The last two weeks have highlighted fractures within both the Republican and Democratic parties. The fight over releasing the Epstein files has shaken the GOP, causing some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies – like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – to call him out. And recent incidents of antisemitism within the MAGA movement have prompted infighting about how (and whether) to root it out. Despite that, the party in the country’s crosshairs is on the left. The longest government s...
Nov 17, 2025•44 min
The longest government shutdown in history is now over after a group of Senate Democrats broke with the party to vote for a bill that funds the federal government. Meanwhile, House Democrats facilitated the release of emails from the Epstein files that reference President Donald Trump and suggest that he knew about former financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes. Shots were fired at ICE agents in Chicago this week amid chaotic immigration enforcement operations. And, in global news, in the face of...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 22 min
The civil war in Sudan has claimed the lives of some 150,000 people. From the outside looking in, the story of the war is one of two competing generals, foreign involvement complicating matters, and mass casualties among the innocent. Now, following a massacre in the city of El Fasher, the rebels have agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the Quad — a group of group of four countries including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. But for how long will it...
Nov 13, 2025•43 min
In-home elder care costs are rising more than three times faster than inflation. AARP estimates that caregivers in the U.S. spend an average of $7,242 out of pocket each year. Cuts to federal spending have gutted programs that support them. And amidst the longest government shutdown in history, what little help was left is quickly drying up. Why is the cost of care going up? What can be done to combat those costs? Find more of our programs online . Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+...
Nov 13, 2025•36 min
Late Sunday, while most eyes were on the Senate’s shutdown negotiations, the Trump administration was busy rewriting the history of the 2020 election. Just before midnight, a Justice Department lawyer posted a list on X of dozens of the president’s top allies and former aides who’d received pardons related to their efforts to overturn that election. Among them are Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows; and Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who...
Nov 11, 2025•12 min
In the first general election since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, Democrats won big. But they might also be set to kill a lot of that momentum. Exit polls have found that in major races across the country — in states like Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and California — the economy and affordability were the biggest issues that drove voters to the polls. An NPB News poll from October suggests that 63 percent of registered voters believe the Trump administration has fallen short wh...
Nov 10, 2025•42 min
Democrats swept on election night this week, winning several key gubernatorial races, state legislature positions, and the New York City mayoral election. As the government shutdown continues, airports are struggling to run at maximum capacity. The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to cut 10 percent of flights at high traffic airports as they struggle with delays and staffing shortages. The Supreme Court began hearing arguments over whether or not Donald Trump’s tariffs on America’s tra...
Nov 07, 2025•1 hr 29 min
It’s open enrollment season. And for the 20 million Americans who buy their own health insurance, prices are through the roof. Rates are up an average of 30 percent for a typical plan in the 30 states where the federal government manages markets. In states that run their own markets, rates are up an average of 17 percent. That’s according to an analysis from the health policy research group KFF. Meanwhile, the longest government shutdown continues in Washington. Lawmakers still can’t agree over ...
Nov 06, 2025•36 min
Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, “Nobody’s Girl,” is again shining a light on justice for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The Department of Justice says Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Over the summer, she was moved to a minimum security prison in Texas after meeting privately with Trump administration officials. In the book, Giuffre recounts how she was lured in...
Nov 06, 2025•38 min
Tariffs are getting their day in court. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases about the legality of President Donald Trump’s favorite policy tool. Shortly after he took office, Trump started signing executive orders imposing tariffs on America’s trading partners. He declared April 2 “Liberation Day,” and enacted a broad package of import duties from Canada to China and way beyond, upending U.S. economic policy and reshaping global trade. He did it all without input fro...
Nov 04, 2025•11 min
Farmers are being hit hard by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The cost of fertilizer and machinery is up, while the market for certain crops is nearly gone. But last week’s trade deal with China could provide relief. And the administration says it’s readying a $12 billion farm aid package to pay out post-shutdown. What kind of impact have Trump’s economic policies had on the American farmer? Find more of our programs online . Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1...
Nov 04, 2025•33 min
As it’s filled election security roles at the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, the Trump administration has elevated people who are known election deniers — activists who’ve pushed unproven claims about fraud in the 2020 election or in American election systems more generally. And the administration has asked states to turn over voter roll data that includes private information. It’s even sued eight of them for some of that data in an unprecedented push for federal control of voter ...
Nov 03, 2025•42 min
The government shutdown has gone on for longer than one month. Now, Republicans are considering ending the Senate filibuster to reopen the government. The Supreme Court requested more information as it heard arguments about whether President Donald Trump is within his rights to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. Two prosecutors who went after January 6 rioters were put on leave this week for filing a sentencing memo in the case of a man who showed up armed outside of the Obama residence. Amid...
Nov 01, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Bruce Springsteen is an American music legend. Songs like “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA” have echoed through ballparks, dive bars, TV shows, and politics for decades. That’s why his new biopic, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” is unique. Instead of reckoning with The Boss’ glittering legacy, it focuses on a darker period of his career starting in 1981. Played by Jeremy Allen White, Springsteen finishes touring his album “The River,” rents a house in New Jersey by himself, and turns h...
Oct 30, 2025•40 min
More than 400 bills challenging longstanding public health practices, including vaccines and milk safety, are making their way through statehouses across the country. According to an Associated Press investigation that tracked said legislation, these bills would do everything from ban certain types of immunizations to making the sale and consumption of unpasteurized milk more accessible. Anti-vaccine bills are by far the most common. At least 350 of the 420 bills were related to vaccines. Some 1...
Oct 29, 2025•35 min
Hurricane Melissa is on track to make a direct hit on Jamaica today, with rains and winds already lashing the island. Melissa is a category five storm, with winds clocked at up to 175 miles per hour. It’s the strongest storm on the planet this year and one of the most devastating on record. Authorities in Jamaica and Cuba have issued evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people. For years, scientists have been telling us that climate change will make hurricanes more dangerous. What does thi...
Oct 28, 2025•11 min
A Hitler-praising group chat . A government official with a self-proclaimed “Nazi-streak .” A swastika flag in a sitting U.S. representative’s office. Those are a few of the racist, antisemitic forms of speech and expression tied to notable Republicans in recent weeks. Vice President JD Vance downplayed outrage over some of these incidents as “pearl clutching.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed a memo designating groups like “Antifa” and Black Lives Matter as terrorist organizations. It’s...
Oct 27, 2025•43 min
The government shutdown is now the second longest in the nation’s history, and federal workers missed their first full paycheck this week. Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats seem to be going nowhere. Following a federal court’s approval, the Trump administration is one legal hurdle away from getting the green light to send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon. And Trump reversed his decision to send troops to San Francisco after a conversation with the city’s mayor. Plus, Repu...
Oct 24, 2025•1 hr 25 min
A stroll down the supplement aisle is a walk filled with hope. One pill offers stronger hair and nails. Another promises better memory (which will help when you have to remember to take all these pills). And if you added just one more, you might be able to finally recapture the energy of your teenage years. But how true are these claims? Currently, the Food and Drug Administration does not approve the contents or the labeling dietary supplements before they hit the shelves. Around 75 percent of ...
Oct 23, 2025•35 min
The ISS has been in low orbit above the earth for almost 25 years. It’s played host to astronauts from around the world. But that’s about to come to an end. NASA is gearing up to deorbit the ISS in 2030 and it’s working with private companies to begin development of commercial space stations to take its place. What will that transition look like? And what does the commercialization of space hold for humanity in the near and far futures? Find more of our programs online . Listen to 1A sponsor-fre...
Oct 22, 2025•33 min
Last year, Americans spent more than 300 billion minutes on navigation apps, like Waze or Google Maps. The GPS systems in our pockets have come a long way from the first known map, carved into a mammoth tusk 30,000 years ago. But even with satellites tracking us and the ever-changing Earth from the skies – digital maps aren’t fact. Errors can show up and are sometimes as old as maps themselves. The phantom island of Sandy Island appeared on Google Maps until 2012, when Australian scientists sail...
Oct 21, 2025•33 min
The Trump administration has cut federal funding to colleges and universities it says don’t align with conservative priorities. And now, the White House says it will reward schools that follow in its ideological footsteps. Earlier this month, the administration sent a list of demands to nine schools. Officials are calling it the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Its stipulations include ending considerations of race and sex in admissions and hiring, capping international stu...
Oct 20, 2025•28 min
John Bolton , President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland this week. Also, a federal judge in San Francisco halted the mass layoffs of federal workers by the Trump administration. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is now in its second week, as both sides hand over hostages and return the bodies of those captured during the conflict. The United States continues to destroy boats off the coast of Venezuela as part of a supposed ca...
Oct 17, 2025•1 hr 25 min
The Trump administration has decimated the Department of Education with staffing cuts. Now, the latest round of layoffs all but wipes out the Office of Special Education Programs. So, what does that mean for the millions of kids who rely on these services? We sit down to talk about how Education Department cuts will affect children with disabilities. Find more of our programs online . Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a . See pcm.adswizz.com for information abou...
Oct 16, 2025•36 min
Last month, the Trump administration started blowing up boats off the coast of Venezuela, calling it part of an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. The White House’s so-called “war on cartels” is increasingly centered on Venezuela, not Mexico or Haiti, where most of these organizations actually operate. The president is linking these cartels to the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The South American strong man has indicated he’s ready to declare a state of emergency in his country if things ...
Oct 15, 2025•32 min
As part of a special issue this November, The Atlantic tasked writers and historians with looking at the country’s founding era to find out what America’s political thinkers valued at its beginning. The goal is to remind people in the U.S. about the abstract ideas enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other important revolutionary documents. And, how reconnecting with those ideals might help us as we struggle to keep American democracy together 250 years later. We d...
Oct 14, 2025•33 min
President Donald Trump promised to crackdown on immigration in Democratic-led cities using aggressive tactics like detaining people based on their race and deploying the National Guard to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. this summer. He launched an ICE operation in Boston. Now, he’s escalating his crackdowns in Chicago and Portland.ICE has made more than 1,000 arrests in Chicago according to the Department of Ho...
Oct 13, 2025•44 min
President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act this week . He continues to clash with state and municipal authorities over the limits of his abilities to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into American cities. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are eyeing their Democratic counterparts, looking for someone from the opposition to join them in voting for a bill that would reopen the government, more than a week into a shutdown. Former FBI Director James Comey was arr...
Oct 10, 2025•1 hr 25 min
It’s been two years since Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and seized more than 250 hostages from inside Israel. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory war. On Monday, Israeli and Hamas negotiators met in Egypt to discuss President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. Over the weekend, thousands of Israeli citizens took to the streets in Tel Aviv in support of a deal to release the hostages and end the war in Gaza. What do we know about the U.S.-...
Oct 08, 2025•42 min
The Supreme Court begins its new term this week. It’s agreed to hear cases on several hot button issues like tariffs, trans athletes in sports, and the use of presidential power. The rulings could change constitutional precedent as we know it. What’s at stake in these cases? Find more of our programs online . Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your ...
Oct 07, 2025•40 min
