Consider This from NPR

More than half of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, and case rates are at their lowest point since the pandemic began. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the future of the pandemic. Questions about variants, vaccine booster shots and the idea of vaccine mandates in schools or publicly-funded universities. We had a chance to put some of the questions — including ones from...

Democratic proposals for immigration reform, gun control, infrastructure and voting rights are stalled in Congress. Standing in between Democrats and much of their progressive wish list is one of their own, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has signaled his opposition to eliminating the filibuster or passing an infrastructure plan without Republican support. He's not the only West Virginian with...

Cyberattackers have recently targeted a crucial fuel pipeline, a global meat distributor and a water treatment plant. The Biden administration likens the surge in cyberattacks to terrorism — and says they plan to treat it like a national security threat. NPR National Security Correspondent Greg Myre details the administration's plans. When businesses are targeted by ransomware, someone like Bill S...

Stockton, Calif., may represent the future of American news. The city's longtime newspaper, The Record, has lost reporters, subscribers and, therefore, power. Meanwhile a non-traditional news source, a controversial online outlet called 209 Times , has quickly become one of the most popular sources of news in town. It proudly doesn't follow most journalistic norms and brags about tanking the previ...

Freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution as crucial to a functioning democracy. But what role does the press serve when it feels like the country can't agree on basic facts? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with a handful of journalists to hear how they're navigating this divide. This episode feature's CBS 's Leslie Stahl, CNN 's Jake Tapper, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe, Dawn Rhodes of Block Cl...

Corporations had a lot to say about racial justice last summer. They made statements. They donated millions to civil rights organizations. They promised to address their own problems with diversity and representation. A year later, NPR's David Gura reports on Wall Street's mixed progress. Kim Tran tells NPR's Sam Sanders that the diversity, equity and inclusion industry has lost its way. And DEI c...

The Atlantic hurricane season began Tuesday and another "above average" number of storms is expected. And it's not just hurricanes — overall, scientists are predicting more extreme weather events amplified by climate change this summer. While there's little to do in the short term to change this trajectory, recent actions by a Dutch court, the Biden administration and an activist hedge fund all su...

From dating apps, to airline travel, to in-person high school classes, the U.S. is seeing evidence of a return to close-to-normal life. KUOW's Clare McGrane reports on how that transition has been especially complicated for a choir in Washington state. Members were at the center of one of the earliest super-spreader events in the U.S. last year. Saskia Popescu, infectious disease expert and assist...

Much is said about how divided the U.S. is these days. But perhaps there is still something that unites Americans. Longtime NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten reports on what he calls the country's "civil religion" — a collection of beliefs, based on freedom, that should apply to every American equally. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of wha...

Former President Barack Obama is thinking a lot about our values as Americans. These days, in a divided America, he's particularly thinking about what it means to be a man. Is a man thoughtful, caring? Are men held back by what society traditionally expects a man to be? These are questions that Aarti Shahani recently asked Obama on a recent episode of her podcast, Art of Power , from member statio...

All over the world, democratic institutions are under threat. The United States isn't just part of that trend — it may also be one of the causes. Former Obama administration foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes examines why in a new book called After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made . In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what...

Proponents of trans female athlete bans struggle to cite examples of trans women or girls gaining an unfair advantage in sports competitions. But amid a lot of debate about fairness, there's been less attention on science. NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman spoke to a pioneering trans researcher who explains why — in most sports — trans women can compete fairly against cisgender women. Behind a...

Apple has always wanted to be one of the good guys in tech. But now a high-stakes lawsuit with Epic Games, the creator of the hit video game Fortnite , isn't just challenging Apple's reputation. It's raising questions about whether the most valuable company in the world has grown into an illegal monopoly. NPR's Bobby Allyn reports on the federal trial that led to Apple CEO Tim Cook taking the stan...

After his death on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the face of a movement against police violence. But attorney Andrea Ritchie says, in some ways, the prosecution and conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin created a false sense of progress in that movement. Ritchie focuses on police misconduct and is the author of the book, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black...

For decades, Israel had solid bipartisan support for Israel from Capitol Hill. But progressive congressional Democrats have started to question support for the policies of the Israeli government. Palestinian rights activists also feel tied to the growing power of racial justice movements in the United States. NPR political correspondent Asma Khalid explains. Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewis...

We know that Americans in blue states are getting vaccinated at higher rates than those in red ones. But that gap obscures another growing divide in America's vaccine campaign — the divide within states between rural and urban areas. An NPR analysis of county-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that divide exists across age groups in almost every state. NPR's Aus...

A week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance that vaccinated people can safely return to most activities without wearing a mask. But the announcement caught many local officials and business leaders off guard. One of them was Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports on the confusion among businesses, which now have to decide what to do on their...

The White House is courting influential Democratic senators and making a public relations push for President Biden's infrastructure proposal, while Republicans draw a red line around corporate tax increases. Biden also spent part of this week test-driving Ford's new electric F-150 Lightning. But for all the talk of energy innovation and electric cars, one part of Biden's infrastructure plan is bas...

Over the past year, QAnon conspiracies have migrated from obscure corners of the internet into national headlines. The false belief that left-wing Satanists are controlling the government helped fuel the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. These theories didn't come from nowhere. Back in the 1980s a similar "satanic panic" swept through the country and led to lawsuits that alleged preschool teach...

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has gone from bad to worse. The Biden administration says it's engaging in "quiet, intensive diplomacy" to broker an end to the violence. Leni Stenseth of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency tells NPR that the humanitarian situation in the region is "extremely alarming." NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro explains how the recent outbreak of violence began — and...

Nine-year-old Hallel is the oldest of three children. They also identify as a "boy-girl," which was a revelation to their parents Shira and Ari when Hallel made the announcement to them. Through a series of family recordings and interviews with WBUR's Martha Bebinger , the family shared the story of how this realization unfolded, and what they're learning. Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pc...

The promise of post-pandemic life is exciting, but that doesn't mean it won't get awkward at times. We asked for your questions about how to navigate this new normal and we have some answers. Dr. Lucy McBride , a primary care physician, and public theologian Ekemini Uwan have both written about this transitional moment Americans are living in and have some advice. To take a short, anonymous survey...

This week, House Republicans voted to expel Rep. Liz Cheney from party leadership after the Wyoming congresswoman repeatedly called out former President Trump's false claims about the 2020 election. Republican Congressman John Curtis of Utah told NPR the party's decision had nothing to do with her opposition to the former President. The fracture reminds Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Edi...

Republicans say enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits are what's keeping people out of the workforce. That could be playing a role, but the complete picture is far more complicated. NPR chief economic correspondent Scott Horsley lays out the evidence for what's really behind the struggle to find workers. Stacey Vanek Smith , host of NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator , explains why the...

Three officers, each from a different generation, weigh in on Derek Chauvin's murder conviction and other recent acts of police violence. Isaiah McKinnon became a police officer for the city of Detroit in the 1960s, and eventually became chief of police. He also served two years as the city's deputy mayor starting in 2014. Cheryl Dorsey is a retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who first...