Episodes

  • How did an attempt to simplify a tedious student-aid form turn into a full-on debacle that has some high school seniors wondering if they will have to delay starting college? 

    Guest: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, national higher education reporter for the Washington Post.

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  • 2024 is down to two historically unpopular candidates. That may leave the door open for third-party candidates to make some noise. But Democrats have been burned before – and aren’t going down without a fight.

    Guest: Dave Weigel, reporter for Semafor.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by the Athletic’s Chantel Jennings to talk about South Carolina’s victory over Iowa. They also ponder Caitlin Clark’s WNBA future, John Calipari’s reported move to Arkansas, and Tennessee’s decision to move beyond the Pat Summitt coaching tree. Finally, Sam Koppelman joins to discuss Hunterbrook Media’s new report on Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s mortgage company and how Hunterbrook is trying to use journalism to make money in the stock market.

    South Carolina-Iowa (1:42): How the Gamecocks took down the Hawkeyes.

    Caitlin Clark and big coaching moves (14:45): How will the Iowa star perform in the pros? And what’s next for the Kentucky men’s and Tennessee women’s basketball programs?

    Ishbia (34:26): Breaking down a new story on the NBA and mortgage lending and assessing a new journalistic business model.

    Afterball (55:51): Josh on Sports Illustrated’s 1955 baseball preview, featuring Willie Mays, Leo Durocher, and Laraine Day.

    (Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)


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  • In response to a spike in child labor violations, some states are strengthening their laws against the practice—while 16 states have weakened laws against child labor. What’s going on?

    Guest: Lauren Kaori Gurley, labor reporter for the Washington Post.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • A young Black man, wrongfully accused of sexual assault, is convicted nonetheless. Evidence that could’ve exonerated him is withheld or covered up, and he spends much of his youth in prison. It sounds like a movie-of-the-week, but it was the real life nightmare of Jarrett Adams. Throughout his incarceration, he fought for his freedom and eventually won. Now, he’s a defense attorney who helps other wrongfully convicted people find justice, and build better lives on the outside through his organization Life After Justice. On today’s episode of A Word, Jarrett Adams joins host Jason Johnson to talk about his experience with the criminal justice system, and why the punishment may continue long after a conviction is overturned. 

    Guest: Jarrett Adams, co-founder of the non-profit organization Life After Justice 

    Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

    Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Spring is a time for fresh starts. For a lot of us, that means spring cleaning.
    But don’t worry, we’re not talking about the whole house. 
    This week, the Well, Now team is spring cleaning our medicine cabinets. What are some medicinal must-haves, and what things should we definitely toss?
    Joining us to help tidy up is Dr. Mauricio Gonzalez, a board-certified physician in internal, emergency and obesity medicine.
    If you liked this episode, check out: What “Wellness” Is and Isn’t
    Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.
    Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected] 
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  • The demand for electricity is surging in the U.S. With increasing amounts of power going towards artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electric vehicles, can the grid keep up?

    Guest: Evan Halper, business reporter covering the energy transition for the Washington Post

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • After weeks of the Trump trials (and the run-up to the Trump trials) becoming ever more engrossing spectator sports, both the public and the media may have lost sight of some of the stakes. They also may have lost sight of the truth of what the legal system can actually deliver in terms of protecting democracy from Donald J Trump. 
    On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Juliette Kayyem to dissect Trump's impact on legal, national security, and ideological fronts. Kayyem brings her national security expertise to discuss the evolution of Trump's tactics from stochastic terror to direct incitement. Together, they explore the implications for democracy of a presidential campaign where one candidate issues violent threats and tries to intimidate judges. Kayyem lays out in stark terms the kinds of focus and planning needed in the coming months.
    Juliette Kayyem is a national security expert, Harvard lecturer, CNN analyst, Atlantic contributor, and author of 'The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters.' Avowedly not a lawyer, she approaches America’s political predicament using counter-terrorism approaches to Trump’s movement and preparations for the 2024 elections. 

    Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Here are this week’s chatters:
    Emily: Scott Bauer for AP: Wisconsin voters approve ban on private money support for elections and Unfair Share: The Gerrymandered Chocolate Bar on Kickstarter
    John: Joey Roulette and Will Dunham for Reuters: Exclusive: White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon and John Dickerson Introduces: Navel Gazing 
    David: Corvid Research: All in the (crow) family; 3 Body Problem on Netflix; The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu; and Foundation and For All Mankind on Apple TV+
    Listener chatter from Kim in Spartanburg, S.C.: The fish doorbell and thunder_keck on TikTok: fish doorbell season is back 
    For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the April 8 total solar eclipse. See John Dickerson and David Parkinson for CBS News: Massive storm system threatening millions across U.S. See also Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival; Annie Dillard for The Atlantic: “Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.”; The Guardian: Columbus and the night of the bloody moon; and John Uri for NASA: Eclipses Near and Far.
    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.
    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
    Podcast production by Jared Downing
    Research by Julie Huygen
    Hosts
    Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz
    Follow
    Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ 
    @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest
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  • This week: Americans are less revved up about EVs. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss if Elon Musk’s mischief has played a role in slowing sales. Also: the crisis in the wine industry, and how a combination investigative publication/hedge fund wants to blow the lid off corporations — while shorting their stock. In the Plus segment: the proxy battle for the future of Disney. 
    If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our regular show every week. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.
    Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna Roth.
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  • Donald Trump got a huge financial boost when Truth Social went public last week—or did he?

    Guest: Nitish Pahwa, associate writer on business and tech for Slate.

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Benjamin Netanyahu has been able to count on the support from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties. But as the IDF needs additional manpower to continue a two-front war, the military exemption that the ultra-Orthodox enjoy is coming under scrutiny, and could fracture Netanyahu’s hold on power.

    Guest: Yair Rosenberg, staff writer for The Atlantic.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Sports betting is now mostly legal, and, if you watch sports, its advertisements are inescapable. Now, a series of scandals has rocked the professional leagues. When everyone bets, odds are – someone will cross a line.  

    Guest: Jay Caspian Kang, staff writer for “The New Yorker” and author of The Loneliest Americans.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: housing the nation. 

    We have an affordable housing problem — and an affordability problem, period, but that’s another show. 

    When we talk about solutions to homelessness and cost burden for renters and homeowners alike, many progressives lean toward government intervention… because capitalism seems to have failed us. But has it, really? Or is for-profit development the surprising answer to affordable housing?

    Jon McMillan of TF Cornerstone – and author of a chapter in Housing The Nation – joins us.

    If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected]

    Podcast production by Maura Currie.

    You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.
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  • Democrat Marilyn Lands will be sworn in to the Alabama House of Representatives this week, having won a special election in the deep-red state by 25 points. How did Lands do it—and what can the national Democrats learn from her victory?

    Guest: Marilyn Lands, Alabama lawmaker who won a special election for the state’s House of Representatives.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Joel Anderson and Stefan Fatsis are joined by USA Today’s Lindsay Schnell to talk about the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament and by Buzzer’s Eamonn Brennan to discuss the men’s tournament. Finally, the Washington Post’s Kent Babb joins for a conversation about his profile of Kim Mulkey.

    NCAA women (5:55): Can anyone beat South Carolina?

    NCAA men (23:02): Why everyone loves North Carolina State’s DJ Burns Jr.

    Mulkey profile (38:31): Kent Babb on his reporting process and everything that came after.

    Afterball (1:00:33): Stefan on chess pioneer Lisa Lane.

    (Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad free.)

    Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • The group that brought the case that overturned Roe v. Wade is back before the Supreme Court arguing for more restrictions on mifepristone, the “abortion pill.” Who are Alliance Defending Freedom, and what are their goals?

    Guest: David Kirkpatrick, staff writer for The New Yorker.

    Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • The American Dream has long been out of reach for many Black people in this country. Between police violence, the lack of economic opportunity, and the threat of a second Trump term, many African Americans are considering building their dream lives in another country. And for thousands of people, Mexico is one of the top destinations. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Adam Mahoney of the CapitalB News to talk about why many Black Americans are moving south of the border, where they’re settling, and whether their new country is as welcoming as they’d hoped.

    Guest: Adam Mahoney, reporter for CapitalB News

    Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

    Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.
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  • Eating disorders are one of the most deadly psychiatric disorders.
    But for decades, much of the criteria to diagnose one applied only to cisgender girls and those assigned female at birth – like a loss of menstruation. This meant that many cisgender boys and those assigned male at birth fell through the cracks. 
    On this week’s episode of Well, Now: The rise in eating disorders among boys and men with Dr. Jason Nagata, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco. 
    Maya and Kavita will discuss how eating disorders tend to manifest differently between boys and girls, and what signs to look for if you think you or someone you know needs care.
    For more information on eating disorders, you can visit the National Eating Disorders Association’s website.
    If you liked this episode, check out: Breaking Up With Diet Culture
    Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.
    Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected] 
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  • From science fiction writers to American presidents to Elon Musk, everyone’s eager to send people to Mars. But, even if you could nail the physical aspects, are Earthlings cut out for life on Mars mentally? 

    Guest: Nathaniel Rich, contributing writer for New York Times magazine. 
    Kate Greene, author and poet

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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