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The holiday shopping season is basically here. But a lot of things that Americans want to buy are not. Now the race is on to get goods off ships and into stores and warehouses — before it's too late. NPRs Scott Horsley reports some retailers are already feeling the pinch from less inventory and higher shipping costs. Even if goods do make it into the U.S., many are sitting in warehouses, which are...

Thousands of youth activists from all over the world gathered in Scotland this week for the COP26 UN climate summit. They say climate change is already transforming their countries — and that their generation has the most to lose if greater action isn't taken. This episode contains reporting from Ari Shapiro in Glasgow, with production and editing by Mia Venkat, Noah Caldwell, and Ashley Brown. In...

Who is to blame for the deaths of nine people at the Astroworld Festival last Friday? Houston police have opened a criminal investigation and concertgoers have already filed more than 20 lawsuits against the event organizers and rapper Travis Scott, who continued to perform for more than half an hour after officials declared a mass casualty event. Crowd safety expert Keith Still explains the scien...

Following the Columbine shooting in April of 1999, top leaders of the National Rifle Association huddled in private to discuss their public response to the tragedy. Secret tapes of those deliberations were obtained by NPR investigative correspondent Tim Mak. He explains what's revealed in the tapes: that the group considered a much different stance than the one it ultimately took — a stance that w...

Mark Zuckerberg says the metaverse is not just the next chapter of his company: it's the next chapter of the internet. There are a lot of questions about what role Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, should play in building that future. Meta's Vice President of metaverse, Vishal Shah, argues that the company has learned from its struggle to moderate content on Facebook, and will build sa...

Now that the hot takes have cooled after Virginia's gubernatorial election, NPR correspondents Anya Kamenetz and Tamara Keith dissect the role of education in the race — and why it was about way more than critical race theory. Read more from Anya here . In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at co...

Waking up at dawn with the bakers and the baristas may not be for everyone — especially night owls. Whether you have to wake up early, or you'd like to become more of a morning lark, here are a few habits that can help you set yourself up for success at that first alarm. In this episode of NPR's Life Kit, host Kavitha George speaks with early risers who have tips to help adjust one's biological cl...

In recent years, Sudan has been home to one of the most successful pro-democracy movements on the African continent. Now, a military coup threatens that movement's progress. NPR's Eyder Peralta , who has been reporting in the region, explains how it all unfolded — and what could happen next. Read more on the events in Sudan from NPR's Becky Sullivan : The coup in Sudan could threaten U.S. influenc...

The CDC made it official on Tuesday: kids 5 - 11 are now eligible to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 pediatric vaccine. Within hours, some of the first shots were administered in Hartford, Connecticut. Jenny Brundin of Colorado Public Radio spoke to parents and kids in Denver about getting a shot. While some are eager, others want to 'wait and see.' NPR's Allison Aubrey and Selena Simmons-Duffin wrote a...

Any ruling is months away, but this week's oral arguments provided some clues. NPR's Nina Totenberg watched them unfold. Hear more from Nina's coverage on the NPR Politics Podcast via Apple , Google , or Spotify . Also in this episode: Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi , an OB-GYN in Texas, who told NPR pregnant people in Texas have been travelling to Oklahoma for abortions. In participating regions, you'll al...

In what some have called "Striketober," workers in factories as well as the health care and food industries have either started or authorized strikes in the past month. Thousands of workers across the U.S. are on strike, demanding better wages, better working conditions and more benefits. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Joseph McCartin, professor of history at Georgetown , about what this moment mea...

A U.N. climate summit is underway this week in Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the world's top carbon emitting-countries will be represented there. Scientists say they need to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. The U.S, along with the China, are the world's top greenhouse gas emitters. India is third. And Brazil plays a crucial ro...

In this episode of NPR's investigative podcast Embedded , Chris Benderev reports on the trial of a man who shot and killed five people in the office of an Annapolis newspaper in 2018. Embedded 's series of episodes on the Capitol Gazette began in February of 2021. Listen via Apple , Spotify , or Google . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsors...

A final girl in the horror genre is the woman who is left to deal with the aftermath of surviving a terrifying killer. From The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , to Friday the 13th , to Halloween . The term 'Final Girl' was first coined by writer Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film . Society knows this trope well. But after the credits roll, audiences ty...

Two years ago, a massive protest movement swept through Iraq. People were angry about corruption and a lack of basic services like electricity and health care in a country that brings in billions of dollars in oil revenue each year. That protest movement culminated in a parliamentary election, held earlier this month. NPR international correspondent Ruth Sherlock reported on the election closely f...

Last summer, when former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen sat down to tape their podcast, the country was facing a pandemic, joblessness and a contentious election. And their conversations, they say, were an effort to offer some perspective and an attempt to try and find a unifying story for the country. The two talked about their dads, race, and the future of the country. Those conver...

The CDC has now released booster guidance for all three vaccines available in the U.S. — making tens of millions of people eligible for another shot. And on Tuesday, an FDA panel met to review data from Pfizer on their vaccine for children ages 5 - 11. NPR's Alison Aubrey explains what those data say about the vaccine — and how it might be rolled out. Pediatrician Dr. Reah Boyd tells NPR how she's...

School board members across the country are being intimidated and threatened. Now the National School Boards Association wants the federal government to step in. The group said in a recent letter to President Biden that acts of school board harassment and confrontations seem to be coordinated. The online newsletter Popular Information has written about national groups targeting school boards . NPR...

This episode is from our friends at Wisdom From The Top . From the creator of How I Built This, host Guy Raz invites you to listen in as he talks to leadership experts and the visionary leaders of some of the world's biggest brands. Along the way, you'll hear accounts of crisis, failure, turnaround, and triumph, as the leaders reveal their secrets on their way to the top. These are stories that di...

A record 4.3 million workers in America quit their jobs in August. Anthony Klotz coined this ongoing phenomenon "The Great Resignation." Klotz is an organizational psychologist at Texas A&M University. In part, he says, the pandemic has made workers reevaluate what they are actually getting out of their jobs. "During the pandemic, because there was a lot of death and illness and lockdowns, we real...

Last week the White House announced a plan to help move the port of Los Angeles into 24/7 operating status. But that will only "open the gates" of the clogged global supply chain, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told NPR on the NPR Politics Podcast. Another crucial supply chain link is the trucking industry, which is short tens of thousands of drivers. Bruce Basada, President of the Diesel...

Since 2016, a number of U.S. diplomats and federal employees have reported symptoms of a mysterious illness, the so-called Havana Syndrome. The list of symptoms include hearing loud sounds, nausea fatigue, and dizzying migraines, among others. The cause of this mystery illness is a source of curiosity, but it remains unknown. Last year the State Department commissioned a study by the National Acad...

Colin Powell's life was marked by public service, first as a soldier in Vietnam and then eventually as President George W. Bush's secretary of state. By that time he had already held many prominent positions in government, including national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first African American to hold each of these roles. But Powell's story will always be e...

One of the killings that sparked racial justice protests last year is again in the national spotlight, with a trial that begins this week in Brunswick, Ga. Three white men are accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man shot and killed as he was jogging down a residential street. NPR correspondent Debbie Elliott reports on the defendants' expected arguments and the evidence stacked...

After the protests last year, we heard the phrase "racial reckoning" a lot, as some groups of people struggled to catch up with what's just been reality for many others. On this episode of NPR's new Book of the Day podcast , we've got two books that might help you reckon with that reckoning, in two different ways: Traci Todd and illustrator Christian Robinson's bright and powerful picture book bio...