1A

This week Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students. Elon Musk isn't leaving Washington quietly. In an interview with CBS news Musk took aim at the tax bill making its way through Congress, saying it undermines the work he and DOGE undertook. Israel's latest offensive in Gaza is drawing criticism from world leaders. This week offi...

It's been five years since widespread protests erupted after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020. That murder, and the resulting national protests, led to numerous calls for police reform in communities around the country. But the politics of policing have changed since 2024. Perceptions of crime and its relationship with immigration were central issues d...

80 years ago, Smokey the Bear was mostly talking about campfire safety. Now? Things are a little different. Forest fires have always been a normal part of our landscape – and a tool used by human civilizations for millennia. But as climate change makes our landscapes hotter and drier, wildfires are getting bigger and more destructive. Fire consumed 8.9 million acres across the U.S. last year. The...

The news last week of former President Joe Biden's advanced prostate cancer has more people thinking and talking about the condition. About 1 in 8 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. It's the most-diagnosed cancer in men and the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in American men after lung cancer. That's according to the American Cancer Societ...

"Did you hear? A little birdy told me. Don't tell anyone I said this." Human beings love to gossip. We all talk about other people – sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes it's not. But where do we draw that line? Where and how did we learn to gossip? Are there benefits? We talk to the creator of the "Normal Gossip" podcast, Kelsey McKinney. Her new book is all about how we talk about other peo...

After an early-morning vote to open debate, the House passed the Republican spending and tax bill this week. Now, it moves to the Senate. Elsewhere in Washington, President Donald Trump welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for a meeting in the Oval Office where he lectured the visiting leader and made false claims about supposed persecution of white Afrikaner farmers. Despite Gaza bein...

Cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, specifically to programs funding farms, schools, and food banks, mean meals won't make it to many tables across the country. A new report from Feeding America found that people in every county are experiencing hunger. In some areas, child food insecurity is as high as 50 percent. How are food banks and farms responding to a loss in federal funding? Want...

Musician Rhiannon Giddens has won Grammys, a Pulitzer, and a MacArthur "Genius Grant." But her new album is a true love letter to her North Carolina roots and features former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson. The album is called "What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow." Giddens and Robinson join us to talk about North Carolina's musical past, taking the time to learn at the feet o...

The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known colloquially as the nation's report card, shows that reading scores dropped an average of two progress points for both 4th and 8th graders. But two states that are bucking this trend? Mississippi and Louisiana. How did two of the country's poorest states turn their literacy scores around in a matter of a few years? What can other states l...

A flood of executive actions and attempts to reshape the scope of the federal government have resulted in at least 328 lawsuits against President Donald Trump's administration as of May 1. A Bloomberg analysis found that judges have blocked Trump's policies more than they have allowed them. We break down some of the biggest cases against the Trump administration and what they say about the balance...

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case about President Donald Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship. House Republicans unveil a bill to cut congressional spending. The U.S. and China hammer out a trade deal that reduces tariffs for 90 days. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, announcing a slew of economic deals and partnerships. But back home, a luxury jet from the...

June is around the corner. It means the end of the Supreme Court's term, and with it, decisions on its most high-profile, high-stakes cases. That's the "what" of the Court's work – but how does the Court decide its cases today? One book tries to answer that. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A spon...

On Sunday, Catholic churches across the world celebrated Mass while a new leader took the top seat in Vatican City. That new leader is Pope Leo XIV. But when white smoke rose last week, some of the faithful may have been surprised when Robert Prevost walked out of St. Peter's Basilica victorious. He's the first US-born pope in history. What do we know about the man now leading the church? What doe...

We're talking all about electric vehicles. The month of May was made for racing. From the Kentucky Derby to the Indy 500. And now, there's a new sound getting louder. Prime Video is offering a look into the fast lane of Formula E racing with the recently-released show Formula E: Driver. The series follows the lives, and the close calls of four Formula E drivers, including Andretti Racing's 2023 Fo...