This week the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its first set of public hearings. The final hearing focused on former President Trump's actions - or lack of action - as rioters breached the Capitol. As the hearings continue, the Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation. And Attorney General Merrick Garland is under pressure from the left to bring criminal charges against Trump. We spoke to former federal prosecutor Andrew...
Jul 22, 2022•14 min
Record high temperatures have wreaked havoc around the world this week. In Southern England, railway tracks bent from the heat. In China, the roof tiles on a museum melted. In Texas, heat and a dry spell have caused nearly 200 water main breaks over the past month. And extreme heat puts lives at risk, too. It's more deadly than tornadoes, hurricanes, and all other weather events combined. Extreme temperatures, and the attendant misery, are connected to global warming, which is driven by human ac...
Jul 21, 2022•14 min
Talking about abortion can be difficult even among adults. So how do you talk to kids about it? We asked listeners to send us their questions — and brought together two experts to answer them. Reena B. Patel, a parenting expert and licensed educational psychologist in San Diego, California, and Dr. Elise Berlan, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in Columbus, Ohio, join us to talk about ways to broach the conversation around abortion with kids of all ages. In participating regions...
Jul 20, 2022•14 min
How serious is the U.S. about investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine? They put Eli Rosenbaum on the case. He's best known for directing the Department of Justice special investigations unit which tracked down Nazis who had gone into hiding after World War II. He lays out the challenges of conducting an investigation in the midst of an ongoing war. This episode also features reporting from NPR's Jason Beaubien and Brian Mann on Russian airstrikes that killed Ukrainian civilians. In participa...
Jul 19, 2022•11 min
Interest in birth control and emergency contraception has surged since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion. But safe and reliable birth control isn't always easy to access. Now the FDA is considering whether to make birth control pills available without a prescription. If approved, it would be the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive in the U.S. We also hear from NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce about the most popular form of contraception for women in the U.S. - permanent con...
Jul 18, 2022•12 min
The televised probe into the mob attack on the Capitol has dropped plenty of bombshells as insider testimonies pull back the curtain on the efforts of former President Donald Trump and his allies to hold onto power after he lost his reelection bid. But at Tuesday's hearing, one of the most compelling witnesses was not a former staffer or official but Stephen Ayers. A staunch believer in Trump, Ayers came to D.C. on Trump's command and stormed the Capitol. After his arrest, he looked at the facts...
Jul 16, 2022•18 min
Public health experts know what it takes to get a disease outbreak under control - widespread testing and treatment, and vaccines made available to communities most at risk. But in the last two months of the Monkeypox outbreak, the response has not met the need. And there's been criticism that the missteps look a lot like the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, with more than 1,400 confirmed cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more help is on the way. Testi...
Jul 15, 2022•11 min
Your vote is secret. But the fact that you voted in an election is typically public record. So some people who falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen have tried to audit the results themselves by going door to door in neighborhoods across the country. NPR's Miles Parks and Colorado Public Radio's Bente Birkeland report on this canvassing effort. It's part of a controversial movement to galvanize everyday Americans to try to uncover voter fraud in their own communities. In participating reg...
Jul 14, 2022•11 min
In a tweet sent on December 19, 2021, former President Trump issued what Democrats now say was a "clarion call" to his supporters. "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," he wrote. "Be there, will be wild!" This week, in a hearing of the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol, we learned more about what happened in the days and weeks after the President sent that tweet — and the tense moments in the White House just hours before. Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, a me...
Jul 13, 2022•14 min
A new omicron subvariant is now the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. It's called BA.5 — and it appears to evade neutralizing antibodies, making it easier for fully-vaccinated people to become infected or those who recently had COVID to get re-infected. Dr. Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the African Union's Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance, warns that more variants will follow unless global vaccine efforts get more aggressive. Atul Gawande, head of global health for the U.S. Agency for I...
Jul 12, 2022•14 min
Mass shooting deaths represent just a fraction of people killed by gun violence in America, and more than half of all gun deaths are suicides. The numbers are staggering: in 2020, the most recent year with available data, 45,000 people in America were killed by guns. This episode, a few of the people touched by that violence share their stories. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or contact the Crisis Text Line:...
Jul 11, 2022•13 min
When the Women's NBA All-Star Game gets underway this weekend, the league will be missing one of its superstars, Brittney Griner. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and star center for the Phoenix Mercury has been detained in Russia on drug smuggling charges since February. This week, Griner pleaded guilty to the drug charges, saying she did not intend to break the law. If convicted, she could face a maximum penalty of up to ten years in a Russian prison. The country's prison system is known for...
Jul 09, 2022•16 min
A wave of decisions by the Supreme Court's conservative majority has lead to criticism that the court is more politicized than it used to be. Now there's data to support that claim. Researchers with The Supreme Court Database — which is run by legal scholars from multiple universities — have shown that the court produced more conservative decisions this term than at any time since 1931. NPR's Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg joined Jamal Greene , a Constitutional law professor from Col...
Jul 08, 2022•14 min
Donald Trump's lie that the election was stolen from him continues to spread. That's, in large part, because of a group of people crisscrossing the country, spreading false claims about voter fraud. NPR's Investigations team used social media and news reports to track four key figures in the movement: MyPillow CEO and longtime Trump supporter Mike Lindell, former U.S. Army Captain Seth Keshel, former high school math and science teacher Douglas Frank, and former law professor David Clements. NPR...
Jul 07, 2022•12 min
COVID vaccines are available to children as young as six months old. Still, plenty of parents and caretakers have questions before they get their children the jab. NPR Health Correspondent Rob Stein and Dr. Nia Heard-Garris , a pediatrician at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, answer some of those questions from listeners. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at considerthis...
Jul 06, 2022•13 min
Trigger bans. Restraining orders. State and local disputes. New fights about old laws. After Roe, states are awash in abortion-related legal challenges. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer tells NPR 'there's a lot of confusion,' and 'it's a terribly anxious time.' The chaos has trickled down from state courts to individual abortion care providers, where staff and patients have been struggling to adjust to rapidly-changing legal realities. NPR's Sarah McCammon visited one provider in Shreveport, L...
Jul 05, 2022•12 min
It may be too soon to crown the "song of the summer". NPR Music's Stephen Thompson says there's no one quality that the songs that carry that title have... it's a collective feeling, a shared vibe. For so many Americans on this July 4th, songs of the summer and songs of protest feel one and the same. NPR's Ann Powers is a music critic, and Shana Redmond is a professor at Columbia University, and the author of "Anthem: Social Movements And The Sound Of Solidarity In The African Diaspora." They ex...
Jul 04, 2022•10 min
In states across the country, long before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pregnant people were already being criminally charged, convicted, and imprisoned for loss of pregnancy. Advocates for reproductive rights say this is because laws created to protect pregnant people from violence and abuse are being used to prosecute people whose pregnancies end prematurely. We speak with Dana Sussman of National Advocates for Pregnant Women about how the prosecution of pregnancy loss could look i...
Jul 02, 2022•17 min
As many countries have loosened their COVID-19 restrictions and reopened their borders, the demand for travel is high. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of flights getting canceled and delayed on a daily basis across the globe. A shortage in airline staff, especially pilots, is a big reason why. Pilots took to the picket lines this week to protest this shortage. They are also frustrated by stalled contract negotiations and strained pilot schedules. NPR's Ari Shapiro spoke to Captain Casey Murray fro...
Jul 01, 2022•13 min
While the last few decades have shown major progress when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights globally, queer people have had to continue to fight for them. During Pride month there have been several high-profile instances of violence targeted at queer people. These events are stark reminders that the struggle for equal rights and safety for LGBTQ+ people continues. NPR's Ari Shapiro spoke with three high-level diplomats assigned to LGBTQ+ issues – the U.S.'s Jessica Stern, Italy's Fabrizio Petri and Arge...
Jun 30, 2022•13 min
Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the January 6th committee landed with a bang. The surprise hearing on Tuesday, featuring this aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was the most powerful evidence to date in the case that House investigators have been building through hours of public hearings. NPR Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro and NPR National Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson walk through the case the committee has built so far, its implic...
Jun 29, 2022•14 min
There are 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in the United States. Very few of them get a chance to earn a bachelor degree. That's due to a decades-old ban on the use of federal money to help people in prison pay for college classes. But that's about to change. Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will be eligible to receive Pell grants in the amount of nearly $7,000 per year. Experts say this change will mean a chance at higher education for hundreds of thousan...
Jun 28, 2022•12 min
Congress and the Supreme Court took big steps in opposite directions last week, in the country's long standing debate on whether and how to regulate guns. Congress passed the first major federal gun legislation in decades, with bipartisan support. President Biden signed it into law on Saturday. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion striking down a major gun control law in New York. The sweeping ruling puts many other gun regulations in states across the country, on shaky...
Jun 27, 2022•12 min
Omar Little, Jimmy McNulty, Stringer Bell, Snot Boogie. If you recognize these names, you are probably a fan of the HBO series The Wire. This month marks 20 years since the series premiere. It ran for five seasons, following the lives of the cops, criminals, political players, and everyday folks caught up in Baltimore's often futile war on drugs. Many argue that The Wire is the best television show ever created and has earned praise for its realistic, humanizing, multi-dimensional portrayal of B...
Jun 25, 2022•21 min
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade , declaring that the constitutional right to abortion no longer exists. For nearly 50 years, Americans have had a constitutional right to an abortion. We're about to find out what the country looks like without one. The court's ruling doesn't mean a nationwide ban– it allows states to do what they want. NPR's Nina Totenberg walks us through the ruling, and NPR's Sarah McCammon discusses the states where "trigger bans," or laws pas...
Jun 24, 2022•13 min
Listed rents are up 15% nationwide, and as much as 30% in some cities. At the same time, inflation and rising interest rates are pricing many buyers out of the housing market — increasing the pressure to rent. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that competition is so intense, some people find themselves in bidding wars. The red-hot rental market could mean that more people face the threat of eviction at a time when most pandemic-era protections have disappeared. Carl Gershenson, Project Director of t...
Jun 23, 2022•15 min
Two American citizens who'd traveled to Ukraine to join the fight against Russia have reportedly been captured by pro-Russian forces. The State Department says it's "closely monitoring" the situation and has urged Americans not to travel to the country, noting the risk and danger. But still, thousands of foreign fighters have journeyed there. NPR's Ryan Lucas met some of them — a group of Americans and Brits who have formed a unit that is fighting in the east. In participating regions, you'll al...
Jun 22, 2022•14 min
As soon as Thursday, the Supreme Court could rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization . A leaked draft opinion in that case showed a majority of justices agreeing to overturn Roe v. Wade , which would end the constitutional right to an abortion. However the court rules, this moment is the culmination of a decades-long effort by conservative activists around the country. One man in particular has played an outsized role in that effort: Leonard Leo, Co-Chairman of the Federalist Societ...
Jun 21, 2022•13 min
After two years of pandemic disruptions, this school year was supposed to be better. But for many teachers, it was harder than ever. Teachers say they are stressed and burned out. Many are considering leaving their jobs sooner than planned. We speak to three teachers about the past school year and their concerns about the future. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm....
Jun 20, 2022•13 min
Many of the people affected by the current global monkeypox outbreak are reported to be men who identify as gay or bisexual, or men who have sex with men. The virus can affect anyone, but in response to where the majority of cases are, public health officials are gearing their information toward communities of gay and bisexual men. And that has some saying that the messaging echoes back to the HIV/AIDS crisis and has the potential to stigmatize the gay community while missing others who are susc...
Jun 18, 2022•15 min
