What A Day

Sudan is in the grips of a coup after the military seized control of the country, and in the past several days, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets. Nima Elbagir, CNN’s senior international correspondent, joins us to discuss the news. And in headlines: investigators are still piecing together why a prop gun killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust,” Americ...

Facebook is in the crosshairs after a drumbeat of stories over the last few weeks all stemming from a set of documents called the Facebook Papers. Some of those documents detailed how the company prioritized engagement over user safety, and described its failure to moderate hate speech and misinformation across the world. We spoke to Mike Isaac, a tech correspondent at the New York Times who has b...

Minneapolis residents are voting on a ballot measure, Question 2. If it passes, the city’s police department would be replaced with a Department of Public Safety. But despite what some fear-mongers say, this would not actually replace the police and the police are not being defunded. An FDA advisory committee is expected to meet today to discuss Pfizer/BioNTech’s authorization request for a lower...

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in an incident last week involving a prop gun fired on the set of the film, “Rust.” It is unclear at the moment whether there will be any criminal charges stemming from this incident, but given reports of negligence, cutting corners, and lax safety standards, there will certainly be civil suits. Organizers at an Amazon facility in Staten Island plan to fi...

If you’re looking for hype, fake outrage, and groupthink, kindly keep moving. Our mission at What a Day is simple: to be your guide to what truly matters each morning (and the fun stuff you might have missed) in just 20 minutes. Host Jane Coaston brings you in-depth reporting and substantive analysis on the big stories shaping today and the creeping trends shaping tomorrow—and when she doesn’t kno...

The CDC recommended boosters for certain people who got the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. That means as soon as today, almost 100 millions of people can sign up for a booster in the U.S. Dr. Abdul el-Sayed, epidemiologist and host of Crooked’s “America Dissected” joins us to answer all of our questions. And in headlines: kidnappers in Haiti threatened to kill the 17 missionaries they...

People gathered in solidarity with trans Netflix employees and their allies who held a walkout, yesterday, in protest of the streaming service’s endorsing and platforming of Dave Chappelle’s transphobia. We hear from B. Pagels-Minor, a now-former Netflix employee who was fired for allegedly leaking confidential information to the press, which they deny doing.   And in headlines: the man responsibl...

Thousands of John Deere workers are on strike after the company and the United Automobile Workers union failed to negotiate a new contract. Jonah Furman, a staff writer and organizer with Labor Notes, joins us to discuss what led to the Deere strike and the national movement by workers demonstrating for better pay and rights. And in headlines: the Haitian gang that abducted 17 people has asked for...

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of police officers in two cases dealing with qualified immunity. Both decisions were unsigned, and none of the justices dissented – a possible indication that they are sadly not planning on overturning qualified immunity entirely any time soon. Boston is poised to elect its first woman of color as mayor, and the election is just two weeks away. We talked with candi...

The leadership of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees announced a tentative agreement for a new contract between the TV and film crew members it represents, and Hollywood producers. In the short term, this deal prevents a strike that would have begun today.  In February 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, was on a run in Brunswick, GA, when three white men chased him do...

The January 6th commission plans to hold Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with the committee. Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers are advising all administration officials who have been subpoenaed to not comply while Trump, himself, fights with the Biden White House over the release of documents related to the event. The midterms aren’t until next year, but there is still a big race...

President Biden addressed the ongoing supply chain problems that are jacking up prices for consumers and slowing economic recovery, and said that the Port of Los Angeles will begin operating 24/7. Shippers including FedEx and UPS also said that they would commit to shipping more packages during off-peak hours.  It’s a big week for booster shots. Today, the FDA authorization committee will discuss...

For more than a decade, officials in Rutherford County, Tennessee, were arresting kids en masse and placing them in juvenile detention. In this county, children were going to jail over tiny – or even non-existent – infractions. ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio reported this story and Meribah Knight, the lead author, joins us to unpack who allowed this to go on for so long.  And in headlines:...

In July of 2014, Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian and his wife were accused of being spies by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and were arrested. Jason was held captive for 544 days, and he’s the host of Crooked Media’s podcast, “544 Days.” He joins us to discuss his experience in captivity.  And in headlines: Merck asked the FDA for emergency use authorization of its experimental COVID-19 pill...

Guns were involved in three out of every four homicides in 2020, and 2021 is shaping up to be deadly, too. According to the Gun Violence Archive, from January 1st to September 15th of this year, more than 14,000 people died from gun violence in the U.S. Moms Demand Action founder, Shannon Watts, joined us to discuss Demand a Seat. It's a program that recruits gun violence survivors and activists t...

Players across the National Women’s Soccer League have recently gone public with stories of verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse and harassment. Following these reports of abuse, the league cancelled all five games scheduled for last weekend. And when games resumed on Wednesday, the saga culminated with dramatic moments of silent protests at all league matches. Meg Linehan, who covers the world of...

The Biden administration announced it will overhaul the student loan forgiveness program for public service employees. It was supposed to forgive certain federal loans of people who worked in the public sector or at non-profit jobs for at least 10 years, but about 98 percent of those who applied were denied. The change will help over a half-million borrowers. Work at all of the Kellogg Company’s U...

Ernest Johnson was executed in Missouri, yesterday. Johnson had been on death row for over 25 years after being convicted of the 1994 murder of three people. However, pleas for clemency from his supporters, including Pope Francis, intensified recently, saying Johnson’s intellectual disabilities made the execution unconstitutional and immoral. The FDA’s advisory committee will be considering more b...

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram were offline for six hours yesterday in what’s been called the most sustained and the largest outage for the company in recent memory. It came a day after CBS aired an interview with a Facebook whistleblower, and on the same day the company filed a dismissal in an anti-trust lawsuit by the federal government. The latest Supreme Court term began, yesterday, and ther...

Wisconsin's 34-year-old Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes is one of the many Democrats running to beat Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson. Johnson's seat has been seen as one of the most likely to flip to Democratic hands next year. We interviewed Barnes about entering the primary with statewide name recognition and his overt effort to be the staunch progressive in next year's race. And in headl...

Congress approved a short-term spending bill to keep the government open until early December, but Democrats are still scrambling to strike deals on social policies and infrastructure. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union representing thousands of workers in the entertainment industry, has been at a months-long impasse in contract negotiations with the Allian...

Britney Spears' father has been suspended as conservator of her estate. Her lawyer requested that a separate hearing be set in 30 to 45 days, and #FreeBritney activists hope Spears will be free by her 40th birthday. Members of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents all kinds of people behind the scenes on TV and movie sets, will begin voting on a strike aut...

After Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have funded the government and raised the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress it would be catastrophic if lawmakers didn’t raise that ceiling. Additionally, the House is supposed to vote on the infrastructure package tomorrow. Crooked Media’s Editor-in-Chief Brian Beutler joins us to break down all of the Congressional news...

After decades of allegations and investigations, a jury convicted R. Kelly, marking the end of a six-week federal trial. He was found guilty of all nine counts that he faced, including charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Republicans who claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen suffered a humiliating defeat in Arizona. But instead of admitting they were wrong, the Stop the Steal mov...

As many as one in five people who became ill with COVID-19 have reportedly developed long-term symptoms that last well after they’ve recovered from the initial infection. Informally called “Long COVID,” the condition is associated with chronic fatigue, brain fogginess, headaches, and more. We interview Dr. Ashish Jha from the Brown School of Public Health, who’s launched a new study to look at Lon...