We're halfway through another intense pandemic school year. As many teachers are taking a well-deserved holiday break, we'll hear why these past few months in the classroom have gotten harder – and what that could mean for students and parents. 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 considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sp...
Dec 29, 2021•11 min
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that people who test positive for COVID-19 but remain asymptotic can cut their quarantine time in half, from ten days to five. This shift comes in part due to major disruptions causes by rising Omicron cases, with hospitals and airlines in particular struggling to stay fully staffed. This moment in the pandemic feels a little like living in a contradiction. Cases are rising, yet guidance on certain restrictions is loosening. Hosp...
Dec 28, 2021•12 min
An NPR investigation digs into the practice of billing parents for their children's foster care — something that happens in every state in the country. It's a bill many cannot afford to pay, which in turn makes it even more difficult for parents to get their lives back on track and reunite with their children. On top of that, research shows government actually loses money when it tries to collect on foster care bills. NPR investigative correspondent Joseph Shapiro reports, in collaboration with ...
Dec 27, 2021•13 min
After everything that has happened this year, it can feel difficult to find things to celebrate. So we're using this episode to spread a little joy, through something everyone can relate to: food. We asked all of you what holiday dish is never missing from your table, and you answered – from seafood gumbo in Louisiana to Hungarian Beigli to traditional New Mexican cookies called Biscochitos and more. Be careful listening on an empty stomach. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local new...
Dec 24, 2021•11 min
This week, Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said he cannot support the Build Back Better Act, which contains more than half a trillion dollars in climate investments. The White House has been negotiating with Manchin for months, hoping he would cast a key vote for the plan in the Senate, where their party's majority is razor thin. Without Manchin's support, the Biden administration's most ambitious action on climate may be dead, and the U.S. could fall short of key goals to prevent t...
Dec 23, 2021•14 min
The HBO show Succession is compelling in part because it portrays a world most of us will never see: the backroom deals between cutthroat billionaires and their fraught family relationships. But the show's dark comedy also gives us insight into the world we all inhabit, and how that world treats women across a spectrum of relationships. From entrenched sexism to performative feminism, writer Flannery Dean explains the different forms of misogyny on display in Succession . (Note: Spoilers ahead f...
Dec 22, 2021•13 min
This holiday season we all deserve a little peace and quiet with the people we love, but the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 threatens to complicate things for everyone. As tests appear to be in short supply in places like New York City, the White House announced plans to send 500 million at-home tests to Americans who want them and new federal testing sites to meet the demand in the coming weeks. But despite the rising cases and concern, Dr. Ashish Jha , Dean of the Brown Univer...
Dec 21, 2021•11 min
Public school enrollment dropped three percent nationwide during the 2020-2021 school year. NPR's education team continued to track enrollment this school year and found that while districts have gained students, a significant majority are still not back to where they were prior to the pandemic. A similar story has unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and at more public schools across the nation. NPR education reporter Cory Turner looked into why students are still not coming back to school and what...
Dec 20, 2021•11 min
NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast has a tradition to look back on some of their favorite things from the last 12 months of television, movies and music. In this episode they're revisiting the pop culture that thrilled them, moved them and kept them company during another challenging year. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on NPR One , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsors...
Dec 19, 2021•32 min
On Jan. 6, three Fox News hosts desperately urged former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get the president to tell supporters to stop attacking the Capitol building. The texts, which were made public this week as the House of Representatives voted to hold Meadows in contempt, reveal a starkly different message than the one those same Fox hosts delivered to their audiences about the insurrection. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and investigative correspondent Tom Dreisba...
Dec 17, 2021•10 min
The COP26 Summit, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last month brought together people from all over the world. And everyone had stories of how climate change is already affecting their lives. But, did the conference accomplish what it set out to do? Alok Sharma, president of COP26, gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what the conference felt like from the inside, why he apologized for the process, and what it was like trying to get delegates from nearly 200 coun...
Dec 16, 2021•12 min
Five days after tornadoes first touched down in the Midwest and South of the U.S., survivors are coming to grips with what they have lost. Of the several states that the storms tore through last weekend, Kentucky was the hardest hit. At least 74 people have been confirmed dead there. Many more are unaccounted for. As survivors, volunteers, and officials sort through and pick up what's left, how might they think about shoring up homes, businesses and buildings for the future? NPR's Audie Cornish ...
Dec 15, 2021•11 min
Kevin Dawes, an American from California, traveled to Syria in 2012 with hopes of a launching a career as a foreign correspondent. But shortly after crossing the border he was arrested and jailed for three-and-a-half years. And he hasn't shared his story publicly until now. NPR correspondent Deborah Amos interviewed Dawes about his nightmarish experience in a Syrian prison, how he's seeking to bring the government to court, and how he hopes to help do the same for the family of a British doctor ...
Dec 14, 2021•12 min
Almost two years into the pandemic, at-home rapid tests can still be difficult to find in the U.S. If you do find them, they're often expensive. Other countries are faring better, like the U.K. and South Korea, which provide free tests each day to anyone who wants them. Why is the U.S. different? NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports. 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 considerthis@npr.org . See pcm...
Dec 13, 2021•10 min
After seven days of testimony directly from Elizabeth Holmes, her defense announced it had rested its case this week in a federal fraud trail that began in September. Holmes, a former Silicon Valley luminary, was CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos. She told jurors she was not responsible, as prosecutors allege, for fleecing investors of millions of dollars and delivering flawed results to patients. And as NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn explains, Holmes detailed a story of abuse that could ...
Dec 10, 2021•14 min
During oral arguments last week in a major Supreme Court case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett brought up the idea of adoption as an alternative to abortion. But many people who choose not to have a child do not consider adoption and abortion equal and opposite choices, sociologist Gretchen Sisson tells NPR. Plus, one woman shares her experience of relinquishing her rights as a parent. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in y...
Dec 09, 2021•14 min
At least six conservative broadcasters who spread misinformation about COVID-19 and questioned coronavirus vaccines have now died from just this year. Their deaths may mirror a wider trend in the United States: Americans who live in pro-Trump parts of the country are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to die from COVID-related complications. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports on new analysis from NPR showing that counties that voted for Donald Trump had almost three times the death rate of t...
Dec 08, 2021•13 min
In October of 1941, a young soldier was on leave in southern California when he met the woman he was sure he would marry. Then, two months later while stationed in Hawaii, Art "Bud" Montagne witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor firsthand, and was swept up in the conflict that followed. NPR special correspondent Renee Montagne tells the story of what her father witnessed on that day 80 years ago, and how a cinematic love story — put on pause by war — turned out for him. Read more about Art Montag...
Dec 07, 2021•11 min
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai made an assault allegation in November, then disappeared from the public eye. She has since re-emerged, but in protest of her treatment, the Women's Tennis Association's has now suspended all tournaments in China. That decision by the WTA could cost the organization and its players hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe more, in revenue. And it's the threat of losing that kind of money that usually keeps most professional sports organizations — like the NBA — tread...
Dec 06, 2021•13 min
Banning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate. How should parents react to this news, and to the books their children are reading? In this episode of NPR's It's Been A Minute senior editor Barrie Hardymon and Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast, joined guest host Ayesha Rascoe to talk about banned book lists.The three talk about why it's important for kids to discover books freely, even if that means star...
Dec 05, 2021•31 min
It was only a matter of time before cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant started popping up in the U.S., and now, it's here. Although it's too early to tell how this virus strain will spread, the threat it poses has already lit a fire under public health messaging. President Biden announced a new strategy to avoid a winter surge of cases that involves free at-home testing, a vaccine booster messaging campaign and heightened international travel safeguards. Meanwhile, the race is on to detect ho...
Dec 03, 2021•14 min
Buying stuff is a part of this country's DNA. It's a tradition that really took off near the end of World War II, when the American economy was thriving and the market exploded with products Americans didn't even know they wanted. And even in an economy rocked by a pandemic, buying is on track to exceed 2020 levels this holiday season. The result of all that spending means consumption drives 70% of our country's GDP, but it's also the leading driver of nearly every environmental issue our planet...
Dec 02, 2021•13 min
Getting an abortion in Mississippi has never been easy, but it hasn't been impossible. Now, a case before the Supreme Court that centers on a clinic in Mississippi could upend abortion rights for pregnant people across the country. Today, the conservative-leaning court heard arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization . The clinic, which is the only abortion provider remaining in Mississippi, is challenging a 2018 state law that bans termination after 15 weeks of pregna...
Dec 01, 2021•13 min
After years of jokes about unsuccessful Infrastructure Weeks, months of deliberation, and bouts of gridlock on the political left, a $1.2 trillion package made its way through Congress at long last. The president signed it into law earlier this month. Now, the challenge of actually getting the money where it needs to be remains. NPR's White House Correspondent Franco Ordonez followed President Biden around the country earlier this month to report on the changes to come, now that the bill is law....
Nov 30, 2021•11 min
The World Health Organization is warning that the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa, has a "very high" global risk because of the possibility that it spreads more easily and might resist vaccines and immunity in people who were infected with previous strains. On Monday, President Joe Biden said this this variant is a "cause for concern, not a cause for panic." He urged Americans to get fully vaccinated and get a booster dose if they qualify. WHO spokesp...
Nov 29, 2021•12 min
This Thanksgiving week, we're sharing a segment from our special series Play It Forward , in which artists tell us about their own music and the musicians who inspire them. This episode, opera singer and funk keyboardist Constance Hauman speaks to Ari Shapiro about her new album, Tropical Thunderstorm , her experiences as a multi-genre musician and an artist she's grateful for: Daf player Asal Malekzadeh. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sen...
Nov 26, 2021•9 min
For Thanksgiving Day, we're sharing a segment from our special series Play It Forward , in which artists tell us about their own music and the musicians who inspire them. In this episode, funk legend George Clinton speaks to Ari Shapiro about the longevity and enduring influence of his band, Parliament-Funkadelic, being a hype man for other musicians, and an artist he's grateful for: opera singer and funk keyboardist Constance Hauman. On tomorrow's episode: Constance Hauman plays it forward. In ...
Nov 25, 2021•10 min
The commonly-told version of the first Thanksgiving story leaves out a lot: The indigenous Wampanoag people who lived in a complex society long before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock; Squanto escaping bondage in Spain before becoming an emissary to the Pilgrims; and the long legacy of violent displacement that followed. Paula Peters, a writer and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, still lives near where the Pilgrims made landfall on her ancestral homeland. She talks about how the 16...
Nov 24, 2021•11 min
CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job. But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain. I...
Nov 23, 2021•14 min
CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job. But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain. I...
Nov 22, 2021•15 min
