The U.S. military will be fully out of the country by August 31. The Taliban already control more than half of it. A U.S. intelligence assessment reportedly says the Afghan government could collapse in as little as six months. Some members of the Afghan military feel "abandoned and alone," Commanding General of the Afghan Army Sami Sadat tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly . Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Diaa Hadid . In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that w...
Jul 13, 2021•14 min
The Biden administration is emphasizing vaccine outreach by 'trusted messengers' — community volunteers, faith leaders, and primary care providers — who are best-positioned to convince people to get vaccinated. NPR's Maria Godoy reports on that kind of outreach in Maryland, one of just a handful of states where at least half of the Latino population is vaccinated . 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. ...
Jul 12, 2021•12 min
'Cancelling' is a term that originated in young and progressive circles, where it was used to mean 'boycott,' University of Pennsylvania linguist Nicole Holliday tells NPR. Now the term 'cancel' has been co-opted and weaponized by some conservative media and politicians. Something similar happened in the 1990s with the term 'politically correct.' John K. Wilson wrote about that time in a book called The Myth Of Political Correctness . And — just like 'politically correct' — 'cancelling' and 'can...
Jul 09, 2021•13 min
All over the east coast and Midwest, forests are getting hotter and drier. Many are also overgrown and overdue for wildfire. And increasingly, Americans are moving to areas where these forests and their homes tangle close together. The fastest such growth is in the Southeast, where few consider wildfire much of a threat. Molly Samuel with member station WABE reports from Tate City, Georgia. Additional reporting in this episode from Annie Ropeik of New Hampshire Public Radio and from NPR's Nathan...
Jul 08, 2021•13 min
NPR's Tom Dreisbach reports on the story of Alan Hostetter, a former police chief and yoga instructor from California who's now facing conspiracy charges for his alleged role in the U.S. Capitol riot. Hostetter is one of more than 500 people facing charges related to January 6th. Hear more about how prosecutors are proceeding from NPR's Ryan Lucas and the NPR Politics Podcast. Listen via Apple , Google , Spotify , or Pocket Casts . In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment ...
Jul 07, 2021•14 min
Critical race theory is a legal framework developed decades ago at Harvard Law School. It posits that racism is not just the product of individual bias, but is embedded in legal systems and policies. Today, it's become the subject of heated debate on Fox News and in local school board meetings across the country. Adam Harris , staff writer at The Atlantic, explains why. Harris has traced the debate over critical race theory back decades . Gloria Ladson-Billings spoke to NPR about watching that d...
Jul 06, 2021•15 min
In 1969, during the same summer as Woodstock, another music festival took place 100 miles away. The Harlem Cultural Festival featured black musicians like Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder — stars who we might not have glimpsed at this point in their careers. Footage of the festival had been locked in a basement for 50 years, because TV and film companies were not interested in it at the time. Questlove and his fellow filmmakers speak to Audie Cornish about bringing the concert festival to the big...
Jul 05, 2021•11 min
The Star-Spangled Banner is the official anthem for the United States, but there are plenty of songs that have become informal American anthems for millions of people. On this episode of NPR's Throughline , we share three stories from NPR Music's American Anthem series , which explored the origins of songs that have become ingrained in American culture. Throughline is NPR's history podcast. Listen via Apple , Spotify , Google , or Pocket Casts . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our coll...
Jul 04, 2021•27 min
Cases are surging in countries around the world as the more transmissible delta variant spreads rapidly. Also growing: pressure on vaccine-rich countries to help people in countries where vaccines are still scarce. NPR's Will Stone reports on the waiting game. And Harvard's Junaid Habi argues vaccine hesitancy in America is a peculiar privilege. 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. Email us at consider...
Jul 02, 2021•13 min
The former Secretary of Defense was a chief architect of the conflict that came to be known as America's 'forever war.' After his death this week at age 88, that conflict has now officially outlived him. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on one group of people still living with the consequences: thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military over the past 20 years. More from that story, which aired on Morning Edition , is here . Additional reporting in this episode from NPR's Greg Myre . In pa...
Jul 01, 2021•12 min
Los Angeles County — America's most populous county — recently recommended mask wearing even for vaccinated people, just two weeks after the state relaxed most COVID restrictions. County officials say masks will help protect unvaccinated people from the more transmissible delta variant, which is spreading rapidly across the country. CDC director Rochelle Walensky tells NPR the federal government may "encourage" states to return to more mitigation measures in places where vaccination is low and t...
Jun 30, 2021•14 min
Late last year the Senate passed a bill that required U.S. intelligence agencies to share what they know about "unidentified aerial phenomena," the technical term for UFOs. That report was released last week. Spoiler alert — it doesn't confirm the existence of alien spacecraft. But it doesn't rule them out either. Retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich recounts her first-hand encounter with a UFO off the coast of Southern California. It's one of 144 sightings mentioned in the new u...
Jun 29, 2021•14 min
Susana Alvarez, a survivor of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, explained to NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition Sunday that residents were told in a late 2018 meeting that the building was safe — despite evidence it wasn't. NPR confirmed Alvarez's account. An engineering report issued five weeks before that meeting warned of "major structural damage" to the building that would require "extremely expensive" repairs. Jenny Staletovich with member station WLRN reports on efforts by...
Jun 28, 2021•13 min
Alicia Argelia met Army veteran Matt Lammers when he rolled into the store where she worked. Matt had lost both legs and one arm during a deployment to Iraq. Strangers often approached him to awkwardly thank him for his service or ask him what happened; his physical injuries made him a living reminder of the cost of war. But Alicia was different. She offered friendship without pity, and he was charmed by her from the start. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pers...
Jun 27, 2021•40 min
What's behind the 20-year success of the Fast & Furious franchise? Casting, storytelling and reinvention. NPR's Linda Holmes — who wrote an owner's manual to the franchise — explains. Linda is one of the hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour . Find their episode about F9 on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or Pocket Casts . F9 premiered overseas last month while waiting for pandemic-shuttered cinemas to open in the U.S., where it's supposed to restart the Hollywood blockbuster. NPR's Bob Mondello ha...
Jun 25, 2021•13 min
For the second weekend in a row, parts of the American West will be gripped by historic heat, coming in the second decade of megadrought that has gripped the region for 22 years. Wildfire is an obvious threat — but there are other consequences of extreme heat and drought, as smaller snowmelts and lower reservoirs lead to water cutbacks and more expensive electricity. And climate change is making it all worse. Colorado Public Radio's Michael Elizabeth Sakas reports on another consequence: what ha...
Jun 24, 2021•13 min
Back in March, Congress approved nearly $50 billion in aid for people who need rental assistance to avoid eviction. At the same time a federal moratorium on evictions is expected to be extended till the end of the July. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
Jun 23, 2021•14 min
From the beginning of the pandemic, the debate about the origins of the coronavirus was immediately politicized by former President Donald Trump. But now international efforts to investigate and find answers have stalled. NPR's Will Stone explains why. Despite a new focus on the lab leak theory, many scientists still believe the virus emerged naturally, reports NPR's Geoff Brumfiel . NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik has also reported on the media's coverage of the lab leak theory . Liste...
Jun 22, 2021•14 min
In June 1971, then-President Richard Nixon said the U.S. had a new public enemy number one: addiction. It was the beginning of America's long war on drugs. Fifty years later, during months of interviews, NPR found a growing consensus across the political spectrum — including among some in law enforcement — that the drug war simply didn't work. The stories in this episode are from NPR's Brian Mann and Eric Westervelt as part of a special series: The War On Drugs: 50 Years Later . In participating...
Jun 21, 2021•15 min
This all started with a guest essay by Tom Hanks for The New York Times called "You Should Learn the Truth About the Tulsa Race Massacre," in which Hanks made the case for a more widespread teaching of American history involving Black Americans, especially of events like the Tulsa Race Massacre. He wrote: "History was mostly written by white people about white people like me, while the history of Black people — including the horrors of Tulsa — was too often left out. Until relatively recently, t...
Jun 20, 2021•16 min
Juneteenth, the celebration to commemorate the end of chattel slavery in the United States, is the newest federal holiday after President Biden signed it into law on Thursday. It's another example of how the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd has been reshaping the way Americans think and talk about race. That shift is also evident in reparation programs for Black descendants of slaves that are being enacted by groups around the country. The Virginia Theological Seminary, for ...
Jun 18, 2021•14 min
Last month, President Biden laid out an ambitious goal: to get 70% of adults in the U.S. at least one vaccine dose by July 4. With less than three weeks to go, that goal may too ambitious, Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage tells NPR, and some states may see localized outbreaks this year. Still — nearly two dozen states have already exceeded the 70% threshold. Many are clustered in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, while states with the lowest rates are largely in the South and Southwest. But ther...
Jun 17, 2021•13 min
Remote learning simply didn't work for many children with disabilities. Without the usual access to educators, therapists and in-person aides, the families of these children, and many like them, say they watched their children slide backward, losing academic, social and physical skills. Now they're demanding help, arguing to judges, state departments of education and even to the U.S. Department of Education that schools are legally required to do better by their students with disabilities. NPR e...
Jun 16, 2021•10 min
Wednesday will be President Biden's first meeting with one of America's greatest adversaries. Drawing a contrast with his predecessor is the least of what the commander-in-chief hopes to accomplish when he sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly is covering the summit in Geneva, where she spoke to former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul about what the U.S. could expect to gain from negotiations. For more coverage of the negotiations, follow Mary Louise Ke...
Jun 15, 2021•14 min
From computer chips to rental cars to chicken breasts, a complex global supply chain is straining under pent-up post-vaccine demand. NPR's Scott Horsley explains what's going on — and why Biden administration officials think price hikes will eventually level out. Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Camila Domonoske — who reported on computer chips in car manufacturing — and NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday , which reported on slowdowns in food processing and manufacturing . In participating...
Jun 14, 2021•12 min
About two months after the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, groups of Americans began to protest the quarantine lockdown measures in their states. At some of these anti-lockdown rallies reporters Lisa Hagen of WABE and Chris Haxel of KCUR discovered they weren't the spontaneous grassroots uprisings they purported to be. Rather, they were being organized by a group of three brothers: Aaron, Ben and Chris Dorr. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pe...
Jun 13, 2021•33 min
The story made waves in Washington, D.C., this week: The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax . ProPublica obtained private tax data from America's 25 wealthiest individuals, which revealed exactly how those people manage, through legal means, to pay far less income tax than most Americans — and sometimes, none at all. ProPublica senior editor and reporter Jesse Eisinger explains how it works to NPR's Rachel Martin . After the story's pu...
Jun 11, 2021•13 min
For Americans who were able to work from home at the start of the pandemic, what felt like an extended snow day at first has now turned into 15 months and counting of Zoom calls and logging onto work in sweatpants. But now that about half of Americans are fully vaccinated, some are trickling back into the office. We asked you to tell us how your work has been for the last year and how you feel about returning to the office. The responses were mixed. Susan Lund, a partner at McKinsey & Compan...
Jun 10, 2021•14 min
More than half of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, and case rates are at their lowest point since the pandemic began. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the future of the pandemic. Questions about variants, vaccine booster shots and the idea of vaccine mandates in schools or publicly-funded universities. We had a chance to put some of the questions — including ones from you — to the nation's top doctor, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy , in an interview conducted...
Jun 09, 2021•15 min
Democratic proposals for immigration reform, gun control, infrastructure and voting rights are stalled in Congress. Standing in between Democrats and much of their progressive wish list is one of their own, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has signaled his opposition to eliminating the filibuster or passing an infrastructure plan without Republican support. He's not the only West Virginian with an outsized influence in Washington right now. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is representing Senate Rep...
Jun 08, 2021•13 min
