Hospitals like the University of Mississippi Medical Center are overwhelmed. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the Jackson hospital, told NPR they are nearly out of beds — and treating patients in hallways. Meanwhile, Biden administration health officials are coalescing around a plan that would advise most Americans to get a COVID-19 booster shot eight months after their last dose. A booster is already recommended for immunocompromised people. Here are six things to know if you're immunoco...
Aug 17, 2021•11 min
The Taliban now control Afghanistan. How did the country's government fall so quickly — and why didn't the U.S. see it coming? NPR put those questions to the former commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus. Afghanistan's future remains unclear, especially for its women and girls. One of them is Freshta Karim, a Kabul resident and founder of a mobile library project called Charmaghz , who spoke to Audie Cornish . Karim is one of many Afghans who NPR reached in Ka...
Aug 16, 2021•15 min
In the agricultural town of Salinas, Calif., Police Officer William Yetter repeatedly makes mistakes. First there's a stolen bike he doesn't investigate. Then, his bosses discover he's not filing police reports on time. 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...
Aug 15, 2021•51 min
In the last week, the Taliban have gained control of large sections of Afghanistan faster than most people expected. The Pentagon is dispatching troops to assist in evacuating staff from the American embassy in Kabul, where refugee camps are growing more crowded. The U.N. says the country may be on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told Audie Cornish the 300,000-member Afghan military needs "the willpower" to stand up to the Taliban. In participatin...
Aug 13, 2021•16 min
What struck John Kerry the most about this week's landmark U.N. report on climate change? "The irreversibility" of some of the most catastrophic effects of global warming, he tells Audie Cornish. Kerry, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, tells NPR the U.N. report underscored the need for the world to respond more forcefully to climate change — and he's called an upcoming U.N. climate summit in Scotland the "last best hope" for global action. At the same time, the Biden administration faces an u...
Aug 12, 2021•15 min
In the next few weeks, millions of children will head back to school. Many of them are too young to be vaccinated. At the same time, children are being hospitalized with COVID-19 in small but growing numbers — and approaching rates higher than the winter surge. Dr. Marcos Mestre with Niklaus Children's Foundation Hospital in Miami told NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday many of the children his hospital is treating come from families with unvaccinated parents or caretakers. Unlike last year, many scho...
Aug 11, 2021•15 min
The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia is at the center of a civil war that broke out last November, after rebels there attacked a military base. Since then, the political fight has become an ethnic one, with troops no longer distinguishing civilians from rebel fighters. NPR's Eyder Peralta visited the war-torn region in May and spoke with the people at the center of the conflict. The United Nations says more than 400,000 people are now living in famine conditions in Ethiopia, putting them at ri...
Aug 10, 2021•13 min
A landmark new report from the United Nations warns that the world is running out of time to avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming. Those effects are already becoming clear as extreme weather, drought, and fire become more common. One of the latest examples: wildfires are raging amid a record heat wave in Turkey, Lebanon, Italy and Greece. Durrie Bouscaren reports for NPR from Istanbul . And, as NPR's Jeff Brady reports, climate change is also changing lives in subtler ways . Other re...
Aug 09, 2021•14 min
Episode four of On Our Watch from NPR and KQED investigates the case of a plainclothes Stockton police officer who grabbed a Black 16-year-old, took him to the ground and punched him, knocking the teen's two front teeth onto a convenience store floor. 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...
Aug 08, 2021•48 min
After months of bipartisan negotiation, the Senate may finally vote this weekend on a 2,700 page infrastructure bill that includes $1 trillion in spending on things like roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband. 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...
Aug 06, 2021•13 min
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to resign after this week's explosive report from the state's attorney general. It detailed multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Cuomo. Cuomo has categorically denied harassment and groping allegations. And he said that people have "sought to unfairly characterize and weaponize everyday interactions." Multiple high profile politicians have called for Cuomo to step down, including President Biden. Meanwhile, NPR's Brian Mann disc...
Aug 05, 2021•13 min
It's been exactly one year since a massive explosion in Beirut's port killed over 200 people, injured thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage. 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
Aug 04, 2021•12 min
At the stroke of midnight last Saturday, a federal moratorium that had been in place for nearly eleven months expired. After the Supreme Court ruled that the CDC could not extend that moratorium, the Biden administration asked Congress to take action. But Congress failed to maintain protections for renters before the House went into August recess. Now, many renters fear eviction could coming knocking at their doors. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., told NPR that she is urging local governments to institut...
Aug 03, 2021•12 min
The United States has reached yet another turning point in this pandemic—one that may feel particularly unrelenting and confusing. 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
Aug 02, 2021•14 min
In episode three of On Our Watch , we examine the records that were unsealed by this transparency law to piece together what exactly happened on September 14, 2014 when Pedie Perez was shot and killed outside a liquor store by a police officer, Wallace Jensen. 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...
Aug 01, 2021•53 min
The Delta variant is more dangerous and contagious than many experts initially realized. In response to the uptick in cases and hospitalizations countrywide, some government leaders are implementing mask mandates. President Biden announced on Thursday that federal government employees will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients explains what the new requirement will look like. And NPR Correspondent Brian Naylor reports on how fede...
Jul 30, 2021•12 min
When Simone Biles dropped out of her Olympic competitions this week, the whole world took notice. At 24 years old Biles is the most decorated gymnast ever, she's won 36 medals—27 of those are gold. And she said via Instagram that it can feel like she "has the weight of the world," on her shoulders at times. When an athlete performs on a stage as hallowed and renowned as the Olympics, it's not surprising to see that this can have a negative psychological effect. University of Denver professor Mar...
Jul 29, 2021•14 min
Four police officers offered harrowing testimony of their experiences protecting the U.S. Capitol on January 6th during the first hearing for a new Democrat-led House Select Committee investigating the attacks. The committee was proposed as a bi-partisan effort by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but after she rejected two nominees from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the hearings have begun without support from Republican leaders. Since January 6th the Justice Department has arrested hundreds of peop...
Jul 28, 2021•15 min
Rising seas are threatening coastal communities around the world, which will need billions of dollars to protect themselves. It's clear the water is coming. What's not clear is who pays. This tension is playing out on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, where the wealthiest companies in the world have built their headquarters next to low-income communities of color. Both need protection, but as cities there plan massive levee projects, they're struggling to figure out what's fair. Will the cost ...
Jul 27, 2021•13 min
Food service workers in America have newfound bargaining power, and they're using it — quitting jobs for better ones at record rates. NPR's Alina Selyukh reports on why some are leaving the restaurant industry for good. Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Andrea Hsu , who examined the pros and cons of one-time hiring bonuses for workers. Follow more coverage from NPR's special series, Where Are The Workers? In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help y...
Jul 26, 2021•12 min
One officer in Los Angeles used car inspections to hit on women. Three hundred miles away in the San Francisco Bay Area, another woman says an officer used police resources to harass and stalk her. 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
Jul 25, 2021•47 min
Starting over can be scary. But not for Rodrigo Amarante. After an established musical career in Brazil, he made the jump to the U.S., where his relative anonymity was a source of creative energy — and an opportunity to reinvent himself. Amarante's second solo album, Drama , is about rejecting traditional forms of masculinity and embracing imperfections — then releasing them as a beautiful symphony of chaos and, well, drama. Hear Rodrigo Amarante's live performance of the song "Tara" from his ne...
Jul 23, 2021•15 min
It's still unclear who is responsible for planning and funding the assassination of Haiti's president Jovenel Moïse earlier this month. But violence and unrest in the country has been ramping up for months. The United Nations says that over the last six weeks nearly 15,000 people have been forced from their homes in Port-au-Prince. NPR's Jason Beaubien reported the story of one family who fled in early June. Moïse's death left a power vacuum that's been filled by Interim Prime Minister Ariel Hen...
Jul 22, 2021•12 min
The delta variant now makes up an estimated 83% of coronavirus cases in the U.S., a sharp increase over recent weeks. Cases are rising more rapidly in places with low rates of vaccination. Arkansas is one of those places. The state's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, tells NPR what he's doing to try to convince more people to get a shot. Amid those localized surges and reports of breakthrough infections, NPR's Allison Aubrey explains how to think about your own risk. Find more NPR coverage of...
Jul 21, 2021•14 min
Tens of millions of American families are beginning to receive direct cash payments as part of the expanded child tax credit, which was part of the COVID relief bill passed back in March. Those payments top out at $3,600 a year per child — an amount experts say could lift tens of millions of children out of poverty. But the expanded credit is only scheduled to last one year. The question now is: will Democrats succeed in making it permanent? Here's a breakdown of what you need to know from NPR's...
Jul 20, 2021•11 min
Medical education must always keep up with the times. But the pandemic forcing medical students to learn virtually revealed new fault lines and opportunities to rethink the way medical professionals should learn. The medical field is grappling with which of those changes should become permanent and which ones could jeopardize the quality of healthcare. To get a better understanding of how technology has enabled new ways of approaching medical education, NPR's Jonaki Mehta visits Kaiser Permanent...
Jul 19, 2021•15 min
From police officer misconduct to deadly shootings, internal affairs investigations are how law enforcement agencies investigate their own and promise to hold themselves accountable. In California, those investigations were secret — that is, until a new police transparency law unsealed thousands of files. 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...
Jul 18, 2021•48 min
Jodie Turner-Smith in Anne Boleyn . Mindy Kaling in Scooby Doo . Dev Patel in The Green Knight , and last year's David Copperfield . It seems like Hollywood gatekeepers are opening up more traditionally white parts to other performers. But as NPR film critic Bob Mondello explains, cross-cultural casting isn't new — and it's always raised eyebrows. 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 consid...
Jul 16, 2021•11 min
The protests that erupted in Cuba over the weekend are the biggest the country has seen in decades. Cubans are suffering through a summer of shortages, from food and electricity to medicine. All of which have been made worse by the pandemic. Officials in the authoritarian government are tying to stamp out the unrest quickly. These demonstrations present a political opportunity for President Biden. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports on how the White House's response could change future Florida votes. N...
Jul 15, 2021•15 min
In a speech this week, President Biden said Democrats must 'vigorously challenge' what he described as the '21st Century Jim Crow assault' on voting rights, attacking Republican-led state efforts to pass new voting restrictions. Democrats, Vice President Kamala Harris told NPR, must respond on multiple levels: "It will be litigation, legislation, it will be activating the people." Harris spoke to NPR political correspondent Asma Khalid . Hear more on the NPR Politics Podcast via Apple , Google ,...
Jul 14, 2021•15 min
