Post Reports

A Rhode Island emergency department provides a window into how front-line health-care workers are coping with the latest covid surge. And a conversation about how André Leon Talley embodied the heart of the fashion world. Read more: Laura Forman, Kent Hospital’s emergency department director, says that her days dealing with a deluge of covid patients involves a lot of “best bad options.” Reporters...

Today on Post Reports, the government’s rollout of free rapid coronavirus tests in the United States. And later in the show, how China’s “zero covid” policy could affect the Winter Olympics.   Read more: This week, the Biden administration launched a website where Americans can order free rapid coronavirus tests. Each household is eligible for four tests, which are sent via mail to your...

As midterm elections loom, Democrats scramble to hold on to their slim majority. Plus, what a redistricting debacle in Ohio tells us about the map-drawing process happening in states across the country. Read more: For Democrats in swing districts, the midterm elections are looming large. These “front-liners” especially need something to show for their two years in the majority come November. As Ma...

What we know about the 11-hour hostage crisis at a Texas synagogue. Plus, Australia sends tennis champion Novak Djokovic home because of his refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.  Read more: On Saturday night, a gunman held four people hostage for more than 10 hours at a synagogue in Colleyville, Tex. The standoff ended with an FBI raid. The suspect has been confirmed dead, thoug...

More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. On today’s episode of “Post Reports,” the first database of those slaveholding congressmen. And how those politicians shaped the nation.  Read more: For the first seven decades of its existence, Congress returned again and again to one acrimonious topic: slavery. Many of the lawmakers arguing in Washington were enslavers themselves. But...

President Biden says passing voting rights legislation is a top priority for his administration. But a couple of senators have the power to keep that from happening. And, an unlikely casualty of our supply chain blues. Read more: In Atlanta this week, President Biden pushed for the passage of two voting rights bills facing the Senate. But any meaningful change on voting reform would mean changing...

Inflation has hit a 40-year high in the U.S., driving up the cost of everything from groceries to housing. As the Fed prepares to raise interest rates, here’s what to watch out for. Read more: In December, inflation hit a staggering 7 percent. That’s far above the Federal Reserve’s target, and Chair Jerome H. Powell says action is needed to keep the economy from sliding into a recession. Economics...

Today on Post Reports: Why you’re seeing empty shelves at the grocery store — again. Plus, the sharp decline in the U.S. birthrate nine months after the pandemic began. Read more: A lot of people have been getting “March 2020 vibes” at the grocery store lately: Empty shelves, basic necessities missing and big price increases on certain foods. Reporter Laura Reiley explains there are several factor...

Today the United States broke the record for covid hospitalizations. We talk about what overwhelmed hospitals mean for health-care workers and patients. Plus, a story about the power of reclaiming a name.  Read more: The United States today broke a record with more than 145,000 people sick with covid-19 in hospitals . Health reporter Dan Diamond explains what that means for health-care worker...

Today, we look at the toll of remote learning on kids. We’ll dive into what’s happening in school systems across the country during the omicron variant surge — and how the scars of remote school linger, even for kids who are learning in person again.  Read more: Reporter Laura Meckler talks with producer Bishop Sand about how a San Francisco school’s return to in-person learning revealed the...

As we reflect on the anniversary of Jan. 6, we wanted to share an episode from last year. We reconstructed the riot inside the U.S. Capitol — hearing from the lawmakers, journalists and law enforcement officials who were there, and answering lingering questions about how things went so wrong.

On Jan. 5, 2021, Rep. Jamie Raskin buried his only son. The next day he witnessed firsthand the attack on the Capitol. As we mark a year since the insurrection, we look at how Raskin dealt with his son’s death while serving on democracy’s front lines. Read more: A warning to listeners: This episode deals with suicide. If you or someone you know needs help now, you can call the National Suicide Pre...

A year out from the attempted insurrection of the Capitol, we consider the state of American democracy — what’s changed, what hasn’t changed and what will never be the same.   Read more: One year ago today, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, set on overturning the results of the 2020 election. Since then, the basic facts of the insurrection have been in contention and democracy itself has...

An update on what the Jan. 6 commission has learned so far. And how the pro-Trump Internet descended into infighting in the year since the attempted insurrection.  Read more: Reporter Jacqueline Alemany has been following the Jan. 6 commission for the past six months. As we come up on the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, Alemany reports on what the commission has uncovered so f...

Omicron has coronavirus cases surging across the country. What’s the outlook for this highly transmissible variant? Read more: The highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus has taken over as the dominant strain in the United States. Now, post-holidays, virus cases are surging, with about 500,000 per day in the United States. Americans are struggling with breakthrough infections, stra...

The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is home to some of the oldest trees in the country. For decades, they were felled indiscriminately for lumber. Will the remaining trees be protected? Read more: Old-growth trees are at the heart of a political debate on logging and climate change. That’s because they hold a disproportionate amount of carbon in their trunks. If they’re cut down, most...

A farewell to 2021 from us here at Post Reports and the photojournalists who witnessed the year’s biggest stories. Read more: The Washington Post photography editors combed through thousands of images to find the most memorable from 2021 . Accompanying the photos this year are interviews with the photojournalists who took them. The team at Post Reports felt inspired by the interviews and images to...

Today on Post Reports, we talk to Hasan Minhaj about how he uses comedy to “make people’s world bigger.”  Read more: Hasan Minhaj has worked as a comedian for 17 years. You might know him from “The Daily Show,” the 2017 White House correspondents’ dinner, or his Netflix show, “Patriot Act.”  On today’s episode of Post Reports, producer Linah Mohammad talks to Minhaj about representation...

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to one of the people who brought us joy during a dark year: the actor J. Smith-Cameron. We cover her role as Gerri on “Succession” and how it feels to become a sex symbol in her 60s.  Read more: J. Smith-Cameron is having a moment.  “Succession” Season 3 wrapped up recently – and one of the highlights for us was her character, Gerri Kellman, the calculati...

Amazon's use of Alexa as a wake word for its voice assistant turned the name into a command, impacting daily interactions for people with the name – including The Washington Post’s own Alexa Juliana Ard. Read more: Nearly 130,000 people in the United States have the name Alexa. It gained popularity after singer Billy Joel and model Christie Brinkley named their daughter Alexa in 1985. In 2015, mor...

The holidays are weird — this year especially. Today, Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax joins Martine Powers to answer your questions about navigating this tricky time of year. Read more: The holiday season can be complicated; throw in the spike in omicron cases, and this already stressful time of year just got even trickier. Enter: Carolyn Hax, The Post’s brilliant advice columnist. Today on Post...

Omicron is now the most prevalent variant of the coronavirus in the country. But public health expert and emergency physician Leana Wen says that with a three-pronged approach — testing, vaccines and masks — we can still celebrate the holidays. Read more: Once again, America is looking down the barrel of a winter surge of the coronavirus, thanks to the highly transmissible omicron variant. Houston...

How the approval of anti-covid pills from drug companies Pfizer and Merck could impact the course of the pandemic. And the life and legacy of feminist author bell hooks. Read more: On Tuesday, President Biden urged calm as coronavirus cases rise, and the omicron variant becomes dominant in the United States. He touted a plan for more readily available testing and more resources for strained hospit...

Seemingly overnight, the pandemic has changed — again. On today’s Post Reports, everything you need to know about the omicron variant — and whether you should still plan to travel for the holidays. Read more: Over the weekend, health reporter Dan Diamond wrote a Facebook post that changed the way we’re thinking about the omicron variant.  “Every expert I’ve interviewed, including some of the...

A record number of Americans quit their jobs this year. Today for our special series “Quitters,” economist Darrick Hamilton examines why that is — and why he thinks it might be a good thing. Read more: Many Americans have reconsidered their relationship with work this year. There’s lots of reasons for that — an ongoing pandemic, stagnant wages and a severe labor shortage all made work harder. But...