What A Day

Abortion access in Kansas will be preserved because yesterday the state overwhelmingly voted against a referendum designed to open the door to abortion bans. Meanwhile, the Justice Department sued Idaho on Tuesday over that state’s abortion law — the first lawsuit filed against a state’s anti-abortion law by the Biden administration since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. California declared a sta...

Kansas votes today on whether the state’s constitution should still explicitly protect the right to an abortion. Ashley All, a spokesperson for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, joins us to discuss how she’s been organizing ahead of the vote. And in headlines: the U.S. killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShaun Watson was temporarily suspended, and Capitol riot...

Indiana state lawmakers on Saturday moved one step closer to banning nearly all abortions. The vote puts the state on track to be one of the first in the nation to enact new abortion restrictions after Roe V. Wade was overturned. President Biden tested positive for COVID again over the weekend. He had one of the uncommon “rebound” cases after taking Paxlovid. And in headlines: Ukraine’s President...

Senate Democrats reached a deal on a historic climate spending package – thanks to a surprise reversal from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who previously rejected the measure. Judges in North Dakota and Wyoming both put temporary holds on abortion bans that would have taken effect in those states this week. And in headlines: the U.S. economy shrank again, torrential rains triggered devastating...

The U.S. announced Wednesday that it has officially proposed a deal to Russia for the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner as well as former Marine Paul Whelan. Griner also got the chance to speak for herself in court during her trial. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75% on Wednesday, continuing its efforts to bring down inflation without causing a recession. This is the fourth rate...

WNBA star Brittney Griner is set to testify in Russian court today for the first time since being detained back in February at a Moscow airport. Her defense team hopes that her guilty plea will be taken into account by the court as a mitigating factor in its sentencing. Russia said on Tuesday that it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024. This would end decades of partnership...

Pope Francis apologized on Monday to a crowd of survivors, advocates and others in Alberta, Canada, for the Catholic Church’s historic role in the mistreatment, abuse and even death of Indigenous children throughout the country. We wanted to put the spotlight on Indigenous people and how they reacted to the Pope’s apologies after decades of working for this moment. And in headlines: a sixth, lesse...

About 71 million Americans live in places that were dangerously hot on Sunday. Temperatures from Texas to Arkansas, from Washington DC to Massachusetts faced temperatures that were so high that they were a public health risk. Pope Francis arrived in Canada on Sunday for what he has called a “pilgrimage of penance” to acknowledge and apologize for the wrongdoing done to Canada’s Indigenous people b...

President Biden tested positive for COVID. He’s fine, but remember — everyone 6 months and over is eligible for vaccination, so get yours today. The January 6th Committee met in prime time last night for its final hearing of the summer. They went moment-by-moment over the 187 minutes where former President Donald Trump failed to stop the mob. Brian Beutler, Crooked’s own Editor-in-Chief and host o...

A bipartisan group of senators announced a new bill on Wednesday that aims to protect election integrity. The legislation would make it clear that former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election was not okay. Monkeypox cases are spreading throughout the U.S. and the vaccine rollout has hit some bumps. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” tells us what we...

The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday with bipartisan support. The law would mandate that all states recognize same-sex marriage and formally repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, which federally outlawed same-sex marriage. Meanwhile the White House is hoping to pass a “slimmed down” version of Biden’s domestic policy bill through Congress soon. But to do it, they need...

Heat waves are devastating people in Europe and North America this summer. In the U.K. it’s hotter than the Sahara Desert, and in the U.S. 35 million Americans are currently living in places with excessive heat warnings this week. The ACLU published “thousands of pages of previously unreleased records” on Monday about the government surreptitiously collecting people’s private information without a...

None of the 400 law enforcement officials on location at the Uvalde mass school shooting in May did anything for over an hour to stop the gunman who eventually killed 21 people, mostly children. That’s according to a new report released by Texas officials on Sunday. Patients around the country are reportedly having medical care delayed or denied over concerns from doctors and hospitals. Those prov...

The House will vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act today in an effort to codify abortion rights — but without a Democratic majority in the Senate as well, it probably won’t go anywhere. Congresswoman Barbara Lee joins us to discuss what Democrats can actually do on a federal level to protect access to abortion right now. A 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio had to cross state lines to Indiana a...

Consumer prices are up 9.1% over this time last year, according to new inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the highest inflation rate in 40 years. President Biden landed in the Middle East on Wednesday and will be there until the end of the week. His administration is focused on building support among Israeli leadership for the Iran Nuclear Deal. And in headlines: School sur...

As the U.S. sees another rise in COVID cases, White House officials are working to give all adults access to a second vaccine booster shot. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” tells us what we need to know about the Omicron sub-variants driving the current surge in cases. And in headlines: California residents can now sue gun companies when their produc...

The House Select Committee investigating January 6th is back in action with another hearing today. Dan Pfieffer, co-host of Crooked’s “Pod Save America,” gives us a refresher on what we’ve learned so far and what to watch for today. And in headlines: Russia is ramping up its attacks on eastern Ukraine, a Minnesota judge struck down most of the state’s abortion restrictions, and actress Lea Michele...

President Biden signed an executive order on Friday to try to protect access to abortion, but it’s not the solution many reproductive rights advocates were seeking. Then on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators protested the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade over the weekend in D.C. to pressure Congress to codify abortion-related care into law. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was sho...

Embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he’ll be stepping down after three years in office. This comes after many members of the government have lost confidence in his leadership over several scandals throughout his career. After 140 days in custody, WNBA star Britney Griner appeared before a Russian judge and pleaded guilty to the criminal charges against her. As charged, she fac...

During an Independence Day parade this Monday, a 21-year-old man in Highland Park, Illinois shot and killed at least seven people and injured many more. We discuss the latest developments and the stories of the victims, who ranged in age from 8 to 88 years old. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Mississippi abortion provider at the center of the case that brought down Roe, officially closed...

The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Thursday that limits the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat climate change. Our friends at Crooked’s Hot Take podcast recorded such a great episode about climate and the courts this week that we decided to share the episode in this feed too. We’ll be back with our regular episodes next week - until then, check out this week’s Hot Take and...

The Supreme Court issued more rulings on Wednesday — one of which dramatically increased the power that states have over Native American tribes and tribal lands. We walk through what was decided yesterday and what’s still to come as the court finishes up its term. In headlines: Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to the largest prisoner exchange since the war began, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30...

The latest House January 6th hearing was perhaps the most explosive to date with testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. We walk through some of our biggest takeaways from the surprise hearing. The fight to preserve abortion access continues in several states. Kelley Robinson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund, joi...

The Supreme Court issued more rulings on Monday. There have also been several legal challenges to the trigger laws set to go into effect in states like Louisiana and Utah once the court overturned Roe last Friday. Today is the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In honor of the drag queens of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who were central to the fight for LGBTQ equality, we w...

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to overturn Roe v Wade on Friday, and throughout the weekend people took to the streets. We hear from you, our listeners, about how you’re affected by the news. And Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s Strict Scrutiny, joins us to answer some of the big legal questions we have about the ruling. In headlines: Russian forces rampaged across Ukraine, G7 leaders announced a $6...