Consider This from NPR

Two distant cousins connect online, only to learn that one is a militant leftist and the other is in a right-wing militia. Their story shows the complexities of a timely question: Who's an extremist? NPR's Hannah Allam followed both men for weeks, charting the growth of their relationship and revealing the moment they met in-person for the first time. NPR is withholding their last name, which the...

Colorado has universal background checks, a red flag law and the city of Boulder recently passed an assault weapons ban. None of it was enough to stop a man from shooting and killing 10 people at a Boulder grocery store this week. State Rep. Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the 2012 Aurora movie theatre shooting, reacts to the events of this week — and tells NPR why he still believes incremen...

America's infrastructure GPA is a C-minus, according to the American Society Of Civil Engineers, which this month called for massive investment in the nation's roads, bridges and transit system . The Biden administration is preparing to propose that kind of investment — along with green energy policies and progressive programs that would total more than $3 trillion. NPR's Mara Liasson reports on t...

In Europe, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been slow. The U.S. is doing better — vaccinating as many as 3 million people per day this past weekend. Some of those people were vaccinated by Chichi Ilonzo Momah, who runs Springfield Pharmacy in Springfield, Pa. Momah says local independent pharmacists are trying to make sure no one falls through the cracks. The rollout is also progressing thanks in...

Sohla El-Waylly was one of the most vocal critics of her previous employer, Bon Appétit , and eventually resigned after the magazine's racial reckoning. She's now a columnist at Food52 and star of the YouTube series Off-Script with Sohla . She and Sam talk about racism in the food media industry (and everywhere else), The Cheesecake Factory, and certain kinds of mushrooms. See pcm.adswizz.com for...

Dante Disparte, founder and chairman of Risk Cooperative and member of FEMA's National Advisory Council, explains how lessons from last year can help us in the next pandemic — and why warnings from former Presidents Bush and Obama were not enough to prepare the U.S. for the coronavirus. In participating regions, you'll also hear from local journalists about what's happening in your community. Emai...

Reports of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders have skyrocketed in the past year, coinciding with former President Trump's racist rhetoric. The pattern is clear: Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are being terrorized by harassment and violence. State representative Bee Nguyen tells NPR the shootings in Atlanta this week have rattled the Asian-American communit...

Three women come together to talk about the isolation and sacrifice that comes with being pregnant during the pandemic. Those women: Irène Mathieu, a pediatrician in Charlottesville, Virginia; Elizabeth Baron, a mental health counselor in New York City; and Ashley Falcon, a fashion stylist who moved from Florida to New York in the early stages of the pandemic. Economist Hannes Schwandt predicts th...

Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children have shown up at the southern border in recent weeks, overwhelming the government's ability to process and transfer them into the custody of sponsors or family members. Melissa Lopez, director of Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services Inc , tells NPR what the situations looks like from her vantage point in El Paso. Mark Greenberg , senior fellow at the Migr...

People who stormed the Capitol were radicalized by what they consumed online and in social media. That should sound familiar: Ten years ago, ISIS used a similar strategy to lure Americans to Syria. Dina Temple-Raston reports on the pattern of radicalization. Tom Dreisbach explores familiar warning signs in the past of one Capitol siege suspect — including hateful speech and violent rhetoric. More...

In this episode from NPR's Louder Than A Riot , New Orleans rapper Mac Phipps speaks exclusively to NPR about the power dynamics at play throughout his clemency hearing, and hosts Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael examine how his hip-hop career continues to affect his image in the eyes of the law. Find more episodes of Louder Than A Riot on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . See pcm.adswizz.com for inf...

It's been one year since Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her own apartment. In that year, Taylor's name has become a national symbol in the fight against racial injustice and police violence. But beyond the symbolism, many feel that actual progress has been disappointing. In Louisville, Taylor's death has made other young Black women reflect on their own safety. Reporter Jess Clark...

Less than 4% of Brazil's population has been vaccinated, and now a dangerous new variant has overwhelmed parts of the country's health care system. Duke University's Miguel Nicolelis tells NPR what it's like in Sao Paulo, where hospitals are turning patients away. Other countries are also struggling to contain the coronavirus, combat disinformation, and distribute vaccines. NPR international corre...

March 11 will mark one year since the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic — when schools, businesses and workplaces began shutting down. To mark the moment, two of the nation's top public health officials who have helped lead the U.S. response to the pandemic — Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins — spoke to NPR about what they've learned,...

Jury selection in the highly anticipated trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin began Tuesday after being delayed amid an effort to gain clarity on the potential of a third-degree murder charge. Chauvin faces charges in the killing of George Floyd last Memorial Day. Jamiles Lartey , who reports on criminal justice and policing for The Marshall Project , explains the delay. NPR's...

Over the weekend, the Senate approved a version of President Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, setting up a vote in the House that could send the package to Biden's desk as early as Tuesday. The package contains direct cash payments for many Americans, extended unemployment benefits, billions of dollars for vaccine distribution and a significant change to the child tax credit that could...

What do you do after you've survived a mass shooting? In this episode of NPR's Embedded podcast, we hear the staff at the Capital Gazette newspaper return to work after losing five of their colleagues. Trauma reveals itself in unexpected ways, coworkers struggle to figure out how they fit together as a team, and the staff grapples with the question: Is the newspaper that existed before the shootin...

Colombian President Iván Duque won praise from the United Nations, Pope Francis and the Biden administration with his recent announcement that Colombia would welcome Venezuelan refugees with open arms — providing protected status, work permits and legal residency for up to 10 years. President Duque tells NPR why he's hopeful the move will spur the U.S. toward more aggressive support of Venezuelan...

In the U.S., the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is improving every day, but hundreds of millions of people are still vulnerable. And now, with some states relaxing or eliminating public health measures altogether, many people live in places where the virus will be freer to spread unchecked. KUT reporter Ashley Lopez reports on how business owners and employees are reacting to the rollback of COVID-1...

The Supreme Court heard arguments this week about voting laws in Arizona that would make ballot access harder for people living in rural areas like the Navajo Nation. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that the conservative court isn't likely to strike down the laws which could pave the way for more legislation that cuts into future election turnout. The push for legislation that would restrict voter ac...

Disinformation isn't new. But in the last decade, the growth of social media has made it easier than ever to spread. That coincided with the political rise of Donald Trump, who rose to power on a wave of disinformation and exited the White House in similar fashion. NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the growing threat of disinformation — and how expert deprogrammers work with people who believe it. Othe...

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has taken over after a turbulent time. Former President Donald Trump was frequently at odds with the American intelligence community, including some of his hand-picked intel chiefs. In her first interview after a month on the job, Haines tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly "it has been a challenging time" for the U.S. intel community. In participating regio...

Bayard Rustin, the man behind the March on Washington , was one of the most consequential architects of the civil rights movement you may never have heard of. Rustin imagined how nonviolent civil resistance could be used to dismantle segregation in the United States. He organized around the idea for years and eventually introduced it to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But his identity as a gay man made...

It's been almost a decade since Washington and Colorado became the first states in America to legalize recreational marijuana. Now a new generation of states are wrestling with how to do it with a focus on racial equity that was missing from early legalization efforts. WBEZ reporter Mariah Woelfel reports from Chicago on why legalization plans in Illinois are still leaving Black businesses behind....

Just because the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is done, it doesn't mean the story of what happened on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol is over. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to set up a commission, similar to the one created after the Sept. 11 attacks, to investigate what happened that day and what measures might prevent a future attack. That's not so easy in this moment,...