Biden held the first press conference of his presidency, yesterday, discussing the state of the nation’s vaccination effort, his views on the filibuster, and more. States are opening up vaccine eligibility, but there's an early pattern emerging of Black and Hispanic people getting smaller shares of vaccinations. The LAPD evicted an unhoused community that had set up tents in the Echo Park neighborhood of LA, and the department did it against the CDC’s guidance to pause encampment sweeps during t...
Mar 26, 2021•18 min
In light of the Georgia shooter's claim that his attack was intended to "eliminate" "temptations," activists have talked about the killings in the context of violence targeted at Asian migrant sex workers, an often dehumanized and stigmatized community of AAPI women. We spoke with Yves Tong Nguyen, an organizer with Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective of Asian and migrant sex workers and massage parlor workers. She told us about the harmful repercussions of criminalizing sex work, why polic...
Mar 25, 2021•21 min
Boulder police have identified a suspect in Monday’s deadly shooting in Colorado, which killed 10 people. President Biden addressed the nation and called on Congress to not wait "another minute" before working to act gun control laws, including a ban on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines. An independent oversight board accused Astrazeneca of choosing data that was “most favorable” instead of the most updated and complete info. And in headlines: attacks on AAPI people continued in N...
Mar 24, 2021•16 min
The AstraZeneca vaccine was shown to completely prevent serious cases of COVID in a US clinical trial. We dig into the efficacy data on it, and what it means for the US and global vaccination campaigns. The House held a hearing on D.C. statehood yesterday. DC has 700,000 residents and a large Black population, but no direct representation in Congress... House democrats want to change that, but they face an uphill battle in the Senate. And in headlines: a gunman opened fire inside a grocery store...
Mar 23, 2021•17 min
Thousands gathered in Georgia and other cities across the country for #StopAsianHate protests over the weekend, calling for solidarity and an end to hatred as well as stricter gun control laws. As we reflect on the horrors of the shootings, we discuss the victims and who they were. Coronavirus cases in the US have plateaued around 50,000 to 60,000 a day. Miami Beach had to declare a state of emergency this weekend and implement a curfew due to an influx of spring breakers. And in headlines: the ...
Mar 22, 2021•18 min
European countries including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain will resume using the AstraZeneca vaccine as early as today or next week. This comes the European Medicines Agency found no increased risk of blood clots among millions of vaccinations. The Biden administration announced plans to do "vaccine diplomacy" by sending millions of AstraZeneca doses to Canada and Mexico. It's still not clear whether this week's killings in Georgia will officially be designated a hate crime... we explain why...
Mar 19, 2021•20 min
A White gunman attacked three spas in the Atlanta area on Tuesday killing eight people including six women of Asian descent. The shootings happened in the larger context of increasing violence and racism faced by Asian-Americans. Yesterday we talked about the surge in migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border. Today, we spoke to Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Dickerson to get a better sense of how we got here, how the Biden administration differs from Trump and Obama, and what’s to come. An...
Mar 18, 2021•22 min
Nearly 10,000 children seeking asylum have arrived to the United States southern border since February, and a lack of shelter space has led many of them to detention centers with substandard conditions. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the number of people arriving at the border this year is expected to reach a 20-year high. Moderna is beginning to test its COVID vaccine in children ages 6-months to 12-years-old, while other drug companies have started or will start trials in slightly older...
Mar 17, 2021•18 min
Italy, Germany, France and several other countries in Europe are halting use of Astrazeneca’s coronavirus vaccine amid concerns over side effects in handful of people. The company is defending the drug while authorities assess the situation further. Derek Chauvin’s defense lawyers have requested to postpone and relocate his trial following news of a $27 million settlement for the killing of George Floyd. And in headlines: Protests against sexual violence in Australia, Google’s goes to court over...
Mar 16, 2021•21 min
Covid cases continue to decline, though at a much slower rate than in January. That leveling off, plus the continued threat of variants has public health officials warning people to stay vigilant. Meanwhile, Italy goes back into lockdown. The Governor Cuomo saga continues to worsen with new reporting that his vaccine czar inappropriately called local officials to secure their support for Cuomo. This comes after a flood of Democratic lawmakers from New York called on the Governor to resign last F...
Mar 15, 2021•20 min
President Biden said last night that he wants states to make all US adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1st. In the coming days, he and VP Harris have plans to travel to sell the relief bill to the American people, and the first round of direct payments could be going out as soon as this weekend. Mississippi just approved the first anti-trans law of 2021, which would require public schools and universities to make athletes compete according to their sex assigned at birth rather than ...
Mar 12, 2021•17 min
Today marks one year since the World Health Organization officially called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The US vaccination effort offers a glimpse of hope, though, with the total number of fully vaccinated Americans now exceeding the number of reported cases we've had nationwide. We spoke with Sana Khan, a PhD student at the University of Arizona who is also a vaccination site volunteer, to get a better sense of what things look like on the ground, and what the 1-year mark means to her. ...
Mar 11, 2021•22 min
The House passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act on Tuesday, a bill that’s been called the biggest expansion of labor rights since the New Deal. Now, the question is whether the filibuster will kill this bill in the Senate… or if the bill will kill the filibuster. We discuss, and hear from Faiz Shakir, founder of More Perfect Union, on what this moment means for the labor movement. Today, the House is likely to pass the revised COVID relief bill, the last step before it goes to Biden’s ...
Mar 10, 2021•18 min
The CDC said fully vaccinated Americans can safely gather indoors together, and laid out other guidelines for our current stage of the pandemic. The daily rate of vaccination continues to increase, with a record of 2.9 million shots being given last Saturday. The jury selection process in the trial of Derek Chauvin was delayed yesterday due to a dispute over whether a third degree murder charge can be brought. Finding impartial jurors will also prove to be difficult, considering the high-profile...
Mar 09, 2021•19 min
Senate Democrats passed the $1.9 trillion economic relief bill on Saturday, without any support from Republicans. The final bill pared back some elements of the House's version, including a minimum wage hike. Still, it's a massive cash infusion for low and middle income Americans, and could cut child poverty in half by some estimate. Yesterday was the 56th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," where civil rights activists dared to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama and were met with extr...
Mar 08, 2021•16 min
Republican governors in West Virginia and Alabama have continued to advise wearing masks, bucking the trend of governors in Mississippi and Texas who want to rush things back to normal. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that his state will start sending 40 percent of doses to its most vulnerable neighborhoods. New data out this week from a Basic Income experiment in Stockton, California show that giving people monthly government stipends increase their quality of life and ability to get...
Mar 05, 2021•17 min
Jury selection begins next week for the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and killed him last summer. We spoke to Jamiles Lartey, staff writer at The Marshall Project, about Chauvin’s history of using excessive force and how that could play into the trial. And in headlines: the House passes a bill to fight voter suppression and protect democracy, President Biden agrees to narrow the income limits of people eligible to get a COVID relief ch...
Mar 04, 2021•22 min
Biden is now saying that we'll have enough vaccine doses for every American by the end of May, instead of July. Meanwhile, states like Texas and Mississippi lifting their mask requirements and relaxing restrictions -- something that public health officials have warned against. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to congress yesterday, defending his agency’s handling of intelligence in advance of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. There’s another big hearing today, with a witness list tha...
Mar 03, 2021•16 min
The coronavirus relief bill moves to the Senate this week. A group of progressive House Democrats are continuing to push for a minimum wage increase in the bill. Meanwhile, Senator Warren and other Democrats introduced a wealth tax proposal aimed at addressing economic inequality. We talk to Representative Pramila Jayapal about why she's pushing for it now. Protests in Myanmar are ongoing following the coup last month and the response from the police and military has grown increasingly violent. ...
Mar 02, 2021•17 min
The US vaccination campaign is accelerating, with the country hitting over 2 million doses a day last Friday and Saturday. Following a plunge in new cases over the last few weeks, health experts are expressing some concern that progress may be plateauing. This week the Supreme Court is hearing a case that could determine the future of the Voting Rights Act. It comes as Republicans around the country introducing a flurry of bills to make voting harder. Democrats are pushing back, and on a federal...
Mar 01, 2021•18 min
The House is expected to pass its COVID relief bill as soon as today, but there's still a question of what happens when the bill gets to the Senate. Yesterday the Senate parliamentarian said the minimum wage increase couldn’t pass via the budget process. We explain the ruling, the reaction and where things could go from here. With Black History Month almost over, we spoke to Black history educators from across the country about what it means to them in 2021 and who they are celebrating this year...
Feb 26, 2021•22 min
The FDA put out analyses yesterday showing that Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine is highly effective, setting the stage for its approval as early as this weekend. The CDC put out new guidelines for safely reopening schools earlier this month, and it comes as the Biden administration has said they are working to get a majority of K-8 schools open in their first 100 days. We spoke to Washington Post education reporter Moriah Balingit about the new guidelines, the COVID risk in schools, ...
Feb 25, 2021•21 min
Former Capitol security officials appeared before the Senate yesterday, citing communications failures for their inadequate response to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The Senate also confirmed two more members of Biden’s cabinet: Linda Thomas-Greenfield as UN ambassador and Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary. Facebook has now un-banned news on its platform in Australia, after blocking it there in protest of a proposed law that would have required Facebook to pay the outlets that give t...
Feb 24, 2021•18 min
The Supreme Court threw out the final Trump lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 election, and also paved the way for Trump’s taxes to be disclosed to a New York Grand Jury. The US is behind other countries in our ability to sequence and track COVID variants, but the White House announced they would devote $200 million to expanding those efforts and there’s even more in the upcoming economic relief package. In the UK, prime Minister Boris Johnson is hoping to slowly ease out of lockdown, ...
Feb 23, 2021•18 min
The US is approaching 500,000 deaths from Covid-19. But there is good news, too: New studies suggest that the vaccines might prevent transmission, and Biden’s goal of administering 100 million COVID vaccine shots in 100 days seems very much within reach. The extreme weather in Texas is improving, with power back on. Now, the focus is shifting to ensuring people have food and safe water. Some Texans have also discovered that the state’s unregulated, market-driven energy system has led to them bei...
Feb 22, 2021•18 min
Black Americans still frequently have to break barriers to become elected, appointed, or hired to do a thing. We spoke to people who have become the 'firsts’ to hold their position this past year, how they feel about it being celebrated, and the pressures that come with their new roles. Congress held its first hearing on last month’s GameStop insanity, with CEOs of trading platforms and hedge funds testifying, along with one of r/WallStreetBet’s most notable figures. Congressional Dems also put ...
Feb 19, 2021•21 min
Over two million Texans are still without power, and there’s a new storm on the way that’s expected to prolong the icy conditions. Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia are among the other states dealing with fallout from the extreme weather. New York’s AG Letitia James sued Amazon this week, alleging that some of its warehouses failed to keep workers safe during the pandemic. We also spoke to an Amazon employee that works in the company's Bessemer, Alabama fulfillment center about the union...
Feb 18, 2021•17 min
President Biden was in Wisconsin yesterday on his first official trip since taking office making the pitch for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. The House is preparing to vote on the bill by the end of next week, and after that, it heads to the Senate, where we could see a fight over whether to include the $15 minimum wage increase. Extreme winter weather has debilitated Texas’s weather grid, creating a dangerous situation that left over 3 million people without power last night and has led t...
Feb 17, 2021•22 min
Donald Trump’s second annual impeachment trial is over, after a vote of 57 to 43 led to his acquittal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that an independent commission will be established to investigate the insurrection. Yesterday, the WHO granted emergency use authorization for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which will kick off a UN-backed program to get vaccines to developing countries. In the US, average new daily coronavirus infections fell under 100,000 for the first time since Novem...
Feb 16, 2021•18 min
President Biden announced yesterday that the US will have enough doses to vaccinate all Americans by the end of July. We talk to Dr. Anthony Fauci about the vaccines on the way, what they’ll mean as we start to face new variants, and mask guidance in the meantime. And in headlines: House managers wrapped up their final arguments in Trump’s second impeachment trial, queer and trans Americans will be protected under the Fair Housing Act, and Jeep pulls Bruce Springsteen’s ad after reports of his N...
Feb 12, 2021•25 min
