Next year's midterm elections will dictate the future of voter rights, reproductive rights, climate change, pandemic recovery, and more. They may seem far off, but we can start getting ready for 2022 now. We spoke with Crooked's political director Shaniqua McClendon about the "No Off Years" campaign, which aims to support local organizers on the ground, register more people, and fight misinformation around the polls. And in headlines: the Dixie Fire continues to burn in Northern California, the ...
Aug 09, 2021•20 min
President Biden announced his goal to make new vehicles greener in his administration’s first major use of federal regulatory power to cut carbon emissions. Still, some climate advocacy groups say that Biden's executive order doesn’t go far enough compared to the plans of other countries to achieve zero emissions. New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo has been given until Friday the 13th to submit evidence in his defense for his impeachment investigation, which began back in March and focused not onl...
Aug 06, 2021•17 min
The World Health Organization called for a moratorium on booster shots until the end of September, right as a number of countries have started or are planning to start booster campaigns amid concerns about the Delta variant of coronavirus. COVAX, the program supported by WHO to distribute donated vaccines to nations in need, is struggling to deliver on its promise. Mexico has filed a lawsuit against 11 gun manufacturers and suppliers in the U.S., claiming that they knowingly facilitated sales to...
Aug 05, 2021•19 min
A five month investigation into the conduct of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo found evidence of sexual harassment towards 11 current and former employees, and a sexist and hostile workplace. Nancy Pelosi, President Biden, and many more Democrats have called for Cuomo to resign, but so far he has refused. A National Labor Relations Board officer found that Amazon broke federal labor laws, in part by installing an unmarked USPS mailbox in front of its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse that created the ...
Aug 04, 2021•20 min
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said that students must be in classrooms this year and that schools should require everyone to mask up, but local districts will ultimately decide on their policies themselves. Some workplaces are moving forward with vaccine and mask mandates, but predominantly among their white-collar employees. The House failed to pass an extension of the federal eviction moratorium before it ended last weekend, although several states have their own local moratoriums stil...
Aug 03, 2021•19 min
New GDP numbers released by the Commerce Department show that the size of the economy has risen above pre-pandemic levels, but an increased spread of coronavirus could slow that growth. Relatedly, the federal government announced several plans and ideas to address the vaccination slowdown, including cash incentives and reimbursement for federal employees who get the shot. Congressional Democrats might include a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and undocumented essential workers in their party...
Jul 30, 2021•19 min
This year's Olympics is like no other, taking place in the midst of a pandemic, and in a city under a state of emergency in response to rising COVID-19 cases. We talked to The Washington Post's Ava Wallace about what it's like to report on the games this year, but also, the overall experience for her, for athletes, and for Tokyo residents at-large. Democratic donor Ed Buck was convicted in federal court on Tuesday in connection with the death-by-overdose of two Black gay men who he injected with...
Jul 29, 2021•18 min
The CDC said yesterday that fully vaccinated people should wear masks in indoor public settings in counties where the transmission rate is "substantial" or "high," after new evidence showed that a vaccinated person could transmit the Delta variant of COVID to others. President Biden may also begin requiring federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated or face regular testing. Four U.S. Capitol police officers testified to a House committee about the violence, racial attacks, and fear for t...
Jul 28, 2021•20 min
Federal public health officials are considering updating mask mandates even for vaccinated Americans as we reach another critical point in the pandemic. But some localities are going above and beyond that with vaccine mandates. New York City, for example, will require all city employees to be vaccinated, and California announced a vaccine requirement for all state employees and health care workers, too. Private businesses like United Airlines and Morgan Stanley have also started to mandate vacci...
Jul 27, 2021•16 min
The U.S. is at another pivotal point in the pandemic, with loosening restrictions and the rapidly spreading Delta variant leading to a concerning rise in cases, and less than half of the population fully vaccinated. We talked to Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Johns Hopkins University’s Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, about the current state of the pandemic in the country. And in headlines: Biden plans to sanction Cuban officials for human rights abuses, Mississippi attempt...
Jul 23, 2021•18 min
Hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers went on strike yesterday across nearly a dozen cities in the U.S. to call for the passage of the PRO Act, which would allow employees to unionize and gain greater wage transparency and better benefits. In other labor news, workers at the Frito-Lay plant in Kansas have entered their third week in a strike against poor working conditions. The #FreeBritney Movement hits Congress as members of the House of Representatives this week proposed the FREE Act, a bipartisa...
Jul 22, 2021•18 min
Wildfires in the western US and parts of Canada, driven by extreme drought conditions and heat waves, are casting hazy skies across the country. We talked to Brian Kahn, the managing editor of Earther and a lecturer at the Columbia Climate School about how climate change is altering our lives. Some counties nationwide are recommending that even vaccinated individuals keep their masks on when in indoor public spaces to fight the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus. And in headlines: India’...
Jul 21, 2021•17 min
Today marks six months since President Biden entered the White House. We talked with Crooked Media’s editor-in-chief and the host of "Rubicon," Brian Beutler, about Biden’s progress on the $600 billion infrastructure bill, the $3.5 trillion Democrat-led budget bill, the COVID response, voting rights, climate change, and more. And in headlines: the first sentencing for a Capitol rioter, Canada opens its borders to vaccinated Americans, and Ben and Jerry’s stops commercial activities in Israeli-oc...
Jul 20, 2021•19 min
Los Angeles County reimposed mask mandates this weekend for everyone indoors in a public space because the Delta variant is causing cases and hospitalization rates to climb. Last week, the seven-day average of cases in the U.S. went up by almost 70 percent in a single week. The Biden administration kicked off a public war against social media companies last week regarding their inaction on the spread of COVID misinformation, and Facebook responded with a blog post that accused the White House of...
Jul 19, 2021•15 min
At its heart, critical race theory is the idea of explaining how systemic racism has persisted in our country’s policies and laws throughout its history. But CRT has become a passion project for conservatives across the nation, who have used the term vigorously to rile up their base, and moved to ban it from being discussed in public classrooms, state agencies, and more. We spoke with two educators about the impact that the country-wide politicization of CRT is having on them and on their studen...
Jul 16, 2021•23 min
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is traveling across the country this week to discuss how schools and community colleges can help students after they lost out on so much due to the pandemic, and to outline applications for the $122 billion in education funding from the American Rescue Plan. We asked Dr. Cardona about that trip, as well as local PPE enforcement, student loans, classroom curriculum, and more. And in headlines: the arrest of former South African president Jacob Zuma sparked ...
Jul 15, 2021•19 min
Miners at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama, have been striking for nearly four months in protest of drastic cutbacks to wages and benefits. It’s one of the largest work-stoppages in the state’s recent history. We hear from Haeden Wright, a United Mine Workers supporter and a miner’s wife, and Kim Kelly, a labor reporter for The Nation magazine, about the current status of the strike and the rising tide of violence and hostility that strikers face. And in headlines: Biden condemns Republica...
Jul 14, 2021•19 min
President Biden’s previous plan to combat crime by tightening the reins on gun sales and empowering the DOJ to target firearm traffickers has got a major update. He suggested states use $350 billion from the COVID relief plan to hire more police officers and strengthen crime prevention programs. Democratic state representatives from Texas went to Washington D.C. to break quorum and apply more federal pressure to pass voting rights legislation. A great escape like this hasn’t happened since 2003 ...
Jul 13, 2021•15 min
President Biden signed an executive order last week aimed at boosting competition between businesses and discouraging monopolies. The order includes 72 initiatives, which will encourage the FTC to reinstate net neutrality rules, require airlines to disclose hidden fees, allow cheaper medications to be imported from Canada, and more. The CDC issued guidelines for school districts to reopen this fall, while allowing local officials to tighten or loosen restrictions given factors like regional vacc...
Jul 12, 2021•17 min
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a deal where 15 states agreed to drop their opposition to the company's bankruptcy plan in exchange for concessions from the Sackler family. The move has paved the way for the company to settle with plaintiffs, who blame Purdue for its role in the country’s opioid crisis, for roughly $4.5 billion. The world’s known COVID deaths just passed 4 million by one count, and many countries are still seeing rises in cases and hospitalizations due to the Delta variant...
Jul 09, 2021•14 min
Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home by a team of mercenaries amid claims by opposition groups that he tried to illegally extend his presidential term by one year. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph is calling for an international investigation, and Biden promised assistance to fight for a safe and secure Haiti in a time of growing gun violence. Texas State Republicans start a special legislative session on Thursday to discuss 11 conservative agenda items that didn’t pa...
Jul 08, 2021•16 min
Reflecting upon President Biden’s missed July 4th vaccination goals, we talked to epidemiologist and former Detroit health commissioner Dr. Abdul El-Sayed about the spread of the Delta variant and Republican vaccination hesitancy. We also discussed concerns of a potential resurgence of COVID-19 when a partially-vaccinated America returns to indoor, crowded spaces this fall and winter. And in headlines: Hurricane Elsa to make landfall on Florida's coast, a new large-scale ransomware attack, and N...
Jul 07, 2021•22 min
The Supreme Court affirmed two provisions of an Arizona law that restricted voting rights, yesterday. One would void ballots from citizens who voted in the wrong precinct, and the other would restrict voters from having their ballots delivered to a polling station by a third party. The justices also overturned a California law requiring charities to disclose the identities of their major donors, citing it as a violation of the First Amendment. The Manhattan DA’s Office charged the Trump Organiza...
Jul 02, 2021•16 min
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court set Bill Cosby free on a technicality after he served part of his sentence for three counts of sexual assault. Back in 2005, when he was a local DA and before he was Trump’s defense lawyer, attorney Bruce Castor promised Cosby that nothing he said in a deposition for a civil case would be used against him in a criminal proceeding, and honoring that promise meant Cosby should never have been charged in the first place. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died at ...
Jul 01, 2021•18 min
Intense heat waves in the Pacific Northwest are causing heavy power demands and rolling blackouts. Unprecedented rainfall in the Midwest has caused flooding, which politicians have blamed on a lack of spending on proper infrastructure. Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a bill to establish a House committee that will investigate the January 6 Capitol riot. The committee will have 13 members, but it's not known whether Republicans will want to be part of it. Plus Cleo Stiller fills in for Gideon. An...
Jun 30, 2021•19 min
The Delta variant of coronavirus has been detected in 92 countries, leading to lockdowns and the reintroduction of limitations on border crossing. Additionally, researchers in India have identified a variant of the Delta variant they're calling Delta Plus, though it's so far unknown whether it's any more transmissible than the original variant. Mixing and matching the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines may increase immunity, according to early results from a study in the UK. If the ...
Jun 29, 2021•15 min
A 12-story residential building collapsed in Miami last week, resulting in the deaths of at least 9 people, with more than 150 people still missing. An engineering report from 2018 found major structural damage to the building, and it was supposed to undergo repairs this year. There’s a climate change connection, too, with some suggesting that rising temperatures and sea levels might have accelerated the building’s erosion. Republicans in several states have been trying to audit the results of t...
Jun 28, 2021•19 min
President Biden announced a new $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that will be primarily funded through heightened IRS efforts to reduce tax evasion by corporations and the wealthy. Human infrastructure spending, which covers things like childcare, education, and clean energy, is missing from the deal and would need to be part of a second bill passed through reconciliation without Republican support. Pride events this weekend in cities like New York, Denver, and Seattle have banned...
Jun 25, 2021•19 min
The Supreme Court ruled that President Biden had the authority to remove the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who was appointed by the former Trump administration. Other SCOTUS rulings from yesterday protected a high school cheerleader's free speech on Snapchat, barred a union from organizing workers at their worksites, and banned police from entering homes without a warrant to arrest misdemeanor suspects. The Delta variant now accounts for one-fifth of recent COVID cases in the U.S.,...
Jun 24, 2021•18 min
The vote to open a debate about the For The People Act, which would make it easier to vote, strengthen campaign finance rules, and end partisan gerrymandering, was blocked in the Senate yesterday with all 50 Republicans united against it. With moderate Democrats like Manchin and Sinema refusing to budge on the filibuster, the future of voting rights is uncertain. We spoke with Crooked Media's Political Director Shaniqua McClendon about what might happen next. And in headlines: Biden won’t hit hi...
Jun 23, 2021•19 min
