Today, Explained

This week, the Supreme Court of the United States fundamentally changed... sports. It struck down a 1992 law that prevented states from legalizing sports gambling. Now, New Jersey is at the head of a long line of states looking to allow their citizens to bet it all on the home team. New York Times Magazine writer Emily Bazelon takes us to Court and The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis explains how this might...

Explosions are ramping up on Hawaii’s Big Island this week, as the Kilauea volcano continues to spew lava and blow a 12,000-foot plume of ash into the air. The volcanic gas and lava have already destroyed 25 homes and prompted the evacuation of nearly 2,000 residents. Vox’s Umair Irfan shares the latest news and explains why we choose to live next to exploding mountains. Learn more about your ad c...

Sixty Palestinians were killed at the Israel-Gaza border yesterday, the day the U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem. Vox’s Yochi Dreazen breaks down the conflict, the history, and whether there’s a way forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jordan Peterson has gone from being an obscure Canadian academic to a kind of political rock star for the right. Overnight. Vox’s Zack Beauchamp unpacks Peterson’s controversial ideology and explains how the clinical psychologist gained a following of millions. Then, Sean Rameswaram gives Peterson a call and asks him to explain himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned Monday after four women accused him of physical assault. The news was a rough blow to the #MeToo movement, where Schneiderman was aiding an investigation into Harvey Weinstein. Today news broke that President Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen were informed of the assault allegations years ago - around the time that Schneiderman and Trump were e...

Stormy D, AT&T, and nine Fabergé eggs. The investigation into the president’s personal lawyer keeps getting more colorful. This week, it was confirmed that a shell company set up by Michael Cohen received payments from AT&T as well as a company linked to a Russian oligarch with a soft spot for jeweled eggs. Vox’s Andrew Prokop follows the money in a shade of Today, Explained noir. Learn more about...

President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Everyone else - including France, Russia, China, even Iran - has insisted on staying in. Vox’s Yochi Dreazen explains the implications of Trump’s move, from a spike in your summer gas prices to nuclear war in the Middle East. **************************************** When Trump quit the Iran deal, he ended years...

Tomorrow is the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the C.I.A. The 33-year veteran of the organization would be its first female director, but standing in her way are reports of her involvement in torture programs and secret prisons after September 11. Vox’s Jenn Williams explains Haspel’s shadowy history, and why she almost backed out of her nominati...

The NRA announced a new president today: Fox News contributor and Iran-Contra alum Oliver North. The news caps a big weekend for the organization. Tens of thousands of Americans (including President Trump) descended on Dallas for the National Rifle Association’s 147th annual meeting. Vox’s German Lopez explains how our national gunfight has and hasn’t changed since the Parkland shooting, and a lon...

Imagine a world where a Band-Aid costs $629. Bad news: you live in that world. Vox’s Sarah Kliff explains how American hospitals tack on “facility fees” to cover their expansive costs. Then, a Kentucky doctor gives us his perspective on those costs from inside the ER. To find out more about Sarah Kliff’s reporting on ER bills (or how to submit your own bill), head to erbills.vox.com. You can check...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to 13 companies that appear to market their vaping products directly to kids. E-cigarettes are a gangbuster business but one device, the sleekly-designed Juul, has really captured the attention of underage teens. Vox’s Julia Belluz explains the hype, and what most teens don’t know about the Juul. Learn more about your ad choice...

Forty-nine Central Americans seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border were granted entry today. They're part of a caravan of around 200 migrants who arrived Sunday and camped in the rain, after traveling 2,000 miles and fleeing gang violence and other dangers in their home countries. Vox’s Dara Lind explains the long road facing asylum seekers, who still might not be able to stay. ****************...

After 40 years, police say they have finally caught the Golden State Killer, a man responsible for at least 12 murders, 50 rapes, and 100 break-ins in the 1970’s and ’80s. They found him using a genealogy site -- a relative uploaded DNA and unwittingly provided the missing link. Vox’s Aja Romano narrates the killer’s grisly reign of terror across California, and lawyer Steven Mercer explains why t...

Sean Hannity is curiously close to President Donald Trump — so close that some say he may as well have a desk in the Oval Office. In recent weeks, the Fox News host has gone from covering the news to being in the headlines. Nicole Hemmer, author of “Messengers of the Right,” explains how the man near the top of the conservative media’s totem pole might influence the president. Learn more about you...

For the first time in history, the leader of North Korea took a trip to South Korea today. Kim Jong Un met with President Moon Jae-in to talk unification and denuclearization over some cold noodles. NPR’s Elise Hu was there. She tells Sean Rameswaram what transpired before Vox’s Alex Ward explains whether this truly means the end of a nearly 70-year conflict. ******************************** Watch...

Next up on the chopping block? Food stamps or SNAP as it’s now known. A new farm bill, fresh out of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, could force over two million people off the program. Vox’s Tara Golshan explains why Republicans want to put SNAP recipients to work, and Stacy Dean from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities talks about the program’s bipartisan past. *******************...

Four years ago today, Flint, Michigan switched water supplies to save a few million dollars. To date, that decision has cost over $400 million. Governor Rick Snyder says Flint’s water is finally safe again, but residents remain skeptical — they’re marching today in protest. Michigan Radio’s Lindsey Smith explains what exactly happened in Flint and whether the city will ever regain the trust of its...

The Supreme Court wraps up its term with a bang tomorrow: Trump v. Hawaii, the travel ban case. The Court will hear arguments on whether the ban exceeds the president’s powers under federal immigration law, and whether it violates the establishment clause (unfairly targeting Muslims). Also at issue, the president's tweets. The nine justices will consider whether Donald Trump's tweets and retweets...

On May 29th, Starbucks will shut 8,000 locations and lose millions of dollars to provide racial bias training for employees. The training comes after the arrest of two black men, who were waiting in the store for a business meeting, prompted nationwide outrage. Alexis McGill Johnson runs trainings for Perception Institute. She schools Sean Rameswaram in how they work, how our brains are biased, an...

Today Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a plan to decriminalize marijuana federally. But the debate over legalization rages on at the local level. Sean Rameswaram speaks with a Massachusetts mayor who wants marijuana to fund schools, and a D.C. pot entrepreneur who’s finding a way around the city’s ban on sales. Afterwards, a discussion about marijuana reparations. Learn more about yo...

Nikki Haley has had a rough week. On Sunday, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations announced sanctions against Russia. On Monday, the White House said there would be no sanctions. Then, the president’s economic advisor said Haley was simply “confused.” Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains how Ambassador Haley punched back and why this isn’t the best look for the country. Learn more about your ad choi...

Donald Trump signed FOSTA into law a week ago today. The “Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” looks good on paper, but Vox’s Aja Romano says it alters fundamental freedoms online. Plus Alex Levy, a Notre Dame Law School professor, says it won’t do much to curb sex trafficking, either. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is facing a host of new scandals: a $43,000 soundproof phone booth, a security detail to Disneyland, and even using a siren on his car to get to a restaurant faster. But Vox’s Umair Irfan says that behind these controversies, Pruitt’s EPA has been one of the most consequential government agencies in the Trump administration....

President Trump and United States allies bombed chemical weapons facilities in Syria on Friday. The attacks came in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons on his own people. Vox’s Alex Ward explains why the United States escalated its involvement and why the world sees chemical weapons differently from conventional ones. *********************** For an explainer on how Syri...

When its corporate owner introduced new budget cuts and layoffs, journalists at The Denver Post decided to fight back. They ran a front-page editorial calling the owners “vulture capitalists”. Chuck Plunkett led the secret revolt, and tells Sean Rameswaram why he picked a fight with the brass. Kate Knibbs of The Ringer then explains why hedge funds and billionaires are bad for local news. Learn mo...