Consider This from NPR

Americans often rank the economy as a number one voting issue. As part of NPR's "We the Voters" series we check back in with four Americans we've been following since the pandemic.

They share how they're faring in a the current economy, and how that might influence the positions they take in the 2024 presidential election.

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The broad outlines of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case have been known for months.

Hush money payments to a former porn star made in 2016, when Trump was a presidential candidate. Bragg alleges Trump was involved in a scheme to cover up those payments, one that amounted to criminal fraud.

Now we're getting a more detailed outline of their arguments – and Trump's defense.

We break down the legal case at the center of the political universe.

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For the last 60 years a transportation revolution has largely passed America by.

Bullet trains were invented in Japan in the early 1960s. Since then, countries all over the world have adopted the technology and constructed sprawling networks of high speed rail lines.

Despite spending billions of dollars in federal funding, he U.S. lags far behind. But a recent visit from Japan's Prime minister has revived interest in bullet train projects around the country.

One of those projects is in Texas – a proposed high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas.

NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with Dallas Morning News mobility and transportation reporter Amber Gaudet about what it will take to get Texas' high-speed rail project completed, and what it could mean for high-speed rail in America.

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Back in 1999 when Donald Trump was flirting with a presidential run, he was pro-abortion rights. In an interview on Meet the Press with NBC's Tim Russert, the New York real estate developer said he didn't like abortion, but he wouldn't ban it.

Fast forward almost two decades, and Trump was running for the republican presidential nomination, and he had a very different stance on abortion, even suggesting in an MSNBC town hall meeting that women should be punished for seeking abortions.

Trump ultimately won the presidency with the support of white Evangelical voters, many of whom wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned. Six years after he won, the Supreme Court justices Trump appointed helped deliver exactly that.

Now as Trump mounts another run for the White House, abortion rights are on the ballot and winning. And Trump has once again evolved his stance on abortion. Is it a political calculation?

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Salman Rushdie is probably most closely associated with his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses,a book inspired by the life of the prophet Muhummad. The book was notorious not just for its contents but because of the intense backlash, and the threat it posed to his safety and wellbeing.

While Rushdie saw it as an exploration of Islamic culture, some Muslims saw it as blasphemous. The year after it published, Iran's supreme leader issued a fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Rushdie moved to New York in 2000, and was able to resume the public life of a popular author, but that all changed on August 12th, 2022 when a young man charged at Rushdie while he was on stage at an event, stabbing him at least a dozen times.

After two years, he has chronicled his brush with death, and the aftermath in his new memoir 'KNIFE'.

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In 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Nearly one million people died as neighbors brutally killed their neighbors. Paul Rusesabagina is credited for keeping more than 1,200 people safe in his hotel through weeks of violence. His life and story inspired the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda.

In 2021, Rusesabagina says he was kidnapped, tried and imprisoned in Rwanda for two years and seven months over his ties to the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), a group that opposes President Paul Kagame's rule.

After intervention from the U.S. and other countries, Rusesabagina was eventually released from prison. At the time he was released, he says he electronically signed a letter promising not to criticize the government. Ultimately, he decided to disregard that promise.

Many allies of President Kagame would argue that he has been responsible for shepherding an era of what they say is relative peace in the country. His critics say he leads an oppressive government that leaves no space for dissent. We hear from Paul Rusesabagina and his daughter Anaïse Kanimba, who are still speaking out against the Rwandan government.

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Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend, saying it was in response to an airstrike earlier this month that hit Iran's consulate in Syria and killed seven Iranian military officials, including two generals.

Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the Syria strike, though the Pentagon said Israel was responsible.

Sima Shine is a former senior Israeli intelligence official. She now runs the Iran desk at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. She says this attack is "crossing the Rubicon" from the point of view of Iran, and explains what Israel's retaliation could be.

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On Monday, former President Donald Trump will enter a Manhattan courtroom for his first criminal trial. But before a verdict can be rendered a jury must be selected. And for Trump's legal team that is going to be a challenge.

A small number of attorneys have faced a similar challenge — how do you select an impartial jury when your client is famous?

Host Scott Detrow speaks with attorney Camille Vasquez for insight into the art of jury selection in such a case. She represented Johnny Depp in his defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

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For months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been insisting that the goal of Israel's bombardment in Gaza is to "destroy Hamas."

But in the path of that destruction, more than 33,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed. Regular people, entire families, and more than 13,000 children.

Yet, it's not clear if Israel is any closer to its stated goal of destroying Hamas. In fact, is it possible that the horrors of this war could ignite a cycle of radicalization in the region?

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O.J. Simpson was more than a football star. More than a pop culture icon or a defendant acquitted of murder.

He became a symbol of America's complicated relationship to race, celebrity, and justice. His family announced that he died of cancer Wednesday at age 76.

The murder trial of O.J. Simpson became not only about one man and two victims, but the entire country. Coming up, we assess the legacy of a case, and a verdict, that put race in America on the stand.

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In recent years, the body positivity movement has raised it's profile, especially on social media largely through self-described anti-diet and body positivity influencers.

These influencers and others like them represent a pivot away from the diet and fitness culture embodied by companies like weight watchers, which focuses on losing weight as a path to healthier living.

Today there is a broad "anti-diet" movement that posits that bodies can be healthy at any size. But some are trying to co-opt this movement.

An investigation by The Washington Post and the Examination found that large food companies are recruiting these influencers to promote sugary cereals and processed snacks.

As people who are part of the anti-diet movement saw an opportunity to practice and spread a message of self-love and acceptance, big food companies saw an opportunity to make money.

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Many of us don't have the opportunity to handpick our neighbors. We buy or rent a place in a neighborhood with good schools or an easy commute.

Some of us become friends with those who live nearby, others of us never talk to our neighbors at all. For most though, we co-exist.

In the midst of a brutal civil war, neighbors killed their neighbors simply because of whothey were.

Thirty years ago this month, that wasn't the case in Rwanda.

We visit a Rwandan village where how neighbors live alongside one another is deliberate, and complicated.

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Researchers are finding that the impact of relationships with siblings —for better or worse — can be important, and endure well beyond childhood.

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Tomorrow, the Great American Eclipse will sweep across North America, and millions will experience total darkness.

It's an eerie and mysterious experience even though at this point, we know exactly what's happening: the moon passes in front of the sun, casting a shadow over earth.

But imagine you lived in the ancient world, with no warning that an eclipse was about to happen, as the sun's disk suddenly disappeared and the day fell dark and cool. Unsurprisingly, eclipses were often seen as bad omens.

That was true in Mesopotamia, the region that today includes Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Turkey. But even then, ancient Mesopotamian astronomers were looking for other explanations.

Watching an eclipse is one of humanity's oldest rituals, and it's been inspiration to scientists since the beginning of time.

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The American response to Israel's war with Hamas could be a major factor in the upcoming Congressional elections.

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Bird flu has spread to cows. And now a human has contracted the virus from an infected cow. What kind of risk does this virus pose to people, and are we prepared to treat it?

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The recent transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a living human raises hopes that lives will no longer depend on the availability of human donor organs.

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One week after a massive container ship crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, a massive effort is underway to clear the wreckage. But it's still unclear how long the cleanup will take.

Meanwhile, with much of the Port of Baltimore shut down, the economic impact is being felt locally, regionally and in the broad economy.

Host Mary Louise Kelly gets the latest from NPR's Laurel Wamsley, on the ground in Baltimore, and Camila Domonoske, who covers the auto industry for NPR. Baltimore is a major national hub for the import and export of vehicles.

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When news outlets shut down in a city, that creates what's often called a news desert. But in Richmond, California, NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik says the situation is more like a news mirage.

Energy giant Chevron is the biggest employer - and the biggest polluter in the California city. Chevron also owns the local news site. How does that impact the community there?

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Folkenflik and Miranda Green, director of investigations for the news site Floodlight- about what happens when a major corporation owns the local news.

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Hawaii is no stranger to extravagant homes owned by the super-rich. But when a tech billionaire started buying up land in Waimea, a small, rural town on the Big Island, the community got curious - and worried.

Locals fear it will become even more difficult for Native Hawaiians to afford to live in Waimea and buy property. In Hawaii, the average home price is close to a million dollars.

Who's purchasing all this land in rural Hawaii and how will it affect the already high cost of housing in Waimea?

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Shirley Chisholm made history in 1968 as the first Black woman ever elected to Congress. Four years later, the New York representative made history again when she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, the first woman and the first African American to do so. A new Netflix movie, called simply "Shirley," tells her story.

Host Ailsa Chang speaks with Regina King, who plays Shirley Chisholm and the film's director John Ridley.

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This week Russian authorities extended the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich. Authorities have yet to provide any evidence to backup charges that Gershkovich was spying, and no trial date has been set.

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People who work on ways to end poverty have been trying a simple approach lately: just giving money to those in need, with no strings attached.

Universal basic income, or UBI, once seemed like a radical idea in the US. But now, many places in the country are pushing to make UBI a permanent part of the social safety net.

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Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a cargo ship rammed into it. As search and rescue efforts continue, federal investigators are trying to understand what led to the collapse.

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Famine is a man-made disaster affecting millions in conflict zones.

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Suicide rates for queer and trans people are disproportionately high. They're also routinely targets of violence and hate crimes.

While some states have protections for queer and trans people, many other states have passed laws that restrict the rights and visibility of transgender individuals.

The stories of Nex Benedict and Dime Doe illustrate both those trends.

Benedict died by suicide the day after a physical altercation in their school bathroom. Benedict had been bullied by other students for more than a year.

Dime Doe, a Black trans woman, was killed in 2019. Last month a man who had been in a relationship with Doe was found guilty of killing her. It's the first time a hate crime against a trans person was brought to trial.

What do these cases tell us about the lives of trans and queer people in America?

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

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In 1974, Stephen King published his first book, "Carrie". But 50 years on, critics still debate if his work deserves a place in the literary canon.

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President Biden just awarded $8.5 billion dollars to the company Intel to help fund semiconductor factories in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon.

At a visit to Intel's campus outside Phoenix this week, Biden said the money will help semiconductor manufacturing make a comeback in the US after 40 years.

The money for Intel comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed in 2022 to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing. The administration's goal? For 20% of the world's leading-edge semiconductor chips to be made on American soil by 2030.

The US currently makes zero of the world's leading-edge semiconductor chips. By 2030, the Biden administration wants to make a fifth of them. So how will America get there?

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Next week representatives of the Israeli government are scheduled to fly from Tel Aviv to Washington, DC. When they arrive, they'll head to the White House, where they'll meet with representatives of the US government.

On the agenda – the next steps in Israel's war against Hamas. The meeting comes as famine is imminent for roughly 300-thousand Palestinians in Northern Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be losing US support. Still, Netanyahu insists that Israel won't stop until it has achieved, quote, "total victory." But what does that mean – and how close is Israel to achieving that?

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The way we have bought homes for the last 100 years could change as soon as July. Who wins, who loses, and who gets a share of the $418 million class-action settlement?

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Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia for a quarter century. This weekend's election results confirmed that he will reign for another six years.

Putin's hold on the Kremlin gives him control of the world's largest nuclear arsenal and a military that's been at war in Ukraine for more than two years, ever since he launched an invasion in February 2022.

That war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, but despite these losses, the Russian military is pressing forward.

Ukraine faces the stark prospect of a fight in which key US military assistance is in question. So what will six more years of Vladimir Putin mean for the war in Ukraine? And where do both militaries stand at this point in that brutal war?

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Three solidly blue cities have rolled out crime fighting initiatives that feel more like conservative strategies.

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When Russia's war in Ukraine began over two years ago, neighboring countries feared that they could be next.

And NATO asked itself - was it prepared to defend its territory if war arrived on its doorstep?

The answer was no.

So, its military chief decided it was time to ramp up NATO's strategy and revive its military headquarters.

And for the first time this spring, NATO will exercise brand new war plans to prepare for the worst.

The plan comes as Donald Trump makes another run at the White House, and expresses skepticism about NATO along the way. Can NATO take on Russia if American support for the alliance doesn't hold?

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This week marks four years since the outbreak of Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic. One of the most vexing legacies — one that science still hasn't solved — is long Covid. That's the debilitating condition that can develop in the aftermath of an infection.

Millions of Americans are living with the often debilitating symptoms that can include brain fog, shortness of breath, and low energy. Some struggle with simple daily living tasks like laundry and cooking.

Four years since the pandemic hit, patients with long Covid are still fighting for answers.

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Here's one sign that shrinkflation is no longer just a topic for economics nerds.

Cookie Monster recently complained on social media that his favorite food was getting smaller. "Me hate shrinkflation!" the fuzzy blue monster declared. "Guess me going to have to eat double da cookies!"

President Biden promised to sign a bill banning it during his State of the Union address.

Shrinkflation isn't new.

It's been happening for years. But people seem to be paying more attention right now amidst high food prices and inflation. And the White House is clearly aware of that.

After years of rising prices, many Americans are fed up with paying more and getting less. Will the pendulum ever swing back?

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Haiti's Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has announced his resignation. But the country remains in freefall. Will Haitians finally have a chance to determine their own political future?

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The holy month of Ramadan begins this week. It is a holy month of worship for Muslims during which they worship, study the Quran, pray and fast from sunrise until sunset.

It is a time of light, but Ramadan feels different this year, especially for Palestinian-Americans, says Eman Abdelhadi. She is a professor at the University of Chicago, whose research focuses on Muslim-Americans.

Abdelhadi says "every moment of joy feels stolen and elicits a sense of guilt." The guilt she describes is connected to the mass death and suffering in Gaza.

What does Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza mean for the holiest of Muslim holidays?

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We're moving closer to the dream of landing humans on Mars. But will sustaining human life on Mars even be possible?

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As John Kerry leaves his role as the first Presidential Envoy for Climate, has he helped shift us away from climate disaster?

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When Shogun, James Clavell's best selling novel was adapted into a powerhouse NBC miniseries in 1980. The hero of the story was Englishman John Blackthorne.

The people he met when he landed in Japan in search of riches, are viewed and portrayed as primitive.

In the 2024 Shogun adaptation the Japanese characters are fully formed. The series elevates the stories of the Japanese characters as much as it does Blackthorne's.

That was a deliberate decision on the part of Shogun co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks.

In the 1980 version of Shogun, Japan, its culture and its people were portrayed as foreign and remote. What do we lose when stories are only told from one point of view? And what can be gained when we widen the lens?

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On August 6, 1945, a stone-faced President Harry Truman appeared on television and told Americans about the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.

The attack on Hiroshima marked the first time nuclear power was used in war, but the atomic bomb was actually tested a month earlier in the Jornada del Muerto desert of New Mexico.

At least hundreds of New Mexicans were harmed by the test's fallout. Radiation creeped into the grass their cows grazed, on the food they ate, and the water they drank.

A program compensating victims of government-caused nuclear contamination has been in place since 1990, but it never included downwinders in New Mexico, the site of the very first nuclear test.

This week, the Senate voted to broaden the bi-partisan legislation that could compensate people who have suffered health consequences of radiation testing. Now, the bill will go to a House vote.

Generations after the Trinity Nuclear Test, will downwinders in New Mexico finally get compensation?

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Nikki Haley's announcement that she was suspending her campaign for president didn't come as a surprise. She's trailed front-runner Donald Trump in all but two Republican primary contests so far.

Haley did manage to sway some Republican voters away from Trump. She also managed to recruit independents and Democrats, too. As she ended her campaign on a stage in South Carolina, Haley did not endorse Trump. She said he would have to earn their votes.

Nikki Haley appealed to Republicans who did not want another four years of Trump. Now that she's out of the race, where will her voters go?

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This week marks a milestone in the presidential primary process. Fifteen states and one US Territory vote on Super Tuesday. This one day is the biggest delegate haul for candidates during the presidential primary season.

The states voting on Super Tuesday include places with lots of Arab American voters, like Minnesota.

Just last week, more than 13 percent of voters in Michigan's Democratic primary voted uncommitted. Many of those voters are Arab Americans who wanted to send Joe Biden a message about his support for Israel in the war in Gaza.

The 2024 election is likely to be narrowly divided between President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump. The way the Biden administration handles conflicts abroad could have the power to shape the electorate here at home.

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Former President Donald Trump scored a legal victory today. The Supreme Court ruled 9 to 0 that the likely Republican nominee for President should be restored to the ballot in Colorado.

The decision also says individual states cannot bar candidates for federal office under the insurrection clause. So: a legal victory, and also a political victory.

As the clock ticks toward November 5th – Election day – it's increasingly looking like the many legal cases focused on former President Trump may tip his way, or remain unresolved.

What impact will this have on Trump's campaign for a second term in the White House?

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Chances are, this November 5th 2024 is going to feel a lot like November 3rd 2020 — a bit like Groundhog Day.

After a decisive set of Republican primaries, it's increasingly clear President Joe Biden is likely to face off against a familiar foe: former President Donald Trump.

A race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden isn't only a rematch, but a contest between two men who have already occupied the Oval office and been in the public eye for decades.

This, despite the fact that several polls show Americans did not want a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. So what is there still to learn about the two candidates, their styles, and the policies they would put in place if they get another four years in the White House?

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Are we alone in the universe?

It's a question that's been posed again and again. Carl Sagan posed it in the 1970s as a NASA mission scientist as the agency prepared to send its twin Viking landers to Mars.

And nearly 50 years after the first of two landers touched down on Mars, we're no closer to an answer as to whether there's life — out there.

Scientists haven't stopped looking. In fact, they've expanded their gaze to places like Saturn's largest moon, Titan and Jupiter's moon Europa.

The search for life beyond planet earth continues to captivate. And NASA has upcoming missions to both moons. Could we be closer to answering that question Carl Sagan asked some 50 years ago?

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Here in the US, the average age of retirement is 61. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky passed that birthday more than 20 years ago. And on Wednesday afternoon, he announced that while he still isn't ready to retirejust yet, he will no longer lead Republicans in the Senate.

McConnell says he still has "enough gas" in the tank to thoroughly disappoint his critics. The soon-to-be former leader intends to serve out the rest of his term which continues through January 2027.

McConnell's Congressional career began back in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was President. The Kentucky republican has long embraced Reagan's conservatism and view of American exceptionalism.

Today's Republican party is one Mitch McConnell played a key role in shaping. Yet as he gets ready to step down from leadership, McConnell seems out of step with the direction the party is heading.

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Despite a last minute agreement to push a deadline for a shutdown, Congress and the White House have to agree on how to fund the government. So far, all they've been able to do is kick the can down the road.

And conditions for making a political deal are only getting worse. Republicans can only lose two votes. And there's skepticism all around.

Finding a way out largely depends on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana. But Johnson has a fractious caucus, is relatively inexperienced, and shutdowns have become the political weapon of choice.

If the House leader can't find a path to a deal, the entire country could pay the price.

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The backlash to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling designating frozen embryos has been intense. Republicans at the state and national level have openly disagreed with the decision. And Democrats have used the ruling to hammer Republicans over reproductive rights.

Last month, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced a bill to protect IVF. It hasn't gotten a lot of attention - until now.

Duckworth used IVF to build her own family, and has been warning since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that the decision could lead to reproductive rights being challenged.

Duckworth discusses her legislation and whether she thinks republicans will support it.

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Popular culture is filled with stories of the underground railroad - the legendary secret network that helped enslaved people escape from southern slave states to free states in the north.

Harriet Tubman is the underground railroad's best known conductor. Tubman, who was a Union spy during the Civil War, escaped slavery in Maryland, but returned again and again, risking her own freedom to help free others, including members of her family.

Inevitably there's much we don't know ...including how the term, the Underground Railroad, came to be.

Journalist Scott Shane, stumbled on the answer while he was writing his book "Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland."

His book tells the story of Thomas Smallwood, an activist and writer who's story and the key role he played in the abolition movement has mostly been lost to history.

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In the last few years, a new trend has emerged on social media: de-influencing.

Instead of selling, de-influencers encourage their followers to stop buying things they don't need. De-influencers are also using this trend as an opportunity to raise awareness about the negative impact of overconsumption on the environment.

From plastic packaging to useless gadgets that end up in landfills, overconsumption doesn't just have a negative effect on our wallets, but also on our planet and climate change.

We look at what role de-influencers can play in helping to address climate change and spreading the message of sustainable living.

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In Kansas City neighborhood organizations do the work of violence prevention one block, and one person at at time.

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Quote – "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." That statement, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the U-S Embassy, came two days after Russian missiles began raining down on his country two years ago.

After weeks of speculation and warnings Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared war.

Fueled by grit, patriotism and billions of dollars from the US, Ukraine has waged a fight no one expected they could. But nearly two years in that could be changing.

US aid is stuck in Congress. This week, Russian forces captured their first city in 9 months. And that plea Zelensky made for ammunition in February 2022 – he's still making it.

Ukraine has waged a war against Russia that has exceeded expectations. Can it continue to stand up to Russia if western aid doesn't come through?

We get the view from the battlefield from a Ukrainian writer turned soldier.

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Keyser, West Virginia, was once known for coal. But the jobs have been disappearing. First because of automation, then cheap natural gas. And now, the urgency to address climate change is one more pressure on this energy source that contributes to global warming.

Now the town, like so much of the country is attempting to transition to renewable energy. The country's first major climate policy, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, gave that transition a boost. It passed with the key vote of West Virginia's own Senator Democrat Joe Manchin.

Keyser represents a national shift in American energy production. And in a town that was defined by coal for generations, change can be difficult.

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Brian Mann covers the U-S opioid and fentanyl crisis for NPR. That means he talks to a lot of people struggling with addiction. Again and again, he's heard stories of people who have succumbed to their addiction — last year 112, 000 — more than ever in history.

But when Mann traveled to Portugal to report on that country's model for dealing with the opioid crisis, he heard a very different story. Overdose deaths in Portugal are extremely rare.

The country has taken a radically different approach to drugs – decriminalizing small amounts and publicly funding addiction services – including sites where people can use drugs like crack and heroin.

Portugal treats addiction as an illness rather than a crime. No one has to pay for addiction care, and no one scrambles to navigate a poorly regulated recovery system. Could Portugal's approach help the U-S fight its opioid epidemic?

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Much of the world has spent the weekend mourning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And asking why he chose to return to Russia, after he'd been poisoned, and when it was clear he was in danger.

Filmmaker Daniel Roher, who interviewed Navalny for the Oscar-winning documentary "Navalny," says the Russian opposition leader was an incredibly optimistic and certain about himself and his mission. And that Navalny believed he could usher in a brighter future for Russia.

So what happens to that future now? Aleksei Miniailo an opposition activist and researcher in Moscow weighs in on how the Russian opposition sustains its movement after the death of its most prominent figure.

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About two years ago, New Jersey's Democratic Governor Phil Murphy said that the state would be partnering with the Danish company Orsted, the largest developer of offshore wind projects in the world.

The company had agreed to build Ocean Wind 1, the state's first offshore wind farm, powering half a million homes and creating thousands of jobs in the process.

The following year, Orsted inked another deal with the state for Ocean Wind 2, a second offshore wind farm with similar capacity. After years of review, the projects were approved in summer 2023. Construction of the first turbines was slated to begin in the fall.

And then Orsted backed out, cancelling the contracts full stop.

Despite the setbacks, Murphy is still all-in on wind. A month after Orsted dropped out, Murphy directed the state's Board of Public Utilities to seek new bids from offshore wind developers. And the state just approved two new offshore wind contracts.

After several setbacks, could this mean a second wind for offshore wind?

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Rent has skyrocketed in the United States. That means Americans are handing over a bigger portion of their paycheck to their housing costs. They have less money for things like food, electricity, and commuting.

The pandemic and inflation have both played a role in pushing rents higher.

Whitney Airgood-Obrycki a Senior Research Associate at Harvard's Joint Center on Housing Studies says rents are actually going down, but that increases have been so large it's going to take time for the market to even out.

We look at how rent prices got so high and what it might take to bring them down.

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For half a century, during the Cold War, every U-S president painted Russia as the dominant threat. America's ideological opposite, a hostile and nuclear-armed power. Ronald Reagan went so far as to call the Soviet Union an Evil Empire.

So the events of recent days have been noteworthy. On top of a holdup of U-S aid for Ukraine, former President Trump said he might NOT come to the defense of a NATO ally who hadn't spent enough on defense.

And Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Fox news host, flew to Moscow to sit down with Vladimir Putin for more than two hours of mostly softball questions.

Afterward, he pronounced Putin "impressive" on stage at the World Government Summit.

So what gives? Why the romance between the American right and Russia?

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One single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi's victory in the special election for New York's 3rd Congressional District mean something bigger for democrats?

The Congressman won his seat – which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos – by diving head on into an issue that democrats would usually rather avoid – immigration.

Was that the opening chapter in a playbook Suozzi is writing, for fellow Democrats trying to find a way to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration?

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On June 14, Donald Trump will turn 78 years old.

Joe Biden turned 81 in November.

Whether the candidates like it or not, age, mental acuity and physical fitness are issues dominating the 2024 election cycle.

Though the two men were born fewer than four years apart, voters have consistently expressed more concern about Biden's age than Trump's.

Is a double standard being applied when it comes to the presidential candidates and age?

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The question looming over the war between Israel and Hamas is what will happen what will happen to Rafah, the city in southern Gaza. More than half of Gaza's population has sought refuge there–an estimated one and a half million people.

Israel says that in order to defeat Hamas, it needs to bring the war to Rafah. The Biden administration says a military operation in Rafah cannot proceed. Is this a hairline crack or the beginning of a rift between the U.S. and Israel that could reverberate across the region?

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's visions for the future of the war in Gaza are beginning to look irreconcilable. What does that mean for Biden's steadfast support of Israel?

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Immigration is one of the main things Americans will be voting on in November. And many are currently unhappy with the situation at the US Southern Border, which is widely described as a crisis.

As Donald Trump runs for another term, he's hoping to leverage that discontent just as he did in 2016.

An across-the-board crackdown on immigration was one of the signature policies of the Trump presidency. In a second term, he's promising to go even further.

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Hollywood films have long tried to capture America's obsession with its most popular sport. So on this Super Bowl weekend, we ask: what do the best football movies have in common?

Is it the "Big Speech" with the team down a point and only seconds to go? Or what about the classic underdog story?

Scott Detrow discusses that with Brittany Luse, host of NPR's It's Been a Minute, and with Stephen Thompson of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour.

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Abortion is a personal issue. But it's also political. And few things motivate voters and politicians like abortion rights.

Over and over, U.S. voters have shown they're willing to choose lawmakers, presidents and ballot initiatives based on how they feel about abortion rights.

We examine the role abortion could play in the 2024 elections.

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When it comes to whether or not Trump should appear on presidential ballots, there are at least two questions to consider.

The first is legal — does the 14th amendment apply him?

The second is practical. What would happen if Trump WERE removed from the ballot?

How might his tens of millions of supporters respond?

At a rally last month, the former President suggested if he doesn't get what he views as "fair" treatment, the country is in big trouble.

This week the Supreme Court will weigh whether Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to be president.

We hear from a legal scholar who says it could be the beginning of a, "bloody unraveling of democratic norms."

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The U.S. Immigration system isn't working. The last significant reform was in 1986. Presidents and Congress have been trying to fix it and change it ever since.

Congress is at it again, but that effort, like so many others, looks doomed to fail. Just a few hours after the text from the Senate bipartisan bill dropped, Speaker of The House Mike Johnson said IF the bill reaches the house – it will be DEAD on arrival. And on Monday night GOP support for the legislation in the Senate seemed to all but fade away.

As the Senate gets ready to vote on yet another attempt to address immigration in the U.S, we look at why the effort to fix America's broken immigration system fails across decades, administrations and parties.

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It was a year ago this month that a Norfolk Southern freight train with 38 cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

Twenty of those train cars carried hazardous materials. In the days after the crash officials, decided to burn off one of those hazardous materials, vinyl chloride. The burn and massive plume of smoke it created caused environmental problems and concerns about the health and safety of residents.

A year after that devastating derailment and chemical burn the train company Norfolk Southern and the EPA say the air and water are safe.

The people who have to go on living there aren't so sure.

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More than 100 people are killed on U.S. roads every day — more than 40,000 people a year. So, it seemed bold, if not crazy, when city leaders across the country began to set their sights on eliminating traffic fatalities completely.

It has now been 10 years since U.S. cities began to adopt the approach known as Vision Zero.

NPR's Joel Rose reports on what has worked and what hasn't.

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More than two decades of growing internet use has surfaced fears about the social and psychological impacts of nearly unfettered access to pornography. But many researchers and sex therapists worry that the online communities that have formed in response to these fears often endorse inaccurate medical information, exacerbate mental health problems and, in some cases, overlap with extremist and hate groups.

NPR's Lisa Hagen speaks about her reporting with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe.

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Former president Donald Trump is facing dozens of criminal charges, including four felony counts on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump says he's being persecuted, and that idea resonates with his Christian base.

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For people in the US, 2020 was one of the most dangerous years in decades. The first year of the pandemic saw a huge spike in violence. The number of homicides in the country rose about 30 percent from 2019.

Fast forward a couple of years – and things look very different. According to crime analyst Jeff Asher, "2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the US in more than 50 years."

In big cities and small, from the East coast to the West, violence has dropped dramatically.

Despite a significant and measurable drop in violent crime, Americans feel less safe. According to a Gallup poll released in November, more than three quarters of Americans believe there's more crime in the country than there was last year.

We explore the reasons why the good news on crime isn't getting through.

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Fox News has been the Republican Party's biggest cheerleader almost since it premiered in 1996.

Nearly three decades later, many Republicans perceive Fox as the de facto kingmaker for all kinds of Republican candidates — including presidential.

That kingmaker status brought Fox News power, ratings and billions in profits and has spawned a succession of imitators and competition.

But for Fox, that synergy with Trump and the Republicans has come with significant risk and significant consequences.

Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for defamation after network anchors amplified Trump's false election claims. The company settled, at a cost of nearly $790 million.

Nevertheless, Fox News still has the power to shape Republican politics as the country heads into another presidential election cycle. But is that power diminished in 2024?

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The hosts of NPR's All Things Considered help you make sense of a major news story and what it means for you, in 15 minutes. New episodes six days a week, Sunday through Friday.

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Immigration and management of the U.S. Southern Border is always a politically charged issue, but especially at this moment.

House republicans are trying to advance articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. They say he has refused to comply with the law and has breached the trust of the public.

Meanwhile President Biden is describing the U.S. immigration system as broken.

All this is playing out as a government funding bill is tied to the border and a presidential election is months away.

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A deadly attack on an U.S. military base in Jordan pulled the United States deeper into a regional conflict that it's trying to avoid.

How the U.S. responds could determine whether the country enters another full scale war. We ask National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, what comes next.

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During his time in office, former president Donald Trump talked a great deal about all of the positive changes he was making to improve the economy.

When he gave his final State of the Union address in February 2020, employers had added more than six million jobs, unemployment was at three-and-a-half percent and the stock market was soaring.

But by March all of that ended as coronavirus spread rapidly across the globe.

Donald Trump is poised to capture the Republican presidential nomination. As president, some of his economic policies came out of the traditional Republican playbook. But other policies were more populist, more nativist and more unpredictable.

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley about what might change, and what might stay the same, under a second Trump administration.

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A look behind the curtain at the Oscar campaign machine and what it takes to bring home the gold.

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Ever since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas almost four months ago, U.S. leaders have been afraid that the conflict will grow.

That could have consequences for American troops in the Middle East. Recently, U.S. forces have been attacked in Iraq by Iran-backed militias, for example.

Host Ari Shapiro speaks with NPR's Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan and NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman about what all this could mean for troops in the region.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent a career defying political gravity. Now he's facing his biggest challenge yet.

For decades, Netanyahu has sold himself as a leader who would keep Israelis safe.

Instead, one of the world's strongest militaries failed to protect its citizens from a long-planned, Mad Max style invasion - with attackers from Gaza coming in on motorcycles, pickup trucks and hang gliders. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people were killed October 7th and more than 200 taken hostage.

Netanyahu promised an investigation after the war with Hamas, but public outrage has grown louder in recent days.

Now as public outrage grows in Israel, Netanyahu's future seems all but certain. And that future is inseparable from the future of Israel's war with Hamas, or an eventual peace in Gaza.


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In a republican primary field that at one time boasted more than a dozen candidates, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump are the last ones standing.

That means Trump's fire is concentrated on Haley — a daughter of Indian immigrants. And he's using that heritage to try to undermine Haley's candidacy, and stoke concern about her legitimacy for the presidency.

For the record, that concern is unfounded – Haley, as the Constitution dictates, is a natural-born US citizen.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly and Senior Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro dissect the reasons WHY Trump keeps returning to this particular political playbook.

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Alabama has already tried to execute Kenneth Smith once. On the night of November 17, 2022, he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, but workers couldn't find a vein to place an IV. They tried for an hour, during which, he was jabbed with needles in his arms, hands and collar bones.

Smith, one of only two living people in the U.S. to have survived an execution attempt, faces death again. On Thursday, the state of Alabama plans to execute him using a method it calls nitrogen hypoxia. It has never been tested in the U.S.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to investigative correspondent Chiara Eisnerabout Smith's execution, and what led Alabama to use a new and untested execution method.

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Just days away from the nation's first primary in New Hampshire, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended his bid for president. What will this mean for the remaining candidates?

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The presidential debate has been a right of passage for both primary and general election candidates for more than thirty years.

Now in the midst of another election season, it looks like this well-established tradition might be fading away. But do debates inform voters, and do they change minds?

We take a look at how the modern presidential debate came to be, and what their absence would mean for candidates and voters.

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These days when you think of Boeing, the words that come to mind might be: door plug, 737-max, grounded. But before this month's safety debacle and the Ethiopian and Lion Air crashes five years ago, Boeing was synonymous with industry and innovation, and the company enjoyed a special relationship with the U.S. government and U.S. presidents.

Former President Barack Obama joked he was Boeing's top salesman, and former President Donald Trump praised the company at a visit during his presidency.

Now that special relationship between Boeing and the U.S. government is under renewed scrutiny.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to transportation correspondent Joel Rose about that relationship and what this latest incident could mean for the company and its oversight.

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Since Israel's war against Hamas began, the US has tried to prevent a wider regional war from breaking out.

Now, with US attacks against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, drone strikes in Iraq and fighting across Israel's northern border with Lebanon is that regional conflict the US wanted to avoid, already here?

The last three presidents have tried to shrink the US footprint in the Middle East. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes was Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama.

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Former President Donald Trump's victory in the Iowa caucuses this week surprised almost no one, but should news outlets have called the contest before some caucus goers, even had a chance to vote?

That's one of the questions we explore in today's episode. NPR's Mary Louise Kellylooks ahead to what happens next in the race for the republican nomination with senior editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.

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Artificial Intelligence is front of mind these days. Many of us are spending a lot of time pondering how AI can make our lives easier.

Or on the flip side — whether it's going to put us out of a job. But how would you be thinking about AI... if you were in charge of a major US intelligence agency?

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke to FBI Director Chris Wray and National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone about Artificial Intelligence as a national security threat.

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Jon Stewart ushered in a new era of late night comedy and pushed the boundaries between news and entertainment.

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If you can't remember the last time you had fun, you're not alone. If you want to have more fun, prioritizing it may be the key.

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Tainan is considered the culinary capital of Taiwan. At one of the oldest wet markets in that Southern city, Shuixian Gong Market, the island's vibrant cuisine is on the display.

There are displays of shiny orange and silver fish, bright rows of glistening pork ribs and overflowing crates of dragon fruit and guava.

It's the place for everyday grocery shopping for cooks around here.

But it's much more it's a portrait of all the forces – both indigenous and colonial – that have shaped modern Taiwan. In essence, Taiwan's cuisine is a reflection of its long history of influences.

NPR's Ailsa Chang tours the market with "Made in Taiwan" cookbook authors Clarissa Wei and Ivy Chen.

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It's been nearly a hundred days since Hamas' deadly attack on Israel, which prompted Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Israel says it aims to destroy Hamas.

By Palestinian officials' tally - more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and about one in every 40 people there have been wounded in just three months.

Israel's military is now pushing deeper into central Gaza. The World Health Organization says the most important hospital there is al-Aqsa Hospital.

American pediatrician Seema Jilani, spent two weeks working at the al-Aqsa hospital there. She recorded voice memos about what she saw and talks to NPR's Ari Shapiroabout the experience.

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On Saturday, the Taiwanese people vote for a new president.

It's one of the most important and closely-watched elections around the world this year.

While most of the world – including the United States – does not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent country, they are watching the results.

On New Year's Eve, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China would "surely be reunified" with Taiwan – reiterating Beijing's aspiration to one day control Taiwan. Caught in the middle of this are the island's people.

NPR's Ailsa Changand Emily Feng spent some time with one family who don't agree on what it means to be Taiwanese.

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In 2015, then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley led the way for the removal of the Confederate Flag from the state Capitol. The move came after a white gunman had murdered nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Fast forward almost eight years. At a town hall in New Hampshire, a voter asked Haley what she believed caused the Civil War. Haley failed to identify slavery in her answer, and she's been trying to clean up that misstep ever since.

When Haley rose to political prominence a decade ago, she was touted as the future of an inclusive and diverse Republican party. Now, in 2024, she's trying to win the Republican nomination against Donald Trump, who has used divisive rhetoric and politics to build a political base with unwavering support.

Can Haley win over those voters and the nomination without losing herself?

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Accessing mental health services can be challenging for people on Medicare, the federal health insurance program available to most people over 65.

At the beginning of this year, the program expanded coverage to licensed professional counselors and licensed marriage and family counselors. But is this expansion enough to address a growing mental health gap in the United States.

NPR's Juana Summers talks to a licensed professional counselor and professor about what these changes could mean.

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Longtime CEO of the National Rifle Associate has announced his resignation. LaPierre steps down amid accusations of misappropriating funds from the non-profit. Facing a civil trial, what will the NRA look like after LaPierre?

Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR's Brian Mann, who's been following the case.

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Twin bombings in Iran and a senior Hamas leader killed in Lebanon are just two recent events that are prompting concern that the war between Israel and Hamas could be expanding to other parts of the Middle East.

NPR correspondents Jane Arrafand Peter Kenyon, both with deep experience in the region, talk to All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly about the days events, and what it could mean for the stability of the region going forward.

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