Where It All Starts

The entire island of Puerto Rico is without power after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Sunday. More than 3 million people are in the dark, nearly five years to the day that Hurricane Maria struck. State officials in Alabama said they are not ready to use “nitrogen hypoxia” to execute people on death row – for now. They had planned to execute an inmate this week using the new and untested method,...

The White House announced a tentative agreement with freight rail companies and the unions representing 100,000 workers on Thursday, averting a strike that would have had huge economic consequences. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he paid to fly about 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard – escalating a tactic used by other Republican governors to protest the Biden administration’s immigr...

Tens of thousands of railroad workers could go on strike Friday, even as top-level negotiators and Labor Department officials met in Washington yesterday to try to reach a deal to avert it. Max Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the non-profit Real News Network, joins us to discuss what's at stake, and why the dispute has reached this point. And in headlines: soldiers clashed at the border between Armeni...

The latest Consumer Price Index report caught investors off-guard Tuesday, after it showed that inflation in August didn't cool off as much as economists had hoped. The disappointing news plunged the stock market to its worst day since June 2020.The midterm elections are coming up, and we're here to help you WAD The Vote. Crooked's Jon Favreau joins us to discuss what’s at stake in November. And i...

Mourners are paying their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as her remains make the journey to London ahead of her funeral, but protesters are also turning out to hold the royal family accountable for the misdeeds of its past. The Department of Justice filed papers on Monday signaling that it would accept one of the candidates that former President Donald Trump’s legal team recommended as a "special...

Yesterday marked 21 years since the September 11th attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives and remains the deadliest act of terror on U.S. soil. Ukraine’s military says it has made significant gains in recent days after taking back some of its territory from Russia in a major counteroffensive. And in headlines: thousands of railroad workers could walk off the job by the end of the week, the grow...

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, passed away on Thursday. She was 96 years old. Kristen Meinzer, the cohost of Newsweek’s Royal Report podcast, joins us to discuss what made the queen such an important figure on the world stage. And in headlines: Nevada police arrested a county official in the fatal stabbing of a Las Vegas reporter, the U.S. announced a new $2.8...

As millions of Californians were trying to stay cool amid a scorching heat wave on Tuesday, overwhelming demand for electricity nearly forced the state to impose rolling blackouts. Katherine Blunt, who covers renewable energy and utilities for the Wall Street Journal, explains why California was so close to the brink. And in headlines: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey secured the Democr...

NASA was forced to scrub the test launch for its Artemis I moon mission for the second time on Saturday. Miriam Kramer, a space reporter for Axios, joins us to explain why Artemis has yet to take off. And in headlines: Liz Truss was appointed to replace Boris Johnson as the U.K. 's prime minister, Chileans rejected a new progressive constitution, and e-cigarette maker Juul agreed to a nearly $440...

Labor Day weekend is coming up, and it's a great time to celebrate American workers. We check in with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about unions, the state of the job market, and why so many people are “quiet quitting” their jobs. And in headlines: a U.N. report accused China of committing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims, actress Lea Michele addressed rumors about her behind-the-scene...

The FDA authorized the first new versions of the Covid-19 vaccines since they were introduced in late 2020, and the updated formulations target the newest Omicron subvariants. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, epidemiologist and host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” tells us what we need to know about the new shots. And in headlines: U.N. nuclear inspectors arrived in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, NASA announced a ne...

The city of Jackson, Mississippi is under a state of emergency because of ongoing problems with its troubled water system, leaving residents without safe drinking water. Officials in Pakistan say one-third of that country has been submerged by catastrophic flooding, which has left at least 1,100 people dead. And experts warn the worst of the disaster has yet to come. And in headlines: the Biden ad...

A federal judge has indicated that she may appoint a “special master” to review the documents that the FBI seized from Mar-A-Lago earlier this month. We go over what that means, and what it means for the Justice Department's investigation into former President Donald Trump. NASA was set to blast off the debut flight of its Artemis I mission to the moon on Monday, but engineers were forced to delay...

The Justice Department released the affidavit that led to the FBI search on former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago. Although the document was heavily redacted, it does indicate that Trump had highly classified information about sensitive intelligence gathering, and that the FBI had reason to believe he was trying to obstruct the investigation into those records. Over 2,000 Kaiser Perma...

A redacted version of the affidavit that justified the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is expected to be released to the public today. We recap how we got here, and what could come from the unsealed document. It’s been two months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and at least a dozen states have enacted near-total abortion bans, with “trigger laws” taking effect in t...

President Biden announced on Wednesday a plan that would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans, and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients. That will allow millions of borrowers to become debt-free, but critics say it won’t benefit those with larger balances nearly as much as full forgiveness – a goal that progressives have pursued for years. Braxton Brewington with the Debt Col...

Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day, marking 31 years since it broke from the Soviet Union. It also comes six months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and Ukrainian officials are concerned that new strikes could come on the symbolic date. California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation on Monday that would have allowed three California cities to open overdose prevention sites – th...

A teenager and her mother are facing criminal charges for allegedly violating Nebraska's abortion ban, and police used their Facebook direct messages as evidence to charge them. Sara Morrison, senior reporter for Vox's Recode, tells us how easy it is for law enforcement to obtain your personal data from the internet and use it against you — even when it comes to making a health care decision like...

Extreme weather is taking a toll around the globe, with intense storms battering parts of Europe, and historic drought revealing long-submerged relics in other regions. China is also wrestling with one of its hottest, driest summers on record. A bitter recall campaign forced Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's progressive district attorney, out of office in June. But critics of his replacement, Brooke J...

A federal judge in Florida announced Thursday he is "inclined" to release parts of the affidavit that led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago earlier this month. That means it could be made public, giving the Justice Department a week to submit its redactions. Meanwhile, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to tax evasion – and agreed to testi...

CDC director Rochelle Walensky announced Wednesday the agency is making big structural and cultural changes, following widespread criticism over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of Crooked’s America Dissected, joins us to discuss what that overhaul will look like, and why it matters. And in headlines: a deadly explosion erupted at a mosque in Kabul, Liz Cheney hints...

The CDC recently reported that new monkeypox cases in New York City appear to be slowing down, though new cases are slowly rising nationwide. Dr. Carlton Thomas, an advocate for queer health and sex positivity, joins us to talk about the stigma surrounding the disease, and safer sex practices for people who are at higher risk for exposure. And in headlines: President Biden signed the Inflation Red...

More allies of former President Donald Trump will have to appear before a special grand jury in Georgia in the coming weeks, as part of the criminal investigation over possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, is now a target of that probe. And as millions of people across the country face the effects of extreme weather, a new poll finds that fe...

The Justice Department is investigating former President Donald Trump for potentially violating three federal laws related to handling government documents, including the Espionage Act. That's according to the unsealed search warrant executed at his Mar-a-Lago residence last week. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s Strict Scrutiny, joins us to discuss Trump's mounting legal problems. Meanwhile, the...

Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unexpected announcement yesterday to address the FBI search for confidential documents at Donald Trump’s home at Mar-A-Lago. The Washington Post reports some of those documents involve nuclear weapons. Because of increasing online and in-person threats to FBI officials, Garland went to great lengths to emphasize that the search was in the public interest an...