Post Reports

It is now Day 2 of peace talks in the region, with delegations from Israel and Hamas meeting in Egypt in an attempt to end the conflict. The peace deal – which was originally proposed by President Trump – would look to end fighting, secure the release of all remaining hostages and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.  After two years of deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave, the two sides w...

A single Q&A session with a large language model can consume more than a half-liter of fresh water to cool servers. Asking ChatGPT one question reportedly consumes 10 times as much electricity as a conventional Google search. And generating an image is equivalent to charging a smartphone. Should we be worried about that? Climate advice columnist Michael J. Coren doesn’t think so – or, at least...

After a two-month trial this summer, Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution – but acquitted on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.  Combs’s defense attorneys argued he should either get a new trial or be released in under two years, while the prosecution pushed for him to serve over a decade in prison. On Friday, the judge d...

In a cold muddy pond in Cape Cod, a group of self-proclaimed “old ladies” dives for garbage — and unexpectedly finds joy . This is a story from The Optimist , The Washington Post’s section about the best of humanity. If you want more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter . If you love hearing these stories on “Post Reports,” please send us an email at podcasts@washpost.com . You can reach...

Democrats are making a gamble that voting against a Republican plan to fund the government will be worth the pain of the current shutdown. New Jersey’s senior Democratic senator Cory Booker voted against a similar Republican plan to fund the government back in March. And he's been one of the most visible critics of the second Trump administration in the Senate.  Host Colby Itkowitz speaks wit...

The effects of the government shutdown – which started early Wednesday morning – are already being felt. Some national parks are closed, federal job training is suspended, and large swaths of the federal workforce have been furloughed. One major debate led to the shutdown: a fundamental disagreement over health care policy. Today on Post Reports, national health reporter Paige Winfield Cunningham...

During confirmation hearings to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that “highly chemical-intensive processed foods” are “poisoning the American people.”  A striking report from the federal government has since found that Americans on average get about half their calories from ultra-processed foods , which have been linked in studies t...

On Tuesday, the top U.S. generals will meet at Quantico for an audience with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump.  Hegseth’s order for the gathering comes on the heels of the firing of top military officers. It also lands in the middle of Hegseth’s attempts to purge the military of DEI initiatives and programs that he sees as not aligned with the military’s core mission...

David Weiner is washing dishes. It’s the 21st of the month, which means his D.C. rowhouse is full of people. Some are friends he’s known for decades, others are people he’s never met. There’s a jazz band playing standards downstairs, and the music is floating up through the house. Some of the musicians are professionals, others are amateurs who showed up with an instrument and enough courage — liq...

Potential government shutdowns seem to happen every few months. But this time, the stakes feel especially high. Democrats are getting pressure from their base to stand up to President Donald Trump; in exchange for voting with Republicans to keep the federal government funded, Democrats hope to extract money for health care premiums. Meanwhile, White House officials are promising mass firings of fe...

The request for five stars — from airport parking lots, orthopedists or even your local liquor store — seems to be filling our inboxes more and more every single day. But do our reviews and ratings even matter?   Host Elahe Izadi chats with feature reporter Ashley Fetters Maloy about review culture, how our feedback can transform businesses big and small, and why our ratings are reshapin...

As soon as he lost the presidential election in 2020, Donald Trump vowed he would go after his perceived political opponents. Now that he’s president again, he’s escalated his calls for criminal charges to be brought against some of those people — New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI director James B. Comey, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California). He claimed that all three were “guilty...

President Donald Trump has made the search for finding a “cure” for autism a centerpiece of his public health agenda. This week he shared major developments in that effort. On Monday , the Trump administration announced that the Food and Drug Administration would be adding a warning label to Tylenol and similar drugs that contain acetaminophen. Trump has suggested a connection between the widely u...

After the abrupt suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week over comments host Jimmy Kimmel made following the killing of Charlie Kirk, many credited one person for getting Kimmel off the air: Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission.  Hours before the suspension was announced, Carr seemed to threaten FCC action against networks, saying “we can do this the easy way or th...

It’s hard to age gracefully. Social isolation, physical immobility, mental decline — these are all problems that most people struggle with as they get older. But one group of people prove that it’s possible to thrive into your 80s and 90s. Researchers call them “super agers.” And one of them lives just down my block. Ednajane Truax, who is known to friends and neighbors as “E.J.,” can often be fou...

In the week since Charlie Kirk’s death, public officials including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi have called for Kirk’s critics to face consequences. People seen as celebrating his killing online have lost their jobs or faced harassment.  That crackdown has extended to media figures, with ABC deciding to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” over Kirk c...

In fan fiction, nothing is off limits. Writers create stories about popular media like “Twilight,” while others envision romantic relationships between world leaders. Until recently, this type of fiction wasn’t taken seriously by the publishing world. But now, major deals are being made — like a reportedly seven-figure movie rights deal paid for a book that began as Harry Potter fan fiction. ...

FBI Director Kash Patel had a tough week.  He’d already been slated to appear before both the House and Senate judiciary committees – hearings at which he was sure to be peppered with questions about his leadership of the FBI, his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga, and allegations that the FBI had fired people over their political preferences. But his handling of the FBI investigation into...

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the United States economy has been in flux. While high inflation has slowly cooled off in recent years, consumers are still feeling the pressures of a weak job market and rising prices at the grocery store. Now the Federal Reserve looks to be taking matters into its own hands; Fed watchers expect the United States’ central bank to cut interest rates tomorrow. A cut...

President Donald Trump recently celebrated the destruction of a boat that was allegedly carrying illegal narcotics from Venezuela to the United States. The 11 people on board were killed, according to the White House. Trump released a video on social media showing the boat going up in flames, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that more attacks like this could be coming .  Members of...

The Eaton Fire tore through the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, part of a storm that killed 19 people . It became one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history, but the ultimate cost won’t be tallied in dollars and cents. That will be calculated on a different ledger: the number of residents who return to this block of West Las Flores Drive and the countless others like it. This stor...

Charlie Kirk’s shooting has left both Republicans and Democrats worried about more political violence. How are prominent leaders in both parties responding to the tragedy?

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday at Utah Valley University. As officials seek details on the identity and motive of the shooter, Americans are beginning to process Kirk’s death and what this might mean for a new era of political violence and fear in the United States.  In a video posted online on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump blamed the killing, witho...

In Arlington, Texas, thousands waited in line at a career fair in the hopes of getting hired as an ICE officer. Criminal justice reporter Robert Klemko was there and met a diverse mix of people – a former MMA fighter, a community college student and a former Marine. President Donald Trump has pushed to deport a million people during the first year of his second term. To do this big immigration cra...

Since taking over as health and human services secretary earlier this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired members of a key vaccine panel , signaled shifts to the childhood immunization schedule and changed guidelines about who should receive the coronavirus vaccine.   Now there are questions about which pharmacies will offer shots and whether insurance companies will cover the cost. “P...