Episodes
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More Americans are expected to vote by mail this year than ever before. But President Trump has called the U.S. Postal Service "a joke," and now a major GOP donor runs the organization.
A USPS employee tells NPR's Noel King that changes from the new Postmaster General are making her job harder.
And NPR's Pam Fessler reports that secure drop boxes for ballots could help some states rely less on the mail.
If you want to hear NPR's latest coverage on Joe Biden's pick for Vice President, Senator Kamala Harris, the NPR Politics Podcast will have a new episode on Tuesday evening — listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
NPR's Up First will have more Wednesday morning — also on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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A school district in Georgia learned firsthand last week that the virus is almost impossible to contain — especially without masks and social distancing.
A new effort in New York City encourages travelers to self-isolate when they get into town.
And public health workers in Texas and California explain that the size of the outbreak makes contact tracing a huge challenge.
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Missing episodes?
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The app doesn't seem to collect any more data than other social media platforms. But the Trump administration argues that data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.
NPR's Bobby Allyn reported on TikTok's role in the racial justice movement.
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States are scrambling to replace older poll workers with younger ones. The two major political parties will hold their conventions mostly online. And in one big battleground state, the pandemic is shifting the political geography.
NPR's latest battleground state map is here.
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First New York, then the Sun Belt. Now, new states like Illinois and Mississippi are urging residents to wear masks and take the virus more seriously.
Bars remain one of the most dangerous places to be during the pandemic. Reporter Will Stone explains why, from Seattle.
While Michigan and New York saw similar spikes in cases near the beginning of the pandemic, New York has flattened the curve. Michigan hasn't. Reporters Kate Wells and Fred Mogul discuss what lessons can be learned from the disparity.
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After rising for weeks, the rate of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has started to level off. But now, just as we saw in the spring, the country is facing a spike in deaths.
In the new issue of The Atlantic, two stories share the cover. One, by Ed Yong, is about the pandemic. The other, by Ibram Kendi, is about racism in America. Both ask the same question: how did it come to this?
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Millions of students are getting ready to head back to school. Some already have. NPR's Anya Kamentez reports on what happens when positive cases crop up — as they inevitably will.
School nurses understand the challenges of returning to school safely better than just about anyone. But NPR's Clare Lombardo reports somenurses have no input in the process.
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Rosa Brooks, law professor at Georgetown University, recently helped organize an experiment to game out what might happen if the winner on election night isn't immediately clear. She explains what she found.
And NPR's Sally Herships reports on cuts at the postal service — and concerns they're politically motivated.
Garrett Graff wrote about how election day could go off the rails for Politico Magazine.
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The spread of the virus exceeds our capacity to test, contact trace, and isolate those who test positive. Some public health experts say the only option that remains is a second shutdown. NPR's Rob Stein reports on what that would look like.
Derek Thompson, writer and editor at The Atlantic, says there's another part of our virus strategy we may need to rethink. He calls it 'hygiene theater.'
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The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google faced questions today from a House subcommittee. Some lawmakers believe those companies have too much economic and political power. Former Facebook policy executive Dipayan Ghosh agrees.
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John Lewis, the civil rights icon and late congressman from Georgia who represented Atlanta for more than three decades, spent his life fighting for equal voting rights in America.
Myrna Perez, Director of the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, explains why his work remains unfinished.
Lewis spoke to 'Fresh Air' in 2009. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
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This morning in Savannah, Georgia, the first volunteer was injected in a phase-three vaccine trial administered by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. Dr Anthony Fauci hopes that up to 15,000 volunteers will be in place by the end of the week. (Tens of thousands more will be needed for additional vaccine trials.)
It will take months to learn if the vaccine produces an effective immune response. Scientists who've studied antibody reactions in coronavirus patients have reason to be optimistic, at least in the short-term.
And Dr Elke Webber, psychology professor at Princeton University, explains why the pandemic may be getting too big to wrap our heads around.
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More than 25 million Americans have been receiving expanded federal unemployment benefits — $600 a week. Those benefits disappear in days.
Congress is unlikely to agree on new package before the end of next week. And temporary moratoriums on evictions are coming to an end in many places around the country.
NPR's Noel King spoke with Matt Desmond, founder of Princeton University's Eviction Lab, about what could happen if Congress doesn't provide more help, and why so many American families were already in trouble before the pandemic.
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Monument Avenue is a large, tree-lined street in Richmond, Virginia that used to have several confederate statues and monuments. In the wake of protests against racism and police brutality, the city has removed most of them. But a monument of Robert E. Lee still stands — for now.
Even before the statues started coming down, WVTF's Mallory Noe-Payne reports that Richmond residents began reclaiming the space where it stands.
And historian Julian Hayter tells NPR's Scott Simon there's a way for confederate statues to tell a different story.
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Up to 70% of vote this November could be cast by mail. But not all states will allow it.
And a recent NPR survey found that 65,000 absentee or mail-in ballots have been rejected this year for being late.
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly visited a county in Pennsylvania to see what challenges lay ahead for election night in a critical swing state.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci tells NPR he's glad the President is promoting masks, and hopes more frequent White House briefings will be a source of clear and concise public health messaging.
Experimental coronavirus vaccines are headed for large-scale tests on tens of thousands of people. Multiple companies are preparing to begin those tests, a major hurdle in vaccine development.
We know masks keep us from infecting others with the virus. Now, scientists believe they can also help protect the people wearing them.
And NPR's Nurith Aizenmann reports that face coverings are one of the surest ways for cities and states to avoid returning to full lockdown measures and could potentially save 40,000 American lives.
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In Portland, Oregon, federal agents have been using violent force against protesters. Some protesters have been arrested by officers in unmarked vehicles.
Governor Kate Brown has asked the Department of Homeland Security to step aside, while President Trump threatened to dispatch federal officers to more cities.
NPR's Mara Liasson reports Trump was hoping to campaign on a thriving economy and a swift end to the pandemic. Surging cases have forced him to change his message — and given Joe Biden an opening.
Ongoing coverage of the Portland protests and police response from our colleagues at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
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The United States had 71,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Back in June, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wouldn't be surprised to see 100,00 cases per day. That grim prediction is getting closer to reality.
While the economy is in a recession and tens of millions of people have lost jobs, some big banks are enjoying huge profits.
Three unemployed workers from different parts of the country share what options they have once the federal CARES Act benefits expire at the end of July.
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director of Georgetown University's Center on Poverty and Inequality, told NPR that the expiration of CARES Act benefits will not only hurt those workers relying on them — but the economy as a whole.
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Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected important information about COVID-19 hospitalizations and equipment from around the country. The Trump Administration now says hospitals must stop reporting that data to the CDC and instead send information to a different federal database.
Meanwhile, four states have agreed to share driver's license records to help the Trump administration produce citizenship data. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports this data could be used for redrawing voting districts.
And some imported surgical masks are turning out to be defective. Sellers of the masks are touting FDA certificates but those certificates are useless.
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A lot of Americans are having trouble getting a coronavirus test. If they do get one, they may have to wait more than a week for results.
On Tuesday, some of the country's biggest banks announced their second quarter results. The bottom line? The pandemic and the economy can't be separated.
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, announced they will require customers to wear masks beginning next week. Small businesses around the country are already dealing with fallout when customers refuse.
And in a surprise move, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they will rescind regulations barring international students from staying in the U.S. if their colleges don't offer in-person classes this fall.
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