Consider This from NPR

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...

Property ownership eludes Black Americans more than any other racial group. NPR's Ailsa Chang and Jonaki Mehta examine why. They tell the story of LA's Sugar Hill neighborhood, a once-vibrant black community that was demolished to make way for the Santa Monica Freeway. Their story is part of NPR's special series We Hold These Truths . To take a short, anonymous survey about Consider This , please...

Comic book publishers like Marvel and DC sit on a treasure trove: thousands and thousands of comic book characters. Pieces of intellectual property. You know the big ones--Superman, Ironman, Captain America. They each make millions off of movies and merchandise. But for every marquee character, there are hundreds of others sitting unused. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an...

Now 50 years old, NPR has grown up alongside American journalism. We take stock of some lessons learned along the way. In this episode: Linda Wertheimer , Robert Siegel , Brooke Gladstone , Ira Glass , Michele Norris , and Andy Carvin . Hear more from NPR's very first broadcast of All Things Considered. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense o...

Vaccine demand is beginning to slide in the U.S., but in other parts of the world, the pandemic is devastating countries where vaccines are more scarce. India is one of those countries. There only 2% of the population is fully immunized. There's an argument that waiving intellectual property rights could boost global vaccine production, and this week the Biden administration came out in support of...

On Thursday, Scots vote in Regional Parliamentary elections. That's not usually an international story, but the ruling Scottish National Party is running on a platform to hold another independence referendum. Another vote on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland and Wales could follow their lead. Scotland voted to stay in the U.K. during the last independence referendu...

The pandemic economy has left different people in vastly different situations. Today, we follow up with four American indicators — people whose paths will help us understand the arc of the recovery. You first heard their stories back in February. Now, we're talking to them again to ask how the American Rescue Plan has affected their lives — or not. Brooke Neubauer in Nevada, founder of The Just On...

A record 172,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border in March. Those numbers are fueled, in part, by smuggling organizations that exploit desperate migrants, most of them from central America. NPR's John Burnett and KTEP's Angela Kocherga report on their tactics. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tells NPR about a new multi-agency effort to crack down on smu...

Things have gone from bad to worse in the pandemic's global epicenter. India reported nearly 400,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday — and the death count is likely higher than current estimates. Lauren Frayer, NPR's correspondent in Mumbai, explains why. Follow more of her work here or on Twitter @lfrayer . The surge in India may be due, in part, to new coronavirus variants circulating in the countr...

Any one of President Biden's multi-trillion-dollar spending packages would be among the largest ever enacted by Congress. He has passed one — the American Recuse Plan — and proposed two others in his first 100 days. NPR Congressional correspondent Susan Davis explains his latest proposal — the American Families Plan. Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin tells NPR that in times of crisis, pa...

Fully vaccinated people can ditch the mask outdoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week — unless they're at a crowded event. Dr. Anthony Fauci explains the new guidance to NPR and weighs in on how soon children under 16 might be eligible for vaccines. NPR's Joe Palca reports on the scientific effort to learn more about how long vaccines protect us. Additional reporting i...

The first set of results from the 2020 census are in, and according to the count, the official population of the United States is 331,449,281. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

Israel and the United Kingdom are among the most-vaccinated countries in the world. Their success is due in part to public health campaigns designed to fight vaccine disinformation in faith and minority communities. As part of NPR's series on fighting disinformation, London correspondent Frank Langfitt visited a mosque-turned-vaccination center on the frontline of that battle. In Israel, NPR's Dan...

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. As the trial of Derek Chauvin plays out, it's a truth and a trauma many people in the US and around the world are again witnessing first hand. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. This week, the origins of policing in the United States and how those origins put viole...

Last year, hackers believed to be directed by the Russian intelligence service, the SVR, slipped a malicious code into a routine software update from a Texas- based company called SolarWinds. They then used it as a vehicle for a massive cyberattack against America and successfully infiltrated Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and other companies, and federal agencies including the Treasury Department, Justi...

A little more than half of adults in the U.S. have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. That means a growing number of Americans are figuring out how to navigate life in a hybrid society where some people are vaccinated and some are not. Two experts offer advice on how to do that: Dr. Leana Wen with George Washington University, and Dr. Monica Gandhi with the University Of California San F...