John B. King Jr. has worked in nearly every role an educator can — teacher, principal, administrator, higher education chancellor, and education secretary (under Barack Obama). Some big changes for education in America could be coming. The Trump administration has signaled its intention to close the Department of Education. That could have far-reaching ripple effects on parents, teachers, and, most importantly, students. We discuss what it takes for teachers to impact students' lives for the bet...
May 08, 2025•33 min
Spring is here and whether you've a balcony or a big yard, it's a great time to garden. Maybe you're growing some vegetables this season or experimenting with new plants. But nothing says 'Spring' quite like flowers. We answer your flower gardening questions and spend some time talking about one flower in particular: orchids. Orchids are the largest plant family in the world with over 25,000 species. They also make great gifts. We talk about how to care for orchids even if you're not growing the...
May 07, 2025•27 min
Over five million US borrowers are in default, with their loan 270 days past due. Four million haven't made payments in 90 days. Now, the five-year pause on collections for defaulted student loans ended Monday. The original pause goes back to a 2020 pandemic-era policy, but it was extended multiple times during the Biden administration. For those in default, the collection of that debt may mean dipping into paychecks, tax refunds, and social security benefits. These collections are being restart...
May 06, 2025•38 min
President Donald Trump wants Congress to put together a 'big, beautiful" bill that will extend tax cuts implemented during his first administration. But with less money coming in for the federal government, Congress will have to find ways to cut its own spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson says that goal is $1.5 trillion. One big sticking point on where to make cuts is Medicaid. Johnson has repeatedly claimed that Congress will not make cuts to Medicaid for anyone who is "duly owed." There are s...
May 05, 2025•33 min
As dropping approval ratings rolled in at the end of his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that America is currently living with Biden's stock market and not his. A Vermont judge ordered the release of Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi this week. He had been detained by ICE during a final interview for his American citizenship. As Donald Trump's trade war continues, traditional U.S. trading partners are seeking to make connections with othe...
May 02, 2025•1 hr 24 min
Host Diane Rehm sat behind the mic at our home station, WAMU, for nearly 40 years. Her eponymous news talk program aired from 1979 to 2016 to nearly 3 million listeners each week. In some ways, her success in radio defied the odds. In 1998, she was diagnosed with the neurological condition spasmodic dysphonia. It gave her the distinct voice that over time became synonymous for many with civil conversations on frequently tough topics. In 2014, President Barack Obama presented Diane with a Nationa...
May 02, 2025•29 min
Americans consume an average of 17 teaspoons of sugar a day with some estimates as high as 34 teaspoons a day. That's more than two or three times the recommended daily amount according to the American Heart Association. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has strong thoughts on the sugar. "There's things that will never be able to eliminate like sugar," said Kennedy. "And sugar is poison, and Americans need to know that. It is poisoning us." In this edition of "In Good Hea...
May 01, 2025•34 min
100 days. That's how long Donald Trump's been in office in 2025. While this moment is usually a time to measure how the administration is faring, in many ways, the administration is a reflection of who we are as a nation. We discuss what we're learning about who we are as Americans during this time. What do we want, and what do we stand for? There have been executive orders, Signal group chats, federal agency cuts, firings, rehirings, ignored judicial rulings, billionaires, memes, tariffs, and s...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 4 min
José Andrés is a Michelin-starred chef and the owner of 40 restaurants across the globe. But the culinary star is just as well known for his humanitarian work. His organization, World Central Kitchen, has fed millions in Gaza and Ukraine and during natural disasters in the U.S. and abroad. Now, he's releasing a memoir about what it's like to not only feed people when they want it, but when they need it. We talk to Andrés about his life, work, and his new book, "Change the Recipe." Want to suppor...
Apr 30, 2025•33 min
President Donald Trump swore to tackle illegal immigration in his first moments in office. His administration says he's living up to his word, but his actions over the last 100 days have raised big questions about treatment of immigrants under U.S. law. This includes ramping up pressure on immigrants – those here legally and without legal status – to leave the United States of their own volition, or "self deport." For many immigrants, self-deporting means leaving the only country, culture, and c...
Apr 29, 2025•37 min
Yesterday, Canadians went to the polls to decide whether Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party maintained the reins, or whether the Conservatives returned to power for the first time in nearly a decade. The voters have spoken, and the Liberal Party will continue to lead Canada. Carney was chosen by his party to take over leadership after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down earlier this year. These results will have major ramifications on Canada's shaky relations with the U.S.,...
Apr 29, 2025•12 min
Big news is happening at a breakneck pace these days. But on the cusp of the 100th day of President Donald Trump's second administration, let's take a pause to go back in time to Sept. 30, 1962. On that day, President John F. Kennedy sent U.S. military forces to protect James Meredith on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first Black student admitted to the school. That night, JFK addressed the nation from the White House. In his address JFK describes a moment when the...
Apr 28, 2025•39 min
Tributes for the late Pope Francis are pouring in from across the globe after the Pontiff passed away on Easter Monday. His funeral will be held on this weekend. This week, the president attacked Supreme Court Justices for getting in the way of his administration's efforts to deport migrants, saying that the Court can't afford trials for everyone they're seeking to remove from the U.S. In health news, scientists say that the measles outbreak in the Southwest is now the largest since 2000. And at...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 25 min
It's been three years since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. The abortion access landscape has changed dramatically in that time. The procedure has been banned in 12 states with limited exceptions. Four states have banned abortion after six weeks. Now, several states are weighing bills that would treat abortion as homicide. But what comes next? What if getting Roe v. Wade struck down wasn't actually the real goal of the anti-abortion movement? What if it were something that would...
Apr 25, 2025•31 min
The White House has issued an ultimatum on the war in Ukraine. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the U.S. would walk away from the peace process unless Ukraine and Russia accepted America's terms – terms which heavily favor Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the deal which calls for Ukraine to cede its territory currently occupied by Russia. Thursday morning, Russia launched its deadliest attacks on Kyiv in months. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ann...
Apr 24, 2025•12 min
A sleeve, a collar, soles, or laces — these elements of your wardrobe vary and define your style. But it takes many steps to get them from a factory into your closet. How does something like a t-shirt become a finished product? About 97 percent of clothing and footwear in the U.S. is imported, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. Those imports are mostly from Asian countries including China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India. We unpack it in this installment of our series, "H...
Apr 23, 2025•32 min
The first Earth Day was celebrated April 22, 1970. 55 years later, we know a lot more about the harmful effect human civilization has on our natural environment. But the desire to find solutions – big and small – continues. We asked you about your contributions to helping the environment around you. Many of you told us of local solutions to this global challenge. Those types of stories are the focus of The New York Times series "50 States, 50 Fixes." The series highlights environmental solutions...
Apr 22, 2025•37 min
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used a signal chat to communicate military battle plans, again, according to reporting from The New York Times. This second line of communication was opened back in March, around the same time as the infamous first chat, which had accidentally included a journalist. This latest – which Hegseth accessed via his personal phone – included his wife and brother. The Pentagon denies these latest reports. Yesterday, NPR also reported that the White House is looking to ...
Apr 22, 2025•11 min
The Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants it says are gang members have hit several legal roadblocks in recent days. Federal judges and the Supreme Court have blocked the government from deporting more migrants under a seldom used, 18th-century wartime law. El Salvador is now key to this deportation policy. Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, has accepted hundreds of people deported from the U.S., including people not from either country. It's holding most of those men at a massive p...
Apr 21, 2025•36 min
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is the big name in the news this week as he remains imprisoned in El Salvador. A U.S. District judge chastised the Department of Justice for not following her order to facilitate his release. Meanwhile, America's top diplomat says time is running out for US-led talks to find a path of peace in Ukraine. Those remarks from Paris follow Russian airstrikes that killed dozens and injured more than 100 people in Sumy, Ukraine, mid-morning on Palm Sunday. It's the deadliest attack ...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 26 min
The successor to the Nintendo Switch is (almost) here. But it's arrived at an awkward time for both Nintendo and gamers alike. The Switch 2 was initially announced in January, but fans learned much more about it during a Nintendo Direct livestream a few weeks ago. It included information about the system's launch date (June 5), its hardware specs, the games Nintendo fans could expect to play at release, and, perhaps most importantly, prices for both the Switch 2 and its games. That last part has...
Apr 18, 2025•26 min
President Donald Trump promised tariffs on the campaign trail. Those tariffs are here – but how much of them, where, and on who, has changed a few times. Here's where things stand right now: President Trump rolled tariff rates back to a baseline ten percent for most countries, but raised the tariffs on China to 145 percent. Global trading markets plunged due to a series of rapid shifts in trade policy. We discuss how these policies affect small businesses, many of which have to rely on goods tha...
Apr 17, 2025•36 min
The last few weeks have had many of us thinking long and hard about the things we buy, the price of those goods, and the potential for those prices to jump. This episode is part of our series, "How Did This Get Here?", where we follow goods as they make their way through the global supply chain, and explore what the president's announced tariffs may mean for your pocketbook. Today, we continue our series with.a product some of you may be sipping on right now. It's coffee. Coffee is everywhere. T...
Apr 16, 2025•32 min
Frustration with the Internal Revenue Service is nothing new. A Pew Research survey found it's the least popular federal agency among Americans. But that should come as no surprise. After all, the IRS is responsible for collecting what we owe the government. During fiscal year 2024, the IRS collected more than $5 trillion in tax revenue. But this year, Tax Day arrives amid upheaval at the agency. Just last week, the head of the IRS resigned – the third to do so since President Trump's inaugurati...
Apr 15, 2025•35 min
What's the weather like in your area? Chances are you took a look at your preferred weather app on your phone before heading outside. We can find that information easily because of weather data that comes from the National Weather Service. It's a part of the federal agency NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Trump Administration plans to cut billions of dollars from NOAA in its upcoming 2026 budget plans. The cuts could result in a remaking of the agency and eliminate ...
Apr 15, 2025•11 min
The Trump administration is threatening to pull billions of dollars in funding from top universities across the country. Last week, it froze $1 billion meant for Cornell University and $750 million meant for Northwestern University. The two schools are currently being investigated for alleged antisemitism on campus. And last month, the administration canceled $400 million in grants and contracts for Columbia University also over allegations of antisemitism on campus. President Trump has since ta...
Apr 14, 2025•34 min
This week the Supreme Court told the Trump administration Thursday that it must "facilitate" the release and retrieval of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador. After announcing tariffs on almost every country in the world last week, President Donald Trump announced this week that he was pausing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. Except for those on China. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Texas after a second death linked to a measles outbreak in the s...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 22 min
It's safe to say there's been a lot of confusion and even panic in the wake of President Donald Trump's tariff announcement last week — investors are confused, the markets are confused, even the president's Republican colleagues are confused. But what do these tariffs mean for working people? Especially as many have seen their personal wealth take a sizable hit and their budgets likely be blown to bits. We discuss what the tariffs could mean for America's finances in the near and far futures wit...
Apr 10, 2025•34 min
The auto industry is already reeling from President Donald Trump's new tariffs. They've only been in effect for about six days, but the response was immediate. On the same day those tariffs went live, Stellantis temporarily paused production at plants in Canada and Mexico. The company also temporarily laid off 900 U.S. workers. And Volkswagen said it's planning to add an import fee to its sticker price. According to financial analytics firm S&P Global, about half of car sales could be affected b...
Apr 09, 2025•35 min
People visited U.S. National Park sites a record 331 million times last year. Were you one of them? If you were, and plan to visit any National Parks this year though, staff cuts might mean a different kind of experience. At the direction of Elon Musk's DOGE entity, the Department of the Interior fired around 1,000 probationary National Park Service employees in February. That has current and former NPS employees feeling pessimistic about the future. We discuss how these cuts will impact the fut...
Apr 08, 2025•34 min
