The Daily Dive

With much of President Biden’s legislative agenda stalled recently he is finally poised for some big wins in Congress.  The first major prescription drug legislation in nearly 20 years and a $50 billion bill to subsidize semiconductor chip manufacturing are two bills that have bipartisan support and appear to be on their way to passing.  Mike DeBonis, congressional reporter at The Washington Post,...

The WHO has now declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern.”  Cases have continued to rise worldwide and has not necessarily grown out of control, but it has the potential to do so.  Part of this is to also raise awareness for people to know symptoms, warning signs, and look out for guidelines.  Keren Landman, epidemiologist and senior health reporter at Vox, joins us f...

President Biden is still recovering from Covid-19 as his doctors have said he has improved significantly but still has a sore throat while other symptoms have diminished.  They also said that it is likely that he has the BA.5 Omicron subvariant.  Julia Manchester, national political reporter at The Hill, joins us for a quick health update and what we learned from dueling Trump and Pence rallies in...

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated and double boosted and is experiencing mild symptoms.  The current wave of infections we are seeing are mostly the BA.5 Omicron subvariant and it could be what the Covid normal looks like.  Katherine Wu, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins us for how the endless churn of variants will keep infecting people even if you’re vac...

Many in the entertainment industry had been waiting on numbers from Netflix on how many subscribers they lost in the last quarter. They lost just under one million subscribers instead of the two million they had predicted.  That still leaves a lot of questions on what they can do to stop people from leaving in droves.  Peter Kafka, senior correspondent at Recode, joins us for the big question, is...

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is proving that the pandemic is still not over.  It continues to evade immunity, even from previous omicron infections.  The good news is that death rates are down and hospitals aren’t overwhelmed like before, but the virus is spreading fast again and the small fraction of people getting seriously ill can add up.  Umair Irfan, senior reporter at Vox, joins us for how vi...

A committee of the Texas House of Representatives released a preliminary report over the weekend of all the failings in the response to the shooting in Uvalde that led to the death of 19 children and 2 teachers.  The report was all bad news and found problems at every level.  Despite there being almost 400 officers from various agencies, no one took command of the situation, the school itself also...

President Biden wrapped up his first presidential trip to the Middle East over the weekend with few concrete deliverables on increased oil production from Saudi Arabia and no progress on an Israeli and Palestinian resolution.  Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington digital editor at NBC News, joins us this, Biden’s meeting with the Saudi crowned prince, another round of bad poll numbers, and Sen. Joe Ma...

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is getting an upgrade this weekend (July 16) as it debuts a new three-digit number for calls and texts.  The new number is 988 and the hope is that the shorter number will be more memorable during a crisis.  Underscoring how important the service is, latest numbers show that one in six calls to the hotline go unanswered, so it is more important then ever to...

Twitter is now suing Elon Musk seeking to enforce the $44 billion deal he made to buy the company after he said he wanted out.  Musk says his decision to drop out has to do with Twitter not providing him enough info to be able to verify how many accounts on the platform are fake and that could be tough to decide as data scientists say isn’t easy to determine.  Sarah Needleman, tech reporter at the...

Americans relationship with college is complicated and according to a new poll many think that it might not be worth the cost and time commitment.  Overall, most people believe that the benefits outweigh the costs long-term, and those with bachelor’s degrees usually earn 75% more than they would if they only have a high school diploma.  But the pandemic also plays a big part in this as enrollment...

NASA has released photos from the James Webb Space Telescope from its first six months of observation and the incredible images show a range of deep space features including a nebula around a dying star, water vapor around an exoplanet, an area where new stars are born and a huge image of five galaxies where one of them is tearing a path through the cluster.  Purbita Saha, deputy editor at Popular...

Driven by mass migrations of both workers and employers, red states have been winning the post-pandemic economic recovery over blue states.  Not really a move because of political preferences, workers left for financial and lifestyle reasons such as cheaper housing, less Covid restrictions and lower taxes.  Biggest winners are Florida, Texas, and North Carolina while California, New York and Illin...

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Crimo III, the suspect in the Highland Park shooting, was able to purchase guns legally despite a suicide attempt in April of 2019 and another incident where Highland Park police were called to his family home after he threatened to “kill everyone.”  In 2020 and 2021 he passed four different background checks that cleared him to purchase the firearms after his father co-signed for him.  Mon...

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in a Russian prison since Feb. 17 when she was caught at an airport near Moscow with hash oil in vape cartridges.  She is on trial right now where a guilty verdict could carry a sentence of 10 years.  Her best hope of getting out could be a prisoner exchange, but the U.S. has long been wary of these and the DOJ usually opposes them.  Louise Radnofsky, sp...

Tragedy in Highland Park, Illinois as yet another mass shooting took the lives of seven people and injured more than 30 others.  Officials say that 21-year-old Bobby Crimo opened fire on people gathered for a 4th of July parade perched from the roof of a building, more than 70 rounds were fired with a rifle that was purchased legally.  Police say he planned the attack for weeks and dressed as a wo...

Where have all the coupons gone? As record high inflation is still hitting us, many are looking for deals anywhere they can, but paper coupons and even digital ones are harder to come by.  Circulation is down and redemption rates have also plummeted as people just don’t have the time to sort them all and smartphones have made other shopping incentives possible.  Lydia DePillis, economy reporter at...

Democrats have been torn over how aggressively they should respond to the end of Roe v. Wade.  President Biden wants to tie it to the midterm election and mobilize voters, but others in the Democratic party want Biden to be more aggressive and test the boundaries of executive power, to show their constituents how hard they are fighting.  Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington digital editor at NBC News,...

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.