The Daily

With the midterm elections a few weeks away, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, forwarded a plan to save his party from the growing backlash over abortion. But the proposal — a federal ban on almost all terminations after 15 weeks — has served mostly to expose the division among Republicans about the issue. Guest: Lisa Lerer , a national political correspondent for The New York...

When President Biden canceled college debt last month, he left untouched the problem that created that debt: the soaring price of college. In the 1980s, the list price of undergraduate education at a private four-year institution could hit $20,000 a year. At some of these schools in the last couple of years, it has topped $80,000.  Why has a college education become increasingly costly, and why ha...

Over the weekend, Ukraine’s military stunned the world. After months of a kind of stalemate, its military took hundreds of miles of territory back from Russia — its biggest victory since the start of the war. How did the war reach this critical point, and what does Ukraine’s success mean for the future? Guest: Eric Schmitt , a correspondent covering national security for The New York Times. Backgr...

The U.S. Open crowned its winners this weekend. But for a lot of fans, this year’s competition was less about who won, and more about a player who wasn’t even involved in the final matches. Serena Williams, who announced last month that she’d be retiring from tennis after this year’s tournament, has made an indelible impact on her sport and left a legacy away from the court that has very little pr...

The Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank in California, has in recent years become increasingly influential in Republican circles. In 2016, its goal was to turn Donald J. Trump into a legitimate candidate — and then it did . The journalist Elisabeth Zerofsky traces the origins of the divisive organization, explaining how it made the intellectual case for Trumpism but also how, with ties to...

The death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday brought to an end a remarkable reign that spanned seven decades, 15 prime ministers and 14 American presidents. During her time on the throne, which saw the crumbling of the British Empire and the buffeting of the royal family by scandals, Elizabeth’s courtly and reserved manner helped to shore up the monarchy and provided an unwavering constant for her...

As California watches the impact of rising temperatures devastate its environment with brutal heat waves and raging fires, the state is taking increasingly far-reaching steps to combat climate change. One of those measures — banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 — could prove a turning point for the transition to electric vehicles. Guest: Neal E. Boudette , an automotive correspond...

A counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces to try to drive Russian troops out of southern Ukraine has placed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, directly in the path of the fighting. As the world scrambles to prevent a catastrophe, the plant’s workers find themselves in a dangerously precarious position. Guest: Marc Santora , an international news editor for The New York Times...

In November, Americans will head to the polls for the first nationwide election since the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But what happens this fall won’t just be about who wins and who loses. On the first episode of "The Run-Up,” host Astead Herndon lays out the stakes of the midterm elections and explores the big questions the podcast is looking to answer.  “ The Run-Up ” is a new politics podcast...

Today marks the unofficial start of the campaign for the midterm elections. This year’s midterms will be the first major referendum on the Biden era of government — and a test of how much voters want to reinstall the Trump wing of the Republican Party. On today’s episode, Astead W. Herndon, a political reporter and the host of our new podcast, “ The Run-Up ,” offers a guide to the campaign. He’ll...

 An influx of Fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic narcotic, has aggravated the opioid crisis in the United States and prompted communities to scramble for ways to lower the skyrocketing rates of overdose deaths. In Vancouver, a Canadian city that has been at the forefront of innovative approaches to drug use, a novel and surprising tactic is being tried: It’s called “safer supply.” Guest: Stephani...

Few leaders have had as profound an effect on their time as Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died this week at 91. It was not Mr. Gorbachev’s intention to liquidate the Soviet empire when he came to power in 1985. But after little more than six tumultuous years, he had lifted the Iron Curtain and presided over the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...

This episode contains detailed descriptions of a mass shooting that some listeners may find disturbing. A trial is underway in Parkland, Fla., to determine the fate of the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. The trial is expected to last for months, forcing people in Parkland to relive the pain of a day they have spent years trying to put behind them. We lo...

This episode contains discussions about suicide, self-harm and mental health issues. In decades past, the public health risks teenagers in the United States faced were different. They were externalized risks that were happening in the physical world. Now, a new set of risks has emerged. In 2019, 13 percent of adolescents reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007....

Since he left office, former President Donald J. Trump has been facing several investigations. They include the congressional inquiry into the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol and the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago, his club and Florida residence, as part of an investigation into his handling of classified material. Of all the government investigations, the one that is receiving the least attention — a...

Going to college can be a shock to most: Leaving the comfort of friends and family for a leap into the unknown, a fresh start. But what is the university experience like as a refugee? The journalist Maddy Crowell met some of the 148 Afghan women who have been enrolled in U.S. colleges to complete their degrees, and relates how they have adapted to American and collegiate life a year on from the fa...

President Biden’s announcement this week that he would cancel chunks of student loan debt stands to have a major impact for many of the 45 million Americans who owe $1.6 trillion for having gone to college. Who will benefit from the plan, what will the cost be to the taxpayer and the economy, and, ultimately, could the White House have done more? Guest: Stacy Cowley , a finance reporter for The Ne...

Daria Dugina and her father, Aleksandr Dugin, have been major figures in the Russian propaganda landscape, advocating Russian imperialism and supporting the invasion of Ukraine. But a few days ago, Ms. Dugina was killed in a car bomb after leaving a nationalist festival, fueling speculation about who carried out the attack and whether Moscow’s reaction could affect the war in Ukraine. Guest: Anton...

Across industries and income brackets, a growing number of American workers are discovering that their productivity is being electronically monitored by their bosses. This technology is giving employers a means to gauge what their employees are doing and it’s already impacting how much and when people get paid. Times investigative reporters have discovered that this tracking software is more commo...

Even as the anti-abortion movement celebrates victories at the Supreme Court and in many states across the country, there is debate about where to go next. A hard-edge faction is pursuing “abortion abolition,” a move to criminalize abortion from conception, targeting not only the providers but also the women who have the procedure. Guest: Elizabeth Dias , a correspondent covering faith and politic...

For more than 500 days, coal miners in rural Alabama have been on strike. Around 900 workers walked off the job in April 2021, and they haven’t been back since. As the strike drags on, the miners are discovering that neither political party is willing to fight for them. For Braxton Wright, 39, a second-generation coal miner and, until recently, a Republican, the experience has altered his view of...

In the past decade, planting trees has come to represent many things: a virtuous act, a practical solution and a symbol of hope in the face of climate change. But can planting a trillion trees really save the world? Visiting the Eden Reforestation Projects in Goiás, Brazil, and interviewing numerous international scientists and activists, the journalist Zach St. George offers a vivid insight into...

What is a black hole? Why do we remember the past but not the future? If time had a beginning, does it have an end? We don’t have the answers to some of the universe’s biggest questions. What we do know often feels bleak, such as the notion that in a billion years there will most likely be no life on Earth. Or the reality that someday the entire human race will probably be forgotten. Nonetheless,...

Last week, the F.B.I. took the extraordinary step of searching Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and Florida home. Their goal? To find materials he was thought to have improperly removed from the White House, including classified documents. An inventory of the material taken from the search showed that agents seized 11 sets of documents with some type of confidential or s...

Across the United States, airline travel this summer has been roiled by canceled flights, overbooked planes, disappointment and desperation. Two and a half years after the pandemic began and with restrictions easing, why is flying still such an unpleasant experience? Guest: Niraj Chokshi , a business reporter for The New York Times. Background reading:  The question for many travelers is whether t...