It can be hard to see how big government policies have a direct effect on an individual's experience. But it was easy to measure the difference made by the expanded child tax credit. Giving more money to low-income families with children had a big impact. After the expanded child tax credit took effect, child poverty hit a record low of 5.2% a year ago. But less than a year later, Congress let it expire. New census data shows that child poverty has more than doubled. Host Ari Shapiro speaks with...
Sep 14, 2023•9 min
The president of the United Auto Workers says the union is planning to carry out sudden, strategic and partial strikes at plants should contract talks with Detroit's Big Three automakers fail ahead of a contract deadline on Thursday night. UAW President Shawn Fain also held out the possibility of an all-out strike in the future of the nearly 150,000 union members. In addition to concerns over pay, workers are worried about what electric vehicles mean for their future. NPR's Camila Domonoske repo...
Sep 13, 2023•10 min
Right now it seems like people all around us are testing positive for COVID. But for the most part, they are not getting seriously ill. The Food and Drug Administration just approved a new booster. And on Tuesday advisers to the CDC recommended it for everyone six months and older. With a new variant and a new booster, how should we think about the pandemic in this moment? Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for spo...
Sep 12, 2023•10 min
When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019, both countries were in a different position. Russia had yet to invade Ukraine. Four years later, Russia is trying to secure weapons from North Korea. The two leaders are expected to meet this month to discuss a deal. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Jean Lee, the former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press, and Georgetown University's Angela Stent, about the upcoming meeting between Kim Jong Un and Puti...
Sep 11, 2023•10 min
The National Football League's regular season is finally underway. And for loyal fans who have been devouring all the news of their favorite teams, it couldn't have come soon enough. But even if you're just a casual viewer of football, or really any network television program, you've probably seen the star-studded ads for a related business: sports betting. The league's partnership with major sports betting sites continues to draw criticism. Ten NFL players have been suspended for gambling viola...
Sep 10, 2023•13 min
The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this year. The landmark law has been successful for decades at stopping extinctions of several plants and animals. Recovering endangered or threatened species to the point where they no longer need federal protection has been more difficult because of climate change. NPR's Nathan Rott speaks with Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the agency's plans to mitigate threats of extinction caused by climate change. See pcm.adswizz.c...
Sep 08, 2023•14 min
The writers and actors strikes have been grinding on for months with no end in sight. Many on the picket lines are struggling to pay for basics. NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Fran Drescher about what it's going to take to end the strikes. Drescher's the president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents the actors on strike. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. N...
Sep 07, 2023•14 min
Giant machines sucking carbon dioxide out of the air to fight climate change sounds like science fiction, but it's close to becoming a reality, with billions of dollars of support from the U.S. government. And a key player in this growing industry is a U.S. oil company, Occidental Petroleum. With a major petroleum company deploying this technology, it begs the question, is it meant to save the planet or the oil industry? NPR's Camila Domonoske reports. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm....
Sep 06, 2023•11 min
Google was founded 25 years ago by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergei Brin. The company went on to shape the internet and now, after a quarter century, finds itself at a turning point. With the rise of AI and social media platforms like TikTok, its continued dominance is not assured. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Nilay Patel , editor-in-chief of The Verge, about Google's legacy and what the future holds for the company. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for inform...
Sep 05, 2023•10 min
It's been over three years since the pandemic started and changed the way millions of Americans work. The possibilities of remote work gave a new kind of freedom to many workers. But as more and more companies demand employees return to the office, is the work from home era coming to an end? Host Scott Detrow speaks with Anne Helen Petersen, culture writer and the author of Out of Office, about the future of remote work. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of persona...
Sep 04, 2023•10 min
After three and a half years, the pause on federal student loan payments is coming to an end. Getting more than 40 million borrowers back into repayment will be an enormous challenge, especially because many students who graduated when the pause was already in place have never made a payment. We put borrowers' questions to two experts: NPR Education correspondent Cory Turner , and Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program , a non-profit funded by New York Sta...
Sep 03, 2023•12 min
Hundreds of towns, cities and counties across the country impose curfews on young people. On September 1st a curfew went into effect in seven neighborhoods across the District of Columbia that will affect those aged 17 and under. Like many other cities, the nation's capital has seen an increase in violent crime. And some of the most shocking crimes have been committed by young people. Teens as young as thirteen as well as pre-teens have been suspected of, or charged with carjacking. In the past ...
Sep 01, 2023•14 min
For the second time this summer the top Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, abruptly went silent at a news conference. He was about to answer a question from a reporter when he suddenly froze up. He seemed unable to speak. An aide then stepped in, trying to keep things moving along. The senator's silences have raised concerns about his mental fitness – and larger questions about an aging Congress. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Dr. Ann Murray, the Movement Disorders d...
Aug 31, 2023•8 min
When people find themselves in the path of a hurricane they are faced with the question: should they evacuate or not? Who makes that call and how? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate about the decision-making process behind evacuation orders and why people should heed them ahead of hurricanes making landfall. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. ...
Aug 30, 2023•9 min
On Tuesday, the Biden administration released a list of 10 medications that it's planning to negotiate prices for Medicare in an effort to bring down the costs of some of the most expensive drugs. It's part of a reform included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Many on the list are life-saving drugs that treat diabetes, cancer and other major health problems.| The new prices that the federal government will eventually negotiate for these prescription drugs won't actually go into effect until 2026,...
Aug 29, 2023•10 min
The latest mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida left three people dead. All of the victims were Black and the white gunman left behind racist, hate-filled letters. The Justice Department is now investigating this shooting as a hate crime. A big part of the conversation now is what role state politics play in crimes like this. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has loosened gun laws in recent years and put restrictions on how race is taught in public schools. NPR's Juana Summers talks wit...
Aug 28, 2023•11 min
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is preparing for the next major climate summit, in Dubai. He's calling for an end to permitting new, unabated coal-fired power anywhere in the world. We ask him about whether the U.S. has lived up to its climate commitments. We also talk to Vox climate reporter Rebecca Leber about Biden's signature climate legislation, which was passed a year ago this month. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of person...
Aug 27, 2023•13 min
The South Pole of the Moon is the coolest place to be. And nearly every country with a space program is vying for a spot there - for a chance to explore the shadowy, polar craters in hopes of finding usable quantities of water ice. On Wednesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 probe near the moon's south pole. It was the first time India had landed a spacecraft on the moon, and the first time any country had successfully landed at the coveted moon's s...
Aug 25, 2023•13 min
With the wildfires in Maui contained, the recovery process has begun. The focus has also turned to how the island can prepare for similar disasters in the future Officials and experts hope to address Hawaii's emergency alert system, as well as the construction of more fire-resistant homes. But what of the fires themselves? We often hear about forest fires, but the deadliest fire in the US in more than a century was a grass fire. Co-host Ailsa Chang talks to Jeva Lange, who wrote a story called "...
Aug 24, 2023•10 min
Russia's state news agency Tass reported that the country's most famous mercenary, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was on the passenger list for a flight that crashed on its way from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Wednesday, killing all ten people on board. Despite being on the passenger list, it's not clear Prigozhin was on the flight. As head of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin led an unsuccessful mutiny against the Russian military in June. He quickly stood down and struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir P...
Aug 23, 2023•8 min
Former president Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary. And with a healthy lead in the polls, he's skipping the first Republican presidential debate on Wednesday. So how do you prep for a big, televised debate when your biggest opponent decides not to show up? That's been the question facing the eight Republicans who will be on stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's g...
Aug 22, 2023•14 min
Puerto Rico has seen a string of natural disasters in the past few years – hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and landslides. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, things got even worse. These disasters have taken a heavy toll on student mental health. They've disrupted everyday life - including school. That disruption has seriously impacted educational outcomes for kids and teens on the island. The Nation's Report Card shows that more than one-third of fourth graders overall in the U.S are considered profic...
Aug 21, 2023•12 min
The last few elections have brought a wave of self-styled progressive prosecutors into office. They've won elections by campaigning on issues like bail reform and alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders. Now, Republican-controlled state legislatures and governors are taking steps to curtail their power, or strip them of it altogether. We talk to Monique Worrell, who was elected state attorney for Florida's ninth judicial circuit, which includes the city of Orlando, in 2020. This ...
Aug 20, 2023•12 min
A growing body of research makes it clear that noise pollution can have severely harmful impacts on our health. It has been tied to heart disease and thousands of premature deaths around the world. Still, our communities seem to get louder and louder. Some people are fighting back - pushing for more regulation and quieter cities. NPR's Pien Huang takes a sonic tour of Providence, Rhode Island with researcher Erica Walker and talks about noise pollution solutions with Jamie Banks the founder and ...
Aug 18, 2023•15 min
The Biden administration is under intense political pressure from Republicans over immigration, who accuse the president of being too lenient toward migrants. Now, the administration is locking up more unauthorized immigrants and asylum-seekers in detention facilities, and NPR has exclusively obtained more than 1,600 pages of confidential inspection reports examining conditions inside those facilities. They describe barbaric practices, negligent medical care, racist abuse and filthy conditions. ...
Aug 17, 2023•14 min
The CDC says that a new omicron variant called EG.5 is causing a summer wave of COVID cases. Yet, COVID is nowhere near the threat that it was more than three years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. And that might be one of the reasons that people are cruising again on big ships following a COVID-19 decline. WLRN reporter Tom Hudson tells us how one of the hardest hit industries during the peak of the pandemic is trying to make a comeback. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local n...
Aug 16, 2023•12 min
A grand jury in Georgia has indicted Donald Trump for his role in failed efforts to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results, implicating the former president as the head of a sweeping conspiracy to subvert his defeat. The indictment also includes charges against former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman and Jenna Ellis, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, along with a number of so-called fake electors. In charging former President Donald Tr...
Aug 15, 2023•11 min
It's been two years since the Taliban entered Kabul, throwing the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan into chaos. Crowds of people desperate to leave the country surrounded the airport. Tens of thousands of Afghans were airlifted out before American troops pulled out. Many more are still trying to reach the U.S. Some are risking their lives to cross the border from Mexico. NPR's Tom Bowman has the story of one family who traveled from Afghanistan to Virginia, by way of Pakistan an...
Aug 14, 2023•13 min
For the past few months, President Biden's top foreign policy advisors have been working as intermediaries between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Eventually they want to get the two countries to agree on a deal to finally establish formal diplomatic relations. It would be a breakthrough for Israel to get that recognition, after decades of Arab hostility stemming from the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabia is home to two of Islam's holiest sites, and it's an oil giant in the region. But it seem...
Aug 13, 2023•13 min
As the battle over book bans in schools and libraries continues to play out in various states across the U.S., the toll it's taking on librarians is coming at a great cost — personally and financially. Many librarians are speaking up about fearing for their jobs and safety. Yet some conservative activists see the current fight playing out as necessary to protect children. NPR's Tovia Smith traveled to Louisiana where tensions have been flaring up — pitting librarians against book ban advocates i...
Aug 11, 2023•16 min
