Episodes

  • The News Roundup For June 27, 2025

    The News Roundup For June 27, 2025
    Jun 27 2025
    NATO leaders met this week and promised to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

    Meanwhile, Donald Trump claimed at that same summit that the U.S. strikes on nuclear sites in Iran had "completely and fully obliterated" the country's nuclear program. American intelligence reports, however, indicate the attack only set Tehran back a few months.

    Zohran Mamdani, the New York assembly member representing the state's 36th district, is expected to be the Democratic party's nominee for mayor after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded this week.

    Following a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president suggested he was open to sending more Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • Best Of: The Future Of Fighting And Preventing Forest Fires

    Best Of: The Future Of Fighting And Preventing Forest Fires
    Jun 26 2025
    80 years ago, Smokey the Bear was mostly talking about campfire safety. Now? Things are a little different.

    Forest fires have always been a normal part of our landscape – and a tool used by human civilizations for millennia.

    But as climate change makes our landscapes hotter and drier, wildfires are getting bigger and more destructive. Fire consumed 8.9 million acres across the U.S. last year. The LA County fires this January are the costliest so far, with some estimates putting the total close to $250 billion in damages.

    We discuss how we can better adapt to living with massive fires and how we should think about fighting – and preventing – them.

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    33 mins
  • Ask An Ambassador

    Ask An Ambassador
    Jun 25 2025
    Earlier this week, the U-S embassy in Qatar issued a warning to American citizens to quote: "shelter in place until further notice." Qatar is home to the largest U-S military base in the Middle East.

    The alert came amid growing fears of Iranian retaliation against U-S troops and personnel overseas, after President Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.

    When global news like this breaks, embassies – and the ambassadors leading them – play a crucial role.

    They're on the ground, serving as the top representatives of the United States government. Ambassadors also protect U-S citizens abroad.

    They're on the ground, serving as the top representatives of the United States government around the world. They also protect U.S. citizens abroad.

    Hundreds Americans currently hold the title of ambassador. But what does their daily work look like?

    We discuss their role and how they help preserve America's so-called "soft power."

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    33 mins
  • Best Of: Chef José Andrés On Building A Better World

    Best Of: Chef José Andrés On Building A Better World
    Jun 24 2025
    José Andrés is a Michelin-starred chef and the owner of 40 restaurants across the globe. But the culinary star is just as well known for his humanitarian work.

    His organization, World Central Kitchen, has fed millions in Gaza and Ukraine and during natural disasters in the U.S. and abroad.

    Now, he's releasing a memoir about what it's like to not only feed people when they want it, but when they need it.

    We talk to Andrés about his life, work, and his new book, "Change the Recipe."

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    33 mins
  • 'If You Can Keep It': The Separation Of Church And State

    'If You Can Keep It': The Separation Of Church And State
    Jun 23 2025
    Donald Trump's new Commission on Religious Liberty met last week for the first time.

    When Trump signed the executive order in May establishing the group, he marked the occasion by saying, "We're bringing religion back to our country, and it's a big deal."

    But isn't the separation of church and state guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution? Can the president just "forget about it" even once?

    We discuss the complicated answer.

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    20 mins
  • The Aftermath Of US Strikes On Iranian Nuclear Sites

    The Aftermath Of US Strikes On Iranian Nuclear Sites
    Jun 23 2025
    With strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, President Donald Trump has brought the United States into Israel's war with Iran.

    Israel began its campaign against Iran 10 days ago with what it called a "preemptive strike." Now, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned on social media that Iran "reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people."

    Iran has so far retaliated only on Israeli sites. Some 40,000 American troops on the ground across the Middle East are on alert.

    We discuss the latest and look ahead to what could happen next.

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    23 mins
  • The Effect Of Climate Policy Changes On Your Life

    The Effect Of Climate Policy Changes On Your Life
    Jun 20 2025
    In his first six months back in the Oval Office, President Trump rolled back decades of U.S. climate policy.

    So far, he's scaled back regulations that help keep our air and water clean, delayed critical protections for endangered species, withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time, and cut staffing and federal spending on critical environmental agencies and programs – among other changes.

    Trump's commitment to increase oil and gas production will escalate the effects we're already seeing from global warming as humans continue to burn fossil fuels.

    We discuss what changes to U.S. environmental policy could have the greatest impact on the fight to curb climate change.

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    31 mins
  • Who Gets To Decide What School Means For Students?

    Who Gets To Decide What School Means For Students?
    Jun 19 2025
    What's your most vivid school memory? Do you remember it as a time of exploration? Was it a place where you could figure out who you were and what you wanted to become?

    Or did it feel like it wasn't made for you? Did it feel constricting, or like a place with lots of rules about how you had to act and what you couldn't do?

    Your experience of schools likely depended on the administrators, who your teachers were, how your city or state set up the curriculum, and the resources your school received. Writer Eve L. Ewing argues that experience could also be shaped by who you are.

    What has school meant for students, and who influenced how schools function the way they do? And what are alternatives for how school could work for students?

    We sit down with Ewing to talk about her new book, "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism."

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    33 mins