Post Reports

A conservative Catholic group spent millions of dollars on app data that identified gay priests. A Washington Post investigation dives into how this secretive group got data from Grindr and other apps, and what this story can tell us about data privacy in the U.S.Read more:In the summer of 2021, a prominent priest, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, was mysteriously outed for being a regular on Grindr, the gay dating and hookup app. The scandal sent shock waves through the Catholic church. Religion reporter Michelle Boorstein spent the past year-and-a-half investigating this story and figuring out who was behind this effort, and how they got access to this data. She stumbled upon a secretive group of conservative Catholic philanthropists that poured millions of dollars into obtaining data that identified priests who were using dating and hookup apps.As Michelle and tech reporter Heather Kelly explain, this story goes well beyond the Catholic church and raises red flags for all of us about the lack of data privacy laws and protection for people using mobile apps. 

Are we in the middle of a financial crisis? Today’s show breaks down the latest bank crises — from Credit Suisse to First Republic.Read more:Another week, another banking calamity. On Sunday, Swiss banking giant UBS came to the rescue of its rival, Credit Suisse. It was the first near-collapse of a European bank on the heels of three regional bank implosions in the United States. Economics reporter Abha Bhattarai helps us decipher all the bank failures over the past couple of weeks. And as the Federal Reserve meets this week, Abha explains how its interest rate hikes have contributed to the instability of the financial sector.

As the U.S. continues to grow racially and ethnically diverse, that shift is reflected in how our names are changing. Still, culture wars persist. And that can mean Americans are forced to consider what makes us American, and what makes a name American. Read more:Two years ago this week, a 21-year-old gunman in Atlanta massacred eight people in three  spas. Six of those victims were women of Asian descent.  It prompted a wave of reporting about racist attacks and violence, and for Marian Chia-Ming Liu, it began a deeply introspective journey – one that prompted thousands of Washington Post readers to reach out with stories about their own experiences with their names.Marian talks with Elahe Izadi about what she discovered on her name journey, and what other people from across the country have shared with her along the way. Join Post Reports LIVE on April 13th! Martine Powers will host a live conversation in D.C. with best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld at Sixth and I, in partnership with Politics & Prose. Sittenfeld is the author of books like “Eligible” and “American Wife.” Her latest novel is “Romantic Comedy,” about a late-night comedy writer’s search for love. Listeners can purchase tickets here, and if you can’t make it to D.C., you can always join via a livestream.

Today on Post Reports, we take you to an abortion hearing in Amarillo, Tex., that the judge didn’t want you to know was coming. Read more:In a four-hour hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard arguments in a lawsuit that could restrict access nationwide to the abortion medication mifepristone. The lawsuit alleges that the medication is unsafe, despite being approved and highly regulated by the FDA for decades. However, many antiabortion activists are hopeful that Kacsmaryk will rule against the FDA, because of his strong religious beliefs and previous support of antiabortion organizations. National political reporter Caroline Kitchener was inside the courtroom for the hearing and explains what she heard and what the implications of the ruling could be.

The AI behind ChatGPT just got an upgrade. But it might not have all of the bells and whistles that some were expecting.Read more:GPT-4 might sound like gibberish, but it could change what you expect from your apps (not to mention what happens when you try out ChatGPT). If you need a recipe and are low on groceries, you could soon take a picture of your open fridge for the system to “look” at, identify your ingredients, and whip up a recipe for the night. That being said, there are limits to what this new AI language model can do. For instance, even though GPT-4 is better at logic than its predecessor, it can still give answers containing false information. Tech reporter Drew Harwell breaks down the other ethics issues GPT-4 has raised.

Teachers across the nation are changing how they teach in response to state laws, administrative decrees and parental pressure. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore three examples of things teachers are cutting from their lesson plans. Read more:School districts and teachers are grappling with how to teach race, racism, U.S. history, sexual orientation and gender. These fights are happening in school board meetings, local town halls and on the campaign trail. A growing parental rights movement is fighting for greater control over what schools teach and the books available to students in school libraries and classrooms. At least 64 state laws have already reshaped what students can learn and do at school, and this fight is likely to be a main talking point ahead of the 2024 presidential election.Education reporter Hannah Natanson talked to teachers across the country to hear how and why their lesson plans were changing. Here’s what she found. 

Silicon Valley Bank is dead. The institution that was a major financier for venture capitalists, tech start-ups and other Silicon Valley outfits has collapsed. Enter: the federal government.Read more:When depositors who belonged to Silicon Valley Bank started quickly withdrawing their money recently, it caused a “bank run.” This led to the ruin of the tech-focused bank, the largest bank failure since the Great Recession. Now the federal government is stepping in to ensure customers are still able to access their money and company payrolls are distributed.Silicon Valley Bank catered to start-ups, venture capitalist groups, and even companies like Pinterest and Airbnb. Reporter Jeff Stein talks about why the government is taking such drastic measures to make sure all deposits will be available this week.

It’s not just on movie sets like the infamous “Rust.” Beyond Hollywood’s glitz and glamor, and the spectacle of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, there are hidden dangers on many of the sets for the tv shows and movies we love.Read more:Back in October 2021, two major events happened in Hollywood. First, 60,000 union members overwhelmingly voted to go on strike because of rough working conditions on television and movie sets. The strike was narrowly averted, but it left union members wanting more. Later that month, actor Alec Baldwin allegedly shot and killed a crew member on the set of his movie “Rust.” Many blamed poor set conditions, with crew members walking off-set the day of the shooting.Washington Post filmmakers Lindsey Sitz and Ross Godwin made a documentary called “Quiet on Set” about the people behind the Hollywood cameras and sets. They say 18-hour days have led to dangerous accidents, and sexism and racism can run rampant behind the scenes. But speaking out can get you blacklisted.Sitz and Godwin spoke with five union crew members about the things they’ve seen, heard, and experienced while on set. “Quiet on Set” paints a picture of exploitation, cost-cutting, and turning a blind eye, all in the name of Hollywood.

Today on Post Reports, as we near the three-year mark of the pandemic, health reporter Lena Sun digs into the science of grief and what she learned through her own loss. Her mother was one of more than 1 million Americans who died of covid.Read more:This week, we’re marking three years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 was a pandemic. Since March of 2020, more than a million people have died in the United States alone and we’ve lost more than 6 million people worldwide to covid. We’ve turned to health reporter Lena Sun often over the last few years for advice on masking and social distancing, to explain how the virus spreads and how vaccines work, and for accountability reporting on the way politics and policies have interfered with science. But while she was one of the lead reporters covering the pandemic, Lena was also coping with her own loss. She lost her mother to covid in April of 2020, a famed writer on the Chinese immigrant experience, and then her sister died last year of pancreatic cancer. Today on the show, Lena shares what she’s learned about the science of grief - and how we can all process so much tragedy from the last three years.

Today, what we know about the four Americans who were kidnapped in Mexico, and what this incident can tell us about medical tourism, the security situation at the U.S. southern border, and how U.S. policy has contributed to the problems.Read more:Last week, four American friends from South Carolina were kidnapped in the Mexican border city Matamoros. By the time Mexican security forces located them on the outskirts of the city Tuesday, two of the Americans were dead and another was injured. The two survivors have been returned to the border, and one suspect is in custody with an ongoing manhunt for others. Today, The Washington Post’s Kevin Sieff explains how this affects the security relationship between the United States and Mexico, and what role the U.S. has played in making Matamoros a place where violence and kidnappings happen, often with impunity.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, enables low-income families to put basic food on the table. This month, SNAP experienced dramatic cuts that have left many families and seniors struggling to figure out how to survive on less than $6 per meal. That can mean cheaper, less-healthy options like canned and processed foods, which are high in sugar and are major drivers of obesity, reporter Laura Reiley tells “Post Reports.” “It's a hunger that looks different than it used to in this country,” Reiley says. So why the change? Amid heightened financial and food insecurity during the pandemic, a federal assistance program upped monthly SNAP benefits. That program came to a screeching halt last week, despite a continued rise in food prices. Many families and seniors are seeing their monthly food assistance drop by more than $100. State-level shifts are also reducing the level of assistance. And yet, “the food that we routinely feed our families has gotten a lot more expensive,” Reiley continues. “The math that's been used to determine how much a meal costs has not kept up with inflation or how we eat.” Read more:Millions could see cuts to food stamps as federal pandemic aid ends.A mile-long line for free food offers a warning as covid benefits end.Republicans take aim at food stamps in growing fight over federal debt.

Today on the show, the $500 million alleged Ponzi scheme that preyed on Mormons.Read more:Las Vegas investigative reporter Jeff German was killed outside his home in September; a Clark County official he had investigated is charged in his death. To continue German’s work, The Washington Post teamed up with his newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to complete one of the stories he’d planned to pursue before he was killed. A folder on German’s desk contained court documents he’d started to gather about an alleged Ponzi scheme that preyed upon hundreds of people — many of them Mormon — over the course of five years. Post reporter Lizzie Johnson began investigating. Today on Post Reports, we look at how more than 900 people invested an estimated total of $500 million into an alleged Ponzi scheme, and why the men who allegedly ran this operation are still walking free. 

If you’re gearing up to clean out your closet this spring, you might be wondering: Where can I donate all these clothes? And: What actually happens to these clothes when I do donate? The Washington Post’s climate solutions team has some answers.Read more: From Goodwill to disaster-relief efforts to those big metal donation boxes on street corners, there are a lot of options for where to give those clothes you just don’t wear anymore. But whether those old t-shirts ever find new, good homes is a more complicated story. Allyson Chiu, a climate solutions reporter for The Post, breaks down where donated clothes end up and offers some advice about what to watch out for as you consolidate your closet. 

Why did the College Board, which oversees Advanced Placement classes, change certain parts of the AP African American studies course framework? Post Reports digs into the latest controversy about the new AP course, still in its pilot stages.Read more:After Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis came out against the new AP African American studies course, it sparked a controversy. The state said it wouldn’t allow students to take the class because it lacked educational value.Then the College Board changed the course framework just in time for its debut on the first day of Black History Month. Many questioned whether conservative leaders prompted changes to the program. Where the word “systemic” was mentioned in the previous plan for the class, it was completely removed from the new one. The same with other topics, such as Black Lives Matter and reparations, which went from 15 mentions in April 2022 to one in February 2023. Education reporter Nick Anderson breaks down what happened to AP African American studies and why these changes occurred in the first place.

Violence has been mounting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for months, but the situation is already reaching a new level of escalation in 2023. “Everything is falling apart,” The Post’s Miriam Berger explains to guest host Libby Casey, referring to the fragile dynamics between Palestinians and Israelis in the region.  At least 60 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis have been killed in recent weeks in the occupied territories, a level that is on track to be the bloodiest in two decades. That’s despite rare talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jordan last weekend. On Monday, a Palestinian man shot and killed two Israeli brothers in the West Bank town of Huwara. Later that day, dozens of Israeli settlers torched cars and homes in Palestinian communities, killing one man in revenge.  “You have this growing insecurity amongst Palestinians and also the cycle of revenge attacks happening,” says Berger. The clashes come amidst massive protests in Israel itself, and a major shift to the right in the country’s new government. The empowerment of extremist leaders has further fueled more violent acts, as Palestinian house demolitions and raids are on the rise. Read More: Emboldened by Israel’s far right, Jewish settlers fan the flames of chaosIsraeli settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in revenge for shootingAt least 11 Palestinians killed, 100 wounded in Israeli raid in the West BankJerusalem demolitions gain pace under Netanyahu, enraging PalestiniansWhy Israel’s planned overhaul of the judiciary is tearing the country apartItamar Ben Gvir: How an extremist settler became a powerful Israeli ministerAt least 7 killed in East Jerusalem synagogue shootingAfter deadly Israeli raid in Jenin, fears of escalation in West Bank

In the wake of the 2020 election, Fox News aired false claims about election fraud promoted by Trump allies. A lawsuit, however, reveals that top executives and hosts privately doubted the legitimacy of those claims. Reporter Jeremy Barr joins us to explain. Read more:In recently revealed texts and emails, Fox News hosts privately disparaged election theories being aired on their shows. Rupert Murdoch, chair of Fox News’s parent company, acknowledged in a lawsuit that he wishes the network had done more to push back on false election claims. 

Today on Post Reports, we look at how the boundaries between work and life are potentially changing, from the feasibility of a four-day workweek to protections for workers when they're off the clock.Read more:The five-day workweek is the standard in the United States, and in many other countries across the world. But advocacy groups, and employees themselves, have been dreaming about the possibility of a four-day workweek. Recently, dozens of companies in the United Kingdom finished a four-day workweek pilot program; in the U.S., there is also state and federal legislation proposing employees work one day less for the same pay. Corporate culture reporter Taylor Telford explains how the pandemic has shifted our ideas about work, and how feasible a four-day workweek could really be. Plus, we explore “the right to disconnect,” a movement that advocates for employees to be allowed to disengage from work after working hours. The Post’s Niha Masih explains how certain countries are protecting people from work encroaching on their personal time. 

Today from "Post Reports," a quick message from Martine about what she’s working on and why she won’t be in your ears as much for the next few months. (We promise, it’s good news!)

It’s been one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Post’s Ukraine Bureau Chief reflects on the war, its impacts and what the future might look like for these countries. Read more:Europe’s biggest land war since World War II just entered its second year, with no clear end in sight. The losses are unimaginable – estimates suggest there have been hundreds of thousands of casualties, as well as mass evacuations and family separations. According to the United Nations, the war has forced one third of Ukrainians out of their homes and nearly 8 million Ukrainian refugees have sought shelter in other European countries. And the fighting continues. Isabelle Khurshudyan, the Post’s Ukraine Bureau Chief, guides us through the first days of the invasion and describes what we’re seeing now. 

Today, we look at how former Donald Trump voters are feeling about his 2024 presidential run, and whether Trump’s grip on the Republican base is slipping. Read more:Over the past several months, a team of reporters at The Washington Post traveled to five swing states to ask former Trump voters about their feelings toward the former president ahead of the 2024 election. After more than 150 interviews, they found tension within the Republican base, and a growing range of Trump supporters who aren’t sure they want him as the party’s next nominee.Washington Post reporter Isaac Arnsdorf breaks down why Trump might be losing voters, how they feel about the other “Florida guy” who might run for president, and what this could all mean for the future of the Republican Party.

For months, economists warned that the U.S. economy may enter a recession. Instead, the economy appears to be growing. Rachel Siegel joins us to explain why economists were worried, and what led this economy to defy predictions.Read more:A good jobs report complicates the Fed’s fight against inflationInflation has gone down for seven months, but still remains at an overall high

“Post Reports” looks at why students were asked to leave Yale University while they were having mental health crises.Read more:Nicolette Mántica was having a tough time at Yale. At the end of her freshman year, she started struggling with her mental health. She eventually was taken to a hospital for help. While there, college officials gave her no other choice but to withdraw, she said, and she went back to her home in rural Georgia.Reporter William Wan talked to Nicolette and other students about their similar experiences with the prestigious university after they sought help for suicidal ideation or other mental health crises. Wan also looked into how Yale’s policies changed recently and what students – both current and former – think of the changes.

Today on Post Reports, culture writer Helena Andrews-Dyer breaks down our current Beyoncé moment: After breaking the record for Grammy wins and ahead of her upcoming world tour, we talk about why Beyoncé is more relevant than ever.Read more:Beyoncé is having a moment. She just broke the record for winning more Grammys than any other artist, and her fans are clamoring for tickets to her Renaissance concert tour. But institutions like the Grammys are still not giving her the highest award: Album of the Year. Culture writer Helena Andrews-Dyer explains why Beyoncé (and this moment) matter, even if you're not a fan.

Nearly two weeks ago near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed, forcing residents in East Palestine to evacuate. But as cleanup continues, many residents still have questions about whether it’s safe to keep living there. Read more:A Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3. Fifty cars derailed, 20 of which contained hazardous materials. The dangerous chemicals released as a result of the accident have forced many to evacuate the area.  There are still many unknowns about the environmental impacts of the derailment. But water officials are tracking contamination in the Ohio River and local waterways. Some residents have reported side effects from breathing the chemicals, such as headaches and nausea. The Washington Post’s Scott Dance traveled to East Palestine to attend a town hall and talk to residents about how they are coping. 

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley announced that she’s running for president. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear from her supporters about why they’re choosing her over former president Donald Trump, and what her entrance means for the 2024 race. Read more:Nikki Haley kicked off her campaign with a rally in Charleston, S.C., where she pitched a wider-tent approach to GOP politics. The former South Carolina governor and ex-U.N. ambassador is counting on Republican voters who are “tired of losing” the popular vote in elections. But can her twist on Republican identity politics bring back the voters that fled the party in the Trump era? Audio producer Arjun Singh takes “Post Reports” to Charleston for the campaign launch.

Early last week, earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria. The death toll had surpassed 41,000 people by Tuesday. As rescuers continue the search for survivors in both countries, many people are sleeping in cars or tents.Read more:Last week, we talked with Post reporter Sarah Dadouch about the fatal earthquake that had just hit the Turkish and Syrian border. Now, we look at the aftermath in the wake of what’s being called Turkey’s biggest disaster. Middle East bureau chief Kareem Fahim describes a death toll of tens of thousands, why the death toll was so high in Turkey and how foreign aid isn’t making its way to the areas in Syria that need it most.

Big Tech was moving cautiously on AI. Then came ChatGPT. As tech reporter Nitasha Tiku explains, the surge of attention around ChatGPT is pressuring tech giants to move faster, potentially sweeping safety concerns aside.Read more:Google, Facebook and Microsoft helped build the scaffolding of AI. Smaller companies, like OpenAI, are taking it to the masses, forcing Big Tech to react.Microsoft is trying to push its search engine Bing into the future with OpenAI technology. The company held an artificial-intelligence event at its headquarters and talked about new uses for ChatGPT as the AI arms race heats up.AI can now create images out of thin air. See how it works.

HBO’s new show “The Last of Us,” which is based on a 2013 video game, has won acclaim from critics and gamers alike for its unusual twist on a zombie story. Gene Park joins us to explain why the show has resonated with viewers.Read more: Read Gene Park’s review of HBO’s “The Last of Us”Read about the real science behind the zombie plague in “The Last of Us”

The antiabortion movement spent nearly 50 years organizing around one goal: overturning Roe v. Wade. With that success, what’s next? We go inside the movement’s biggest annual event to examine its diverging paths and possible futures.The annual March for Life is the antiabortion movement’s biggest event of the year, bringing tens of thousands of protesters to the National Mall in D.C. But this year’s march was different. With Roe v. Wade now overturned and the constitutional right to an abortion no longer guaranteed, the movement has achieved its most important singular goal – the one around which it had coalesced for nearly 50 years. National political reporter Caroline Kitchener went inside this year’s march to see how the antiabortion movement is approaching this post-Roe moment, and how its possible paths forward may be diverging. With a sense of jubilation on one hand and an air of disappointment on the other, she found a movement wrestling with how to stay united and win a bigger battle: the hearts and minds of a country that largely favors abortion. Antiabortion politicians are mounting efforts to further restrict abortion locally and nationally. Their efforts could restrict access to abortion even in so-called “haven states.” And an imminent federal district court ruling in Texas could have a “catastrophic” effect on access to abortion pills nationwide. Caroline’s ongoing audio reporting with “Post Reports” was honored this week with a prestigious duPont-Columbia Award! You can listen to more of our coverage of this important issue here: Preparing for a post-Roe AmericaIn Oklahoma, a closing window to access abortionDrafting the end of Roe v. WadeThe untold story of the Texas abortion banThe day Roe v. Wade fellShe wanted an abortion. Now, she has twins.

Today on Post Reports, we talk to national security reporter Shane Harris about exclusive reporting from The Washington Post on the vast aerial surveillance program behind the Chinese spy balloon.Read more: The U.S. intelligence community has linked the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday to a vast surveillance program, and U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted.Why balloons? The technology is old but effective, according to Shane’s sources. “The real advantage that the balloon has is that it actually moves very slowly,” Shane said. “That balloon could hover over a target at an altitude of about 60,000 to 80,000 feet, where it might be very hard to see. And it can stay there potentially for hours.”The United States hasn’t been great at detecting the balloons before now. In some cases, the balloons had been characterized as UFOs. Shane breaks down what this renewed concern about Chinese surveillance means for U.S.-China relations going forward — and why so many countries spy on each other.

Why the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria was so deadly and how rescue efforts are going.Read more:Early Monday morning, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Turkey and northwestern Syria. The shock was felt as far as Egypt, leveling buildings and killing more than 7,000 people as of Tuesday afternoon. So far, rescue efforts have been complicated by frigid temperatures, and the earthquake has compounded other crises in war-torn Syria. Beirut-based correspondent Sarah Dadouch has been speaking to survivors and describes the devastation and what the aftermath will look like.

President Biden will outline his goals for the next year at Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Today on Post Reports, we look at how the White House has deployed Vice President Harris over the past two years. Read more:On Tuesday, President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address.  While the 2024 election is more than a year away, this moment has prompted questions from Democrats about future leaders of the Democratic party.Vice President Harris has long been considered to be Biden’s successor. But is she up to winning the top job? Today on the show, White House reporter Cleve R. Wootson Jr. breaks down what Harris has accomplished in her time as vice president, the criticism she faces, and how Democrats are thinking about her future in the party. 

At every age and stage of life, we’re faced with making tough financial decisions. Am I ready to buy a house? Should I start saving for retirement? And what the heck is FICA? For nearly 30 years, Michelle has answered these questions for Washington Post readers. Now, she has compiled her most frequently asked questions in a new project, Michelle Singletary’s money milestones for every age. But, do her own children take her advice?On this bonus episode of “Post Reports,” personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary talks to her daughters about their finances. Olivia and Jillian are both in their 20s. They sat down with their mom to discuss how they think about their finances as young adults and the children of a finance wiz. 

With the Oscars on the horizon, The Washington Post’s chief film critic and a culture writer share their hot takes on the movies they loved and who may win the golden statues.Read more:This year’s Oscars are already notable: Angela Bassett became Marvel’s first performer to be nominated, and a controversy surrounding an unlikely best actress nomination kicked up concerns about social media campaigning. That doesn’t mean that all of the movies were memorable, but they were surprising, according to The Post’s chief film critic Ann Hornaday and culture writer Sonia Rao. Hornaday and Rao share their top films, the themes that bring the best picture nominees together, and who they think will win at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12.There are no spoilers. We promise.

The new Republican House majority is off to a shaky start. We’ll unpack the drama over committee assignments, the debt ceiling fight and a House speaker who has a very precarious hold on power.  Read more:The 118th Congress started with a long and contentious vote for House speaker. After 15 rounds of voting, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) won that fight, but he’s still struggling to seize control of an unruly party with a slim House majority. McCarthy is now negotiating committee assignments with input from a small but vocal far-right contingent. And he’s reeling from controversy surrounding a freshman member of the House, George Santos (R-N.Y.).On top of all that, Democrats and Republicans are in a fight over the debt limit, with no easy path forward.Reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell joins us to walk us through this chaotic Congress.

After years of protest, the FDA is easing the blood donation ban for gay and bisexual men. Today on the show, what this means for LGBT rights and the nation’s blood supply.Read more:Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships will no longer be forced to abstain from sex to donate blood under federal guidelines announced last week. The proposed relaxation of restrictions follows years of pressure from blood banks, the American Medical Association and LGBT rights organizations to abandon rules some experts say are outdated, homophobic and ineffective at keeping the nation’s blood supply safe.Health reporter Fenit Nirappil breaks down what these new rules mean for men who have sex with men, and how this change comes after years of stigmatization of the gay community.

For many Americans, it’s almost time to pay the rent, and prices are soaring. The Biden administration has stepped in to help renters, but will it have an impact? Rachel Siegel joins us to explain.Read more:Read about the Biden administration’s plan to help tenants

After Tyre Nichols —a young Black man — was beaten to death by police in Memphis, the fact that the five officers charged are Black has prompted activists to grapple with the complex pervasiveness of institutional racism in policing.Read more:Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old Black man who died after sustaining injuries from a police beating in early January. Five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder. A sixth officer, who is White, has been suspended, the police department said Monday. Video footage of the attack was released Friday. Protests have been subdued— in part, Robert Klemko says, because the five officers charged are also Black men. “The fact that these officers were Black took the wind out of a lot of folks' sails and created, specifically in communities of color, this feeling of sorrow as opposed to anger,” Klemko says.Today, how another death of a Black man at the hands of police officers illustrates institutional racism in policing — regardless of the race of the officer.

Despite recent headlines about layoffs, the story of many industries is still too many jobs and not enough workers. Today on “Post Reports,” we do a deep dive into the restaurant industry and ask – where did all the workers go?Read more:A little over a year ago, “Post Reports” Executive Producer Maggie Penman reported on quitters – the millions of Americans who left their jobs during the pandemic. Now, more than a year later, she’s puzzled by the continued worker shortages and “help wanted” signs across so many industries. If workers aren’t staffing restaurants, shops or daycares – then where did they go?The answer is complicated – it takes us from a restaurant in Massachusetts to a children’s museum in Maine – and tied to big economic trends that long predate the pandemic. Today on “Post Reports,” we go on a search for the missing worker and uncover years of declining immigration, an aging workforce, a continued lack of child care and the surprising decline of men in the labor force. Check out the music you heard at the top of the show from Mosaic Mirrors here.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern surprised many when she announced her decision not to run for reelection. Though she enjoyed global popularity as a feminist icon, her reputation at home was more mixed. Ishaan Tharoor explains why.Read more:Ishaan Tharoor’s column on Ardern’s legacyJacinda Ardern didn’t make mothering look easy. She made it look real.

Despite having some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, California has experienced three mass killings in the past 10 days. Today, we examine what any state could do to stop these tragedies in a country awash in guns.Read more:California has a reputation as a tough place to buy a gun. The state’s patchwork of gun laws has been judged the strongest in the nation by one gun-control advocacy group.But recent mass killings in the state, including in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, illustrate how the state’s strict gun laws are are limited by a broader reality in which gun ownership is  widely considered a constitutionally protected right, firearms move freely between states with vastly different regulations and gun-control measures are dotted with exceptions.There have already been 39 mass shootings in 2023 in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Mass shootings — in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed — have already averaged more than one per day this year. Gun violence remains significantly less common in California than in most other states, which advocates credit to the laws on the books.Today, the Post’s West Coast correspondent Reis Thebualt joins us to examine the impact of California’s gun laws and ask what any state could do to stop these tragedies in a country awash in guns. 

Floods, wildfires, droughts and other extreme weather events can lead to more domestic violence around the world. Today’s show looks at why this happens and how advocates and emergency responders can extend a helping hand.Read more:The Washington Post partnered with The Fuller Project, a nonprofit news organization, to unpack evidence that domestic violence cases often rise wherever extreme weather events take place. The Fuller Project’s editor in chief, Eva Rodriguez, joins the show today to discuss not only why this happens but how isolation and forced migration can affect domestic violence rates as well.

Today on “Post Reports,” personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary offers up some of her time-tested, conventional financial wisdom.At every age and stage of life, we’re faced with making tough financial decisions. Am I ready to buy a house? Should I start saving for retirement? And what the heck is FICA? For nearly 30 years, Michelle has answered these questions for Washington Post readers. Now, she has compiled her most frequently asked questions in a new project, Michelle Singletary’s money milestones for every age. 

HTML SHOW NOTES:It’s time to rethink our friendships. Research shows that strong friendships are essential to a healthy life.Read more:Have you ever neglected your friendships for romantic love? It may be time to rethink your priorities. A growing body of research shows that friends are essential to a healthy life. Cultivating strong friendships may be just as important for our well-being as healthy eating habits or a good night’s sleep. Platonic love may even be more important than romantic love. People with strong friendships tend to have better mental health, and there may be benefits to our physical health, as well. Large social networks lower our risk of premature death more than exercise or dieting alone, research found. Teddy Amenabar reports for the Well+Being section at The Washington Post and walks us through these findings and offers advice for how to maintain our friendships. 

Who is George Santos, and why does it seem as though everyone on Capitol Hill is talking about him? Today, we have the story of the embattled lawmaker and why some voters in his district want him removed from his seat.Read more:Freshman Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has an interesting biography, littered with untruths. He claimed he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks claimed his mother’s life. And he mentioned that four of his employees died in the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. These were just a few of the claims Santos made that were discovered to be fabrications.Post reporter Camila DeChalus spent time with Santos’s constituents in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Some voters said they wanted him gone from his seat in the House. DeChalus breaks down how that might — or might not — happen.

Today on “Post Reports,” we cover the latest news from the war in Ukraine –  and talk about why Putin is increasingly isolated, even among Russia’s elite. Over the weekend, a Russian missile struck a nine-floor apartment complex in central Ukraine. The timing, on a weekend afternoon, meant many people were at home at the time of the strike. Dozens of people were killed. The move seems to signal a new level of desperation from Russia – and reporter Catherine Belton says Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated as the war grinds on, from the West but also his own allies among Russia’s elite.  Putin on Tuesday used new government data to paint a surprisingly rosy picture of Russia’s economy. “The actual dynamics of the economy turned out to be better than many expert forecasts,” he said during a virtual meeting on the economy.“It's not really clear what he's talking about because no one really knows what actually the ruble’s value is anymore. It’s being artificially set by the central bank,” Belton says.Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into Catherine’s reporting on the gulf emerging between Putin and some of Russia’s elite – leaving the leader increasingly friendless and increasingly paranoid. 

As California works through the devastating consequences of catastrophic flooding, today on “Post Reports” we look back at another climate disaster and ask if survivors can find healing on the very land that holds the scars of climate change.Read more:From deadly flooding to destructive wildfires, Californians have been coping with the perils of climate change for years. More than four years after the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, one study on the fire’s aftermath said survivors experienced PTSD at rates on par with veterans of war. Research increasingly shows that victims of climate change disasters are left with deep psychological wounds — from anxiety after hurricanes to surges in suicide during heat waves — that the nation’s disaster response agencies are ill-prepared to treat.But in the burned and battered forests near Paradise, a small program run by California State University at Chico is using nature therapy walks to help fire survivors recover.Today on “Post Reports,” climate reporter Sarah Kaplan explains how the program is testing a fraught premise: that the site of survivors’ worst memories can become a source of solace.

Today, Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax offers some guidance to the splintered British royal family.Read more:Lately, there’s been a lot of news about the British royal family. There’s a Netflix documentary series about Harry and Meghan, and this week Harry released his new memoir, “Spare.” Both are packed with surprisingly intimate details about the lives of the former royals, including Harry taking magic mushrooms at a celebrity party as well as intentional palace leaks to the tabloids. From the outside, it seems like the royals have a lot of work to do to rebuild their relationships.That’s where Post columnist Carolyn Hax comes in. In today’s episode, Carolyn gives advice about a few key scenarios that are all about the royal family but could easily be relevant to many people’s lives.

What we know about the classified documents found in President Biden’s possession. How will a new special counsel investigation by the Justice Department work? And what are the similarities — and differences — with the investigation into former president Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents? Read more:Amid new revelations of classified documents in his possession after the vice presidency, President Biden now faces a special counsel investigation. In November, a small batch of classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in downtown Washington, according to a CBS News report this week. The Post reported that the discovery involved about 10 classified documents.In a statement Thursday, Biden’s legal team said more classified documents were found — this time, in the locked garage of his Wilmington, Del., residence.Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert K. Hur, a former U.S. attorney, to handle the special counsel investigation. This comes as former president Donald Trump is also being investigated by a special counsel for retention of classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.Today on the show, White House reporter Matt Viser breaks down what this could mean for the Biden presidency and how this could impact his potential run against Trump in 2024.

What was behind the sudden halt to thousands of domestic flights yesterday morning? Today on Post Reports, a conversation with transportation reporter Lori Aratani about a highly unusual aviation system failure and the deeper flaws it exposed.  Read more: More than 4,600 flights arriving in and out of the U.S. faced unusual delays yesterday morning, as aviation staff sought answers to an unexpected overnight outage of its airspace alert system. Preliminary reviews traced the problem to a damaged database file, but the sweeping stoppage that ensued was something the United States hadn’t experienced since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This mass grounding of flights also came shortly after a messy holiday travel period: failures at Southwest Airlines prompted more than 16,000 flight cancellations. Combined, the logjams and stoppages point to a deeper problem with America’s very fragile aviation system, explains The Post’s Lori Aratani. “This is just another sign of how we need to invest in infrastructure,” Aratani told Post Reports.

It came as a complete surprise. Last month, the Chinese government dropped most of its “zero covid” restrictions. Today on Post Reports, we find out what’s behind the shift and a massive covid outbreak that has since swept the country.Since the start of the pandemic, China has kept in place rigid policies in hopes of eliminating the spread of covid-19. That all changed last month, amid outbreaks of the highly transmissible omicron variant and in the wake of unprecedented protests. In a sudden shift, the government announced no more lockdowns, no more mandatory testing and, as of this week, no more cross-border travel restrictions. “I don't think people saw that coming,” said Lily Kuo, The Washington Post’s China Bureau Chief.But the situation is shrouded in mystery and concerns over a lack of information about the virus. While Chinese authorities report that cases are under control, behind the scenes footage, interviews with hospital and funeral staff, and satellite and forensic analysis from Kuo and her colleagues reveal a much different story. “We know that the health-care system is overwhelmed,” Kuo said. “We don’t know exactly how many deaths. And so it is hard to tell exactly how much of a crisis this is and how bad it will get.”READ MORE: China, engulfed in covid chaos, braces for Lunar New Year case spike.Everything you need to know about traveling to China. Restrictions on travelers from China mount as covid numbers there surge. Tracked, detained, vilified: How China throttled anti-covid protests.

President Biden promised a different approach to immigration than his predecessor, but he is still relying on some Trump-era tools. Today, a look at what Biden’s new strategy will mean for migrants and border communities. Read more:President Biden announced new immigration policies that would expand legal entry into the United States for thousands of migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, while continuing to rely upon a controversial Trump-era policy that would block access for others.  These changes came ahead of this week’s North American Leaders’ Summit, where Biden and his Canadian and Mexican counterparts are discussing immigration and other top issues.Arelis Hernandez, who covers the U.S. southern border and immigration, walks us through these new policies and how they would affect migrants and border communities.

Why thousands of supporters of the far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro trashed key government buildings in the country’s capital. And what’s next for the country’s new president and Brazil’s democracy.Read more:On Sunday, thousands of rioters destroyed key government buildings in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, to protest the election of the country’s new leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Most were supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in a contentious, closely watched presidential race last year. Correspondent Anthony Faiola explains Brazil’s fraught relationship with democracy that led to this moment and how this event compares to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in the United States. Read our continuing live coverage of Brazil’s capital insurrection here.

On the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, we have a conversation about the political and legal consequences former president Donald Trump faces and how they are affecting his presidential campaign.Read more:Former president Donald Trump’s sphere of influence appears to be waning: Many of the candidates he supported publicly in the midterms lost races, and despite his recent announcement to run for the presidency again in 2024 his campaign has garnered little public support. National political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf discusses some of the significant setbacks Trump has faced and what consequences he could face, including the release of his tax returns and the recommendations for charges by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Where in the world is Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president? Today’s Post Reports examines why Bolsonaro left the country ahead of the ceremonial handover of power, and what his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, could mean for a divided Brazil.Brazilian elections were razor-thin: Lula won just 50.9 percent of the vote. But the country’s young democracy was put to its biggest test yet when incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro questioned the election process and never formally conceded. Many have likened his actions to those of former U.S. president Donald Trump.  Gabriela Sá Pessoa has been covering the Brazilian election, from Bolsonaro rallies in São Paulo to Lula’s inauguration in Brasília. She breaks down what happened when Bolsonaro finally broke his silence in the days leading up to Lula’s inauguration this week and the mystery surrounding why the former president is staying in Florida. Meanwhile in Brazil, a once-jailed icon of the Latin American left returned to power with his own twist on an inauguration tradition, given Bolsonaro’s absence. But after the celebrations die down, how will Lula enact his ambitious agenda and lead a deeply divided country? 

Marriages, breakups and dates are still happening in Ukraine, even during the war against Russian forces.Read more: Reporter Jeff Stein recently reported on what love and intimacy look like during the war with Russian forces. What he found was that Tinder and sex shops still persist as cities in Ukraine continue to see airstrikes and hear sirens. Sometimes, when it doesn’t seem like either side is winning, love just might be.

Who will be the new speaker of the House? Republican leader Kevin McCarthy struggles to whip up the votes. Read more:The House met for the first day of the 118th Congress on Tuesday to swear in members and elect a speaker for the new Republican majority. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) needs 218 votes to become the speaker of the House; he can afford to lose only four GOP votes. While an overwhelming number of Republicans want McCarthy to be speaker, several have remained firm in their opposition to his bid.Political reporter Aaron Blake walks us through the drama leading up to and during the vote for speaker - and he details the long road ahead for McCarthy.

This week, we’re bringing you episodes of The 7 - a new podcast from The Washington Post. Your host Jeff Pierre takes you through the seven most important and interesting stories, so you can get caught up in just a few minutes. Make it a habit in the new year. Read today's briefing here.

This week, we’re bringing you episodes of The 7 - a new podcast from The Washington Post. Your host Jeff Pierre takes you through the seven most important and interesting stories, so you can get caught up in just a few minutes. Make it a habit in the new year. You can also read today's briefing here.

On The Post’s new podcast, "The 7," host Jeff Pierre takes you through the seven most important and interesting stories of the day. It's a way to get caught up in just a few minutes. It comes out every weekday at 7 a.m. Check it out today, then find and follow "The 7."You can also read today's briefing here.

This week, we’re bringing you episodes of The 7 - a new podcast from The Washington Post. Your host Jeff Pierre takes you through the seven most important and interesting stories, so you can get caught up in just a few minutes. Make it a habit in the new year. You can also read the briefing here.

Who is the real Queen of Christmas? Not Mariah Carey, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Today on a bonus episode of Post Reports, we explain the legal battle for the Christmas throne.Read more: Read more about the legal battle over the “Queen of Christmas” title here.Looking for a last-minute holiday gift? Right now, you can save over 70 percent on a new premium subscription to The Washington Post — and that new premium subscription comes with a bonus subscription to share. You can find this deal at washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Today on “Post Reports,” the way what we eat – and how we eat it – affects our mental health, not just our physical health. Plus, how to eat for your emotional well-being in the new year. Read more:Washington Post journalist Mary Beth Albright has been fascinated by the connection between food and mood for years. “What I began to realize is that food and emotions are inextricably entwined,” Mary Beth told Martine Powers. “We can either get to know the biology and the connection and how to use it, or we can deny the reality of it and just say, ‘Oh, I don't want to emotionally eat,’” when really the science shows that all eating is emotional eating.” Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to Mary Beth about her new book, “Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being.” We cover why we get “hangry,” the joys and benefits of eating with other people, and how to harness the power of food to improve your mood and your well-being in 2023. 

After decades of attempts, scientists have finally created a nuclear fusion reaction in a lab. On today’s show, what this breakthrough means for the future of energy.Read more:Last week, the Energy Department announced that for the first time, scientists have been able to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain. This essentially means that in a lab-based setting, researchers were able to replicate the nuclear reaction by which energy is created within the sun. It’s a major milestone in a decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that could provide unlimited cheap, clean power.While nuclear fusion is still at least a decade – and maybe many decades – away from commercial use, officials from the scientific community and the government are looking at this moment as one of deep promise, in the hopes of developing carbon-free power. Innovation reporter Pranshu Verma unpacks how nuclear fusion works and what this could mean for the future of the planet.

Today on “Post Reports,” how the chaos of war can put even well-intentioned efforts to help Ukrainian refugees on unstable ground.Read more:It’s been 300 days since the start of the war in Ukraine. And since that war began, millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes to seek safety in Western Europe. Back in March, the leaders of European Union countries pledged to help Ukrainians by enacting their Temporary Protection Directive for the first time. This gave refugees access to housing, health care, education and the labor markets of the countries they arrived in. But temporary protection has been far from a golden ticket. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear from producer Rennie Svirnovskiy about how refugees have fared at a transit center on Ukraine’s border with Poland. And we hear from Rick Noack about why many Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe are still waiting for the help they were promised.

Holidays and winter illnesses go hand in hand. Today on Post Reports, we unpack how to prevent the spread.As families face a “tripledemic” of highly contagious respiratory viruses, we turn to national health reporter Lena Sun to understand the latest on how to stay healthy this holiday season. From effective flu and covid vaccines to DIY air filters, we find out what she has learned to keep viruses at bay, as well as what happened when she pressed a leading health official about the current masking guidance. Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in many parts of the country, and this year’s surge in flu is the worst in more than a decade. It’s overwhelming hospitals and leaving many families out sick for weeks. Yet it’s unlikely that mask mandates are coming back anytime soon. And while the uptake of covid booster shots is still very low nationwide, new studies have found that the updated versions can prevent serious illness and deaths, especially among older adults. 

Months after their Supreme Court victory, conservatives fear that new abortion bans aren’t being sufficiently enforced. Now, from mobilizing citizen investigators to blocking abortion pill websites, they’re pursuing unorthodox ideas to further crack down. Read more:Nearly six months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering abortion bans in more than a dozen states, many antiabortion advocates fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Complaining that strict new abortion bans aren’t being sufficiently enforced and worried about lackluster support from more moderate members of the Republican party, they are grasping for new ways to crack down on access. From mobilizing citizen investigators to blocking abortion pill websites, these advocates are pursuing some pretty unorthodox ideas.On today’s episode of Post Reports, national political reporter Caroline Kitchener takes us inside the antiabortion movement’s war room for 2023, and explains why enforcement is its next big battleground. 

How a tip at a funeral became a year-long investigation into the sport of bodybuilding.Read more:When Post investigative reporter Desmond Butler’s father, George Butler, died last year, work was the last thing on Desmond’s mind. But a friend of his father came to him with a tip – startling allegations in the world of bodybuilding, a sport Desmond’s father helped make famous through his film “Pumping Iron.”What followed was a year-long investigation of the sport of bodybuilding and its culture. In today’s episode of “Post Reports," we explore what Desmond and a team of reporters at The Post uncovered. We explore the origins of bodybuilding, the risks and exploitation athletes face, and the family at the head of the sport.This is just one story from “Built & Broken,” a Washington Post investigation of the world of bodybuilding. To read more about the findings in this episode check out the rest of the series.Female bodybuilders describe widespread sexual exploitationDying to compete: When risking lives is part of the showWhat bodybuilders do to their bodies — and brainsRigged: The undoing of America’s premier bodybuilding leagues

Ahead of Sunday’s final match, two Post journalists and die-hard soccer fans discuss all things World Cup. Columnist Ishaan Tharoor sits down with Jeff Pierre, host of “The 7,” to unpack the controversies, the triumphs and what’s at stake this weekend.Read more:This year’s World Cup has been mired in debates about its host country, Qatar. But it’s more complicated than that, according to Ishaan Tharoor: “I think being there helped me think a bit more deeply and hopefully with a bit more nuance.” For him, being there gave him a unique insight into how the country prepared for the tournament and how players and attendees are reacting to the results. For many watching, the most exciting victories were those of the Moroccan team, which became the first African team to make it to a World Cup semifinal.As the tournament comes to a close on Sunday, two of the world’s most talented soccer stars will face off. Sunday’s final is expected to be veteran Argentine player Lionel Messi’s last shot at winning a World Cup. He’ll be playing Kylian Mbappé, the young French forward who has led his team to its second final in a row. What it’s like being at the World Cup. Morocco’s showdown with France carries complex political baggage.After enduring insults and threats, Iranian team exits the World Cup.How far can the U.S. men’s national team go? At the World Cup, Wales finds itself.No beer, but plenty of scandal at Qatar’s World Cup. 

Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into research on happiness and talk about finding joy in mundane experiences to cultivate a more meaningful life.Read more:Here’s an antidote to an ever-stressful, busy and uncertain world: Try finding and savoring little bites of joy throughout your day. Our Brain Matters columnist, neuroscientist Richard Sima, calls them “joy” snacks.By mindfully tuning in to the pleasant, nice and sometimes routine experiences of every day, we can transform an otherwise mundane moment into something more meaningful and even joyful.Lunch with a co-worker. Walking the dog. Texting with a friend. Watching a favorite show. Eating a favorite meal. Calling your mom. Just hanging out.New research shows that finding and savoring these nuggets of joy can be a way of consistently cultivating a good, meaningful life.“It’s not these big things that we sort of create in our heads, but these smaller day-to-day experiences that bring us meaning,” said Joshua Hicks, a psychologist at Texas A&M University’s Existential Psychology Collaboratory.To learn more about joy snacking, check out Richard’s column or this video about three ways to snack on joy.

Since 2019, the number of Americans killed by fentanyl has jumped 94 percent. Today on "Post Reports," we go inside Operation Sour Cream — and inside the pipeline bringing the deadly drug from Mexican labs to U.S. streets.Read more:In 2019, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Brady Wilson noticed big loads of synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, popping up around St. George, Utah. St. George is not exactly known as a hot spot for drugs; it’s a sleepy city of retirees, out-of-town hikers and Mormon churches. But Wilson had a gut feeling; he suspected a Mexican cartel had set up shop in town. That would be the beginnings of Operation Sour Cream, a federal investigation into the origins of synthetic drugs in the St. George area.  Synthetic drugs have arrived in small cities and rural areas across the United States abruptly, with immediate, devastating impact. In Utah, fentanyl overdose deaths have increased 300 percent over a three-year period, killing 170 people in 2021, according to the state health department. Mexican criminal groups have become experts in producing fentanyl and meth across the border. Now, Wilson knew, they were honing their role in retail distribution in the United States, where synthetics had reshaped the geography of drug demand.Today on “Post Reports,” Mexico City bureau chief Kevin Sieff reports on Wilson’s investigation into how fentanyl ended up in St. George, Utah, and what this increased presence of synthetic drugs means for the opioid crisis in the United States. This story is part of Cartel RX, an investigative series from The Post looking at the deadly fentanyl pipeline from Mexican labs to U.S. streets.This kind of work is only possible because of the support of listeners like you, who subscribe to The Washington Post. If you’re not a subscriber yet, now is a great time to start. You can also gift a Washington Post subscription to someone in your life who could use this kind of valuable reporting. Check out our latest subscription deal at postreports.com/offer.

Today, we hear from a mother and son in Iran about life amid ongoing protests and an escalating government crackdown. Despite communication challenges, journalist Sanam Mahoozi has been carefully corresponding with them for weeks about their lives in a changing Iran.“I am devastated by the way the system is treating the youth,” a mother in Tehran told journalist Sanam Mahoozi during one exchange. “Every mother in Iran is miserable now.”Protests erupted across Iran following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s “morality police,” and they show few signs of abating. For one mother and son in Tehran, this has meant life interrupted, halted and increasingly in jeopardy, as safety concerns inch closer to home. But it has also increased their resolve.The government has responded harshly to the uprising, with human rights organizations documenting more than 4,000 deaths. Officials have sentenced at least a dozen protesters to death. Over the weekend, one of those protesters, convicted of killing two officers, was publicly hanged from a construction crane.Even with all the crackdowns and violence around him, the son told Mahoozi, “I have more hope than before.” READ MORE: ‘We want them gone’: Across generations, Iranians struggle for change.As unrest grips Iran’s schools, the government is going after children.Iran is ramping up its secret kidnapping plots.

A decade after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the story of a 10-year-old girl who survived the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Tex. — and how she has become a voice for the friends she lost that day.Read more:After a school shooting, we often hear numbers — how many children and teachers were killed or injured. But for the survivors and their families, the trauma can be overwhelming. “I think the scope of this crisis is so much larger than people are willing to acknowledge,” reporter John Woodrow Cox says. “It's not just the kids who died. It's not just kids who got shot. It's not just the kids like Caitlyne who listen to the whole thing happen and lost dear friends. It's third-graders, it's teachers and their kids. It's cousins. It's people in the community who thought, ‘Is my kid dead?’ That damage cannot be undone.”With the permission of Caitlyne Gonzales and her parents, John spent the summer with the 10-year-old school shooting survivor, following her as she went to karate and guitar lessons, rallies for gun reform in Texas and Washington, school board meetings and back to school. He was also there with her family in the evenings, when Caitlyne’s trauma was the most apparent and she struggled to go to sleep without her mom. Caitlyne and her parents wanted people to see that while on the outside she might look like a composed activist, she’s still dealing with an enormous amount of trauma.John has been reporting on children and gun violence for more than five years and is the author of an award-winning book on the subject, “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis.”

Today, the White House announced that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention and is coming home – in exchange for a notorious arms dealer. We talk about why this deal happened now, and what it means for other American hostages.Read more:More than nine months after she was arrested in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed. Griner is one of the world’s best women’s basketball players. She’s been in Russian custody since February, when authorities detained her at the airport and accused her of carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia. Like many women’s basketball players, Grinersupplements her income by playing overseas during the WNBA offseason (Griner’s arrest brought attention to pay inequality.)Moscow released the athlete in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Known as the “merchant of death,” the infamous criminal is a top prize for Russian officials.For Biden, this is a victory - but it’s a bittersweet one. Another American, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, was initially supposed to be a part of this swap, but Russia refused to let him go.

Republican Kevin McCarthy wants to be the next speaker of the House, but first he’ll need to secure 218 votes. Despite winning a majority in the midterm elections, Republicans have felt deflated by an election cycle many hoped would be a “red wave,” and some are now saying they won’t endorse McCarthy’s leadership bid. Read more:Read Michael Kranish’s profile of Kevin McCarthy’s rise to power.

The crypto world is in shock after FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, declared bankruptcy. We discuss what led to the company’s collapse and how its 30-year-old founder went from a philanthropic darling to disgraced CEO.Read more:What led to the ruin of FTX, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges? It’s the question confounding Silicon Valley — and Washington. After the collapse, founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down amid claims of mismanagement. Newly appointed CEO John J. Ray III — who oversaw Enron’s bankruptcy proceedings — said in FTX’s bankruptcy filing: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.” Meanwhile, federal regulators and politicians in Washington have soured on Bankman-Fried, whose millions in campaign donations previously earned him audiences with top lawmakers.Post economic policy reporter Tory Newmyer unpacks FTX’s downfall and tracks the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, from his massive political donations and lobbying efforts in Washington to his apology campaign. 

For the fifth time in two years, Georgians will cast a ballot for or against Raphael G. Warnock, and despite Democratic control of the Senate, the stakes of this race for both parties are big. Read more:Despite Democratic control of the senate, both parties still see a lot to gain or lose in Tuesday’s runoff election.

Every time producer Jordan-Marie Smith would visit her hometown, it seemed as if another person she knew from high school had died of a drug overdose. She went back home to investigate, along with reporter Lenny Bernstein.Read more:Post Reports producer Jordan-Marie Smith always thought of her hometown of Greenville, N.C., as a nice place to grow up. A small city about halfway between Raleigh and the Outer Banks, it was home to a university, beautiful walking trails and lots of local businesses. But then she started hearing about the drug overdoses. Every time Jordan-Marie returned home to visit, it seemed as if another one of her high school classmates had died. She started making calls early this year and quickly learned of at least 16 young people who had died of drug overdoses. The group was connected by childhood friendships, a middle school basketball team and a high school. In a personal story about how a community moves through – and tries to recover from – a string of tragic drug deaths, Jordan-Marie and health reporter Leonard Bernstein connect Greenville to the national drug epidemic.You can read more about Greenville here and watch a video about the toll of drug deaths on a parent and a teacher here. 

The Iranian government is increasing its efforts to kill or kidnap activists, journalists and others living in the West — a change that alarms U.S. intelligence officials. Shane Harris explains the extent and escalation of Tehran’s efforts.Read more:Read Shane Harris’ reporting on Iran’s assassination and kidnapping program, and the steps Western officials have taken to try to counter it. 

They needed 10 Republicans. Today on Post Reports, we take you inside the efforts of a small bipartisan group of senators – and how it gathered enough GOP support to pass same-sex marriage protections in a divided Congress. Read more:Back in July, after this year’s first attempts to codify protections for same-sex marriage in Congress, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) had a revelation. “I remember the day that happened,” Baldwin told Liz Goodwin, congressional reporter for The Post. . She recalled going to a small group of colleagues after the measure passed the House with substantial Republican support.. “I went immediately to Rob Portman, Thom Tillis. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski. 47! 47 [House] Republicans supported this. We could do this.” On Tuesday, Baldwin’s hopes were realized: In a bipartisan effort, the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill codifies federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, protecting couples’ rights if the Supreme Court were to ever reverse key decisions. Every present Senate Democrat and 12 Republicans voted for the bill, a landmark moment that shows how quickly public opinion has changed on the issue. The amended bill now heads to the House, where it’s expected to pass and land on President Biden’s desk. On today’s episode, Congress reporter Liz Goodwin details how a bipartisan group of senators slowly but surely gathered support for the Respect for Marriage Act - and what Tuesday’s vote means for the future of LGBTQ rights.

November wasn’t a great month for Donald Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for a congressional committee to examine the former president’s tax returns, ending a legal battle that has consumed Congress and the courts for years.Meanwhile, a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department has been tasked with investigating Trump’s role in efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election, as well as possible mishandling of classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago home. There are also ongoing probes against him in New York and a pending criminal investigation in Georgia. Devlin Barrett, a reporter covering the FBI and Justice Department, runs through the status of key investigations involving the former president as well as when we could see results in any of these pending cases.  

For the first time in decades, massive protests broke out in cities across China. Today on “Post Reports” — what's behind the protests and what they mean for the future of China’s leadership. Read more:Protests erupted throughout China this weekend over the country’s “zero covid” policy, which has led the government to implement strict lockdown and testing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The protests were triggered by a botched response to a deadly fire in Urumqi, a city in the northwest of China. Ten people died after emergency responders couldn’t get close enough to the apartment building, and protesters blame lockdown-related measures for interfering with rescue efforts.But the protests have grown to wider criticisms of the Chinese government, including calls for President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party to step down. The treatment of Uyghurs by the state has also become a rallying cry for demonstrators. Lily Kuo, The Post’s China bureau chief, has been covering the protests. She breaks down why these protests are significant and what they could mean for the future of China’s leadership. 

The years of one-day deals and long lines the day after Thanksgiving are over. Black Friday is now more than a month long. We break down what’s changed and why. Read more:Retail reporter Jaclyn Peiser discusses how last year’s supply chain issues and delayed inventory are a win for consumers, how people are shopping despite inflation, and she outlines her holiday shopping survival guide.  And as a bonus – we give you a taste of Alexandra Petri’s column, ”The 9 best Thanksgiving songs I definitely didn’t just make up.” Trust us, you’ll want to listen.  The Post is running a Black Friday all-access digital subscription deal. For just $0.99 for four weeks, that will cover you for your first 12 weeks. You’ll get our groundbreaking interactive stories, the most in-depth breaking news, our fantastic Well+Being and Climate coverage and so much more.

A guide for when and how to give your kid a smartphone. Heather Kelly polled the experts, and there’s a lot we can all learn from their advice – whether we have kids or not. Plus, we dive into the reported benefits of “brown noise.”Read more:A guide to giving your child their first phone. Children are getting smartphones younger than ever. Make sure you’re all prepared.Even older adults struggle with screen time. Here's how to help them put down their phones and be more present.Listening to “brown noise” has become a popular solution for people who have trouble focusing, and in particular for people who have ADHD. Disability reporter Amanda Morris explains what this soothing sound is and why it helps. The Post is running a Black Friday all-access digital subscription deal. For just $0.99 for four weeks, that will cover you for your first 12 weeks. You’ll get our groundbreaking interactive stories, the most in-depth breaking news, our fantastic Well+Being and Climate coverage and so much more.

Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would step down from Democratic leadership. Today on the show, we discuss Pelosi’s legacy and the new era of Democrats in line to take her place.Read more:Nancy Pelosi has spent 35 years in Congress. Last week, she stepped down as speaker of the House, ending her historic tenure as the first woman to serve as speaker. “She has been an incredibly powerful figure that has ruled the House of Representatives in this sort of iron-fisted way that is the stuff of legends,” says Paul Kane, The Post’s senior congressional correspondent. On today’s episode, we talk to Kane about Pelosi’s rise to power, the highlights of her career, and what the future holds for the new era of Democrats looking to take over leadership positions. The Post is running a Black Friday all-access digital subscription deal. For just $0.99 for four weeks, that will cover you for your first 12 weeks. You’ll get our groundbreaking interactive stories, the most in-depth breaking news, our fantastic Well + Being and Climate coverage and so much more.

The 2022 World Cup starts this weekend in Qatar, and it is already marked by controversy. Today on “Post Reports,” the geopolitical stakes of this year’s World Cup, and a preview of the most exciting players and teams to watch in Doha. Read more:World Cup organizers said Friday that they were abandoning plans to sell beer around match stadiums. Qatar, a conservative Muslim country, strictly limits the sale of alcohol and bans its consumption in public places. It had made exceptions to those rules for the World Cup, but suddenly reversed course on Friday.Whether or not fans can have a beer at a game may not seem like a big deal - but some worry about what this signals about other laws and cultural norms that had been expected to be suspended for the World Cup, around protests, press freedoms and LGBTQ rights. “This is a World Cup that is defined by the controversy around it in many ways,” Ishaan Tharoor told our producer Arjun Singh. There were unexplained deaths of thousands of migrant workers during Qatar’s preparation for the tournament, and their families are still looking for answers. “The World Cup is never just about the World Cup,” Ishaan explained. To read more from Ishaan, sign up for his newsletter, Today’s WorldView.Plus, we go to Chuck Culpepper, who is on the ground in Doha reporting on the tournament. He lays out what teams and players to watch in the coming weeks, and why the biggest strength of Team USA might be its biggest weakness.

Today on Post Reports, we hear from a journalist on the ground in Haiti about the country’s growing humanitarian crisis, and what can be done about it.Read more:Natural disasters and political turmoil have plagued Haiti for decades. But last year, the country reached a tipping point: President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and the country was hit by another deadly earthquake. Capitalizing on the situation, gangs have overrun many parts of the country, frequently kidnapping and killing people and stopping the flow of critical goods. A lack of access to clean water has caused cholera to make a comeback, sickening thousands of people and killing over 100 so far. Journalist Widlore Mérancourt describes what people there are experiencing and whether international intervention in Haiti would be a plausible solution – given the country’s already fraught history with it.

Tuesday night, Former president Donald Trump announced his fourth bid for the White House in 2024. The announcement comes just a week after voters decidedly rejected the candidates he backed in the midterm elections. Trump has taken the brunt of the criticism from his fellow Republicans who aren’t sold on having him represent the party again, with potential rivals already planning to challenge Trump for the nomination.National political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf recaps last night’s announcement and outlines the potential obstacles, both legal and political, on Trump’s 2024 road to the White House.  Subscribe to The Post’s new morning news podcast, “The 7,” on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. 

In a post-Roe America, tens of thousands of people without access to legal abortions are turning to a new covert network to get abortion pills. Today on Post Reports, we trace the network’s surprising supply chain and look at the precarious position of those participating in it.When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, abortion bans instantly took effect in large swaths of the United States, prompting people around the country to seek alternatives amid new legal and medical risks. Many are now turning to an emerging covert network of DIY distributors who are supplying free abortion pills from Mexico to people in the United States. On today’s episode, national political reporter Caroline Kitchener introduces us to these distributors, their source, and what happens when one woman, desperate to terminate her pregnancy, takes this route. Read more:Caroline Kitchener reports on this expanding covert network providing pills for thousands of abortions in U.S.See where abortion laws have changed in the U.S. and which states now ban the practice.Abortion rights advocates scored major victories across the U.S. in midterm elections this month.And subscribe to The Post’s new morning news podcast, “The 7,” on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. 

A triumphant President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson Monday morning, declaring “the beginning of the end of the war.” Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about whether that’s true and why this city is so significant.Read more:Kherson residents celebrate liberation and describe the trauma of occupation.Witnesses recount detentions, torture, disappearances in occupied Kherson.Fighting-age men in Russia are still hiding in fear of being sent to war.Follow live updates on the war in Ukraine. And subscribe to The Post’s new morning news podcast, “The 7,” on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

There’s a big, contentious question at the heart of this year’s COP27, the U.N. climate change conference: Should richer countries foot the bill when it comes to climate disasters? Read more:Thousands of government officials from all over the world have gathered in Egypt for the 27th annual U.N. climate change conference, which started this week. Amid a backdrop of protests — on climate change and the Egyptian government’s spotty human rights record — the focus is on the commitments each country made at last year's conference to curb their emissions. But there’s another debate brewing. Developing nations — the most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change — want financial support as they deal with the fallout. And they’re looking to wealthier nations, which have disproportionately emitted carbon into the atmosphere. Climate reporter Sarah Kaplan joins us to discuss how a potential “loss and damages” fund would work, and where we are on a changing global climate. 

Today on Post Reports, we dig into the election results in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans sailed to victory this week. What does their win mean for the party nationally, and for Florida’s long-standing “swing-state” status?Read more:On a night when Republicans across the country did worse than many had predicted, Gov. Ron DeSantis won in a landslide in Florida. Once a swing state that both parties fought to win in presidential elections, Florida has increasingly become a bastion of Republican politics because of changing demographics and strong campaigns by GOP candidates. National reporter Tim Craig joins us to explain Florida’s rightward shift, and how the state could leave its mark on the modern Republican Party.

Democrats outperformed expectations in Tuesday’s midterms, but Republicans still look likely to take back the House. We talk to reporters covering Congress and the White House about what to make of the results we have so far, and what to look for next. Read more:Control of both chambers of Congress remained undecided Wednesday morning after Democrats showed surprising strength in key battleground races on Election Day. On “Post Reports,” we’re joined by White House reporter Tyler Pager and Liz Goodwin, who covers Congress for The Post. They talk about the key issues in this race — including democracy and abortion access, which voters supported even in heavily Republican states.In the Senate, races remained uncalled in Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Democrat John Fetterman won the Senate race in Pennsylvania, defeating Republican Mehmet Oz, who conceded on Wednesday. That was a pickup for Democrats. Republicans prevailed in Ohio and North Carolina, fending off efforts to flip those seats. Democrats retained seats representing New Hampshire, Colorado and Washington state.

It’s Election Day in America. Record-breaking voter turnout is expected, and the results could change the nation’s political landscape. Today, we look at Gen Z and how today’s election is about more than politics; it’s about shaping the future. Read more:Voters are finally casting their ballots in the midterm elections. In battleground states across the country, long-awaited contentious races are coming to a head as Washington prepares for a potential shift in power.Today, eyes are turned to Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012. Gen Z is known to be outspoken and politically active — they have grown up surrounded by mass shootings, the climate crisis and threats to LGBTQ and abortion rights. Now, they’re heading to the midterm election booths. But will they vote in numbers big enough to make a difference?Today on “Post Reports,” a roundtable discussion with three Post political reporters — Matt Brown, Carmella Boykin and Mariana Alfaro — on how Gen Z is expected to vote and what a future of Gen Z candidates could mean for the American political landscape.You can find all of The Post’s midterm coverage here, including when your local polls close, tracking where abortion access hangs in the balance and when we can expect election results.

Elon Musk has made his mark on Twitter, but after he laid off thousands of employees, some are warning that the social network is ill-prepared to combat misinformation on Election Day.Read more:On the day before the midterms, Twitter owner Elon Musk encouraged Americans to vote for the GOP, breaking with other social media CEOs who’ve sought to remain apolitical.

For many of us here in the U.S., today marks the end of Daylight Saving Time - the day when we “fall back” an hour to Standard Time. But changing the clocks is divisive - and in Congress there’s even a stalled effort to stop it.Read more:Earlier this year, our colleague health reporter Dan Diamond took a break from covering covid to report on something a bit sunnier: the push in Congress to stay on Daylight Saving Time forever. We aired an episode in March about it on Post Reports, and today, we have an update about that legislative effort. We’re re-airing that original episode, along with the latest news about Daylight Saving Time - and why we may be stuck changing our clocks, at least for now.  Also check out our map on how permanent daylight saving time would change sunrise and sunset times.

Today on Post Reports, we look at how voting is going across the country, what to expect on Tuesday, and what the results of the midterm election could mean for how future elections are run.Read more: We have spent a lot of time this week talking about the midterm election and which party is likely to gain control of the House and Senate next year. But the results of the election could also change how future elections are run. That’s because a majority of Republican nominees on the ballot for the House, Senate and key statewide offices that oversee elections  — 291 in all — have denied or questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, according to a Washington Post analysis.And if some of these election deniers win their races, they’ll have the opportunity to oversee local and statewide elections — which voting reporter Amy Gardner says could have huge consequences for American democracy:  “Where we are in our democracy is that we trust our elections unless our candidate loses. And that is not a winning model for enduring democracy.”

Today on “Post Reports,” a conversation with Anthony Fauci. The prominent U.S. infectious-disease doctor is stepping down from the government next month, and he reflects on viruses, vaccines and getting Americans to believe in science again.Read more:After more than half a century in the government, Anthony Fauci plans to step down next month. Fauci’s tenure as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases put him on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, the Ebola crisis, Zika and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic. He’s advised seven presidents. And we wanted to know what Fauci is thinking about as he prepares to leave his job.We talk about the coronavirus, but also the other viruses that are spreading in the United States and around the world. And we talk about hope, and how to get Americans to believe in science again.

When a man entered Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco last week and attacked her husband, the act was documented on cameras viewable by Capitol Police. What the delayed response exposes about limits in protecting lawmakers.A Washington Post investigation found that while Capitol Police in Washington were tasked with monitoring live feeds of more than 1,500 cameras placed around the Capitol Complex and beyond, they had the best chance to stop what could have been a deadly attack at Nancy Pelosi’s home. The delayed response is opening up bigger questions about the weaknesses and limitations in protecting lawmakers as they face even more threats. Investigative reporter Aaron Davis explains how Capitol Police have handled Pelosi’s case and weighs whether the law enforcement agency is equipped for this contentious moment. Read more:A Post exclusive on how Capitol Police cameras caught the break-in at Pelosi’s home, but no one was watching.Post Reports examines how extreme rhetoric targeted toward members of Congress has been escalating lately, and is fueling even more threats on elected officials, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). 

Every minute of your morning counts. Host Jeff Pierre takes you through the seven most important and interesting stories of the day, with the reporting and insight of The Washington Post. Get caught up in just a few minutes every weekday at 7 a.m. Launches Nov. 14. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

In a campaign season filled with critical races, Republican Kari Lake’s bid to be the next governor of Arizona stands out. Reporter Ruby Cramer joins us to discuss Lake’s candidacy, and why some think she represents the future of the GOP.Read more:National political enterprise reporter Ruby Cramer wrote about what it’s like to watch Lake on the campaign trail. 

The war in Ukraine may be thousands of miles away from Ohio. But because of the state’s large Ukrainian population, the war could determine who wins the state’s open Senate seat: isolationist Republican J.D. Vance or Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan.Read more:Republican J.D. Vance and Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan are in a tight race over an open Senate seat in Ohio, a state Donald Trump carried in 2020. While both candidates have talked plenty about domestic matters, there is one issue that could swing the race: what America’s role in the war in Ukraine should be. Ohio has a large population of people descended from Eastern Europe. One small city —  Parma — is home to the largest community of Ukrainian Americans in the state. While these voters often support conservatives, Vance’s opposition to providing more aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia has caused many of them to reconsider.  Reporter Cara McGoogan joins us on “Post Reports” to discuss what she learned when she spoke to voters in Ohio.

Today on “Post Reports,” why RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — is overwhelming children’s hospitals, and what parents can do to keep their children safe.Read more:Children’s hospitals are under strain as they care for unusually high numbers of kids infected with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. RSV, a common cause of cold-like symptoms, started surging in late summer, months before its typical season. This surge in RSV comes as the flu is sending a record number of people to the hospital this early in the season, along with continued covid-19 cases. Health reporter Fenit Nirappil on how RSV is affecting children across the country, and what parents should look out for as we move into winter virus season.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about mortgage rates, which are the highest they’ve been in two decades – what that means for the housing market, and why it could make housing costs even higher for renters and buyers alike – at least in the short term.Read more:Mortgage rates topped 7 percent this week, the highest level in 20 years — and the latest sign that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive moves to slow the broader economy are hitting the housing market hard already. Fed reporter Rachel Siegel breaks down what this means with our guest host, national security reporter Shane Harris.

Rishi Sunak is Britain’s new prime minister – the third one in two months. He’s also the first person of color to lead the country. But will he really be a departure from his predecessors?Read foreign affairs columnist thoughts on Britain having its first leader of South Asian descent.

What data from the “nation’s report card” shows about how students progressed during the pandemic — and why people like Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are calling the results “appalling and unacceptable.”Read more:This week the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “nation’s report card,” was released for the first time since 2019. Widely considered to be the most comprehensive look at how students are progressing academically, it showed that during the pandemic students across the country fell behind dramatically in math and reading. Education reporter Laura Meckler reports on what the data means and what educators and parents can do to counteract the learning loss. 

Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz are in a tight Senate race in purple Pennsylvania. The stakes are high as the nation waits to see if Democrats can flip this seat.Read more:On Nov. 8, Pennsylvanians will vote for their next senator – Republican Mehmet Oz, the TV personality, or Democrat John Fetterman, the state’s Lieutenant Governor. Many believe that this seat is the best chance for Democrats to maintain a majority in the Senate. So what do we know about Senate hopeful John Fetterman? Who is the man behind the social media campaigns and the stroke survival story?

Only 2 percent of sperm donors in the United States are Black. This, in turn, leaves many aspiring Black parents with an agonizing choice: choose a donor of another race or try to buy sperm from unregulated apps and online groups. Read more:Post reporter Amber Ferguson has spent months reporting on why so few Black men donate sperm. She found that the reasons for the shortage are myriad: failure of sperm banks to recruit Black donors; a selection process that demands a three-generation medical history and excludes donors with felony convictions; mistrust of the medical profession by Black men because of a legacy of historical discrimination. The result is a severe shortage, and intense competition for Black men’s sperm.“If it's a White woman, she could just so easily get a sperm donor,” Ferguson says. “And if it doesn't work, she can get another one. She can get another one. For a Black woman, if she is lucky enough to find a Black donor, it's really maybe one of her only chances.”For Black gay men who want to donate sperm, there are even more restrictions.

Today on “Post Reports,” why White people in the U.S. are now more likely to die of covid than Black Americans. Read more:The imbalance in death rates among the nation’s racial and ethnic groups has been a defining part of the pandemic since the start. Early in the crisis, Black people died at higher rates than White people. But at the end of last year, the racial disparity in covid deaths vanished. Now, White people are more likely to die of covid than Black people. Reporter Akilah Johnson breaks down the complex, historic forces that brought us here and what this means for the future.And, you may have heard the news about the resignation of United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss. Truss lasted 44 days, making her the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister in 300 years. Our colleagues in London are bringing you the latest news of what could happen next - and you can find their reporting on washingtonpost.com. We also had an episode earlier this month about the eroding faith in the new prime minister – it’s called “In Truss, the UK doesn’t trust.” It’s a great explainer of who she is and how her proposals weakened the country’s already struggling economy. You can listen to it here.

Georgia, the state that was key to the Democrats taking control of Washington in 2020, could now be responsible for giving some of that power back to Republicans. In a contentious Senate race, former NFL star Herschel Walker (R) is taking on the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock. Walker, however, is plagued with controversy that’s making it hard for Republicans to throw their support behind him. A rematch for governor pits incumbent Brian Kemp (R) against his 2018 challenger, Stacey Abrams (D). Abrams’s camp hopes her work to expand ballot access will be enough to get her to victory this time, but Kemp’s incumbent status is giving him the edge.Democracy reporter Matt Brown explains the state of play in Georgia right now, just as the state has already smashed early-voting records.Correction: A previous version of this episode mistakenly said Stacey Abrams lost the race for Georgia governor in 2020. She lost that race in 2018.

A new Washington Post investigation has uncovered the fact that hundreds of veterans have taken lucrative foreign jobs — often for countries with known human rights abuses. U.S. officials approved these contracts — but fought to keep them secret.Read more:The Post found more than 500 retired members of the military – from helicopter mechanics to high-ranking generals – have cashed in on work with foreign governments since 2015, sharing military expertise and political clout. Many worked for countries with known human rights abuses and political repression, but the U.S. military approved these contracts anyway. The activity lacks transparency or congressional oversight, and largely remains out of public view. Those seeking foreign work must first obtain approval from their branch of the armed forces and the State Department. The Post found these requests are largely rubber-stamped: Of more than 500 submitted since 2015, about 95 percent were granted. For military retirees who do this work without seeking approval, few penalties exist. Correction: A previous version of this episode mistakenly said Keith Alexander was the first head of the U.S. Cybersecurity Command. The correct name is the U.S. Cyber Command.

Today, hearing aids are finally available over the counter. What this means for accessibility and first-time buyers. Plus, a test of the Earth’s planetary defense.Read more:For the hard of hearing, it feels like the Food and Drug Administration is finally listening. On Monday, the FDA is allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. This means you no longer need a prescription or custom fitting to get a hearing aid. Experts have called it a game changer that is expected to make hearing aids more affordable and accessible for millions of people.Disability reporter Amanda Morris walks us through different types of hearing loss, the range of hearing aids available for consumers, and what this might mean for accessibility for the hard of hearing. Plus, some good news about our planetary defense system: NASA successfully altered the course of an asteroid, a technique that might someday stop an asteroid from crashing into Earth. 

After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered child abuse investigations of the parents of transgender children, Morgan Davis – a trans man with Child Protective Services in Austin – was assigned two cases. They didn’t go as planned.Read more:Morgan Davis used to believe that his workplace – the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services – had a noble mission: to remove children from abusive situations.But when he was asked to comply with a new mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott – one that required his office to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of families with transgender children – that changed.As a trans man with the support of his small team, he thought he could comfort the flagged families and close investigations quickly. “I was told that I would go into the home, I would assess it, I would come out, and we would be done.”But that’s not what happened. Casey Parks reports.

This spring, Howard Schultz returned as Starbucks CEO to stop a rapidly growing unionizing effort. Today, what happens when an anti-union leader comes up against one of the fastest growing union efforts in the country. Read more:With more than 225 stores voting to unionize since last fall, the Starbucks unionization effort has been seen as a beacon of hope for the labor movement. But despite his track record of providing workers with substantial benefits, Starbucks's founder and current CEO, Howard Schultz, sees the movement as a personal threat to his life's work. Reporter Greg Jaffe spent time with Schultz to try to understand his beliefs on unionizing, and what the future of the labor movement could be now that it has such a powerful adversary in Schultz.

The balance of power in Washington could come down to one or two states. In recent weeks, Republicans have set their sights on Nevada as their Senate candidates in other states, such as New Hampshire and Georgia, have stumbled. It’s an uphill climb for Republicans, who haven’t won a Senate race in Nevada in a decade. They see inroads with Latino voters and workers in the tourism and hospitality industries who were hurt by Democratic policies during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. But Democrats say they’re holding the line with a brigade of union workers and Nevadans who are frustrated with skyrocketing housing prices. National politics reporter Hannah Knowles spent some time in Las Vegas tracking the race between the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, and hard-line conservative Adam Laxalt. She joined us on today’s “Post Reports” to tell us about what she learned from talking to voters in the Silver State.  

Over the weekend, the rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) had antisemitic posts quickly taken down by Twitter and Instagram. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about how content moderation could change if Elon Musk and GOP leaders have their way.Read more:Over the weekend, the rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) posted antisemitic messages on Twitter and Instagram. They were quickly taken down, and his accounts were restricted. But as Will Oremus reports, there’s a conservative-led movement that could change how companies approach such decisions. Between a growing field of state laws that seek to restrict content moderation and Elon Musk’s determination to loosen Twitter’s policies, posts such as Ye’s could soon become more prevalent online.

A wave of Russian airstrikes rocked Kyiv on Monday morning, shattering months of calm and thrusting the city back into the center of the war. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear from our reporter on the ground in Ukraine’s capital. Read more:On Monday morning, Russian forces fired a series of airstrikes on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv. At least 11 people  were killed and more than 80 were injured nationwide according to Ukraine’s national police department. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attacks as punishment after Ukraine bombed the Crimean Bridge this past Saturday. Russia’s strikes come after a relatively quiet summer in the Ukrainian capital. Missy Ryan, reporting on the ground in Kyiv, says the attack “brings home the fact that [the war] remains an incredibly volatile situation…and puts Kyiv back at the center of this escalating conflict.”

The Supreme Court of the United States reopened its doors to the public this week for the first time since March 2020. This new term brings new cases, a new justice and renewed questions about its legitimacy. Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes runs down the slate of cases that will be heard this term and offers his insights about how Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the associate justices handled public disapproval during the summer recess.    Read more:Supreme Court debates Alabama’s refusal of second Black voting districtSupreme Court will allow public at arguments, continue live audio

A tax policy by the new administration in Britain sent the price of the pound plummeting and the global economy spiraling. Today on “Post Reports,” we explain why it caused such turmoil, and what else to expect from Prime Minister Liz Truss. Read more:Prime Minister Liz Truss has been in office for only about a month, but already her proposals have weakened the struggling British economy and worsened her party’s support. Most notably, her administration proposed removing income tax for the most wealthy earners in Britain— a move that she quickly reversed after it was met with anger from the public and politicians alike. London correspondent Karla Adam explains Truss’s political ideologies and how these decisions could lead to a political power shake-up in the U.K. 

Iranian authorities are cracking down on protests inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman arrested for improperly wearing the hijab. But that hasn’t stopped demonstrators. Reporter Miram Berger explains what’s different about this moment. Read More:Read about how a viral song became an anthem for protesters in Iran. Tactics of repression: How Iran is trying to stop Mahsa Amini protests

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about a damning new report on systemic abuse in women’s soccer. Read More:Sports columnist Sally Jenkins said that abuse within women’s sports has been a long-standing problem, but it’s only recently that there’s been a public reckoning about it. “These are some of our top athletes in the country, and nobody did anything. They treated the women like they were the problem,” Jenkins said. “The systemic issue is men in suits at the top of these organizations who do not take complaints from athletes seriously.”Jenkins joined “Post Reports” to explain how deep and far-reaching abuse is within not just soccer, but many other Olympic sports as well, and why the culture of abuse has gone on for so long.

For months, Republican leaders have been escalating a campaign against President Biden’s border security policies by transporting migrants from their states to Democratic-led areas, without providing a plan for what happens when they arrive. In a high-profile case in September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew dozens of asylum seekers from Texas up to Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island. It prompted a legal backlash that alleged the plan was “fraudulent and discriminatory.” Beyond Martha’s Vineyard, thousands of migrants have been transported in a similar manner from Arizona and Texas to Washington, D.C., and other Democratic-majority cities. And those liberal areas are now struggling to accommodate them. In today’s episode, we hear from several people about their experience, as well as from reporter Antonio Olivo about what’s behind these broader actions.

Today on “Post Reports,” a show about how our bodies have changed during the pandemic. We hear from our listeners about how their bodies have surprised, delighted and worried them after these past few years. Read more:Here on the “Post Reports” team, we’ve been thinking a lot about…our bodies. Specifically, how they’ve changed over these past two years, as we’ve gone through lockdowns, isolation and return-to-work. We reached out to our listeners to hear how their bodies have evolved over the course of the pandemic and got lots of fascinating stories, of both big and small evolutions. Today on the show, stories from our listeners and our newsroom, on everything from getting a lung transplant to growing out an afro. Plus, we talk with Well+Being editor Tara Parker-Pope about how to understand the changes we’ve gone through — and what the pandemic can teach us about caring for our communities. 

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about Ian’s historic destruction in Florida, and why the story of this storm has only just begun.Read more:Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday in southwestern Florida as one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States. Millions of people are without power, and the full extent of the destruction may not be clear for days. We hear from Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Brittany Shammas, and Brady Dennis about what we know so far about the damage from Hurricane Ian. And why Florida is more vulnerable than ever to these storms, given its growing population and the effects of climate change.Maps show how millions of people have moved into Hurricane Ian’s path.

Black men who have sex with men are contracting monkeypox at a higher rate than any other group in the United States. But they are among the least likely to be vaccinated. Today, the creative outreach to get at-risk groups vaccinated against monkeypox.Read more:Monkeypox cases might be going down, but there are still at-risk groups. While Black gay men are more likely to get monkeypox than other demographic groups, they’re also less likely to be vaccinated. Johnny Wilson, an employee with a county health department in North Carolina and a Black gay man himself, tried to address this disparity by providing monkeypox vaccines at nightclubs. Reporter Fenit Nirappil on how representation makes a difference when trying to close vaccine gaps.

Conservative Giorgia Meloni is Italy's presumed next prime minister. Who is she? And what do the results of Italy’s historic election mean for the strength of the far-right movement in Europe? Read more: This week Italian voters sided with the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia, also known as the Brothers of Italy. The election results could also mean the country gets its first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. On today’s “Post Reports,” Rome bureau chief Chico Harlan dives into Meloni’s history, how she rose to prominence in Italian politics and her party’s proposals — including stricter limits on migration. And though the Brothers of Italy may not stay in control for long, Harlan says that in Europe the “signs to suggest that momentum has returned for nationalist parties” are piling up.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about how Black coaches have been excluded from the NFL’s top jobs, despite years of attention on this issue – and why the problem is actually getting worse. Read more:Since 1989, only 25 head coaches in the National Football League have been Black, and in the more than a century long history of the NFL only 26 Black men have held the title. Despite 60 percent of the league’s players being Black, an investigation by The Washington Post found that the NFL’s hiring and firing practices still disadvantage Black coaches at every turn. Sports enterprise reporter Michael Lee and sports columnist Jerry Brewer join us today to discuss their reporting about how the NFL sidelines Black coaches.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is doubling down in Ukraine – holding staged referendums in occupied territories and drafting men to the war. Today on “Post Reports,” we’ll talk about how Russians are reacting to the dramatic escalation.Read more:This week in Ukraine, Moscow began staging referendums in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories and drafted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to join the war effort. The escalation sparked protests, arrests and sold-out flights as some Russians – who had tried for months to ignore the war – suddenly found their lives thrown into chaos as they were summoned to duty.With the announcement of a military mobilization in Russia came a veiled threat: that Russia would use nuclear weapons, if necessary. The Biden administration has been sending messages to Moscow about the grave consequences that would follow, according to U.S. officials.

The death of Mahsa Amini is igniting protests across Iran — and it’s drawing global attention to Iranians’ anger and frustration with their ultra-conservative leaders.Read more:Earlier this month, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained by the so-called morality police in Tehran for violating Iran’s law on headscarves and died several days later. In the days since, protesters have flooded the streets in cities across Iran. Many have been burning hijabs, symbolizing their frustration with the Islamic republic’s restrictive rules and oppressive treatment of women. None of this comes without aggressive pushback from the Iranian government, however — including restricted internet access and cell service, police beatings of protesters, and enormous deployment of security forces. Foreign affairs reporter Miriam Berger explains the significance of these protests and what could happen next.

How a pandemic food program was used to allegedly defraud the government of $250 million. Read more:This week, the federal government indicted 47 people connected to the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future in the largest known pandemic fraud scheme. The nonprofit claimed to be giving meals to thousands of kids who needed them. Instead, the Justice Department said, they were using bribes and shell companies to falsify information, and in some cases used the federal money they got to buy real estate, luxury cars and jewelry. Congressional economic policy reporter Tony Romm reports on how the complex scheme was pulled off and what it reveals about how the government was spending relief money during the pandemic. 

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico five years ago. Recovery in many ways had just begun when Fiona hit the island. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to Arelis R. Hernández about why the recovery has been stymied, and how another storm could complicate it further. Read more:Hurricane Maria cleaved Puerto Rican memory. There was one kind of life before the storm, and an entirely different life that emerged in its wake. Before the storm, the Caribbean island archipelago was teetering economically and unraveling politically. In the five years since, there have been ongoing blackouts, protests, earthquakes and a global pandemic. Puerto Ricans have moved from powerlessness to precarity.As the anniversary approached, The Washington Post went back to visit those who opened up their homes then, to show us their lives now. Hurricane Fiona — which hit Puerto Rico on Sunday, destroying homes, roads and bridges — was still days away. But even before that, much of the post-Maria recovery work had just begun. Arelis R. Hernández reports. Read the latest live updates on Hurricane Fiona here. You can also listen to an Opinion piece from Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father about how to get Puerto Rico help now. Miranda is the creator of “Hamilton” and “In The Heights,” and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., is a philanthropist and political strategist.

On today’s show, we take you to London for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. Plus, the colonial legacy and potential future of the monarchy without her leadership.Read more:The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, was laid in the royal vault at Windsor Castle on Monday. The funeral procession marks the end of 10 days of national mourning. London correspondent Karla Adam describes how thousands of people camped near Westminster Abbey to watch the funeral procession. “There were sleeping bags. A lot of people brought toys or games or chess sets just to pass the time because they’ve been camping out for a day or two,” she said, while others watched from big screens across the city.The queen’s passing has been marked around the world with tributes from world leaders and around-the-clock media coverage. But as foreign affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor shares later in the show, it also sparked criticism of the monarchy’s past and debates about the relevancy of the institution. “It's important to look at the queen in her own right as opposed to the queen as this icon of the empire,” Tharoor says. “It is also very hard to separate that, because what is the queen without being an icon of empire?”Follow The Post’s live coverage of the funeral here.

For 780 Afghan evacuees stuck at a beachside resort in Albania, the future is unclear. They might never make it to the U.S. All because they took the wrong plane out of Afghanistan.Read more:The Afghans living at the Rafaelo Resort were evacuated from Afghanistan by nonprofits and organizations that expected Albania would be a stopover — a temporary landing pad as evacuees were processed for permanent resettlement in the United States. The Biden administration, which faced intense criticism for the way it ended the U.S. war in Afghanistan and failed to evacuate many of its Afghan allies, says it never promised to provide refuge for everyone.This year-long bureaucratic mess is only now moving toward a resolution — for some. In the meantime, day-to-day life at tThe Rafaelo has become the strangest of limbos, as senior producer Ted Muldoon reports with national security reporter Abigail Hauslohner. Surrounded by tourists on the sun-drenched coast of the Adriatic Sea, they are profoundly grateful but , and also frustrated that they can’t yet start building a new life.“People told us about just the monotony of the same thing over and over again,” said Hauslohner, “and the uncertainty about the future kind of destroys you.”

More than 100,000 railroad workers were ready to strike this week in the name of more sick days. Plus, what happens when a man with a pistol shows up outside the home of a congresswoman. Read more:When 115,000 unionized railroad workers made it clear there would be a strike if freight companies didn’t give them sick days, President Biden made some calls.After hours of negotiations, the strike was likely averted, but the high-stakes freight rail drama could heat up again soon. Labor reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley takes us behind the scenes of the Biden administration’s last-ditch efforts to avoid an economic crisis.Also, during a Saturday night in July, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called 911 multiple times after an encounter with two men outside her Seattle home.National political enterprise reporter Ruby Cramer discusses how extreme rhetoric targeted toward members of Congress has escalated lately, and the impact of these threats on elected officials.

On today’s show, what you need to know about the updated booster shots and why they matter amid growing pandemic fatigue. Plus, new research on the science of sitting and the pitfalls of being an “active couch potato.” Read more:The new coronavirus vaccine boosters are now widely available in the United States, but the updated shots are rolling out amid widespread pandemic fatigue. Federal health officials say that these updated vaccines could help buffer communities against future surges of the virus. Earlier this month, officials announced plans of turning coronavirus shots into an annual dose, similar to the flu shot.  Today on Post Reports, health reporter Lena H. Sun, who’s followed the coronavirus pandemic from the beginning, answers some of the most pressing questions about the omicron-targeted boosters. Plus, The Washington Post’s newest wellness columnist, Gretchen Reynolds, on why exercising the recommended 30 minutes a day might not be enough if you are an “active couch potato.” 

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol still has some unfinished business. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) joins us to discuss what’s left. Also, the significance of Sheryl Lee Ralph’s first Emmy. Read more:Over the summer, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol dominated the news cycle by unearthing revelatory evidence that illuminated the connection between allies of former president Donald Trump and the violence that took place. Yet, at the same time primary voters across the country elected nearly 200 candidates who also touted Trump’s baseless claim that he won the 2020 election.Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), a committee member, joins us today to discuss what to expect from the committee in the fall and whether its work has had an impact on the strength of election denialism among the public. Then, pop culture reporter Sonia Rao joins the show to discuss a moment that stunned the Emmy Awards audience: Sheryl Lee Ralph’s acceptance speech. Rao breaks down why Ralph’s first Emmy is a cultural milestone, and what it meant when she belted out “I am an endangered species” on stage.

Today, what the sudden retreat of Russian forces in key areas of Ukraine means for the future of the war. Plus, how one Ukrainian mayor is holding onto his city in wartime.Read more:Over the weekend, Russian soldiers fled their encampments in Zaliznychne, Ukraine. As Ukrainian soldiers poured into the area, Russians dropped their weapons, leaving rifles behind. The flight of Russians from the village marks a new reality that took the world by surprise; Russian invaders are on the run after invading Ukraine in February. The apparent collapse of Russian forces has caused shock waves in Moscow, while the evidence of Ukrainian gains continues to emerge. Reporter Steve Hendrix on what this means for the future of the war in Ukraine.As the Ukrainians continue to fight back on the ground, one local politician is doing everything he can to keep his community together. Mykola Khanatov is the mayor of Popasna, a city occupied by Russian forces. Reporter Dalton Bennett documents Khanatov’s commitment to his town during wartime. 

In the run up to the midterms, no issue has upended the battle for control over Congress and statehouses as abruptly as abortion. Could it slow down — or stop — the anticipated red wave?    Read more: The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June has shifted the midterm landscape. Many had previously anticipated a Republican wave in November, but that advantage could be eroded by voters concerned over the rollback of abortion protections around the country.  Since this summer, Democrats have overperformed in special elections, and voters showed up in droves to reject a ballot measure aimed at restricting abortion in deeply conservative Kansas. While Democratic candidates are highlighting the antiabortion views of their opponents, Republican candidates are moderating their stances on websites and campaign trails. Campaign reporter Hannah Knowles traveled to Pennsylvania to speak with voters there about how their views on abortion will impact their voting behavior on Election Day. 

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, and how her reign over Britain shaped the world for 70 years. Read more: Queen Elizabeth II is dead. She passed away peacefully on Thursday afternoon at the age of 96, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace. She was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and held the throne for 70 years. The world had been bracing for her passing for some time. “Operation London Bridge” even maps out what happens next, the when and the how. Her son now takes over as King Charles III. Despite the preparations, Brits are still in shock. For many, Queen Elizabeth was all they knew, a constant amid big cultural shifts and geopolitical changes, nationally and globally. She became queen at a time when British colonial rule was imploding. She ushered in a new era of the Commonwealth. Tabloids and television zeroed in on her marriage and family life, but she still somehow remained private.Adrian Higgins reported for The Washington Post for years, covering the royal family. He joins “Post Reports” to look back on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II, and how her death calls into question the future of a monarchy that dates back to the 10th century.

How the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., reached its tipping point. Plus, one Peruvian farmer’s fight for climate justice.Read more:The capital city of Jackson, Miss., has been without drinkable tap water since late July. But this isn’t the first time there’s been a water crisis in the majority-Black town. “I think what's really been lost is that there was a crisis in Jackson long before,” reporter Emmanuel Felton says, “And what had been going on for years was really almost constant boil water notifications.”Residents say sewage is spilling into backyards and people are getting rashes and lumps from the water. “It’s horrible, it’s horrible, everything is horrible,” resident Tammie Williams says. “And it’s it’s a disaster, really, you know? Disaster.”Today on Post Reports, Felton explains how the water crisis in Jackson got so dire, and whether there’s any end in sight.Plus, we bring you to the mountains of Peru, where one farmer is trying to save his city from drowning by suing one of the biggest carbon emitters in the world. The case could set a precedent for holding polluters accountable for harming the planet. Reporter Sarah Kaplan has more.

The latest in the Justice Department’s investigation into Donald Trump. And the students who survived the mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex., return to school for the first time. Read more: On Monday, a federal district judge pumped the brakes on the Justice Department’s investigation into the material seized from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. The judge granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the documents. Rosalind Helderman, a political enterprise reporter for The Post, walks us through what this news means for the Justice Department and what we can expect next in this investigation.  After much delay and postponement, students at Robb Elementary School are finally returning to school in Uvalde, Tex., this week. In May, a gunman entered the school and killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Questions over safety, security and adequate student support have divided this small community and broken trust with the school district and law enforcement. Today, Arelis Hernández brings us the story of families struggling with these difficult back-to-school decisions as they try to recover from the unimaginable.

In the fourth episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, we explore the minutes between approval for a no-knock warrant and a deadly raid. Read more:All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.The fourth episode of this series is called “The blink of an eye.” In this episode, we head to Port Allen, La.On July 25, 2019, a Black man was killed during a no-knock raid on a motel room in Louisiana. His fiancee was also inside. An investigation into what led up to the fatal shooting reveals the speed with which it happened — and raises questions about electronic warrants, a relatively new technology being adopted by law enforcement agencies across the country.For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

In the third episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, we come face to face with a sheriff and a judge.Read more:All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.The third episode of this series is called “‘You’re interrogating me.’” In this episode, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.After hearing from survivors of no-knock raids and learning about the deadly consequences, we put our questions directly to the sheriff and the judge who had allowed these raids in Monroe County. People in the community still live in fear as Ricky Keeton’s family continues their battle for justice.For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

In the second episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, a family confronts a sheriff after a deadly no-knock raid.Read more:All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.The second episode of this series is called “‘Why y’all had to go in that way?’” In Episode 2, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2015, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office hurled a battering ram into the home of Ricky Keeton to carry out a no-knock search warrant. After the raid turned deadly, Ricky’s family confronted the sheriff — and began secretly recording. For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

An unusual warrant. A pattern of questionable no-knock raids. A reporting thread that just kept going. “Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series from The Washington Post, hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.Read more: No-knock warrants allow police to force their way into people’s homes without warning. What happens when this aggressive police tactic becomes the rule, rather than the exception? All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, a six-part investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.Today, we have the first episode of this series, called “‘That’s what you get.’” In Monroe County, Miss., sheriff’s deputies burst through the front door of a man’s home as he slept. He said they pointed a gun at his head and ransacked his home in search of drugs and cash. The no-knock search warrant they used was threadbare. But that wasn’t the worst of it.For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

Today on “Post Reports,” we revisit the use of one of the most intrusive and dangerous tools in policing: no-knock warrants. Read more: Two years after the death of Breonna Taylor, the Justice Department announced federal charges against four officers involved in her death. At the time, officers had a no-knock warrant for the young Black woman’s apartment. For Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, the Justice Department investigation represented a step toward justice for her daughter — but it was also a reminder of how much further police accountability has to go.Since this spring, and the release of the “Broken Doors” podcast, activists, local government leaders and national law enforcement officials have continued to scrutinize the use of no-knock warrants by police. Today on “Post Reports,” investigative reporters and “Broken Doors” hosts Nicole Dungca and Jenn Abelson bring us updates from across the country, revisiting fatal no-knock cases and weighing in on what’s happened in Kentucky since Taylor’s death. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Helena Andrews-Dyer on her new book, “The Mamas” and what it takes to be an authentic Black mother in a mostly White mom group.Read more:Washington Post culture writer Helena Andrews-Dyer talks about her latest book “The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class and Race from Moms Not Like Me.”The book is a memoir of Andrews-Dyer’s personal experience of what it was like to be the only Black woman in her neighborhood’s mom group. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to join at first. “I think for me as a Black mother, immediately just instantly the image that comes up in your head is White women,” Andrews-Dyer said. “It's like strollers taking over the local cafe, going to baby yoga, baby music class in their yoga pants. It's just like all of these images and stereotypes pop into your head and you immediately think, as a Black woman and woman of color, ‘Oh, that's not for me.’”But in some ways, Andrews-Dyer writes, “I needed this space as much as they did.” Andrews-Dyer is a middle-class, Black professional woman living in a rapidly gentrified neighborhood in Washington, D.C., with two little girls and a husband. But she “had not seen a story about motherhood that looked like me. … And so I had to tell it.”“The Mamas” was released by Crown Publishing this week.

President Biden’s new plan to cancel some student loan debt will impact millions of Americans. On today’s “Post Reports,” we learn how this program works, what it means for the economy and why some people are unhappy with this approach. Read more:Millions of Americans rely on the federal government to cover the cost of college. Soaring tuition costs, higher enrollment and changes to the federal lending system have all contributed to the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student debt. This week, President Biden announced a plan to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for many borrowers, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.National higher education reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel provides a walkthrough of who qualifies for the plan and the arguments for and against this massive debt forgiveness.  

In the last days of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber set off a blast at Kabul airport. It killed an estimated 170 Afghans and more than a dozen U.S. troops. Today, one year after the withdrawal, Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe takes a closer look at the days leading up to that devastating blast and what happened in its aftermath. From a Marine in a scout-sniper team, to the top military commander who planned and directed the operation, today’s episode shares the stories of the U.S. service members who lived through the violent evacuation process. Some of these never-before-heard accounts offer a different and more nuanced picture than the story the U.S. government tells. 

On today’s “Post Reports,” how a car bombing in Moscow has become a flash point in the war in Ukraine, and what it could signal is coming next. Read more:On Saturday, Daria Dugina, the daughter of a far-right Russian nationalist, died in a car bombing in a Moscow suburb. Russia’s domestic security agency, the FSB, accused Ukraine of organizing the attack, which many think was intended for Dugina’s father, Alexander Dugin.  Ukraine denied any involvement. The killing has already created a new flash point, as Putin’s ally calls for “more than revenge” for his daughter’s killing and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns of a possible escalation in Russian attacks ahead of Ukraine’s independence day. Reporter Mary Ilyushina explains what this bombing could mean for the future of the war in Ukraine.

Today on Post Reports, how government officials in Iran cut corners to expedite a yet-unproven vaccine developed by a company close to the supreme leader. Read more:Last year, as Iranian regulators considered endorsing a locally developed coronavirus vaccine, a top health official issued a warning, saying the test results were insufficient, and the vaccine’s approval could undermine efforts to contain the deadly spread of covid throughout Iran.But the vaccine had influential backers – it was the highly touted project of a company called Barkat, part of a corporate empire close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Business reporter Yeganeh Torbati reports that government officials cut corners to expedite the yet-unproven vaccine, even as the supreme leader barred the import of some Western-made vaccines, and imports of other vaccines encountered delays.

Today on “Post Reports,” the changing relationship between former president Donald Trump and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and what it could mean for the future of American politics. Read more:Rupert Murdoch has swayed global politics through his media empire for decades. His relationship with former president Donald Trump was regarded as one of his strongest alliances, with Trump dominating the conservative media outlets Murdoch owns. But as media reporter Sarah Ellison explains, Trump and the Murdochs were aligned for mutual benefit – and that dynamic could be changing. Correction: A previous version of this podcast mistakenly referred to 21st Century Fox instead of Fox Corporation. The Murdochs sold most of 21st Century Fox to Disney, and rebranded the assets they retained as Fox Corporation.

Today on Post Reports, how early mistakes by the Biden administration left gay and bisexual men facing the threat of an agonizing illness and the potential for broader circulation of monkeypox. Plus, an unintended consequence of overturning Roe.Read more:For two months, the Biden administration has been chased by headlines about its failure to order enough vaccine doses, speed treatments and make tests available to head off an outbreak that has grown from one case in Massachusetts on May 17 to more than 13,500 this week, overwhelmingly among gay and bisexual men. And 100 days after the outbreak was first detected in Europe, no country has more cases than the United States — with public health experts warning the virus is on the verge of becoming permanently entrenched here, Dan Diamond reports.Plus, later in the show: Abortion bans and restrictions are complicating access to drugs that treat rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and even cancer. Reporter Katie Shepherd says it’s because these drugs could be used to induce abortions. For patients, doctors, and pharmacies, that’s meant confusion, fear and painful choices.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney’s crushing defeat in Wyoming’s Republican primary on Tuesday. Plus, Alaska experiments with a new way to vote. Read more:Rep. Liz Cheney’s loss on Tuesday night wasn’t really a surprise — not even to her. As vice chair of the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6, she’s carved a new reputation as a voice of anti-Trumpism within the Republican party. But her constituents have rejected it. Politics reporter Amber Phillips explains what Cheney’s future could look like from here. And two years ago, Alaska adopted a new way of voting that seems to be gaining steam in other places across the country: ranking candidates. Experts say ranked-choice voting boosts the chances for candidates with a wider appeal. Phillips breaks down what this experimentation with a new voting system could mean. 

Today on “Post Reports,” why school districts across the country are facing a critical teacher shortage this fall. Plus, we meet some of the covid “super-dodgers.”Read more:As back-to-school season gets into full swing, many schools across the United States are still scrambling to hire teachers.Education reporter Hannah Natanson has been speaking with educators and administrators about why we’ve run out of people who are willing to teach and what this will mean for students.Then, meet the “super-dodgers” – the people who have never gotten covid-19. After an overwhelming response when she looked for sources, reporter Ellen McCarthy spoke to several people who have impressively avoided the coronavirus – or so they thought.

One year ago today, Kabul fell to the Taliban, ending two decades of war and U.S. occupation. Today on Post Reports, we take you to Afghanistan’s Helmand province, where a year of peace hasn’t healed old wounds or brought new opportunities.Read more:When the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan last summer and U.S. forces began a chaotic exit, the world watched in horror as people flooded the airport in Kabul, desperate to escape Taliban rule. But far from the capital city, in Helmand province, the news of Taliban victory was met with joy and relief. Helmand was home to some of the most gruesome fighting during the war, and people were ready for peace. Kabul bureau chief Susannah George reports on what life is like there now. At schools, markets, courts and health clinics, a degree of normalcy has returned to daily life – but the year has exposed the depths of Afghanistan’s trauma and laid bare the shortcomings of the Taliban government.

The newly unsealed search warrant for Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home lists potential crimes, including violating the Espionage Act. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the FBI was also looking for classified documents about nuclear weapons. Read more:On Friday afternoon, a judge unsealed the search warrant for the FBI’s search on former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. The warrant revealed the FBI went there looking for evidence of crimes, including mishandling defense information and the destruction of records. The receipt of what the agents seized includes four sets of top-secret documents, and seven other sets of classified information. But the day before, The Washington Post learned that classified documents related to nuclear weapons were among the items the FBI sought in the raid. Intelligence and national security reporter Shane Harris explains what type of information could be in these documents and why experts and the Justice Department are so concerned about it falling into the wrong hands. 

Billionaire Peter Thiel was one of Facebook’s first investors. Now, more than a decade later, Thiel is investing in a slate of right-wing candidates in the midterms. Reporter Elizabeth Dwoskin explains Thiel’s rise. Read More:Elizabeth Dwoskin reports on how Peter Thiel went from Facebook investor to an architect of the new American right. 

This week, Democrats had a surprise victory in the Senate, passing a $700 billion bill to fight climate change and lower health-care costs. This legislation is a big deal - but it’s not exactly what many Democrats were hoping for. Read more:The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, and it’s expected to pass the House and become law. The landmark legislation contains climate measures, major changes to health care, tax hikes on corporations and dozens of other provisions. White House economics reporter Jeff Stein says that when the process started, “Democrats were hoping the bill would signal a New Deal-style era, where fundamental parts of the country’s economy and social fabric would change.” Those aspirations may not have been fulfilled, after compromises Democrats made to get the bill passed. But, Stein says, “it’s pretty much bigger than almost any other legislative efforts we’ve seen.” Stein breaks down what’s in the Inflation Reduction Act and how it could affect you as a consumer.The legislation has a provision that would offer rebates to subsidize the installation of a little-known, energy-efficient solution for cooling homes: heat pumps. The two-way air conditioners keep spaces cool in hot months and warm in cold months – and they’re much better for the environment than using traditional energy sources.Innovations reporter Pranshu Verma fills us in on why heat pumps are worth our attention.

Today on Post Reports, why the FBI searched former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, and what they’re looking for.Read more:On Monday, former president Donald Trump announced that his Palm Beach, Fla., home had been searched by the FBI. No former president has ever faced a search by federal investigators like this.This is the next step in an investigation of whether Trump took classified documents with him when he left the White House. The National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.Matt Zapotosky, an editor at The Post who formerly covered the Justice Department, explains what federal agents were looking for and the complex calculations behind the FBI’s search.

What we know about the often clandestine operation of how countries trade prisoners, and what that means for WNBA star Brittney Griner. And Jason Rezaian weighs the U.S. response to hostage-taking by hostile governments. Read more:With the sentencing of Brittney Griner last week, the clock started ticking on potential U.S. negotiations with Russia to secure the release of the WNBA star and another American, security consultant Paul Whelan. But how do prisoner swaps actually work? What are the considerations both countries have to weigh before agreeing? And what happens after a deal is made? Senior national security correspondent Karen DeYoung breaks down the ins and outs of prisoner swaps. Also, Post Opinions writer Jason Rezaian – who was released as part of a prisoner swap after spending 544 days in an Iranian prison – talks about the growing problem of Americans being taken hostage by hostile governments and what to expect in the Griner case. “I'm asked often if I'm for or against these kinds of exchanges,” he said. “My answer is, that's not the right question. The right question is … ‘What are we doing to deter hostage-taking in the first place?’”

On today’s “Post Reports,” a conversation with author Angela Garbes about her new book, “Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change.” Read more:In 2020, author Angela Garbes found herself at home taking care of her two daughters, clinically depressed and unable to write. It was a time when people were told to stay home, unless you were an essential worker. “But I remember sitting there being like, ‘What about me?’ ” Garbes told “Post Reports” editor Lexie Diao. “What about parents? What about mothers? Like, what we are doing is nothing less than essential. … The pandemic has exposed that without care, we’re lost.”Garbes’s new book is called “Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change.” The book examines the history of caregiving in America through the lens of the author’s own Filipinx identity, and makes the case that caregiving is an undervalued and overlooked labor that disproportionately relies on women of color.

What’s to blame for a summer of flight disruptions. And the legacy of pioneering “Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols.Read more:This summer has been filled with air travel issues: canceled flights, lost baggage, long lines. There’s been a lot of finger-pointing from airlines, at weather issues and short-staffed air traffic controllers, but federal data suggests the airlines themselves are to blame for many of the disruptions. Transportation correspondent Lori Aratani explains why airlines are still struggling to handle the demand for travel, and how to plan ahead when traveling. Nichelle Nichols, the actress best known for her role as Lt. Uhura in “Star Trek,” died last weekend at 89. David Betancourt discusses the road she paved for Black women in entertainment and the impact she had on the entire science fiction genre.

Today on “Post Reports,” we take you to a conservative-leaning steel town in Illinois grappling with its new role as home to the closest abortion clinics for many patients in the South and Midwest post-Roe.Read more:Granite City is a conservative-leaning community in Southern Illinois that’s seen layoffs at the local steel mill and had dozens of businesses close in recent years. But the city is now becoming known for something else: abortion. It’s home to the closest abortion clinics for many out-of-state patients across the South and Midwest who can no longer access the procedure where they live because of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. v Wade. Granite City’s geography – it sits at the bottom of a blue state, surrounded by a sea of red states with abortion bans – means as many as 14,000 people are expected to come here for an abortion in the next year.That influx of abortion patients could infuse much-needed cash into the city. But some in Granite City are not comfortable hitching their economic fortunes to abortion.Abortion reporter Caroline Kitchener and audio producer Ariel Plotnick went to Granite City just days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. They talked to people in the community about what this post-Roe era could mean for their city. 

An abortion access victory in Kansas. Trump-backed candidates on the rise. What the results of Tuesday’s elections could mean for the midterms in the fall. Read more:Kansas voters delivered the first election win to protect abortion access since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Campaign reporter Hannah Knowles unpacks this surprising outcome — supporters of abortion rights overwhelmingly won — and what lessons it carries for the politics of abortion.At the same time, many candidates backed by former president Donald Trump and those who denied he lost the 2020 election prevailed in their primary races Tuesday. Hannah says the fall midterms are expected to be a red wave even as Democrats “hope that in the end, voters will just see these candidates as too extreme and especially see their kind of campaigns against democracy itself as too extreme.”

The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the world’s most wanted terrorist, leaves al-Qaeda in a leadership crisis. But the drone strike ordered by President Biden also highlights new tensions with the Taliban one year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.Read more:Ayman al-Zawahiri’s safe house in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, was targeted by a drone strike Saturday after months of planning, officials said Monday. And Zawahiri had been a U.S. target for more than two decades: He oversaw the 9/11 attacks alongside al-Qaeda’s founder, Osama bin Laden.“This is a victory for the president, no doubt,” national security reporter Shane Harris says on today’s episode of Post Reports. “But beneath that victory is the fact that the world's most wanted terrorist moved right into the capital city of the country that [Biden] ordered troops to leave last year.”

Rep. Peter Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, but back in his district a right-wing base on the rise hopes to punish him for his vote.Read More:Less than two weeks after arriving in Congress, one of Republican Rep. Peter Meijer’s first votes was to impeach former president Donald Trump after the events of January 6, 2021. Now, Meijer is fighting for his seat back home in his western Michigan district where supporters of the former president have mobilized in staunch opposition to the congressman. And despite bucking his party to stand with Democrats in impeaching Trump, Democrats trying to flip his seat blue have interfered in the primary to boost his opponent in the hopes of facing an easier opponent in the fall. Today on Post Reports, politics producer Arjun Singh takes us to western Michigan to understand the stakes of this Republican primary and explore just how strong Meijer’s opposition really is. Help us learn a little more about our listeners and take The Washington Post’s podcast survey here.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler about how apps are spying on our kids — and what we can do to stop it. Read more:Geoff has been looking at tech from a consumer perspective in his series We the Users, and he says apps are spying on our kids at a scale that should shock you. More than two-thirds of the 1,000 most popular iPhone apps likely to be used by children collect and send their personal information out to the advertising industry, according to a major new study shared with Geoff by fraud and compliance software company Pixalate. On Android, 79 percent of popular kids apps do the same. On today’s show, Geoff tells us who the biggest offenders are, and what parents can do to protect their kids’ privacy online.

The story of a 10-year-old who crossed state lines for an abortion after Roe v. Wade fell sparked loud skepticism from media and politicians. Today, how local journalists uncovered the truth — and why the public rarely hears such abortion stories at all.Read more:When the Indianapolis Star published a story July 1 about a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of new restrictions in her home state, it sparked a national frenzy. An indignant President Biden cited the story a week later as an example of extreme abortion laws, and his political opponents pounced. They suggested it was a lie or a hoax. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board concluded it was “too good to confirm,” and the Post’s Fact Checker cautioned it was “a very difficult story to check.” Ohio’s attorney general went further, calling it a “fabrication.”Meanwhile, local journalists went digging. Using shoe-leather tactics, reporters in Ohio and Indiana proved that the horrific story no one wanted to believe was indeed true. Today, media reporter (and frequent guest host) Elahe Izadi tells the story of how local journalists got the first big scoop of the post-Roe era, why the public rarely hears such abortion stories and the role local journalists play in documenting the consquencesof Roe’s fall.

Today on Post Reports, how the Justice Department is investigating former president Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 election. Plus, how same-sex marriage has become a bipartisan issue.Read more:This week, a Washington Post investigation revealed that the Justice Department is investigating former president Donald Trump’s conduct surrounding efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Devlin Barrett reports on what the investigation looks like and whether any criminal charges could result.In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Congress is considering a bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage — two long-standing rights that some fear could be revoked by the court in the future. While the Senate still needs to vote on the bill, almost 50 House Republicans joined Democrats to approve it. Congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor explains why some Republicans' views of marriage have changed, and the political calculations others could be making with their vote.

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency over the weekend — leading to debate within the White House over whether the United States should do the same as case numbers continue to climb.Read more:The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the nation’s monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. As health policy reporter Dan Diamond explains, officials are hoping to make a decision this week – but the deliberations are complicated by politics. Monkeypox is the latest global health emergency. Here's what to know. As the United States confronts its largest-ever monkeypox outbreak, public health authorities navigate a delicate but familiar balancing act: how to warn gay men about their risk without fueling hate. This story was published last month during Pride.If you value the reporting you hear on the podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. That’s the best way to support the work we do. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

While the U.S. government is scrambling to lower inflation for Americans, there’s a growing concern about what rising interest rates means for the rest of the world, especially poorer countries. Read more:It has been said that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold, and White House economic reporter Jeff Stein says in this case, it could be much worse than a cold.“We're on the precipice of a tsunami of debt slamming into dozens, if not hundreds, of countries with rising interest rates in the U.S.,” Jeff said. “That could have tremendous consequences, tremendous humanitarian impacts, tremendous impacts for hunger across the globe.”As the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates again this week, Jeff explains how poorer nations could suffer from the U.S. efforts to slow inflation. Can economic policymakers prevent a crisis?If you value the journalism you hear on this podcast, consider a subscription to The Washington Post. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

The House committee investigating Jan. 6 has wrapped up its first series of hearings. Today on “Post Reports,” a debrief on what we’ve learned about what happened behind-the-scenes that day, and what’s next for the committee.Read more:For over a month now, members of Congress have been calling witnesses and making the case that former president Donald Trump played a critical role in the attack on the Capitol. On Thursday night, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol held its last scheduled hearing this summer. But the committee is still interviewing potential new witnesses — and it’s not over till it’s over.Marianna Sotomayor, a congressional reporter for The Post, hosts today’s show and guides us through a conversation with political investigations reporter Rosalind Helderman. They discuss the big reveals from Thursday night’s hearing, as well as the big questions on Americans’ minds: What should we take away from all this? And how will these hearings shape our understanding of the insurrection and Trump’s role on Jan. 6?Also, take our quiz to test your knowledge on the Jan. 6 hearings.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about the end of a grand experiment: universal free school lunch. The program started to address childhood hunger early in the pandemic, but it's set to expire at the end of the summer.  Read more:For many school administrators, providing universal free meals has been a no-brainer. “The reason we like this program is that it takes all the shame out of all the kids that eat free lunch,” said Donna Martin, a school nutrition director in a rural county in Georgia where kids have had universal free lunch for years under a provision that allows districts with high concentrations of poverty to feed every child for free. “You try not to identify them, but everybody knows who eats free lunch. So, in my community, everybody eats lunch and there's no shame.”Education reporter Moriah Balingit explains what this program did, and why it’s going away now, despite how popular it is among schools. “The pandemic became sort-of this policy laboratory to try out things that a lot of progressives have wanted for a long time, like the Child Tax Credit and universal free lunches. And I think there was some hope, some optimism that these programs would continue. But, of course, as we saw with the Child Tax Credit and now we're seeing with the free lunches, they are being allowed to expire because there's not the political will to continue them.”

Today on “Post Reports,” how the rising cost of living is pushing many Americans into homelessness, even if they have good jobs. Read more:The sheriffs arrived at 6 a.m. in early June to tell Josanne English what she already knew: She was being evicted.She’d lost her job as a project manager near Sacramento in April, then fell behind on rent as $6-a-gallon gas and higher costs for food and utilities depleted her monthly budget. By the time she lost her home two months later, she owed $9,160 in rent and late fees, and her bank account was nearing zero.English never thought she would be in this situation. She made nearly $100,000 last year. But, economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai says, she’s not alone. “What's been striking this time around, just in conversations with families and also with homeless shelters and service providers, is that the people who are losing their homes now often have jobs. Sometimes they're even really good-paying jobs. But, you know, maybe their lease comes up for renewal. It's going up by 20 percent or 30 percent and they just can't afford that.”

Today on Post Reports, the 104-degree day that came years too soon in Britain. Plus, why President Biden is contemplating declaring a climate emergency in the U.S.  Read more:London correspondent Karla Adam takes us to a non-air-conditioned housing bloc in London on the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. One tenant tells her he’s unplugged the fridge because he’s scared it’ll catch fire. Plus, London bureau chief William Booth explains why Britain's heat wave is just the beginning of dangerously high temperatures.In the United States, President Biden has a goal to halve emissions by 2030. But since talks with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) stalled, Biden is considering taking executive action to bypass Congress. Tony Romm covers congressional economic policy, and he takes us through the rocky road ahead for the White House’s environmental agenda.

Today on “Post Reports,” the most comprehensive report to date on the Uvalde school shooting blames multiple “systemic failures” of law enforcement on the scene.Read more:On Sunday, a special committee from the Texas House of Representatives released the most exhaustive report yet on the May 24 mass shooting inside a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school. The mass shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead. The report spread blame on every law enforcement agency responding to the attack, faulting local police for mistakes and more experienced agencies for failing to take charge. Surveillance video was also released along with the report that showed the gunman entering the school. The video also shows law enforcement outside of the hallway where the shooter is; they appear to be waiting in the hallway for more than an hour. Texas correspondent Arelis Hernandez has been following the story and explains how the report found “systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” by the nearly 400 members of law enforcement on the scene and why agencies across the board are to blame.

Today, we join an elite police squad in Mexico trying to solve an immigration problem we don’t often hear about: American fugitives fleeing south across the border. Read more:The Mexican police squad is officially called the International Liaison Unit. But to locals, they’re known as “the Gringo Hunters.” This spring, Mexico City Bureau Chief Kevin Sieff rode along with this team as they worked to apprehend fugitives who fled American soil for the freer terrain of Baja California. What happens when “the Gringo Hunters” come face-to-face with a murder suspect? 

In a political party that has been criticized for its lukewarm response to the Dobbs decision, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan appears to stand out. We take you inside her fight — and her family’s — to protect abortion access in her home state.Read more:A year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was already thinking about how to protect abortion rights in her home state. In particular, she was working to overturn a 1931 abortion ban that would go back into effect were Roe v. Wade ever ruled unconstitutional. Many in the party labeled her an alarmist for her messaging well before the Dobbs decision. But now, she’s considered ahead of the curve in the fight to protect abortion rights.As Whitmer prepares for her reelection campaign this November, her push for abortion rights will be one of the issues Michiganders will be judging her on in the polls. Ruby Cramer, a political enterprise reporter for The Post, spent time with Whitmer shortly after the Dobbs decision to better understand her unique presence — and her family’s — in politics.

A billionaire, a social media company and a lawsuit — the “epic” saga between Twitter and Elon Musk’s acquisition deal. Plus, NASA’s James Webb telescope captures galaxies light-years away.Read more:Twitter is officially suing Elon Musk, after the billionaire said he wanted to back out of a deal to buy the social media company. Silicon Valley correspondent Elizabeth Dwoskin has for months been following Musk’s threats to cancel the purchase, and she explains what this moment means for Twitter.The James Webb Space Telescope captured new images of galaxies that are light-years away. Producer Natalie Bettendorf spoke with Garth Illingworth, an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz who helped create the telescope, about what Webb revealed — and the discoveries yet to come.

As the White House confronts multiple crises, some Democrats are openly questioning whether the president is capable of leading their party through a contentious midterm election.President Biden has been mired in low approval ratings for months. Despite coming into office with a bold vision to combat climate change, rising wealth inequality and political partisanship, Biden’s agenda has consistently faced obstruction from Republicans and even members of his own party. Meanwhile, a spate of mass shootings and the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade have left many Democrats feeling anxious that Biden lacks the political will to meet the moment and rally voters in time for victory in the 2022 midterm elections. White House reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Cleve Wootson join us today to share their insights on why voters and Democrats are feeling dissatisfied with Biden. Read more:Biden heads to Saudi Arabia this week after promising to make the country a “pariah.” But he is sending mixed signals about the trip, leaving the results uncertain.Biden sends every signal he’s running in 2024, even as skepticism grows among Democrats.As some Democrats grow impatient with Biden, alternative voices emergeRead Yasmeen’s article about how the Biden administration formed its response to the overturning of Roe v Wade.

Today on Post Reports, we dig into the findings of an explosive new report about Uber, and reveal the human cost of Uber’s quest for rapid growth.Read more:The Uber Files is an international investigation into the ride-hailing company’s aggressive entrance into cities around the world — while frequently challenging the reach of existing laws and regulations. Documents illuminate how Uber used stealth technology to thwart regulators and law enforcement and how the company courted prominent political leaders, Russian oligarchs and media conglomerates as it sought footholds outside the United States.The project is based on more than 124,000 emails, text messages, memos and other records that a former top lobbyist for Uber, Mark MacGann, provided to the Guardian. It shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which helped lead the project, and dozens of other news organizations, including The Washington Post. Journalists from 29 countries joined the effort to analyze the records over four months. Today, reporter Doug MacMillan tells the behind-the-scenes story of the tactics Uber used as the company expanded rapidly, and the human cost for drivers.

The president is taking steps to safeguard abortion access, even as some lawmakers are talking about blocking patients from seeking the procedure across state lines. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore abortion’s next legal battleground.Read more:Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection to abortion in the United States, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding abortion rights. This includes measures to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception, protecting patient privacy, and bolstering legal options for those seeking access to such care.These measures will potentially help people who already face obstacles to getting an abortion. But they’re also a defense against new laws that could be coming in antiabortion states. Some antiabortion lawmakers are looking to prevent people from traveling to other states to obtain abortions. Caroline Kitchener brings us behind the scenes with some of the key players in the interstate legal fight.

It’s official: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. We review the scandals that led Johnson here and try to understand what happens next for his party. Then we discuss WNBA star Brittney Griner’s guilty plea and why it’s not surprising.Read more:After a week of government resignations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday that he is stepping down as the leader of the Conservative Party.The calls for Johnson to resign came after the discovery that the prime minister had promoted a lawmaker to a position of power, despite knowing of accusations of sexual misconduct against the appointee. After a long string of scandals throughout Johnson’s term, cabinet members said they could no longer trust the prime minister. So we asked London bureau chief William Booth: Where does this leave the future of the British government? Later in the show, Dave Sheinin, a sports reporter for The Post, breaks down the guilty plea of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner, who remains detained in Russia on a drug charge, submitted the plea in court Thursday. Meanwhile, pressure mounts on the Biden administration to make larger strides to get her back to the United States.

Many of those who are covering the war in Ukraine also call it home. Today on Post Reports, the story of a reporting trip to Chernihiv that also became a rescue mission for one of our colleagues. Read more:As the battle for the east of Ukraine intensifies, we take you to a city north of Kyiv that survived weeks of Russian siege. It also happens to be the hometown of Kostiantyn Khudov, a Ukrainian journalist who has been working for The Post since before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February. The relationship between foreign and local journalists is a crucial one — as Kostiantyn and The Post’s Siobhán O’Grady explain, it allows the world to see what’s happening in cities like Chernihiv. Today we go there with Siobhan and Kostiantyn, and learn what it’s like to cover a war so close to home.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about the chaos and terror at July Fourth celebrations over the holiday weekend. Then, we break down a big decision point for the Justice Department on whether to seek the death penalty in another recent mass shooting. Read more:In Highland Park, Ill., a holiday parade became a scene of horror as a gunman opened fire on the crowd. At other celebrations in cities nationwide, the booming sounds of fireworks were apparently mistaken for gunshots, sending scores of revelers fleeing for cover. “I think a big piece of what we saw on Monday is this loss of trust over the last several years,” reporter Marc Fisher said.The rise of mass shootings in America has brought up so many complicated and sad questions: How are we supposed to live in a society where we have to be so fearful? What will it take to prevent these shootings from happening? And how do we punish the people who perpetrate unthinkable acts of violence?Today, we are diving into that last question, in an interview with our colleague David Nakamura. In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Buffalo, the Biden administration must decide whether to pursue the death penalty for the 18-year-old suspect. When he visited Buffalo last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland assured survivors and victims’ families that a full investigation was taking place. It’s a “death penalty eligible crime,” Garland said in a news conference. But this Justice Department is conflicted — civil rights advocates have long opposed capital punishment, saying that it is inhumane and disproportionately used against racial minorities.

Gas prices are high, unemployment is low and the tools the federal government has to fight inflation could cause a recession. So how should we think about the economy right now? We asked our econ reporters and a personal finance columnist for advice. Read more:Businesses and consumers are increasingly worried the U.S. economy will tip into a recession. There are already growing signs that Americans are starting to spend less on dining out, vacation plans and even such routine services as manicures and haircuts. Today on “Post Reports,” we take some of your questions about the economy, and get answers from economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai, personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary and reporter Rachel Siegel, who covers the Federal Reserve.

Doctors are worried gray areas in new abortion bans force a choice between breaking their oath and breaking the law. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to an OB/GYN about what those decisions are like. Plus, how to cover your digital trail if you seek an abortion.Read more:Health and science reporter Ariana Eunjung Cha recently wrote about the fear and confusion many doctors are facing since Roe was overturned.. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) joined numerous other professional organizations and medical journals over the past few days in warning that the ruling will affect health care beyond abortion, creating new risks for patients and potentially increasing maternal mortality. We interviewed Nisha Verma, an OB/GYN in Atlanta who is also a fellow at ACOG. She talked about the gray areas these laws and restrictions don’t cover. “These laws don’t make any sense,” Verma told Elahe Izadi. While lawmakers point out that there are exceptions for the life of the pregnant person, Verma says it’s very unclear what that means. “There's not a moment in time. This line where someone goes from being completely fine to dying. It's a continuum. People get sicker and sicker. And so we have to be able to make decisions in that continuum with all of the training that we have without having to worry about whether the person was sick enough or whether we're going to get in trouble under the law,” Verma said. Also on the show, tech reporter Heather Kelly explains how to protect your privacy if you’re seeking abortion care — and why period-tracking apps are best avoided. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court — just after the court delivered a blow to President Biden’s climate plan. Today, we talk about the divided court and what it means for the future of our democracy.Read more:On Thursday, the Supreme Court sharply cut back the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to reduce the carbon output of existing power plants, a major setback for the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change.The vote was 6 to 3 — like many votes were this term — with the court’s conservative supermajority voting together on blockbuster issue after issue, including gun control and abortion.“Any one of these would have been a big decision on its own,” says Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes. “The fact that there were so many of them this term is what I think has really put the Supreme Court in the public eye in a way that it hasn't been for years.”

Congress notched a major legislative win last week by passing gun control legislation. But will a recent Supreme Court ruling on a concealed-carry law blunt the victory?Read more:One day before Congress sent a landmark piece of gun legislation to President Biden’s desk, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on New York’s concealed-carry licenses that could weaken the law. Then, the morning of the bill’s passage, the Supreme Court announced another landmark decision, overturning of Roe v. Wade. Leigh Ann Caldwell, anchor for Washington Post Live and the co-author of the Early 202 politics newsletter, joins us to talk about how those two rulings affected Congress. And she explains what’s in the new gun control bill that was signed by President Biden last week, and how Republicans in the Senate came on board for a genuinely bipartisan effort.

On Tuesday in a surprise hearing, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.Read more:It didn’t take long to find out why the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol chose to hold a surprise hearing on Tuesday: Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided what quickly became clear was the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.Reporter Aaron Blake says her testimony is particularly important when it comes to just how much Trump cultivated and even desired the insurrection itself — and whether, crucial from a legal standpoint, his effort to overturn the election was corrupt.Hutchinson stitched together repeated warnings — some involving Trump himself, including that he was warned that his Jan. 6 rallygoers had weapons — about what might happen. Despite these warnings, aides struggled to talk Trump out of a plan to march to the Capitol. And despite warnings about weapons in the crowd the morning of Jan. 6, Trump still directed people toward the Capitol in his speech.Hutchinson, a former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had advocated for a march to the Capitol after Trump’s speech on the Ellipse. She said this prompted Meadows to worry “things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”Follow all The Post’s coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings here.

After Brooke Alexander learned she was pregnant last August, she and then-boyfriend Billy High initially wanted an abortion. Just 18 and 17, the pair had been dating only a month. But Brooke and Billy live in Texas, where a state-wide abortion ban prohibited the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy. Brooke was too far along, and this past spring, she gave birth to twins. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, it set off a cascade of abortion bans and restrictions. That means that more Americans are now facing the same conundrum as Brooke and Billy. National political reporter Caroline Kitchener recently spent a week with Brooke and Billy, to see how parenthood had upended their lives in ways they couldn’t have predicted. As we navigate a world without the protections of Roe, they give us a preview of what could be in store for other people who could be pushed into parenthood. Read more:Read Caroline Kitchener’s profile of Brooke and Billy and see pictures of them and their twins here. 

On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. Today, we take you from a clinic in Houston to protests and celebrations outside the court, and explain what this decision means.Read more:The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the most anticipated of the term. But while this was a stunning reversal — it wasn’t surprising. A draft of the decision was leaked in May, indicating that the majority of justices were prepared to take this drastic step. The decision has sent shock waves throughout the country, and in at least a dozen red states, trigger laws are already in place to ban virtually all abortions within 30 days. Caroline Kitchener reports from a clinic in Texas, which is one of the states where the news this morning meant abortion providers had to halt operations immediately.Meanwhile in D.C., a crowd gathered outside the Supreme Court to celebrate, or protest, in an outpouring of joy and rage. Robert Barnes, who covers the Supreme Court for The Post, explains what this moment means for decades of conservative organizing around restricting abortion, and what the justices’ opinions could tell us about what happens next.

Today on Post Reports, we follow two union fights at Amazon warehouses with very different outcomes, and what they can tell us about what it takes to go up against a trillion-dollar company.Read more:In early April, the labor movement saw a huge victory: Workers voted to unionize an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island. Our reporter Greg Jaffe went up to New York to meet Chris Smalls, the charismatic leader of a new kind of worker-led movement. Greg had one big question: Could this movement spread?There would be another test just a few weeks later, at a second Staten Island facility across the street. Despite high-profile support, the workers would learn that replicating a truly grass-roots organizing effort would be even more challenging than they thought.

Colombia has elected its first leftist president. Unthinkable a decade ago, his victory signals a dramatic shift in the pandemic-wracked region. Plus, the powerful testimony from election workers whose lives were upended by Donald Trump’s false claims. Read more:For the first time in its 200-year history, Colombia will have a leftist president: More than 50 percent of voters chose Gustavo Petro, a former guerilla fighter and mayor of Bogatá, to lead the country. Petro is one of several new left-wing leaders in Latin America, as voters kick out leaders who they feel failed them during the pandemic when inequality in the region soared. Now, Petro says he aims to work with a coalition of left-wing presidents to tackle climate change and issues affecting women and Indigenous people. We checked in with the Post’s Bogatá bureau chief, Samantha Schmidt, to talk about what this moment could mean for Latin America, and whether the United States could be taking a back seat in the region. And, yesterday’s hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol included powerful testimony from former election workers in Georgia who described how their lives were derailed after Trump targeted them.

Today on Post Reports, the rogue Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life – and the dangers of artificial intelligence that impersonates humans. Read more:Nitasha Tiku covers tech culture for The Post. Recently, she broke the story about the Google engineer who concluded his company’s chatbot generator “LaMDA” was sentient. But even as Google and outside experts disagree, this case raises questions about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence that closely mimics humans.

As the Supreme Court seems poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, we explore some of the fissures in the antiabortion movement.Read more:What does it mean to identify as “pro-life” in 2022?When Karen Swallow Prior, a longtime antiabortion activist, first heard about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion suggesting that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, she was thrilled. But she quickly realized her feelings on the “pro-life” movement had become a lot more complicated over the decades.Religion reporter Michelle Boorstein and Post Reports producer Rennie Svirnovskiy visited with Prior as she grappled with what it means to be “pro-life.”

Fifty years ago today, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, located in the posh Watergate building in D.C. Nobody knew it at the time, but the break-in was the first in a series of events that spiraled into the Watergate scandal, and eventually, the downfall of President Richard M. Nixon. For many people, their memories of this event have become encapsulated in a movie: the iconic 1976 film “All the President’s Men.” Based on the book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the film follows the pair as they dig into the break-in and crack open the scandal, tracing the source of the burglary back to the White House. Ann Hornaday, The Post’s film critic, calls the movie a metonym for Watergate — a stand-in for this entire period in history — “that from the moment it opened seemed to fuse seamlessly with private memory and collective myth.”Today, guest host and media reporter Elahe Izadi talks with Ann about what it means for a film to function in this way. And, we hear a dramatization of a deleted scene from an early draft of the screenplay, as Ann reveals that the classic we know almost didn’t exist. Read more:Film critic Ann Hornaday explains how “All the President’s Men” went from buddy flick to masterpiece in her Washington Post Magazine story.

On Wednesday, independent advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended the agency authorize coronavirus vaccines for children under 5. What this move means for families and how it will affect where we are in the pandemic.Read more:It’s finally happening: The Food and Drug Administration  seems poised to sign off on coronavirus vaccines for children younger than 5 years old. Parents are celebrating the news after waiting for approval for almost a year and a half. But why did it take so much longer for this, while adults have already had vaccines for over a year? And what does this development mean for our fight against the pandemic?Anita Patel, a critical care pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in D.C., on why this vaccine was so delayed and how they’re developed for children, and Patel gives advice for parents who might be concerned about the vaccine.

Ten Republicans. Ten Democrats. One bipartisan gun-control deal. Could this be the last chance for any meaningful action on federal gun reform?Read More: Over the weekend, Republicans and Democrats announced a monumental agreement on addressing gun violence. They had a nine-point plan that included provisions that would prevent gun sales to a broader group of domestic violence offenders (closing what is called the “boyfriend loophole”), and criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 would require checks of juvenile justice and mental health records. A federal grant program would also encourage states to implement red-flag laws.Leigh Ann Caldwell, who covers Congress and also writes The Post’s Early 202 newsletter on politics, explains the policy proposals in the Senate framework. She shares the political calculations that led to this rare bipartisan moment and what the future could hold for more legislation on guns.

Today on Post Reports, the GOP candidates spreading the so-called “big lie,” and how the Jan. 6 committee hopes to educate Americans about what really happened. Plus, the United States has sent weapons to Ukraine — but now the troops need tech support. Read more:J.R. Majewski marched to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and tweeted a photo with the caption: “It’s going down on 1/6.” Last month, he won the Republican nomination in an Ohio congressional district along Lake Erie.A Washington Post analysis found that across the country, more than 100 GOP primary winners back Trump’s false election claims. As many Americans are tuning in to watch the Jan. 6 committee hearings on Capitol Hill this week, where even the people closest to Trump are testifying that they tried to warn him his election fraud claims were false, The Post’s Amy Gardner reports that it’s almost become a prerequisite in GOP primaries to embrace Trump’s election denialism.Also on the show: The U.S. has sent powerful antitank weapons, called Javelins, to Ukrainian troops on the front lines. But, as Alex Horton reports, the customer service on these weapons leaves something to be desired. 

Is the U.S. economy hurtling toward a recession? Dean Baker, an economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in D.C., thinks it all boils down to just how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates again later this week. On today’s “Post Reports,” we examine the factors that could lead to a recession — and we ask what Americans can do to prepare if it happens. 

Today on “Post Reports,” the sixth and final episode of “Broken Doors,” about the risks of no-knock raids for people on both sides of the door. How did we get here – and what does the future look like? Read more:“Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. In the sixth and final episode of this series, a man accused of killing an officer during a no-knock raid speaks from jail about the risks to people on both sides of the door. As we investigate the history of these raids, we also hear from the mother of Breonna Taylor, who is pushing for an end to no-knocks. We’ll also hear from people who say this tactic is necessary. How did we get here – and what does the future look like?The full series is out now wherever you get your podcasts. You can email the “Broken Doors” team with any tips or feedback at brokendoors@washpost.com. 

Today on “Post Reports,” what the fight for abortion rights means for Black women, and how both sides of the fight are intertwined with the legacy of slavery and racism.Read more:With a Supreme Court ruling on abortion access looming, Black women in particular are struggling with the fight for reproductive rights. A long history of medical mistreatment and neglect follows Black women, and it makes the debate between abortion rights and antiabortion advocates all the more complicated. While some oppose abortion care because it’s regarded as a form of “genocide,” others say overturning Roe v. Wade would mark the latest effort to take away what generations of Black women have rarely had: bodily autonomy. Akilah Johnson on what an overturn of Roe could mean for Black women.

How high school students across the country are fighting for their right to read. Plus, what the Golden State Warriors represent off the basketball court.Read more:A few months ago, education reporter Hannah Natanson sat in on the meeting of an unusual book club at Vandegrift High School in Austin, Tex. – one in which students read exclusively books banned by their school district, and think deeply about the aspects of the world that’ll remain hidden to them if grown-ups keep banning books. Then, we hear from Washington Post global opinions writer Jason Rezaian on the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, their outspoken coach Steve Kerr, and why Jason thinks the Warriors should now be considered “America’s team.”

Starting Thursday, the House committee probing the attack on the Capitol is holding televised hearings. What will be revealed after nearly a year of investigation? Plus, an update on California’s Tuesday elections.Read more:After conducting hundreds of interviews and uncovering more than 100,000 records, the House committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is making the investigation public, holding six televised hearings, the first starting tomorrow in prime time. The hearings will feature testimonies from key figures in former president Donald Trump’s inner circle, such as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and former vice president Mike Pence’s aides. Political investigations reporter Josh Dawsey shares what to expect from these hearings and how they could affect the Republican politicians who built their brands defending the insurrection.Plus, the results of Tuesday’s elections in California — and what they tell us about how Democrats are viewing changes to the criminal justice system.

Today on Post Reports, how rising prices at mobile home parks may destabilize the entire housing market. Plus, climate change is forcing schools to close early for “heat days.” Read more:America’s housing crisis is trickling down to mobile home parks. Mobile homes have traditionally been the country’s biggest source of affordable housing: 20 million Americans live in manufactured homes. Most mobile home park residents own their houses and rent the land underneath. But now, mobile home parks are doubling or even tripling their rent across the country. Economics reporter Abha Bhattarai explains how high demand, low inventory and a rise in corporate ownership threaten the affordability of mobile homes. Plus later in the show, national education reporter Laura Meckler discusses how schools in many parts of the country are closing because of excessive heat fueled by climate change. “Heat days” pose a threat to students’ health and academic success, Meckler explains, adding, “This is a problem that people recognize but is just a lot easier to identify than it is to solve.”

Today on “Post Reports,” we take a hard look at California’s strange election season to see how Democrats across the country are testing the viability of their beliefs – and whether some may be losing patience with leftward ideas.Read more:Tomorrow is primary day in the Golden State. And in California’s two largest cities, things are looking pretty…odd.In San Francisco, there’s a campaign to remove a district attorney and “progressive prosecutor,” who was voted in a couple of years ago. Then, in Los Angeles, one of the front-runners of the Democratic mayoral primary is a guy whom some voters have described as a secret Republican. We take stock of the primary election in California and what it says about the future of leftward politics with correspondent Scott Wilson.

Today on “Post Reports,” the fifth episode of “Broken Doors,” about a multi-house no-knock raid,and the drugs police say they seized.Read more: “Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. In the fifth episode of this series, we head to Missouri.Police upended the lives of an entire block and killed a 63-year-old grandfather when they carried out a no-knock raid at multiple homes in St. Louis. But what did the police actually seize?

How aborition in the movies changed the way Americans think about reproductive rights. And a dispatch from Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee celebrations in London.Read more:As we wait to hear how the Supreme Court rules on abortion access in America, we’ve been reflecting on what has and hasn’t change since Roe. v Wade was decided almost 50 years ago. Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post’s film critic, looked at how the film industry has portrayed abortion since the landmark ruling in 1973. After watching movies like “Dirty Dancing,” “Juno,” “Knocked Up” and “Obvious Child,” Hornaday says she noticed a “strange evolution,” in how Hollywood’s depiction of abortion has changed over time.This week marks Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne. The Platinum Jubilee celebrations are taking place all across the United Kingdom. Karla Adam, a correspondent based in London, reports on what this anniversary signifies for the future of the British monarchy. 

Today on Post Reports, we bring you to the frontline of the war in Ukraine, as Russian forces encircle Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Plus, a teenager coming of age in the war finds purpose in helping fellow displaced Ukrainians. Read more:Nearly 100 days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have suffered significant setbacks: President Volodomyr Zelensky says Russia has now taken 20 percent of his country. Foreign correspondent Siobhan O’Grady brings us into the trenches of the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has focused its military advancements. Ukrainian battalions are digging trenches, desperate to turn the tide of war. Later in the show, we meet 16-year-old Anna Melnyk, whose life changed overnight when her family was forced to flee their home in Kyiv and head west for the transit city of Lviv. Now Anna –– who volunteers as a guide for the displaced at a train station in Lviv –– is undergoing a drastic transformation alongside other Ukrainian teens, who are trading high school concerns for work that will shape the kind of nation they will inherit once the fighting ends.“She said it makes her feel like she's doing something for her country. That it's a role for her,” says reporter Hannah Allam. “She’s not 18. She can't enlist in the military and then take up arms. She’s not even old enough to drive. So, this was something she could do.” 

More than a week later, what we know and don’t know about how a gunman carried out a massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. — and why the timeline from authorities keeps changing.Read more:In the days since a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, new and horrifying details about the timeline of events keep emerging. We now know that the gunman was able to walk into the school unimpeded. We know that children called 911 from within classrooms pleading for help. But we still don’t know exactly why it took so long for authorities to stop the gunman. Silvia Foster-Frau reports on what happened during a devastating 90-minute window.

As hurricane season hits, we examine what happens when Black communities seem to be last in line for disaster planning in Texas.Read more:Communities more likely to be hit by hurricanes are bracing themselves for a rough summer, as hurricane season begins June 1. But in Kashmere Gardens, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Houston, residents are still trying to repair the damage to homes from a hurricane that hit five years ago. As Tracy Jan tells producer Bishop Sand, that’s because money to address that damage — and to prevent further destruction — has been hard to come by. According to an investigation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Texas directed federal grants toward Whiter and wealthier areas — leaving places like Kashmere Gardens out to dry. 

Today on “Post Reports,” the fourth episode of “Broken Doors,” about the minutes between approval for a no-knock warrant and a deadly raid.  Read more:“Broken Doors” is a new investigative podcast series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. In the fourth episode of this series, we head to Port Allen, La.On July 25, 2019, a Black man was killed during a no-knock raid on a motel room in Louisiana. His fiancee was also inside. An investigation into what led up to the fatal shooting reveals the speed with which it happened — and raises questions about electronic warrants, a relatively new technology being adopted by law enforcement agencies across the country.The full series is out now wherever you get your podcasts. You can email the “Broken Doors” team with any tips or feedback at BrokenDoors@washpost.com.

After six weeks, the contentious defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is set to wrap up Friday. Today on “Post Reports,” what happened in the courtroom and online, and why it matters.Read more:After six weeks of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation trial, the jury is hearing closing arguments Friday.Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post in 2018 in which she referred to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse (Depp has denied all allegations of abuse). Heard countersued Depp for $100 million after his lawyer Adam Waldman called her accusations a hoax.Despite the gravity of the allegations, the trial has garnered attention from all corners of the Internet — millions have tuned in to the live-streamed trial every day, analyzing and memeing every aspect of the trial. Entertainment reporter Emily Yahr has been covering the contentious trial in person and online, and discusses why so many people are obsessed with it and what that implies.

The NRA faces critics from all sides, with infighting among its executives and, after the Uvalde, Tex., school shooting, renewed pressure from gun control advocates. And then there are the radical gun groups that say the NRA hasn’t gone far enough.Read more:Tomorrow, the National Rifle Association will kick off its annual meeting. Just a few hours from the site of Tuesday’s school shooting, the convention will feature a 14-acre gun show and headliners including former president Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott (R).Post national political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf will be there to cover it. And he says the NRA’s place in the gun control landscape is shifting: Mired in internal battles and legal troubles, the organization now has to compete with a handful of even more adamant gun rights groups that are growing in popularity. Today, how the NRA navigates bad press in the wake of mass shootings, and how the American gun culture it helped create has evolved.

The deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, and what’s changed in the years since the massacre in Newtown, Conn. Read more:Washington Post reporter Arelis Hernández is on the ground in Uvalde as children and families try to make sense of the violence that tore through Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. According to a Post database,last year was the deadliest year for school shootings in America since at least 1999, the year of the Columbine massacre. This year is on track to be even worse – and the reasons for that aren’t entirely clear. John Woodrow Cox, who helped create The Post’s tracker, breaks down the massive, sometimes unseen impact of gun violence on American schoolchildren, and the tricky politics of gun control legislation.Read an excerpt from John’s book, “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis.”

Today on Post Reports, what to know about monkeypox and how prepared the United States is for future pandemics. Plus, in New Orleans, the return of a beloved Mardi Gras tradition.Read more:What is monkeypox, and how concerned should we be about the virus? Cameron Wolfe, an infectious-disease expert at Duke University, explains what we know about the rare virus, now confirmed in the United States and Europe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert late last week, urging doctors and health departments to be vigilant. Monkeypox, which can be passed to animals and humans, is usually found in Central and West Africa. But many of the recent cases cropping up in the United Kingdom, France and elsewhere suggest the virus may be spreading through the community. Plus, in New Orleans, the Mardi Gras Indians are back in a big way. 

On Tuesday Republican voters in Georgia will choose between candidates who supported Donald Trump’s claims that the election was stolen and those who did not. The results may say a lot about election integrity in 2022 — and the state of the GOP nationwide. Read more: In 2020, the fate of the presidency and which party would control the U.S. Senate hinged on what happened in Georgia. The state emerged as a contentious battleground, and it quickly drew the attention of President Donald Trump, who began to falsely claim that the elections in the state were manipulated. Nearly two years later, Trump’s influence over Georgia’s elections has not disappeared. In fact, several Republican candidates have declared their support for Trump’s false election claims, including challengers to the incumbent governor and secretary of state. And Trump’s sway has created a schism in the state’s Republican Party. Matthew Brown, who covers politics in the state, unpacks the dimensions of Georgia’s primaries and examines what could happen if an election denier enters office. 

After the murder of George Floyd, reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa spent months learning everything they could about Floyd’s life. The story they reveal in a new book shows how systemic racism shaped and shortened it. Read more: “He's everywhere — but he's not here. He's on somebody's wall. He's on somebody's billboard. … He's in a newspaper, but he's not here. He's here in spirit. But he's not here.” In the summer of 2020, after George Floyd was murdered, he became a symbol and a rallying cry. But what was missing in our understanding was the man himself — a figure who was complicated, full of ambition, shaped by his family and his community and centuries of systemic racism.  The Washington Post set out to better understand who Floyd really was and reported a series of stories about George Floyd’s America. We made a podcast based on this reporting, “The Life of George Floyd,” which we’re playing today for you in full. But two of the reporters on that project still had questions.  Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa have now written a book that delves deeper into Floyd’s life — what he was like as a father, a boyfriend, a classmate, an athlete, how ambitious he was. And how those ambitions were hobbled by systemic racism. They learned about things that happened to Floyd’s family, hundreds of years before he was born, that shaped everything that would happen to him later.  If you’d like to read an excerpt of Robert and Tolu’s book, you can find that here: How George Floyd Spent His Final Hours.

A year ago today, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Texas Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act. The law bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy — before many people even know they’re pregnant. It also employed a novel legal strategy that empowered ordinary people to enforce the law by suing anyone who may have helped facilitate the abortion.Many observers thought the law would be blocked from taking effect or overturned after passing. That didn’t happen. The Supreme Court had three opportunities to consider the law and didn’t, signaling that the court could be open to overturning Roe v. Wade. In the recent uproar over the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it’s been easy to forget about the impact and significance of Texas’s law. But a year later the law still stands in the state, blocking abortions after about six weeks. Today on Post Reports, on the anniversary of the Texas abortion ban, national political reporter Caroline Kitchener brings us the story of the activist who helped to craft the law, the doctor who tried to challenge it, and the lessons both sides have taken away from its success.Read more:Caroline Kitchener examines whether a national abortion ban is possible in a post-Roe world. You can also read her profile of Dr. Alan Braid. 

Today on Post Reports, an estimated 1.5 million retirees have reentered the U.S. labor market over the past year. What’s bringing them back?Read more:Millions of Americans who retired during the pandemic are returning to the workforce.Many are being lured back to work by more flexible, hybrid work arrangements and declining concerns over covid. And, yes, some of it is also being driven by high inflation. But there’s good news, too: Ageism might be less of a problem for older workers. Companies are scrambling to find experienced, reliable people to fill all these open jobs. And suddenly, the AARP set is looking pretty good.

Finland and Sweden are applying for NATO membership, ending decades-long policies of military neutrality. We take a look at what this means for global security. Plus, why some NATO leaders are worried about Vladimir Putin being humiliated in Ukraine.Read more:Finland and Sweden’s leaders announced in recent days that they would be seeking membership in NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Canada and many European countries. Sweden and Finland historically have remained neutral to avoid conflict — but the war in Ukraine and their geographical proximity to Russia pushed them to reassess. National security reporter Shane Harris discusses how this move changes the security landscape and the possible consequences if Russia loses the war. 

With key states holding primaries this week, we ask the big question for the 2022 midterms: Will Republicans take back control of Congress? And, the GOP lawmakers who have echoed the racist conspiracy theory used to justify the mass shooting in Buffalo.Read more:The 2022 midterms are ramping up. On Tuesday, voters in five states, including Pennsylvania and North Carolina, will vote in primary elections.Meanwhile, in races around the country, Republicans are pushing anti-immigrant sentiments that echo the “great replacement theory,” a racist conspiracy theory that motivated a mass shooter in Buffalo on Saturday.Congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor breaks down Republican strategy and how Democrats might hold on to their slim majorities in Congress. Check out The Washington Post’s guide to the 2022 midterm elections.  

A few weeks ago, Martine Powers appeared on the Black culture podcast “For Colored Nerds” to discuss her love of period dramas and what does and doesn't work as these shows try to be more inclusive in their casting.To hear the rest of Martine’s discussion with Eric Eddings and Brittany Luse, check out “For Colored Nerds” wherever you get your podcasts, and listen to the episode “Black in Time.”

In the years before Roe v. Wade, the group known as Jane helped more than 11,000 Chicago women get abortions. We look back at the group and talk with one of its members as activists and health advocates mobilize in anticipation of the end of Roe.Read more:In the years before Roe v. Wade guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion, a group of women banded together in Chicago to help others access the procedure illegally. Their fliers read things like: “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Call Jane.” Jane became the group’s code name. They estimate that between 1969 and 1973 they helped around 11,000 women get abortions, and many members of the group learned to perform abortions themselves. Laura Kaplan was a member of Jane from 1971 to ’73 and wrote a book on the group’s history called “The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.” Today on the show, we talk to Laura about the dangers women faced before abortions were constitutionally protected, how the underground group evolved, and how she’s making sense of this moment as activists and health advocates mobilize in anticipation of the end of Roe.

For months, parents have been scrambling to feed their children amid a nationwide baby formula shortage. Today, why the supply is so short, and how parents are coping.Read more:Three-quarters of American parents with infants rely on baby formula. For many, it’s the only option to keep their babies alive and healthy. But since the winter, shortages have left caregivers scrambling to find enough food. Last week, supplies in stores were down more than 40 percent. Parenting editor Amy Joyce says the shortage is due to a combination of factors, including snarled supply chains and the closure of a major plant in Michigan where Abbott Nutrition produces Similac and other popular formula brands. In February, Abbott recalled some formula after several infants got sick — and two died. The company says it hasn’t found a link between its formula and the illnesses, but the Food and Drug Administration is still investigating. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear about parents dealing with a situation they never could have imagined.

A cache of more than 1.4 million newly released records exposes the inner workings of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturer. Today on “Post Reports,” we go inside the sales machine at Mallinckrodt.Read more:The largest manufacturer of opioids in the United States once cultivated a reliable stable of hundreds of doctors it could count on to write a steady stream of prescriptions for pain pills.But one left the United States for Pakistan months before he was indicted on federal drug conspiracy and money laundering charges. Another was barred from practicing medicine after several of his patients died of drug overdoses. Another tried to leave the country in the face of charges that he was operating illegal pill dispensing operations, or pill mills, in two states. He was arrested and sent to prison for eight years.These doctors were among 239 medical professionals ranked by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals as its top prescribers of opioids during the height of the pain pill epidemic, in 2013. That year, more than 14,000 Americans died of prescription opioid overdoses.More than a quarter of those prescribers — 65 — were later convicted of crimes related to their medical practices, had their medical licenses suspended or revoked, or paid state or federal fines after being accused of wrongdoing, according to a Washington Post analysis of previously confidential Mallinckrodt documents and emails, along with criminal and civil background checks of the doctors. Between April and September of that year, Mallinckrodt’s sales representatives contacted those 239 prescribers more than 7,000 times.The documents, made public after years of litigation and bankruptcy proceedings, shed new light on how aggressively Mallinckrodt sought to increase its market share as the epidemic was raging.Meryl Kornfield and Scott Higham report. 

Nearly 1 million people in the United States have died of covid-19, and the toll is growing among vaccinated people as the virus gets harder and harder to dodge. Today on Post Reports, what we can learn from looking at vaccinated deaths.Read more:According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinated people made up a shocking 42 percent of covid deaths in January and February during the peak of the omicron surge, compared with 23 percent during delta’s surge in September. Vaccines are still highly effective at preventing illness and death. But as more and more highly contagious variants arise, it becomes harder for elderly people, the immunocompromised and those whose vaccines are wearing off to avoid infection.Health reporter Fenit Nirappil wanted to dispel the myth that only unvaccinated people are dying of covid — and he wanted to put names and faces to some of the hundreds of thousands of people who died this past winter. Today on Post Reports, a look at what happened during the winter surge, and what we can learn from it as the virus continues to mutate.

Today on “Post Reports,” the head of global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Atul Gawande, on the state of the pandemic and why global vaccination efforts are at risk. Read more:Today on the show, we hear from national health reporter Dan Diamond about his interview with  Atul Gawande, who leads global health at USAID and co-chairs the Biden administration’s covid-19 task force. He is also an endocrine surgeon, health-care researcher and writer. Gawande explains his efforts as a Biden administration official to slow the pandemic through global vaccination — and how funding for those efforts are at risk. “It isn't enough to just bring a bunch of vaccines on the tarmac and say, ‘Go,’” Gawande says. “We need to support their ability to maintain the cold chain, to have workers who can move out into the rural areas.” Gawande also talks about the state of public health abroad as the war in Ukraine continues.

Today on Post Reports, we go to Sierra Leone, where having a baby can mean risking your life. Read more:Today, we follow the story of Susan Lebbie. Lebbie is 17 and has just given birth to her son, Evan. Throughout her pregnancy she was terrified of facing the same fate as her mother, who died while giving birth to Susan. Susan’s fears are not unfounded: One in 20 women in Sierra Leone die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, according to the latest United Nations estimate, most often from losing blood. The West African country consistently ranks as one of the deadliest places on Earth to have a baby. But practically every death is preventable. To be pregnant in Sierra Leone is to be at the mercy of resource-strapped institutions and the global trends shaping them. Survival is too often up to luck. West Africa bureau chief Danielle Paquette reports. 

In the ‘90s, Buffalo was ground zero for the battle over abortion rights. Today we revisit that time with media columnist Margaret Sullivan — who served as managing editor of the Buffalo News — and talk about how media has shaped the abortion debate.Read more: In 1998, in Buffalo, NY, OB/GYN Barnett Slepian was murdered in his own home by anti-abortion extremist, James Kopp. We hear from media columnist Margaret Sullivan about how she remembers this volatile time and how the media has influenced the abortion debate. Plus, journalist and author Eyal Press discusses the alarming attacks against his own father, a doctor who also provided abortions for patients in Buffalo.

As the Supreme Court seems poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, we talk to an economist about the long-term consequences for someone denied an abortion. Read more:What can economic research tell us about the effects of abortion access on women’s lives? As the Supreme Court seems poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, we talk to economist Caitlin Myers at Middlebury College, who has been asking this question in her research. Myers says there is a lot we can learn from the data about how being denied an abortion affects people’s economic futures and opportunities, even decades later.Myers, along with more than 150 other economists, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the Mississippi abortion case currently under consideration, to call attention to this long-term impact. She also wrote an op-ed for The Post about how restricting abortion access restricts women’s lives.

The Supreme Court may soon overturn Roe v. Wade. Today, we unpack the leaked draft opinion that has spurred intense reaction from both sides of the issue. Plus, we hear about the implications for red states, blue states and the Supreme Court.Read more:Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. confirmed on Tuesday that the draft opinion is authentic, and that he is opening an investigation into how it became public. Roberts also stressed that the draft opinion was not final, and the ultimate decision of the court or any particular justice could change before the official ruling is released.“What you see … is one of the justices trying to provide an explanation to the country of why the court was taking this step at this time,” says Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes,“And that doesn't mean it will be a final decision.”Still, the opinion has been a shock to activists on both sides of the battle over the future of abortion rights. Some of them spoke to national politics reporter Caroline Kitchener, who heard firsthand how abortion providers have been scrambling to make plans for a world after the fall of Roe v. Wade – and how antiabortion activists plan to push to ban abortion completely in the United States.

This Tuesday, Ohioans will vote in the primary ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. Today on “Post Reports,” we’re talking about the transformation of one candidate from never-Trumper to Trump’s pick for Ohio’s open Senate seat. Read more:Back in 2016, commentator and venture capitalist J.D. Vance was known for his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” about the ravages of poverty and drug use in his Ohio town. He made the rounds on talk shows like “Charlie Rose” and NPR’s “Fresh Air” explaining the conditions and mindset that had led so many people to support then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. But he himself decried Trump’s rise.Fast forward to today. Vance is now the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for Ohio’s empty Senate seat. He’s a staunch member of a splinter group of the Republican Party called national conservatism, that advocates for tighter borders and cracking down on big business. He’s grown a beard. And he’s embraced Trump and his values, earning him the former president’s endorsement.Magazine writer Simon van Zuylen-Wood followed Vance for weeks to try to understand his transformation and what his candidacy says about the state of the Republican Party. Today on “Post Reports,” we take you inside Vance’s campaign.If you’re curious to learn more about the Ohio primary, read The Trailer from The Post’s Dave Weigel.

Today on “Post Reports,” we meet a carpet cleaner who speaks two dozen languages — and we have an update on what’s happened to him since this story was first published in print.Read more:In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries at the State Department or the International Monetary Fund, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn Smith was a savant with a secret.He speaks 24 languages well enough to carry on lengthy conversations — and has basic understanding of more than a dozen others — and yet he works as a carpet cleaner. Today on Post Reports, enterprise reporter Jessica Contrera and audio producer Bishop Sand bring us the remarkable story of a hyperpolyglot with a special brain and a history that has kept him a secret for so long. We also have an update about how his life has started to change since Jessica’s story was first published.Plus, one more thing: Thanks to your support, we won the 2022 People’s Voice Webby for business podcasts! The winning episode is “A tax haven in America’s heartland.”

Why college enrollment numbers are down. And how one solution to climate change could threaten an endangered species.Read more:May 1 is college decision day, which is the last chance students have to submit the deposit that secures their spot at the university or college of their choice. But colleges aren’t getting as many students as usual. Enrollment has shrunk more than 5 percent since 2019 — that’s a loss of nearly 1 million students. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel explains why enrollment is down and what it means for higher education.Then, we join scientists from the New England Aquarium on an expedition off the coast of Cape Cod in search of the elusive right whale. With only about 300 right whales left, the species ranks as one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals. Nearly annihilated centuries ago by whalers, right whales today face new threats from climate change. Dino Grandoni reports on how rising temperatures are driving them to new seas and how one climate solution – offshore wind turbines – could encroach on their habitat.

On today’s show we take you on the ground in Bucha, where Russian forces have left a trail of devastation. Then we head east, where we hear from refugees who have escaped the embattled port city of Mariupol. Read more:In the suburb of Bucha, Russian forces have left a trail of violent devastation. Post journalists spent a week reporting from the area and counted more than 200 bodies. Foreign correspondent Louisa Loveluck says the actual number of dead is believed to be much higher. “It's very unusual to walk into a scene where the evidence is still fresh on the ground. And it was truly, incredibly shocking.” And to the east in the Donbas region, Loveluck takes us to a center to which Mariupol residents have escaped. We hear some of their stories. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the United Nations he agrees to a humanitarian corridor “in principle,” Loveluck says that, “as someone who's been standing at that evacuation point for days, I can tell you that is not the case.”

What will Elon Musk do with Twitter? Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about what’s next for one of the world’s most influential communication platforms.Read more:Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, will buy social media site Twitter for about $44 billion after weeks of back-and-forth with the company. Musk now holds the future of the platform in his hands, and critics fear his strong belief in free speech could lead to more misinformation and hate speech on the platform. Will Oremus explains what we know about Musk's plans and what this could mean for the rest of us.

What the battle between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney World says about what Republicans are willing to do to win the culture wars. And, how the end of the federal public transit mask mandate will affect vulnerable people who use buses and trains.  Read more:Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been publicly feuding with Disney over a controversial law that limits what teachers can say to kids about gender and sexual orientation. Reporter Hannah Sampson explains how the state’s Republican-led legislature has responded and why the fight is another example of the GOP trying to use the culture war to its political advantage. When a Florida judge ended the federal transit mask mandate last week, there was a lot of focus on how it would affect air travel. But the end of the mandate also affects public transit such as subways and buses, leaving many people who have no transportation alternatives with a puzzle. Katie Shepherd reports on what ending the mask requirement on public transit means for the medically vulnerable. 

“Broken Doors” is a new investigative podcast series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.In the third episode of this series, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.After hearing from survivors of no-knock raids and learning about the deadly consequences, we put our questions directly to the sheriff and the judge who had allowed these raids in Monroe County. People in the community still live in fear as Ricky Keeton’s family continues their battle for justice.The next episode is out now wherever you get your podcasts. You can email the “Broken Doors” team with any tips or feedback at BrokenDoors@washpost.com

Today on “Post Reports,” the Biden administration announces a plan to welcome Ukrainian refugees. Plus, just in time for Earth Day, our corporate accountability reporter helps you decipher what it means when a company claims to be “green.”Read more:The Biden administration announced plans Thursday to expedite the arrival of Ukrainian refugees, creating a new system that will allow citizens and organizations such as churches to sponsor them and warning that Ukrainians attempting to cross via Mexico will be denied entry starting next week. Maria Sacchetti reports.Plus, it’s almost Earth Day, and corporations are eager to tout their environmental progress. Our corporate accountability reporter, Doug MacMillan, has some tips for how to decipher these promises, which sound good but could be “greenwashed.”

In the past two years, a number of major American cities have experienced spikes in homicides and other violent crimes. Mayors and police chiefs have been under pressure to respond, and some are turning to a new policing strategy called “place network investigations.” As its name suggests, the strategy focuses on how criminal networks form and thrive in certain geographical places, and it looks at what can be done to try to break up these patterns of crime. Pioneered by academics and now being adopted by cities across the country, it’s the latest in a long line of American policing philosophies that have used data to target crime concentrated in small areas known as hot spots. Washington Post investigative reporter Amy Brittain started looking into this policing strategy after learning That Louisville police had been using the strategy at the time of Breonna Taylor’s death in March 2020. They have since abandoned it, but Amy was surprised to discover that at least nine other cities are now using the strategy.In today’s episode of “Post Reports,” Amy looks at why so many police departments are focusing on geography to fight crime, whether that approach works, and if it does, at what cost.Read more:Read more of Amy Brittain’s investigation into the policing strategy known as place network investigations. Vote for us in the Webby Awards! Here’s the link to vote for Post Reports for best individual news and politics episode:https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/news-politicsAnd best individual business episode: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/business

What the end of the transportation mask mandates means for you. And, the key to tracking coronavirus surges across the country could be in your poop. Read more:Yesterday a federal judge in Florida struck down a national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit. The Transportation Security Administration stopped enforcing the mandate, as did major airlines, with some of them informing passengers of the news midflight. The relaxation of the pandemic precaution has raised public health concerns: The decision comes as coronavirus cases are again climbing in the Northeast. Transportation reporter Michael Laris on what the end of the transportation mask mandate means for you.As official case counts become less reliable, public health officials are looking at poop to predict infection rates. Wastewater surveillance – testing the poop in public sewage systems – can capture the presence of coronavirus infection rates earlier than other testing options. National health reporter Lena Sun on why wastewater surveillance can keep the coronavirus under control.Vote for us in the Webby Awards! Here’s the link to vote for Post Reports for best individual news and politics episode:https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/news-politicsAnd best individual business episode: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/business

Today on Post Reports, tech reporter Nitasha Tiku breaks down what’s happening with Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter, what his vision of the platform would look like, and why Twitter is putting up a fight.Read more: Elon Musk is already facing pushback on multiple fronts on his plan to buy social media company Twitter. The billionaire launched his takeover bid last week after back-and-forth wrangling with Twitter since he became a major shareholder. First, he was invited to join the board. Then, he decided not to join the board.Now, he wants to buy the whole company and take it private. But Twitter’s board and Musk’s own resources might make his takeover attempt a tough task to complete, and Twitter employees have concerns about his leadership. Elon Musk’s vision for Twitter builds on the company's role as a public town square, but Musk wants to remove restrictions Twitter has developed to keep hate speech, harassment and toxicity off the platform in order to promote Musk's idea of free speech.Vote for us in the Webby Awards! Here’s the link to vote for Post Reports for best individual business episode:https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/businessAnd best individual news and politics episode: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2022/podcasts/individual-episodes/news-politics

On today’s bonus episode of Post Reports, we bring you a collaboration with NPR’s “Life Kit” about how to deal with mental health issues while on the job.Read more:Being on the clock while experiencing depression, anxiety or another mental health issue can be distracting, difficult and isolating. But you’re not alone. Post Reports producer Jordan-Marie Smith worked with NPR’s how-to podcast “Life Kit” on how to deal with mental health while at work. It doesn’t matter whether you are a barista or a CEO, this episode is a guide for how to get the help you need inside and outside of the workplace.Check out NPR’s “Life Kit” podcast on your favorite podcast app.

A family confronts a sheriff after a deadly no-knock raid.Read more:“Broken Doors” is a new investigative podcast series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.In the second episode of this series, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2015, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office hurled a battering ram into the home of Ricky Keeton to carry out a no-knock search warrant. After the raid turned deadly, Ricky’s family confronted the sheriff — and began secretly recording. The next episode is out now wherever you get your podcasts. You can email the “Broken Doors” team with any tips or feedback at BrokenDoors@washpost.com 

Today on “Post Reports,” how forever chemicals upended the lives of farmers in Maine — and just how widespread the contamination might be.Read more:Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis bought their farm seven years ago. In late 2021, they discovered that their land and water were contaminated with incredibly high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals” or PFAS. After finding out about the contamination, they shut down all of their farm operations.More than 2,800 sites nationwide are contaminated by forever chemicals, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. “And that’s only what’s documented,” journalist Keith O’Brien wrote for The Washington Post. “The real total is unknown, and possibly much higher.”Keith O’Brien’s new book is Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe.If you haven’t voted for Post Reports in the Webby Awards yet - now is the time! We are nominated for best news and politics episode and best business episode. Please support us by voting, and thank you.

Today on “Post Reports,” the battle over misinformation on Facebook in Ukraine. Plus, how TikTok has created an alternative universe, just for Russia. Read more:In Ukraine, Facebook fact-checkers are fighting a war on two fronts: racing to debunk propaganda about the war while also trying to survive it. Naomi Nix reports. With Russia cracking down on social media, the Chinese-owned company TikTok has managed to stay online there by banning all new content, even as loopholes let Russian propaganda through. Will Oremus says this basically means there’s a special, censored TikTok just for users in Russia.“Post Reports” is nominated for two Webby Awards! Please help us win by voting for us for best news episode and best business episode. If you missed these episodes when they were published and want to check out the work that’s nominated, go back and listen to “Four hours of insurrection” and “A tax haven in America’s heartland.”

Could Macron lose? That’s the question we put to Paris correspondent Rick Noack, who has been on the campaign trail with the incumbent and the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen. Today on Post Reports, what to know about the French presidential election.Read more: French President Emmanuel Macron finished ahead of far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential election. But far-right leader Le Pen’s close second-place finish set up a competitive runoff election on April 24.If you love “Post Reports,” help us win a 2022 Webby award by casting your votes here and here! We are nominated for best news and politics individual episode and best business individual episode.

On today’s episode of “Post Reports,” what life without federal student loan payments has meant for Black women. Plus, the double life of a WNBA star.Read more:Lamesha Brown bought a house. Alphi Coleman feels like she can finally rest. Lisa Jackson says it “almost feels like a raise.” For millions of Americans who took out loans to pay for college, the past two years have offered a chance to live without the burden of education debt. But Black women like Brown, Coleman and Jackson shoulder a disproportionate share of the $1.7 trillion student debt burden. Reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel talked with women about what they have been able to do while federal student loan repayment has been on pause during the pandemic. Plus, one more thing. It’s not unusual for retired professional athletes to have a second career in sports broadcasting, but Chiney Ogwumike is doing both at the same time. The WNBA star/NBA analyst spoke to sports reporter Ben Golliver. If you love “Post Reports,” help us win a 2022 Webby award by casting your votes here and here! We are nominated for best news and politics individual episode and best business individual episode.

An unusual warrant. A pattern of questionable no-knock raids. A reporting thread that just kept going. Read more:No-knock warrants allow police to force their way into people’s homes without warning. What happens when this aggressive police tactic becomes the rule, rather than the exception? “Broken Doors” is a new investigative podcast series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.In the first episode of this series, sheriff’s deputies burst through the front door of a man’s home as he slept. He said they pointed a gun at his head and ransacked his home in search of drugs and cash. The no-knock search warrant they used was threadbare. But that wasn’t the worst of it.The next two episodes are out now wherever you get your podcasts. You can email the “Broken Doors” team with any tips or feedback at BrokenDoors@washpost.com

Why prosecutors decided not to charge Minneapolis police officer Mark Hanneman in the killing of Amir Locke. Plus, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gets confirmed to the Supreme Court. Read more:On Wednesday, prosecutors announced they would not be filing charges against a Minneapolis police officer in the killing of Amir Locke during a predawn no-knock raid in February. In a statement on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Mark Hanneman, who fatally shot 22-year-old Locke, had violated the state’s use-of-deadly-force statute. Reporter Holly Bailey unpacks the decision not to charge Hanneman, and explains how it has deepened the distrust between the Minneapolis police and the community it is intended to serve. Plus, on Thursday, the Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court. She is expected to be sworn in this summer when Justice Stephen G. Breyer retires.Enjoy our podcast? Help us win a 2022 Webby award by casting your votes here and here. We are nominated for best news and politics individual episode, and best business individual episode. 

On Tuesday, Oklahoma lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to ban most abortions in the state, passing a Republican bill that would make performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If the law is signed — and not struck down by the courts — it will take effect this summer. The state is also weighing two other bills modeled on the restrictive Texas law that has banned most abortions by employing a novel legal strategy that empowers private citizens to enforce the law through civil litigation. Both bills would take effect immediately if signed by the governor. And that could happen within the next few days.National politics reporter Caroline Kitchener has been reporting on these laws. She and audio producer Rennie Svirnovskiy went to a pair of clinics in Tulsa to see how providers and patients were bracing themselves for what could be the last days of legal abortion in the state.Read more:Caroline Kitchener breaks down the bill that passed the Oklahoma state legislature in detail.

How Facebook’s parent company Meta paid one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate a nationwide PR campaign against TikTok. And, where we stand with booster shots and covid antivirals.Read more:Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is paying the Republican consulting group Targeted Victory to try to turn the American public against TikTok. They’ve done everything from placing op-eds in major regional news outlets to promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that are harming kids. Drew Harwell reports on why Facebook is targeting TikTok.And, an update from science reporter Carolyn Johnson on efforts to get another booster to older adults and expand access to covid antiviral medicines.

On today’s episode of Post Reports, grim scenes from the Ukrainian suburb of Bucha renew calls for investigations into alleged Russian war crimes. Read more:On Saturday, Ukrainian forces and journalists found mass graves in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, after Russian forces withdrew from the region. Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told The Post that about 270 residents had been buried in two graves. He estimated that 40 bodies were left on the street. On today’s episode of Post Reports, foreign correspondent Isabelle Khurshudyan reports on the discovery of these civilians’ bodies, and what it has sparked: international condemnation, calls for an investigation into possible Russian war crimes and vows that sanctions are coming.

As we enter Year 3 of the pandemic, we check back in with intensive care unit nurse Jessica Montanaro, whom we first met in 2021. Now sick with covid and facing a ticking clock on her return to work, she reflects on the past year and the present struggles of her profession. Read More:Last year we brought you the story of Jessica Montanaro, an intensive care unit nurse from New York City who found herself battling exhaustion and grief as New York became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and she cared for wave after wave of patients. Today, we’re going back to Montanaro. Producer Bishop Sand reached out to her earlier this year to see how she was faring as we approached Year 3 of the pandemic. He discovered that Montanaro was sick with covid. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New York state had shortened their recovery recommendations for health-care workers sick with the coronavirus, Montanaro was expected back at work after just five days — something she was not happy about. During her recovery, she talked to Sand daily. She shared stories of her struggles as a nurse over the past year and described her efforts to address the critical staffing shortages that have affected her team and profession as a whole.

Russia announced earlier this week it would scale back its offensive around Kyiv. We take you in and around the capital city to see whether that’s true. Plus, how videos of impromptu concerts around Ukraine have become the soundtrack of hope in the face of war. Read more:On Tuesday, Moscow announced that it would “drastically reduce” its military assault around Kyiv. But U.S. officials are leery of Russia’s promise to shift away from the capital city. Post foreign correspondent Siobhan O’Grady has been in Kyiv since the start of the war. She tells us that Russia doesn’t seem to be telling the truth based on accounts from the city and its surrounding areas, and explains how life in Kyiv has changed since the start of the war. Plus, how videos shared online of musicbeing made in the face of war have become a soundtrack of hope in the midst of despair.

How Peloton became a victim of its own success, and what the parasocial relationship with its instructors tells us about our relationships to ourselves. Plus, what happens when two cosmonauts and an astronaut return to earth.Read more:Peloton saw a meteoric rise at the start of the pandemic. But as normal life has resumed, sales of the stationary bike have plummeted and the company has been plunged into crisis. Business reporter Aaron Gregg explains. And writer Anne Helen Petersen, author of the newsletter Culture Study, talks about the general obsession with Peloton and its instructors — and what those relationships might reveal about ourselves and our connection with others. Plus, a dispatch from the International Space Station: An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts safely returned back to earth Wednesday after a historic mission. But there’s a conflict brewing over U.S.-Russia relations in space, and the future of the ISS is at stake.

On today’s episode of Post Reports, we bring you the latest news from Istanbul, where Russian and Ukrainian delegates are negotiating a de-escalation of the war. Read more:After a day of talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have laid out their terms for a potential end to the war.Moscow has said it would “drastically reduce” military activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv “to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations.” Kyiv has proposed that countries such as Israel, Turkey and France “guarantee” Ukraine’s security in the future, in exchange for Kyiv’s neutrality and pledge not to host foreign military bases or forces — in other words, Kyiv would make a promise to not seek NATO membership.Reporter Shane Harris describes the state of negotiations, and what a path to the end of the war could look like.

As more and more states move to restrict abortion rights, and the Supreme Court weighs whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, we look at how clinics in blue states are preparing for an influx of patients from across state lines. Read more:On today’s episode of Post Reports, national politics reporter Caroline Kitchener takes us inside a clinic on the Illinois side of the Illinois-Missouri border, where abortion providers are working to build a blue-state abortion refuge for patients from across the South and Midwest. Many of the more conservative states surrounding Illinois are moving to restrict abortion access as the Supreme Court considers whether to limit or overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade.The Post is tracking legislation that aims to restrict abortion across the country — 15-week bans, Texas-style bans, trigger laws and abortion pill bans — as well as what’s happening in the Democratic-dominated states moving to protect access to abortion.

On today’s Post Reports, what we can learn from texts between President Donald Trump’s top aide and the wife of a Supreme Court justice. Plus, why protesters in the Caribbean have not been charmed by William and Kate’s royal “charm offensive.”  Read more:In text messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News, Virginia Thomas — a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to keep up the relentless effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, calling Joe Biden’s victory “the greatest Heist of our History.”The messages, 29 in all, reveal an extraordinary pipeline between Virginia Thomas, who goes by Ginni, and President Donald Trump’s top aide at a time when Trump and his allies were vowing to go to the Supreme Court in an effort to negate the election’s results. Despite these ties, Justice Thomas chose not to recuse himself in a case deciding whether the former president could block the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol from obtaining certain records, including these text messages between Ginni Thomas and Meadows. On today’s episode of Post Reports, CBS’s Robert Costa tells us about the process of reporting out this story with The Post’s Bob Woodward and shares the questions he’ll be asking next. Critics say Ginni Thomas’s activism is a Supreme Court conflict. Under court rules, only her husband can decide whether that’s true. Michael Kranish reports on the criticism that Justice Thomas has exploited a hole in the court’s rules to ignore the conflict of interest created by his wife’s activism.Plus, Karla Adam explains why Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Catherine, have been met with anti-colonial protests and demands for reparations on their first official overseas visit together since the start of the pandemic.

The United States and the E.U. announced new sanctions on Russia on Thursday as President Biden held emergency talks with NATO leaders in Brussels. Today we talk about the geopolitical moment, and hear from the families of people trapped in Mariupol. Read more:President Biden said on Thursday that the United States will take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and will commit more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance for those affected by Russia’s continued invasion in Ukraine. As the war reached the one-month mark, Biden joined leaders from the European Union in projecting a unified front against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while announcing additional measures to isolate the Kremlin. We talk to Missy Ryan about how the geopolitical dynamics have changed over the past month, and how significant it is that the United States has accused members of Russia’s military of committing war crimes in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that assessment is based in part on U.S. intelligence and pointed to the suffering of civilians in Mariupol, a key port city that Russian forces cut off early in their invasion and then bombarded. Russian forces have also cut off communications and electricity in the city. Reporters Siobhán O'Grady and Kostiantyn Khudov speak to Ukrainians who are desperately searching for their relatives trapped in Mariupol.

Today, what we know about the BA.2 coronavirus variant and whether the United States is prepared for a possible rise in cases. Plus, why the war in Ukraine has had an unexpected impact on sushi prices in Japan.Read more:The BA.2 variant is now the most common variant among new coronavirus cases in the United States. And while experts say it’s unlikely to lead to a big surge, dropped mask mandates across the country could lead to more spread. Meanwhile, the federal government is running out of money for booster shots and other covid responses. Health policy reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb brings us the latest from Anthony S. Fauci on the new variant and the government response.Thousands of miles away from Ukraine, people in Japan are experiencing a trickle down effect of the war: a spike in sushi prices. That’s because a lot of the cheap fish eaten in Japan actually comes from Russia. The Japanese government had imposed sanctions on that fish – but the effects on local markets are looking too severe to bear. Tokyo bureau chief Michelle Ye Hee Lee explains how these seemingly distant markets are actually closely intertwined.

Today on Post Reports, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, and how Republicans are weighing the costs and benefits of opposing Jackson’s nomination.Read more:The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have begun. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first African American woman to be seated on the Supreme Court bench. While Jackson’s confirmation hearing is expected to be less contentious than those for other recent Supreme Court nominees, such as Amy Coney Barrett and Brett M. Kavanaugh, her path to the highest court still faces challenges. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake explains the political calculus Republicans are making in the Senate, held by a razor-thin Democratic majority, and how Jackson’s seat on the bench could affect future Supreme Court cases.

Today on Post Reports, a journey deep into the Amazon to uncover how the planned redevelopment of a highway could go hand in hand with deforestation and violence. Read more:Highway BR-319 slices through the heart of the Amazon. Built in the 1970s, it has slowly deteriorated, giving way to muck and mud. Many people who rely on the road are calling for its repair. But scientists warn that easier access to the rainforest will inevitably lead to illegal deforestation, which will soon tip the forest past a point of no return.Washington Post Rio de Janeiro bureau chief Terry McCoy and photographer Raphael Alves traveled the length of the broken highway to observe the destruction. They also looked at how criminal groups operate in the region, seizing land, razing trees and defending the seized territory with violence.

This week, a sleepy Senate voted unanimously to end “spring forward” and “fall back” and make daylight saving time permanent. Read more:The Senate surprised everyone in Washington this week by voting unanimously to end clock-switching in the United States and make daylight saving time permanent. Our health policy and politics reporter Dan Diamond got to take a break from covering the coronavirus to talk about the bipartisan legislation, which would need to get through the House and be signed by President Biden to become law. While there’s broad agreement among sleep experts that the country should abandon its twice yearly, seasonal-time changes, many sleep experts think standard time is better for our circadian rhythms. Check out how permanent daylight saving time would change sunrise and sunset times across the United States. Brighter winter evenings would come at the expense of darker mornings.

Today on Post Reports, we talk to our colleague Jason Rezaian about WNBA star Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia. Rezaian, who was unjustly held in Iran for 544 days, fears that Griner is being held as a geopolitical bargaining chip. Read more:Post opinions writer Jason Rezaian is very concerned about Brittney Griner. When he heard of her arrest, he says, his first thought was, “This sounds a lot like what happened to me.” Rezaian was arrested in 2014, and his case became a bargaining chip in nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran.Given the timing of Griner’s arrest, Rezaian says it could be tied to sanctions from the United States in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His opinions, he says, are informed by a new reality: More Americans are being wrongfully detained abroad, especially in moments of tension or conflict.Watch The Post’s short documentary “Bring Them Home,” an intimate look at one family in this situation.

On today’s show, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to Congress. Why U.S. sanctions on Russian oil aren’t the only thing raising gas prices. Plus, how the White House is enlisting TikTok influencers in the information war with Russia.Read more:On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress, calling on the United States to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine. While President Biden has resisted calls to create a no-fly zone, he and other world leaders have been moved by Zelensky’s appeals and the plight of Ukrainians. Biden this week pledged billions of dollars in aid to the war-torn country, and announced on Wednesday afternoon that the United States would be sending drones, anti-aircraft systems and other weapons to Ukraine. Western countries have also taken other drastic steps to punish and isolate Russia – including steps to wean the west off Russian oil and gas. Former energy reporter and Moscow Correspondent Will Englund reports on what sanctions on Russian oil could mean for Russia, for Europe, and for gas prices in the United States. The White House recently briefed TikTok creators and influencers on the war in Ukraine, as a way to combat disinformation from Russian propagandists on the popular platform. Taylor Lorenz is a tech columnist at The Post. She got a scoop on the Zoom call and explains what happened, if this is the right move, and what Russian disinformation about the war looks like.

Since the omicron outbreak began a few months ago, 10 times as many people have died in Hong Kong as in the previous two years. Today on Post Reports, how Hong Kong’s “zero covid” policy led to a devastating surge.Read more:Body bags, overflowing morgues and chaotic hospitals. Hong Kong — a wealthy financial center — now has the highest covid-19 death rate in the developed world. More than 4,000 people have died since the start of the city’s most recent outbreak, compared with just 213 in the two years prior. Those dying are overwhelmingly elderly, unvaccinated residents, but they also include toddlers and children too young to be immunized.Shibani Mahtani reports from Hong Kong on how the city has gone from “zero covid” to a catastrophe.

Many experts predicted that Russia would take Ukraine in a matter of days –– but fighting is now in its third week. Today on Post Reports, the failures of Russia’s military strategy, the surprising strength of Ukrainian forces, and how this could end. Read more:Almost three weeks into the Russian assault on Ukraine, Kyiv remains under Ukrainian control, to the surprise of many onlookers. “I think, broadly, there are two big reasons,” says national security reporter Shane Harris. “First, the Ukrainian people’s will to fight is, I think, greater than a lot of people had anticipated –– particularly Vladimir Putin. The second is that this ferocious, feared Russian military has turned out to be a lot less, maybe, than people had thought it was.”On today’s episode of Post Reports, Shane and Martine discuss the mistakes of the Russian military apparatus and the strength of the underestimated Ukrainian forces and game out scenarios for the end of the war. Plus, we hear from reporter Sudarsan Raghavan in Kyiv about the local orchestra playing in the city’s Independence Square. “Fortunately, it was extremely quiet during the performance,” Sudarsan says. “We didn't hear any shells landing. A few moments afterwards, air raid sirens went off and people moved away from the square.”

Two years in, many Americans are ready to leave the pandemic behind. But some people don’t have that luxury — like the immunocompromised, parents of small children and covid “long-haulers.” Today on the show, what it means to “live with covid.”Read more:It’s been two years since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Today on Post Reports, we take stock of how far we’ve come … and how far we still have to go.For many around the country, the pandemic is starting to feel like a thing of the past. In red and blue states alike, masks are coming off and vaccine requirements are relaxing. But for some — including the immunocompromised and parents of young kids — the pandemic is far from over.Health reporter Fenit Nirappil explains what it means for the virus to become endemic, and how the United States is looking to return to normalcy after two years of covid-19 mitigation efforts. Meanwhile, potentially hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing symptoms of long covid, months — or even years — after they were first exposed. And as the world tries to move on, they’re trying not to fall through the gaps in the social safety net. Business reporter Chris Rowland talks about the covid “long-haulers” struggling to get the disability benefits they — and their doctors —think they’re due. 

After blocking media access, the Russian government banned what it calls “fake” news on its war with Ukraine. Journalists are now fleeing the country. Today on Post Reports, what that means for the truth and Russians’ access to it. Read more:Independent journalists in Russia have been fleeing since Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a ban on “fake news,” which bars reporters from calling the war in Ukraine a “war” or referring to the “invasion.” (The preferred language is “special military operation.”) As foreign media outlets decide what that means for their coverage and staff, The New York Times this week became the first major American news organization to announce that it will pull its staff out of Russia in response to the new law.Media reporter Elahe Izadi reports on the consequences — for Russians’ access to good information, and for the rest of the world’s understanding of what’s happening in Russia.  “I think the biggest risk here is it obscures the truth,” Elahe says. “We need to know the truth of the facts of the situation in order to assess an appropriate response. That’s the same for people within Russia.”This new law is also creating challenges for social media platforms. Nitasha Tiku explains how TikTok has responded, and what other platforms might do. As The Post has reported, TikTok has long tried to stay out of politics, but Russia’s invasion is making that harder.

Today on Post Reports, we explore the hidden cost of police misconduct. Cities around the country spent more than $1.5 billion between 2010 and 2020 to settle claims involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of misconduct – and often left taxpayers in the dark.Read more:A warning to listeners: Today’s episode of Post Reports includes a story about police violence that may be disturbing to some people, especially animal lovers.When we hear about lawsuits against police departments, it’s often in cases involving fatal police shootings, like Breonna Taylor’s or George Floyd’s, that result in multimillion-dollar settlements.“Those cases, they make the headlines, they make the news,” says Washington Post reporter Keith Alexander. “But there are other cases where officers are the subject of numerous lawsuits — 10, 12, 13 — for much smaller offenses, but they're happening repeatedly.”In a new investigation from The Post, Keith and fellow reporters tallied nearly 40,000 payments made by 25 major cities and counties around the country to settle repeat allegations of misconduct involving thousands of officers. What they found was the hidden cost of police misconduct: the staggering amount that’s been paid over the past decade and the way that taxpayers are often kept in the dark.Steven Rich and Hannah Thacker contributed to this report. If you want to learn more about how The Post reported on the hidden billion-dollar cost of repeated police misconduct, check out this video.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, one question has loomed large: What does Putin want? Nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada went looking for clues in the Russian leader’s 2000 book and other writings. Today on Post Reports, he shares what he learned. Read more:Reporters Siobhan O’Grady and Whitney Shefte have been reporting from the Ukrainian city of Irpin, just outside of Kyiv, where people are desperately trying to escape a Russian attack. As the invasion of Ukraine goes on, so many of us around the world are asking: Where is this headed? What does Russia want? Or, maybe, a better question: What does Vladimir Putin want? “What Putin really wants” is a perennial topic for cable news debates and big-think magazine covers; the current invasion of Ukraine has prompted questions about the Russian leader’s mental health and pandemic-era isolation. But his motives can also be gleaned in part from his book and his frequent essays and major speeches, all seething with resentment, propaganda and self-justification. In light of his writings, Carlos Lozada says, Russia’s attack on Ukraine seems less about reuniting two countries than about challenging the United States and NATO. 

How Ukrainians are documenting the destruction of their country. And, why the international community may struggle to hold Russian officials accountable for alleged war crimes.Read more:As Russia continues its artillery assault of major population centers in Ukraine, Western officials have begun accusing Russian military officials of committing war crimes. “We've seen these really gruesome images of civilian casualties, of the shelling and the complete destruction of Ukrainian cities,” says foreign affairs reporter Claire Parker. “And mounting evidence of the use of weapons that have triggered serious alarm among international observers and raised allegations that Russia could be committing war crimes.”On today’s Post Reports, Sudursan Raghavan reports from the rubble of a village near Kyiv, where a team was collecting evidence of possible war crimes. Then, Parker walks us through the accusations against the Russian military and why it may be difficult for the International Criminal Court to hold anyone accountable.

A team of Danish filmmakers spent more than two years following Trump confidant and adviser, Roger Stone. Their footage — and an investigation from The Washington Post — shed new light on Stone’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Read more:As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his suite at downtown Washington’s Willard hotel. Before leaving the city on a private jet, he told an aide he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said.On today’s Post Reports, how two documentary makers gained extraordinary access to a member of Trump’s inner circle — and what their footage reveals about the campaign to overturn the 2020 election.Their footage, along with other reporting by The Post, provides the most comprehensive account to date of Stone’s involvement in the former president’s effort to overturn the election and the Jan. 6 insurrection.For months, he coordinated with far-right leaders and urged allies to join the “Stop the Steal” movement. When it all fell apart, he lobbied the former president for a pardon for himself and “the entire MAGA movement,” up until the day Trump left office.Their film, “A Storm Foretold,” is expected to come out later this year. You can watch excerpts here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s improbable journey — from an actor who played the president on TV, to the real president of Ukraine, to the center of an American impeachment, to a war hero. Plus, an interview with the director of “The Batman.”  Read more:The world has been captivated by videos from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the past week. The TV president turned wartime leader has a habit of turning up center stage in global events. Producer Ted Muldoon talked to reporters from around the newsroom about Zelensky’s unlikely path from entertainer to wartime president. David Betancourt has been guest hosting Post Reports the past couple of days — but his day job is reporting on comic book culture for The Post. He says the new Batman movie marks a return to greatness for DC after a decade dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Today on Post Reports, David interviews the film’s director, Matt Reeves.

Today on Post Reports, how the U.S. is imposing sanctions on Russia’s elite. Plus, why Major League Baseball is canceling games. Read more:On Thursday, the White House announced new sanctions against more Russian elites and their family members. Reporter Jeff Stein explains the strategy behind seizing yachts, jets and luxury apartments.  This week, Major League Baseball announced that roughly 90 games would be canceled amid a labor dispute between the players union and team owners. Baseball reporter Chelsea Janes explains why the two parties can’t come to an agreement and why the lockout is so aggravating to fans. 

Nearly 900,000 people have fled Ukraine for safety. On today’s show, the refugees of the war in Ukraine. Read more:Hundreds of thousands of refugees have left Ukraine for neighboring countries, and many are now waiting in holding centers across the region. Many are women and children; Ukrainian authorities have told men ages 18 to 60 to stay in the country to fight the invasion.Almost 900,000 people have fled Ukraine and are looking to places like Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary for safety. Traffic data shows severe backups at nearly every border crossing over the weekend, particularly at crossings into Poland. Officials warn that the flow of refugees is likely to escalate into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Today on the show, the refugees fleeing Ukraine to escape the war. Katya Merezhinsky is one of those people. She was in Lviv when the war began, and she recounts her harrowing journey out of Ukraine.  Foreign correspondent and Berlin bureau chief Loveday Morris reports on the ground from the Ukraine-Poland border, where busloads of refugees are arriving in Poland. She says, “Hordes of people are [arriving] with real tales of horror.” Video journalist Jon Gerberg is also on the Ukraine-Poland border and reports on the discrimination some refugees of color have faced as they’ve tried to cross it.“What starts on paper as a policy of national priority in the end effectively translates into a two-class process,” Gerberg says.Follow our coverage on the war in Ukraine here. 

Today on Post Reports, we bring you the latest from the war in Ukraine. How sanctions from the West are tanking Russia’s currency. Plus, a dire new climate report from the United Nations.Read more:Six days into the invasion of Ukraine, fierce fighting continued in Kharkiv as Russian forces closed in on the second-largest Ukrainian city. A convoy seemed to be stalled outside Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon. Follow the latest on the war from our reporters on the ground. The United States and Europe have responded to Russia’s aggression with historic sanctions. But are they working? Paul Sonne reports on the impact on Russia’s economy and how much this changes things for ordinary Russians. Meanwhile, on Monday a newly released report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that the window is closing to prevent catastrophic climate change. “Frankly, I don't think that I've ever seen a report so dire,” says climate reporter Sarah Kaplan. “The language is just incredibly bleak.”There is, however, a glimmer of hope: Humanity still has time to shift Earth's warming trajectory, scientists say. But averting the world’s worst-case scenarios will require nothing less than transformational change on a global scale.

Today, on the ground in Kyiv, where the battle for control continues. And NATO 101: how NATO came to be, how its mission has evolved since the end of the Cold War, and why two nonmembers are challenging the way the security organization is seen.Read more:Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the military alliance of mainly Western countries united by a mutual defense treaty. But post-Cold War tension between the West and Russia over NATO is at the heart of the current crisis. On today’s episode of Post Reports, we ask where NATO fits  into global conflict, and how the history of the organization informs geopolitical relations today.Since 1999, 14 nations have joined NATO, including Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and the Baltic states. Russia has demanded that the alliance stop expanding eastward — and that it bar Ukraine from joining. Ukraine’s government has said that it would like to enter the alliance, along with other nations that were once part of or allied with the former Soviet Union.In speeches this month, President Biden has vowed that the United States would meet its commitments under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which says that an attack on one is an attack on all. But, since Ukraine isn’t a member, what does that even mean for the country? And for the rest of the world? “As these countries have grown in number, it’s even more questionable whether we would send our troops to defend these countries,” says Sarah Kreps, professor of government, law and public policy and director of the Tech Policy Lab at Cornell University. “We would need some real leadership to help the public understand what the issue is, and explain the consequences of inaction.” Follow the latest from Ukraine here.

Today, a deep dive into the life of Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Plus, a dispatch from Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing closer to the capital, Kyiv.Read more: On Friday morning, President Biden announced his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court: federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Jackson is a former clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman and the first former federal public defender on the Supreme Court. Legal affairs reporter Ann Marimow on Jackson’s past, and what she’d bring to the court.Plus, a dispatch from Ukraine, where Russia is advancing on the capital, Kyiv. Our foreign correspondent Siobhan O’Grady reports.

On Thursday, Russia launched attacks on cities across Ukraine, from Kyiv to Kharkiv. Today on Post Reports, what it’s like on the ground there, Putin’s calculus, and why the United States and Europe feel powerless to stop Russia.   Read more:Ukrainians in cities and towns across the country woke up to the sound of explosions early Thursday morning as Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine. On Thursday afternoon, President Biden announced further sanctions against Russia, saying, “We have no intention of fighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message, though, that the United States, together with our Allies, will defend every inch of NATO territory.”But will those sanctions make any difference? “I don't see any sanctions that are going to, especially at this point, prevent him from trying to execute his plan,” reporter Paul Sonne said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added: “This is a horrific turn of events in world history. Russia is an incredibly powerful military, and it's unleashing its full military might against a neighboring, much less powerful state. And we're witnessing that in real time. “We're seeing Ukrainians suffering deeply, fearing for their lives, fleeing their cities, moving their children into bomb shelters. And because Russia is a nuclear power, people in the United States and in Europe are feeling quite powerless to do anything about it.”We also hear from our reporters on the ground in Ukraine about what these early days of attacks feel like for the people caught in the crossfire.Follow The Post’s coverage of the assault on Ukraine here. 

Much of America wants policing to change. But these self-proclaimed experts in police training tell officers they’re doing just fine. Today on Post Reports, we take you inside a police training conference.Read more:For more than a year now, Robert Klemko has been covering calls for police reform across the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.But last fall, he started wondering — have these calls for reform changed anything about the way police are trained?He went looking for a police training conference, and he found the Street Cop Training Conference in Atlantic City in October. The speakers included the right-wing political commentator Tomi Lahren, former law enforcement officers and military personnel. Robert wasn’t allowed to attend — but he did obtain a recording of the conference, and he shares it with us today. You can read more about Robert’s reporting, and listen to his article here. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

Today on Post Reports – did Russia just invade Ukraine? Foreign correspondent Isabelle Khurshudyan says it depends on who you ask. Plus, Michael Robinson Chavez on what it’s like reporting from the eastern front. Read more: On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he is recognizing two separatist regions of Ukraine as independent. He ordered troops to “perform peacekeeping functions” in those regions – which the United States and other allies say amounts to an invasion. On Tuesday, Biden called it a “flagrant violation of international law” and announced a first round of sanctions, while saying he still hopes diplomacy is possible.Moscow correspondent Isabelle Khurshudyan reports from eastern Ukraine on what this means for Ukrainians, and how far its allies will go to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty.Later in the show, we hear a harrowing story from photojournalist Michael Robinson Chavez who was reporting from the front lines in Ukraine.  If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please consider a subscription to The Washington Post. Right now you can try it out for FREE for four weeks. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Students, teachers and historians reflect on what has changed – and what should change – about the way we teach presidential history today.Read more:Americans are grappling with the complex legacies of former presidents.In just the past few weeks, a Theodore Roosevelt statue came down in New York City and a high school in New Jersey named after Woodrow Wilson officially decided to drop the president’s name.Today’s episode is hosted by Lilian Cunningham and looks to students, teachers and presidential historians to illuminate what has – and hasn’t – changed about how the presidency is taught in the classroom.We’re joined by Professors Barbara Perry of the University of Virginia and Julian Zelizer of Princeton University; Clint Smith, author of “How the Word is Passed”; and the AP government and politics class of teacher Michael Martirone. To learn more about the life and legacy of every single American president, check out “The Presidential” podcast: Listen here.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners – one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

With midterms ahead, both parties are tryings to connect with voters. But what if voters just want politics to stop feeling like an existential death match? Plus, a tribute to “Arthur,” the kids show ending after 25 years.Read more:This year’s midterm elections have Democrats and Republicans facing tough questions about how to reach voters. Back in November, there was a test case that offered some insight to both parties: the Virginia governor’s race.Businessman Glenn Youngkin was the first Republican to be elected governor of Virginia in nearly a decade. The race was viewed nationally as both a test of Joe Biden’s presidency and whether Republicans could mount a return after losing the White House.Washington Post Magazine reporter David Montgomery wanted to know what led voters in a state that voted for Biden by big margins in 2020 to suddenly swing right in 2021. So he set out on a road trip across Virginia to talk to voters and to hear how the heated rhetoric between both political parties has influenced local communities.After 25 years, the animated children’s show “Arthur” is ending. Producer Ariel Plotnick speaks with the author of the original books and the longtime executive producer of the show about what made “Arthur” so relatable for kids and parents alike. 

How some of the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting reached a settlement with Remington Arms nearly a decade after the massacre. Plus, why a convoy of semi-trucks descended on downtown Ottawa three weeks ago — and never left.Read more:When the families of nine of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School began their lawsuit against the gunmaker of the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, their goal was to spare other families the pain that had upended their own lives. On Tuesday, the victims’ families marked a victory in that effort with the announcement of a $73 million settlement with Remington Arms, which manufactures the Bushmaster. “This lawsuit is really being viewed as an opening, an example of what is possible,” says reporter Kim Bellware. “But also, lawyers are saying this should be a wake-up call for other people who are in business with gun manufacturers … to let them know that these gun companies can’t just operate how they want, and that being in business with companies like this can be very expensive.” Later in the show, we take you to Ottawa, where thousands of demonstrators in semi-trucks have been parked in downtown for weeks in protest of vaccine mandates. They also blocked the Ambassador Bridge, a key crossing into the United States, wreaking economic havoc on both countries.Now their demands have grown to include lifting all pandemic restrictions – and authorities say some have ties to extremist groups. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act for the first time in the country’s history in an attempt to restore order. Post reporter Amanda Coletta is in Ottawa watching the protests unfold.

Today on Post Reports, how one company made millions by scooping up homes across the United States, then renting them back to people who could no longer afford to buy them.  Read more:Last year investors bought nearly 1 in 7 homes sold in America’s top metropolitan areas, the most in at least two decades, according to data from the realty company Redfin and an analysis by The Washington Post. Those purchases come at a time when would-be buyers across the country are seeing wildly escalating prices, raising the question of what impact investors are having on prices for everyone else. Today we visit a block in the suburbs of Nashville that used to be the perfect place for first-time homebuyers. Then, global investors bought in. As part of the Pandora Papers investigation, financial reporter Peter Whoriskey explains how a private equity-backed company called Progress Residential reaps big profits from stressed American renters amid a national affordability crisis.

Kamila Valieva is arguably the best female figure skater in the world. She’s also a 15-year-old at the center of an Olympics doping scandal. After the skater’s emotional performance Tuesday, we talk about doping and her controversial coach.Read more:Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old figure skating phenom from Russia, arrived in Beijing poised for a coronation, with a potential Olympic title affirming her status as the best women’s skater of her time. But now at the center of the doping controversy that has rocked these Games, Valieva finished her short program and brought her hands over her eyes, overwhelmed by a week in which her eligibility for this competition was in jeopardy – and is still being called into question.Health reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb explains the doping scandal andthe questions being raised about Kamila Valieva’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze. The Russian coach has helped revolutionize women's figure skating, but the doping controversy surrounding her latest star has put Tutberidze’s methods under an unwelcome spotlight.

Diplomatic efforts to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine have failed to ease tensions — and  that has huge stakes for Ukraine, for Europe and for America’s standing in the world.Read more:The U.S. State Department has announced that the U.S. will close its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, with remaining embassy personnel being relocated closer to the border with Poland because of mounting U.S. fears of an invasion by Russia.Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to leave the diplomatic door open, but as national security reporter Shane Harris explains, talks aren’t producing any breakthroughs.

Today on Post Reports, a guide to the judges being considered to fill Justice Stephen Breyer’s Supreme Court seat and make history as the first Black woman on the court. Plus, two Washington Post politics experts talk … figure skating. Read more:After Justice Stephen G. Breyer announced his plan to retire at the end of the Supreme Court’s current term, all eyes turned to President Biden, who now has the chance to bolster the court’s liberal minority and deliver on a major campaign promise: to nominate the first Black female justice. On today’s Post Reports, White House reporter Seung Min Kim runs through the professional backgrounds and legal philosophies of three of the judges under consideration – Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger and J. Michelle Childs – and the challenges they could face if nominated. And later in the episode, non-sports-reporters Phil Rucker and Robert Samuels join Maggie Penman to talk about … Olympic figure skating. 

We look at why rents have gone up across the nation, and whether that trend will end any time soon.Read more:Nationwide, the price of renting a home has skyrocketed recently — in some places the rent is up more than 30 percent. As economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai explains, the effect on some renters has been severe: Millions of Americans have been forced to move, while others have become homeless until they can find another place to live.

What a brazen Islamic State prison break reveals about the strength of the terrorist group. Plus, amid uncertainty over the future of Roe v. Wade, Vermont moves to enshrine access to abortion in the state’s constitution. Read more:The world forgot this Syrian prison. The Islamic State did not. Baghdad bureau chief Louisa Loveluck was recently in Syria reporting on the fallout from a brazen ISIS attack, and what it revealed about the enduring strength of the group.Politics reporter Caroline Kitchener reports on abortion for The Post. She explains the latest moves by state legislatures to either protect — or restrict — access to abortion as the Supreme Court considers a decision that could limit or even overturn Roe v. Wade.

What it means for a star American athlete to compete for China in the Beijing Olympics. Plus, how an anonymous Instagram account called “Dear White Staffers” is exposing what it can be like working for lawmakers on Capitol Hill.Read more:Eileen Gu is an American dream of an Olympic athlete. Born and raised in San Francisco, she won gold in the big-air freestyle skiing event and is a favorite in two more events. But she’s not competing for the United States. She’s competing for China. Les Carpenter reports on how Gu’s choice magnifies the ongoing tensions between the United States and China.An Instagram account called “Dear White Staffers'' has become a safe space for congressional aides to anonymously call out lawmakers and share their experiences. Marianna Sotomayor reports that the account is also galvanizing unionization efforts on the Hill.

As Russia appears to prepare for a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States and NATO allies scramble to find a diplomatic resolution.Read more:Russia is close to completing preparations for what appears to be a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could lead to 50,000 civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis with millions of refugees fleeing the chaos, according to U.S. military and intelligence assessments. Intelligence reporter Shane Harris breaks down how the diplomatic efforts to de-escalate on the border are going –– and where the skepticism of all sides in the conflict comes from.

For four years, Maria Chic Reynoso and her daughter, Adelaida, only spoke through a screen. They were separated at the U.S. border under Trump. Though they’re reunited, they’re still haunted by the past — and the possibility of another separation. Read more:Maria Chic Reynoso and her daughter, Adelaida, were among the first to be separated at the U.S.-Mexico border in the summer of 2017 under the Trump administration — a year before the White House publicly acknowledged it was separating young children from their parents. Maria was deported back to rural Guatemala, and Adelaida was sent to live with Maria’s sister in South Florida. Maria and Adelaida spent four agonizing years apart from each other, unsure as to whether or when they would see each other again. In 2021, Maria and Adelaida were finally reunited. But as Mexico City Bureau Chief Kevin Sieff explains, the trauma of the separation is far from over.“Almost every family I've talked to has expressed some fundamental kind of fracture in their family that didn't just occur at the moment of separation, but occurred in the period between separation and reunion,” Sieff explains. “And it's just obvious that all of these families are going to have a hard time rebuilding relationships, including this one.” 

Three police officers are on trial in Minnesota for their role in George Floyd’s murder. The case centers on their “duty to intervene” in the actions of Derek Chauvin. But some are asking: How do you teach cops to stand up to other cops? Read more:Former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao are facing trial on federal charges that they deprived George Floyd of his federal civil rights in the fatal May 2020 arrest. Reporter Holly Bailey has been reporting on the courtroom proceedings — a process that’s played out much differently than in Chauvin’s trial. “It feels like we're really going to get deep into what police officers in Minneapolis are trained to do, and how exactly they are trained,” Bailey says.In the aftermath of Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s conviction, police departments around the country have been seeking out training in “bystander intervention” — teaching police officers how to speak up when their colleagues are doing something harmful. “For decades and decades, we've been teaching police officers about intervention, but we've been doing it really badly,” says Jonathan Aronie of the Sheppard Mullin law firm, the co-founder of the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project. “All we do is we give them a PowerPoint and we say, ‘Thou shall intervene,’ as though it's easy. And we've never, ever taught the skills of intervention.”

For many parents of young kids, the news that Pfizer and BioNTech are seeking emergency-use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 5 couldn’t have come soon enough. What we know — and don’t know — at this point in the process. Read more:Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that coronavirus vaccines for children younger than 5 could be available far sooner than expected — perhaps by the end of February — under a plan that would lead to the potential authorization of a two-shot regimen in the coming weeks.There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the regulatory strategy here, says science reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson. But for parents of young children, this news may feel like a light at the end of the tunnel.

Today on Post Reports, we talk about corporate responsibility — at the Olympics, and in the C-suite. Plus, Wordle gets bought out. Read more:The U.S. government may be boycotting the Olympics, but American corporate sponsors aren’t. Global business reporter Jeanne Whalen says, “China is the world's second biggest economy, and for many of these companies, it is one of their biggest markets.” We break down what that means for the diplomatic boycott and its impact. A Washington Post review of America's most valuable public companies reveals that Black employees still represent a strikingly small number of top executives — and that the people tapped to boost inclusion often struggle to do so. Business reporter Tracy Jan explains why. Plus, one more thing about Wordle — and why the popular online word game being bought by the New York Times feels like the end of an era. Have federal student loans? Tell us what you’ve done since the payment freeze. The Washington Post is covering the freeze on federal student loan payments, which was first imposed in March 2020 because of the pandemic. We'd like to hear from borrowers on how the freeze has impacted them.

The legacy of “truth in sentencing” politics in Maryland, where the vast majority of people serving life sentences are Black, and how a new law could alter what it means to serve life in prison.Read more:Politics have shaped the parole process in Maryland for decades. In the heat of a tough-on-crime campaign in the 1990s, the state’s governor said that he would reject parole for anyone serving a life sentence, even when parole commissioners had recommended release. This policy, maintained by his successors from both parties, has left hundreds of prisoners with parole-eligible sentences to grow old and die in prison.This changed in December when state legislators voted to push the governor out of the parole process. Rebecca Tan reports on the policy’s impact and what this change could mean for similar efforts across the country. 

The revolutionary Webb telescope reaches its final destination. Amy Schneider’s historic winning streak on “Jeopardy!” comes to an end. Plus, the faster world of 5G, explained.Read more:NASA’s revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope on Monday fired its thrusters for five minutes and reached its final destination, a special orbit around the sun where it will spend the rest of its life scrutinizing the universe and capturing light emitted soon after the big bang. Joel Achenbach reports. Amy Schneider’s history-making “Jeopardy!” streak came to an end this week. Emily Yahr breaks down why she charmed so many people. 5G service just got faster for some people. Our Help Desk colleague Chris Velazco explains why.

A hunger crisis in Afghanistan is forcing Western countries to grapple with how to save lives without benefiting the Taliban.Read more:After Taliban forces took Kabul in August, foreign aid into Afghanistan dried up. The international community worried that aid money would be misused by Taliban officials, so that money stopped coming. Banks ceased normal operations. Billions of dollars in Afghan assets were frozen.This economic freeze – in combination with the freezing temperatures Afghans have faced this winter – has become a “lethal combination for the people of Afghanistan,” according to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres. But after several months of negotiations, the floodgates of foreign relief aid are reopening. This month, the U.N.announced an appeal for more than $5 billion in emergency aid for Afghanistan. The Biden administration has committed $300 million. And while these numbers look like they could be life-changing, foreign correspondent Pamela Constable says, “it’s still tiny compared to the need.”

Justice Stephen G. Breyer will retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term. This clears the way for President Biden to make good on his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to serve on the court.Read more:Justice Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court, according to a person familiar with his plans. This clears the way for President Biden to reinforce the court’s liberal minority and make good on a campaign promise: to nominate the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court. Our Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes says Breyer will be remembered for his willingness to compromise with his conservative colleagues — and his long-winded questions.

How inflation is wiping out pay raises. Plus, how Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s mask mandate ban has plunged Virginia’s public schools into chaos. Read more:After years of barely budging, wage growth is finally at its highest level in decades. Workers have more negotiating power than many ever imagined, and average hourly wages rose 4.7 percent last year. But, as economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai explains, the same strong recovery that is emboldening workers is also driving up inflation, leaving most Americans with less spending power than they had a year ago.Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) banned mask mandates in public schools recently. Now, school districts are suing in the name of science. National education writer Laura Meckler says this is not an isolated incident. Many states are dealing with a fight to either support mask mandates or parents’ rights.

Today on Post Reports we ask our Moscow correspondent: Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? Plus, 5G wireless service was turned on nationwide last week. We’ll talk about why that caused problems for air travel.Read more:On Monday, tensions over Ukraine and Russia continued to escalate amid growing fears that more than 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine might soon invade. Isabelle Khurshudyan reports from Kyiv. 5G service was rolled out nationwide last week, and while it promises faster wireless to a lot of people, it's also raising concerns for airlines and airports. Lori Aratani reports.

A Rhode Island emergency department provides a window into how front-line health-care workers are coping with the latest covid surge. And a conversation about how André Leon Talley embodied the heart of the fashion world.Read more:Laura Forman, Kent Hospital’s emergency department director, says that her days dealing with a deluge of covid patients involves a lot of “best bad options.” Reporters Joyce Koh and Lenny Bernstein reported from Rhode Island, where overwhelmed emergency staff have been forced to see patients in their cars. Forman says her staff are burning out – and the conditions are the worst she’s seen in her 26-year career. Fashion icon André Leon Talley died this week at the age of 73. Talley was the former creative director of American Vogue, the first and only black person to hold that position. Senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan interviewed Talley many times over the years – and they were also friends. “He had an incredible capacity for generosity. And it came through in a way that was just as grand as his personality,” Givhan says.

Today on Post Reports, the government’s rollout of free rapid coronavirus tests in the United States. And later in the show, how China’s “zero covid” policy could affect the Winter Olympics.  Read more:This week, the Biden administration launched a website where Americans can order free rapid coronavirus tests. Each household is eligible for four tests, which are sent via mail to your residence. Reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb explains the importance — and limitations of rapid tests. You can order your four free tests here.As some countries become more lenient in their pandemic restrictions, others are doubling down. China’s zero-tolerance policy means some cities are still going through lockdowns in hopes of quashing any possible spread of the virus. Eva Dou reports on what this means for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.

As midterm elections loom, Democrats scramble to hold on to their slim majority. Plus, what a redistricting debacle in Ohio tells us about the map-drawing process happening in states across the country.Read more:For Democrats in swing districts, the midterm elections are looming large. These “front-liners” especially need something to show for their two years in the majority come November. As Marianna Sotomayor reports, some of them are advocating a new strategy on the stalled Build Back Better spending bill — breaking off popular measures, such as extending the child tax credit and curbing prescription drug costs, and abandoning the big, sweeping package.Based on the results of the 2020 Census, states are drawing up new maps that could dramatically affect how midterm elections go in the fall. One of the states going through this process right now is Ohio, where last week the state Supreme Court rejected a pair of proposed state legislative redistricting maps, saying they were gerrymandered favoring Republicans. Chief national politics correspondent Dan Balz tells us about the rules and processes in place to stop gerrymandering in Ohio, and why they’ve failed –– for now.

What we know about the 11-hour hostage crisis at a Texas synagogue. Plus, Australia sends tennis champion Novak Djokovic home because of his refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Read more:On Saturday night, a gunman held four people hostage for more than 10 hours at a synagogue in Colleyville, Tex. The standoff ended with an FBI raid. The suspect has been confirmed dead, though Colleyville police would not say whether he had been killed by law enforcement or himself.“The tragedy here is that a house of worship should be a place that people go to without a thought, that it is just simply assumed to be a safe and welcoming place,” says senior editor Marc Fisher. “But of course, in much of the world, synagogues are places that are very much targets.”Meanwhile, tennis star Novak Djokovic left Australia on Sunday after losing his legal challenge to compete in the Australian Open despite not being vaccinated against the coronavirus. Reporter Liz Clarke on how the decision to send Djokovic home over his vaccination status could set precedent for future tournaments.

More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. On today’s episode of “Post Reports,” the first database of those slaveholding congressmen. And how those politicians shaped the nation. Read more:For the first seven decades of its existence, Congress returned again and again to one acrimonious topic: slavery. Many of the lawmakers arguing in Washington were enslavers themselves. But until recently, the world didn’t know how many. Last week, The Post published the first-ever list of every slaveholding member of the U.S. Congress. More than 1,700 of them were elected to Congress over a period of well over a century. To create the database, reporter Julie Zauzmer Weil combed through 18th- and 19th-century census records and other documents, including wills, journal articles and plantation records. And while she says that the work is not yet complete, it’s still useful, and powerful.“You can look at a lot of issues through this prism of where we started as a country, and where the people who held power were so often the same people who held slaves,” Julie said. “And what does that mean for us now?”

President Biden says passing voting rights legislation is a top priority for his administration. But a couple of senators have the power to keep that from happening. And, an unlikely casualty of our supply chain blues.Read more:In Atlanta this week, President Biden pushed for the passage of two voting rights bills facing the Senate. But any meaningful change on voting reform would mean changing Senate rules on the filibuster. And two Democratic senators are holding out: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.On The Post’s politics podcast “Can He Do That?” national political reporter Cleve Wootson talks with host Allison Michaels about the state of voting legislation and the filibuster.And, the pandemic claims an unlikely victim: the color blue. Reporter Kelsey Ables explains how breakdowns in the supply chain have led to a shortage of pigments like ultramarine blue and what it could mean for how we see and record the world now.

Inflation has hit a 40-year high in the U.S., driving up the cost of everything from groceries to housing. As the Fed prepares to raise interest rates, here’s what to watch out for.Read more:In December, inflation hit a staggering 7 percent. That’s far above the Federal Reserve’s target, and Chair Jerome H. Powell says action is needed to keep the economy from sliding into a recession. Economics reporter Rachel Siegel breaks down the impact of record inflation and what the Fed plans to do about it.Interest rates have hovered near zero since the start of the pandemic, but now the Fed is looking at a series of raises over the next few months. Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary explains what that means for borrowers.

Today on Post Reports: Why you’re seeing empty shelves at the grocery store — again. Plus, the sharp decline in the U.S. birthrate nine months after the pandemic began.Read more:A lot of people have been getting “March 2020 vibes” at the grocery store lately: Empty shelves, basic necessities missing and big price increases on certain foods. Reporter Laura Reiley explains there are several factors at play, including the omicron surge, supply chain woes and winter weather.“Uncertainty is not good for fertility.” That’s what demographics reporter Tara Bahrampour heard from Phillip Levine, a professor of economics at Wellesley College and co-author of a recent report on the “baby bust” nine months after the pandemic began. That’s also what she heard from people about their decisions to delay or reconsider having a child. We talk about the many reasons for this trend, from the logistical to the philosophical.

Today the United States broke the record for covid hospitalizations. We talk about what overwhelmed hospitals mean for health-care workers and patients. Plus, a story about the power of reclaiming a name. Read more:The United States today broke a record with more than 145,000 people sick with covid-19 in hospitals. Health reporter Dan Diamond explains what that means for health-care workers on the front lines, and for those of us who depend upon them.Plus, editor Marian Chia-Ming Liu on why she started using her full name after a wave of anti-Asian violence. If you’ve ever struggled with your own name or felt pressure to Anglicize it, we want to hear from you. Go to wapo.st/telllusaboutyourname.

Today, we look at the toll of remote learning on kids. We’ll dive into what’s happening in school systems across the country during the omicron variant surge — and how the scars of remote school linger, even for kids who are learning in person again. Read more:Reporter Laura Meckler talks with producer Bishop Sand about how a San Francisco school’s return to in-person learning revealed the toll virtual school took on students during the pandemic. Plus, an update on how schools across the country are operating — or trying to — amid the omicron surge.

As we reflect on the anniversary of Jan. 6, we wanted to share an episode from last year. We reconstructed the riot inside the U.S. Capitol — hearing from the lawmakers, journalists and law enforcement officials who were there, and answering lingering questions about how things went so wrong.

On Jan. 5, 2021, Rep. Jamie Raskin buried his only son. The next day he witnessed firsthand the attack on the Capitol. As we mark a year since the insurrection, we look at how Raskin dealt with his son’s death while serving on democracy’s front lines. Read more:A warning to listeners: This episode deals with suicide. If you or someone you know needs help now, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. You can also reach a crisis counselor by texting HOME to 741-741.A year ago this week, as Congress convened to certify the results of the presidential election, a mob breached the U.S. Capitol, attacked police and threatened lawmakers.Later that night, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) emerged as one of the day’s most forceful voices, condemning President Donald Trump and his supporters and speaking of his own unthinkable loss. He had recently lost his only son to suicide and had buried him just the day before.As we mark a year since the Jan. 6 Insurrection, we talk to Washington Post features writer Caitlin Gibson about how Raskin dealt with his son’s death while serving on democracy’s front lines — and, in a year filled with trauma and grief, about why his story has resonated so deeply with so many.Raskin’s memoir was published this week. It’s called “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy.”Caitlin Gibson’s profile of Raskin first appeared in The Washington Post Magazine.

A year out from the attempted insurrection of the Capitol, we consider the state of American democracy — what’s changed, what hasn’t changed and what will never be the same.  Read more:One year ago today, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, set on overturning the results of the 2020 election. Since then, the basic facts of the insurrection have been in contention and democracy itself has remained under siege. On today’s episode of Post Reports, politics reporters Dan Balz, Roz Helderman and Amy Gardner join guest host Cleve Wootson to discuss how the spirit of the insurrection has seeped into America’s bloodstream.To hear more about what it was like inside and around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, check out our award-winning episode, “Four hours of insurrection.” The episode includes interviews with Capitol Police officers, politicians and Post reporters who were at the Capitol that day. And hear investigative reporter Aaron Davis describe what law enforcement entities knew before the insurrection took place and why they failed to protect the Capitol that day. This story was part of The Post’s landmark Jan. 6 investigation, “The Attack.”

An update on what the Jan. 6 commission has learned so far. And how the pro-Trump Internet descended into infighting in the year since the attempted insurrection. Read more:Reporter Jacqueline Alemany has been following the Jan. 6 commission for the past six months. As we come up on the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, Alemany reports on what the commission has uncovered so far and what she’s watching out for next.Plus: The far-right firebrands and conspiracy theorists of the pro-Trump Internet have a new enemy: each other. Without a figurehead, far-right influencers are fighting for money and followers. Reporter Drew Harwell explains the reality-television-style drama, and what it means for the future of online extremism.

Omicron has coronavirus cases surging across the country. What’s the outlook for this highly transmissible variant?Read more:The highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus has taken over as the dominant strain in the United States. Now, post-holidays, virus cases are surging, with about 500,000 per day in the United States. Americans are struggling with breakthrough infections, strained hospital systems and the uncertainty of what might come next. Reporter Dan Diamond discusses what you need to know about the omicron variant and what it could tell us about how the pandemic might end.

The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is home to some of the oldest trees in the country. For decades, they were felled indiscriminately for lumber. Will the remaining trees be protected?Read more:Old-growth trees are at the heart of a political debate on logging and climate change. That’s because they hold a disproportionate amount of carbon in their trunks. If they’re cut down, most of that carbon escapes into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. But they’re also worth thousands of dollars as lumber.Post climate editor Juliet Eilperin traveled to Alaska to learn about the forests firsthand, and to speak with some of the people who have built their lives around logging.

A farewell to 2021 from us here at Post Reports and the photojournalists who witnessed the year’s biggest stories.Read more:The Washington Post photography editors combed through thousands of images to find the most memorable from 2021. Accompanying the photos this year are interviews with the photojournalists who took them. The team at Post Reports felt inspired by the interviews and images to look back on the past year.The images of 2021 tell a complex yet dramatic story. It was a year of the angry and the rebellious scaling walls, tearing down barriers, rising up to reverse reality. But it was also a year of carefully considered verdicts and hurriedly ended war, of mass migration and candlelight vigils, a year when millions of people decided to take a shot, venture forth and return to life, together.There was, perhaps above all, the terror of lethal disease, a second year of a pandemic that unraveled the fabric of daily life and managed to set people against each other in ways that defied reason. The usual questions born of insecurity — Will we be okay? How can we help each other? — were joined by new uncertainties: Is this real? What should I believe? Why don’t people around me believe what I see is true?If you valued the journalism on this podcast and in this newspaper this year, subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

Today on Post Reports, we talk to Hasan Minhaj about how he uses comedy to “make people’s world bigger.” Read more:Hasan Minhaj has worked as a comedian for 17 years. You might know him from “The Daily Show,” the 2017 White House correspondents’ dinner, or his Netflix show, “Patriot Act.” On today’s episode of Post Reports, producer Linah Mohammad talks to Minhaj about representation in film and television, their relationship to Islam and what it means to be a diasporic voice in the comedy world.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to one of the people who brought us joy during a dark year: the actor J. Smith-Cameron. We cover her role as Gerri on “Succession” and how it feels to become a sex symbol in her 60s. Read more:J. Smith-Cameron is having a moment. “Succession” Season 3 wrapped up recently – and one of the highlights for us was her character, Gerri Kellman, the calculating interim CEO of Waystar Royco. We talked to the actor about the show and what makes her character so fun to watch. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

Amazon's use of Alexa as a wake word for its voice assistant turned the name into a command, impacting daily interactions for people with the name – including The Washington Post’s own Alexa Juliana Ard.Read more:Nearly 130,000 people in the United States have the name Alexa. It gained popularity after singer Billy Joel and model Christie Brinkley named their daughter Alexa in 1985. In 2015, more than 6,000 baby girls in the United States were named Alexa, according to a Washington Post analysis of Social Security Administration data.After Amazon chose Alexa as the wake word of its voice service, the name’s popularity plummeted. In 2020, only about 1,300 babies were given the name. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)Post video editor Alexa Juliana Ard reports on the impact of Amazon’s choice on Alexas - including her. Watch Alexa’s video about Alexa Jade Morales. She was named after her father, Alexis Morales Jr., who was murdered on Oct. 1, 1992, just three and a half months before she was born. When Amazon made the name Alexa a wake word for its voice service, she experienced people treating her like the bot.Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

The holidays are weird — this year especially. Today, Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax joins Martine Powers to answer your questions about navigating this tricky time of year.Read more:The holiday season can be complicated; throw in the spike in omicron cases, and this already stressful time of year just got even trickier. Enter: Carolyn Hax, The Post’s brilliant advice columnist. Today on Post Reports, she’s here to help our listeners and readers navigate the holidays. You can listen to our episode with Hax from earlier in the year about how to gather with family and friends safely here. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Omicron is now the most prevalent variant of the coronavirus in the country. But public health expert and emergency physician Leana Wen says that with a three-pronged approach — testing, vaccines and masks — we can still celebrate the holidays.Read more:Once again, America is looking down the barrel of a winter surge of the coronavirus, thanks to the highly transmissible omicron variant. Houston Methodist Hospital, which has been sequencing genomes since the beginning of the pandemic, says that in a week, omicron spread as rapidly as the delta variant did in three months.But emergency physician Leana Wen says this isn’t a time for despair: “Despite these staggering numbers, I don’t think vaccinated people should have to cancel their plans for Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other holidays.” Wen joined James Hohmann on his opinion podcast “Please, Go On” to talk about how we can use the tools we’ve developed to keep omicron at bay this holiday season.

How the approval of anti-covid pills from drug companies Pfizer and Merck could impact the course of the pandemic. And the life and legacy of feminist author bell hooks.Read more:On Tuesday, President Biden urged calm as coronavirus cases rise, and the omicron variant becomes dominant in the United States. He touted a plan for more readily available testing and more resources for strained hospitals nationwide. But on the horizon is another treatment against covid-19: antiviral pills. The pills are said to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in vulnerable populations, and could be approved for use as early as this week. Health reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson explains what we know about the pills and what role they could play against the omicron variant.Plus, a remembrance of bell hooks. Hooks died last week at the age of 69. She was a Black feminist author and critic who had a wary eye even on Beyoncé. “Hood Feminist” author Mikki Kendall reads her remembrance of hooks.