on former President Trump's actions - or lack of action - as rioters breached the Capitol.
As the hearings continue, the Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation. And Attorney General Merrick Garland is under pressure from the left to bring criminal charges against Trump.
We spoke to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann about the evidence that the House Select Committee has presented and what the attorney general may be considering. Weissmann was a senior prosecutor on Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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Record high temperatures have wreaked havoc around the world this week. In Southern England, railway tracks bent from the heat. In China, the roof tiles on a museum melted. In Texas, heat and a dry spell have caused nearly 200 water main breaks over the past month.
And extreme heat puts lives at risk, too. It's more deadly than tornadoes, hurricanes, and all other weather events combined.
Extreme temperatures, and the attendant misery, are connected to global warming, which is driven by human activity and accelerating.
Reporters from around the globe talk about what they're seeing and how governments are responding. NPR's Rebecca Hersher, who reports on climate science and policy from the US, NPR's John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Willem Marx in London.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Franco Ordoñez.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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