Post Reports

The world is moving toward electric vehicles. In Part 3 of our series on the hidden toll of this historic transition, business reporter Evan Halper breaks down this industrial shift and the concerns it brings over human and environmental costs.Read more:States such as California and New York are moving to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars over the next decade. Meanwhile, President Biden wants at least half of new car sales to be electric by 2030.But the race to reduce our carbon footprint has hidden tolls. Workers in South Africa mining for manganese – an essential mineral for electric car batteries – are experiencing serious health problems. There are also geopolitical ramifications, with tensions in Afghanistan, where an untapped trove of lithium ore is beginning to garner interest from both the Taliban and Chinese prospectors. Today on “Post Reports,” Halper tells us how regulators, advocates and companies are responding to growing concerns over electric vehicle manufacturing. More from The Post’s bigger series, “Clean Cars, Hidden Toll”:In the scramble for EV metals, a health threat to workers often goes unaddressed. In the race for lithium, Afghanistan is of interest to the Taliban and Chinese prospectors.To meet EV demand, industry turns to technology long-deemed hazardous. Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost on workers. On the frontier of new “gold rush,”  the quest for coveted EV metals yields misery. The underbelly of electric vehicles. Minerals are crucial for electric cars and wind turbines. Some worry whether we have enough. 

In today’s installment of our series on the hidden toll of electric vehicles, reporter Gerry Shih ventures into the mountains of Afghanistan to find out what happens when loads of untapped lithium – a key part of electric vehicles – trigger a cross-border “gold rush.” Read more:“Waste kunzite” is what Afghan miners call the white rock that is all around them. It’s “waste” to them because they don’t have the capacity to extract it or sell it now. But around the world, this rock is extremely valuable. It contains lithium, an essential ingredient in the long-lasting battery within the floor of each electric vehicle. The demand for lithium – and electric vehicles more broadly – is rising fast, while states such as California and New York move to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars over the next decade. President Biden is also pushing for electric vehicles to make up at least half of new car sales by 2030. Despite the real benefits of going electric, the sourcing of raw materials in electric vehicles carries serious human, environmental and geopolitical costs that are often overlooked by consumers, manufacturers and policymakers.Today on “Post Reports,” we set out to unearth these tensions in Afghanistan, where an untapped trove of lithium ore is beginning to garner interest from both the Taliban and Chinese prospectors, who are looking to secure their grip on this sought-after global market.“There's a lot of money to be made here and there's a lot of interest in this resource,” Shih tells “Post Reports.” “When we consider holistically the pros of this great shift towards EVs, we also have to look at some of the unintended consequences.”More from The Post’s bigger series, “Clean Cars, Hidden Toll”:In the scramble for EV metals, a health threat to workers often goes unaddressed. To meet EV demand, industry turns to technology long deemed hazardous. Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost on workers. On the frontier of new “gold rush,” the quest for coveted EV metals yields misery. The underbelly of electric vehicles. Minerals are crucial for electric cars and wind turbines. Some worry whether we have enough.

As the demand for electric vehicles soars and more minerals are needed for production, manganese mine workers in South Africa are experiencing mysterious health problems. Read more:While you may not have heard about manganese, it’s a key ingredient in making electric cars move. Minerals such as cobalt, lithium and manganese are used to manufacture electric and gas-powered vehicles. But electric cars typically require six times the mineral input of conventional vehicles. The demand for manganese – and electric vehicles more broadly – is rising fast, while states such as California and New York move to ban the sale of gas-powered cars over the next decade. President Biden is also pushing for electric vehicles to make up at least half of new car sales by 2030. Despite the real benefits of going electric, the sourcing of raw materials in electric vehicles carries serious human, environmental and geopolitical costs that are often overlooked by consumers, manufacturers and policymakers.Today on “Post Reports,” West Africa bureau chief Rachel Chason travels to South Africa to visit with manganese mine workers, many of whom experienced health problems over the years. Troubling symptoms that some workers discovered are probably linked to manganese poisoning. More from The Post’s bigger series, “Clean Cars, Hidden Toll”:In the scramble for EV metals, Afghanistan is of interest to the Taliban and Chinese prospectors To meet EV demand, industry turns to technology long deemed hazardous. Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost for workers. On the frontier of new “gold rush,” quest for coveted EV metals yields misery. The underbelly of electric vehicles. Minerals are crucial for electric cars and wind turbines. Some worry whether we have enough. 

‘Post Reports’ is taking this week off! We’ll be back with more news from The Washington Post after the Labor Day holiday. Read more:Our podcast is taking a week off and coming back next Tuesday, Sept. 5. If you want to catch up on news, make sure to check out ‘The 7’ podcast, the morning news briefing from the Washington Post hosted by Jeff Pierre. 

Sixty years ago, some 250,000 Americans arrived by bus, by train and on foot to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Now, marchers and organizers reflect on the goals of that day — and the work that still needs to be done.Read more: In 1963, the fight for civil rights reached a pivotal stage. Activist Medgar Evers was murdered, Alabama Gov. George Wallace called for “segregation forever,” and riots in Cambridge, Md., erupted into violence. A few years earlier, the murder of Emmett Till had shaken people across the country. And on Aug. 28, thousands gathered on the National Mall to call for economic opportunity and something more mercurial — freedom. The march risked the civil rights movement’s viability at a crucial moment, when African Americans faced violent and deadly backlash from police and white supremacists for seeking voting protections and fair treatment in their own country.The day became iconic — especially the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful speech. But organizers say there was so much more that went into that moment, from organizing buses through the segregated South to making sure microphones worked on the Mall. Washington Post reporter Clarence Williams and his colleagues gathered dozens of interviews with people who were there that day, reflecting on the minute details behind the historic moment, as well as the legacy of the march that became a model for how to demand change in United States.

Today, what to know about covid boosters, the new variant and how to protect those most at risk this fall.As summer comes to a close, many people have started to see a bump in covid-19 cases among their family and friends. A new variant causing an uptick in hospitalizations and other illnesses like the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are on the horizon. Health reporter Fenit Nirappil discusses the latest on vaccine recommendations and how to protect ourselves and those most at risk.

A tropical storm in Southern California. Wildfires in Maui. Record-breaking heat in the Midwest. Climate reporter Brianna Sacks unpacks this summer of extreme weather, and what public officials can do to better prepare for future disasters.She explains why preparedness is key in vulnerable areas, and why places like California can sometimes get it right while others are still learning. Michelle Boorstein guest hosts.

The first Republican primary debate for the 2024 election cycle is tomorrow night. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has indicated he will not be attending, leaving open the possibility for another candidate to take advantage of his absence.Read more:To make it onto the debate stage, Republican candidates needed to meet strict polling requirements and have at least 40,000 individual donors. National polling puts former president Donald Trump in first place among his Republican opponents, with Ron Desantis in second. The Republican National Committee also required candidates to sign a “unity pledge” before the debate.With the Iowa Caucuses about five months away, this is an opportunity for candidates to build national name recognition and add donors. Maeve Reston is a national political reporter covering the 2024 election. She explains who is looking to take advantage of this early debate and why Trump will be missing from the stage. 

The kids at her school called it “cancer water.” There was even a group of them called the “cancer kids.” But when Amara developed a rare form of cancer at 15, the water — and the company contaminating it with chemicals — took center stage in the little time she had left.Read more:Amara Strande lived in Minnesota, where her city’s water had been tainted with forever chemicals. After she developed a rare form of cancer at 15, Amara told lawmakers at the state capitol that she believed those chemicals were responsible.PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because of their extreme durability: They don’t break down in the environment or degrade. And in the Minnesota community, they’re well known because of 3M, the manufacturing giant that had been dumping the chemicals into the water. Weather and climate reporter Amudalat Ajasa tells us about the life and death of Amara Strande, and how Amara pushed the Minnesota legislature to ban the chemicals before her death.

When legendary musician Sinéad O’Connor died, arts reporter Geoff Edgers was crushed. He’d spent time with her in 2020 as she relaunched her career. Today on the show, we share moments from that time and Geoff’s reflections on her legacy.Read more:Read Geoff’s essay about his road trip with Sinéad O’Connor and his profile from 2020. A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated the year Sinéad O’Connor’s son Shane died. It was 2022, not 2020. The audio has been corrected.If you or someone you know needs help, visit 988lifeline.org or call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Last week, the worst wildfire in Hawaii’s history left blocks of charred wreckage and more than  a hundred people dead. Now, while locals wait for news of loved ones, they’re also fighting to keep historic Lahaina in the hands of the Hawaiian people.Read more:Hawaii has one of the most intense housing crunches in the country, with sky-high property values, soaring costs of living and a colonial history that is still felt across the islands. Nowhere was that crunch more visible than historic Lahaina, the former Hawaiian capital, where longtime residents fought to keep their ancestral homes out of the hands of developers.That was all before a devastating fire ripped through west Maui, destroying thousands of homes and leveling neighborhoods. A little more than a week after the blaze, authorities are still sifting through the ash and accounting for the missing. Residents have banded together to fill gaps they say have been left by the state and federal disaster response. And they’re turning an eye to the future, amid fears that this disaster could drive longtime residents out of Maui. How to help or donate to Hawaii residents displaced by Maui wildfires.

In the fourth indictment of former president Donald Trump, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis alleges that Trump and 18 others participated in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. To do so, Willis is hoping to use the same legal tactic federal prosecutors have traditionally used to prosecute mafia bosses. “She's using a statute in Georgia called the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which mirrors a federal law that was originally written to go after the mafia in New York City,” Washington Post national political correspondent Amy Gardner said. “And so basically what she's doing is accusing the former president, Donald Trump, of being the head of a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to steal the 2020 election. Gardner joins Post Reports today to explain what makes Trump’s latest indictment unique, and the bar the district attorney will need to clear to secure a conviction.Read more:How Donald Trump tried to undo his loss in Georgia in 2020Here are the charges Trump faces in Georgia in the 2020 election case

Who is Mary Sara, the Sami woman whose brain was taken for the Smithsonian’s “racial brain collection”? Today, we find her descendants. And we find out how the Smithsonian is addressing the dark legacy of its “bone doctor,” Ales Hrdlicka. Read more: The brain of a Sami woman who died at a Seattle sanitarium in 1933. The cerebellum of an Indigenous Filipino who died at the 1904 World’s Fair. These are just two of the brains collected, seemingly without consent, by the Smithsonian’s first curator of its physical anthropology division, Ales Hrdlicka. They were part of the institution’s “racial brain collection.” Now, a hundred years after this brain collection began, The Washington Post has pieced together the most extensive look at this work to date. In this second episode, we conclude our search for the descendants of Mary, the Sami woman whose brain was taken in 1933, and we hear from the Smithsonian about how it’s grappling with Hrdlicka’s troubling legacy. If you haven’t listened to the first episode, make sure to listen to “Brain desirable,” Part 1. 

When Mary died in 1933, her brain was sent to a man named Ales Hrdlicka, the Smithsonian’s ‘bone doctor.’ Post reporters couldn’t find any records that Mary or her family consented to this. So what happened to Mary’s brain? And what is the extent of the Smithsonian’s “racial brain collection”?Read more:The brain of a Sami woman who died at a Seattle sanitarium in 1933. The cerebellum of an indigenous Filipino who died at the 1904 World’s Fair. These are just two of the brains collected over the last century by the Smithsonian’s first curator of the physical anthropology division, Ales Hrdlicka. Now, a hundred years after this brain collection began, The Washington Post has pieced together the most extensive look at this work to date. And over the next two days on Post Reports, we’re bringing you the details of this reporting and of Ales Hrdlicka’s troubling legacy. In this first episode, we find out the extent of the collection, and we begin the search for the descendants of Mary, the Sami woman whose brain was taken in 1933.

Two turntables and a microphone. That was all DJ Kool Herc had 50 years ago when he planted the seeds of what would become hip-hop. Today, we’ll hear directly from some of the genre’s biggest stars about how hip-hop took over the world.“Post Reports” audio engineer Sean Carter joins us today to share his reporting on hip-hop’s evolution over the past 50 years. Carter takes us backstage with some of hip-hop’s biggest names, like Rakim and the Lady of Rage, and speaks with the people who were there for some of hip-hop’s most pivotal moments. 

Chatbots can be biased, deceptive or even dangerous. Today on “Post Reports,” we meet the hackers who are competing to figure out exactly how AI can go awry. Read more:Will Oremus reports on technology for The Post, and recently that has meant writing a lot about AI and all the ways it could go wrong. “Even the people who make this stuff, the creators of these technologies, are also out there warning, hey, this could be really bad,” Will says. “This could go wrong in very disturbing ways.”The range of potential harms is vast. And today, we meet the hackers trying to make chatbots go haywire. In what organizers billed as the first public “red teaming” event for artificial intelligence language models, we see a preview of Def Con, the annual hacker convention in Las Vegas – and we learn more about AI’s pitfalls.

A new survey shows that more people are avoiding the news. Today on “Post Reports,” our media reporter Paul Farhi talks with Elahe Izadi about “news avoiders” – and how the media could respond to this growing trend.Read more:Bad news seems to be constant these days. Thanks to our hand-held devices, that bad news can follow us everywhere. More and more, people who used to follow the news regularly are tuning it out. This is bad news for an already struggling news industry. How can news organizations inform their audiences without overwhelming them? Today we talk about staying informed – and staying sane.

Today on “Post Reports,” the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the impact his candidacy could have on the 2024 election — even if he doesn’t come close to winning. Read more:Back in April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his candidacy for president of the United States. While he comes from a long line of famous politicians — including his father, onetime U.S. attorney general Bobby Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated — he has no political experience himself. Instead, after decades as an environmental lawyer, RFK Jr. has embraced misinformation about everything from vaccines to the 2004 election. Today, national political reporter Michael Scherer walks us through RFK Jr.’s background, the conspiratorial thinking that shapes his campaign, and how he could upend the 2024 election.

The USWNT is out of the World Cup at the earliest stage in the program’s history. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to soccer reporter Steve Goff about what happened – and what it signals about the global evolution of women's soccer.Read more:The U.S. women’s national soccer team went into the World Cup favored to win it all. Instead, they were knocked out before even making it to the quarterfinals. But as The Post’s Emily Giambalvo wrote, “the team’s waning dominance says less about the United States and more about the global evolution of women’s soccer.”Soccer reporter Steve Goff spoke to us from Melbourne, Australia, about the dramatic early exit for the USWNT – and what he’s watching for next in this World Cup.

On this encore episode of “Post Reports,” we 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. On this encore episode of “Post Reports,” 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. 

Running backs used to be among the most famous — and best-paid — players in football. But the game has changed and so has their status. Today on “Post Reports,” what that means for the sport and these players — and how they might be able to change it. Read more: The traditional running back has moved to the margins. The position is dangerous and injury-prone, but increasingly NFL teams are finding it makes business sense not to commit to these players long-term. Feeling underappreciated and underpaid, running backs have started trying to push back. On a recent Zoom meeting in which running backs commiserated about their shrinking market, Cleveland Browns star Nick Chubb admitted to reporters, “Right now, there’s really nothing we can do.” Today on “Post Reports,” sports columnist Jerry Brewer breaks it downand tells us what could happen next. 

A grand jury has indicted former president Donald Trump for alleged crimes stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Today, what the third indictment of Trump means for the 2024 Republican front-runner.Read more:The four-count, 45-page indictment alleges that former president Donald Trump conspired to defraud the United States, conspired to obstruct an official proceeding and conspired against people’s rights. Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House in next year’s election, denied all wrongdoing. Special counsel Jack Smith said his office would seek a speedy trial.Today, The Post’s Devlin Barrett breaks down the criminal charges against Trump for allegedly trying to overthrow the 2020 election. And, what this means as Trump continues to run for president in 2024.

Today on “Post Reports,” we follow up with Brooke and Billy High, two teenagers compelled into parenthood by the Texas abortion ban. Now, they’re caring for their twin daughters in a new city — and trying their best to hold it all together.Read more:Last summer, The Post’s abortion reporter Caroline Kitchener told the story of a teenager who wanted an abortion and ended up having twins because of the Texas abortion ban. The story — which “Post Reports” also covered — went viral. “The fascinating thing about that story for me was that people read it in two completely different ways,” Caroline Kitchener tells guest host Will Oremus. “You had antiabortion people saying, ‘This is wonderful. There are two babies in the world. Their parents love them. They got married. He’s joining the military,’ … kind of holding them up as poster children for what an abortion ban can do. But on the other side, you had abortion rights advocates saying, ‘This is a tragedy. She dropped out of school, this ambitious young woman; her life in so many ways is just so much more difficult.’”In today's episode of “Post Reports,” Caroline catches up with Brooke and her now-husband Billy as the two 19 year-olds try to make marriage and parenthood work.

Today on “Post Reports,” we explore the controversy around Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” – and how the song landed near the top of the charts. Critics say its new music video is full of coded threats against Black people.Read more:Country music star Jason Aldean is facing immense backlash over “Try That in a Small Town,” which soared in popularity even as the music video was pulled from Country Music Television amid the controversy. While Aldean is defending the video onstage and on social media, it was quietly edited to remove images of a Black Lives Matter protest after critics accused the song of containing coded threats against Black people. Aldean’s label said the video was edited for copyright reasons but did not elaborate.The Post’s Herb Scribner explains how the controversy has fueled the song’s popularity.

This year, Mississippi banned transgender young people, such as Ray, from accessing hormones or other gender-transition treatments. Nearly half the country has since passed similar bills, according to the Movement Advancement Project.Across the country, families are doing everything they can to protect their trans children. Some uprooted their lives in red states for the promise of protections in blue ones. Others filed lawsuits. Katie, Ray’s mother, couldn’t afford to move, and she needed a solution faster than the courts could offer, so she’d settled on a cheaper, quicker plan: She’d take a day off from her nursing job, and she and Ray would travel out of state for his medical care.This story is the third in a collection of new, occasional bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism. Today’s story was written by Casey Parks of The Washington Post and read by Adrienne Walker for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.  

Some parents are using tracking devices meant for keys to keep tabs on kids too young for smartphones. Read more:Apple AirTags are not meant to track your kids. But that’s exactly how some parents are using them. In backpacks, on wristbands, they are making it so parents worried about introducing their children to a smartphone can access their child’s location in case something goes wrong. And AirTags aren’t the only tech marketed toward the fear of parents. There are flip phones, watches and other devices marketed specifically for making sure your child is accounted for. Technology reporter Heather Kelly wanted to look into this as her own son heads into the fourth grade and searches for more independence. She’ll uncover how the tech works, its pitfalls and the ethics of tracking your children.

What happens when doctors push misinformation, jeopardizing patients’ lives? Today we dig into a months-long Post investigation into a system that appears ill-equipped to respond, and what that means for patients who suffered the health consequences.Read more:When Margret Murphy’s long-time doctor’s office told her to stop wearing a mask at her appointments during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting masking could be the cause of her high blood pressure, she left the practice and went elsewhere.  But the doctor's actions shocked health reporter Lena Sun.  Sun – along with our colleague Lauren Weber – looked into how often this kind of bad medical advice was being given in doctors’ offices, and what, if any, consequences doctors faced.“Doctors are among the most trusted people that we know,” Sun says. “They're up there on the pedestal. And so when they spread misinformation, it is triply damaging.” Yet, as this investigation found, doctors who prescribed misinformation rarely faced punishment.

A political crisis has swept Israel. Amid massive protests, lawmakers in parliament voted to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down government actions, weakening the judiciary. Who’s driving it?Read more:On Monday, Israel’s lawmakers voted to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to block government actions. Tens of thousands of people marched in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv after the vote, with protesters worrying about the step back from democracy after the important check on executive power was voted out by a far-right coalition. Jerusalem Bureau Chief Steve Hendrix explains Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's uncertain role in the judicial overhaul, the history of the far right in Israel, and how this reform prompted thousands of Israelis to take to the streets. 

Moms for Liberty is a conservative parental rights organization that is increasingly influencing the policies of the Republican Party. The Southern Poverty Law Center has called it an extremist group.Read more:A few weeks ago, conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty held a summit in Philadelphia. At the summit, the group rallied against sexual education, critical race theory and public health mandates — all topics its members believe public schools are teaching to “indoctrinate” their children. A few weeks before the summit, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated Moms for Liberty as an extremist group that spreads “messages of anti-inclusion and hate.” Still, GOP presidential candidates are giving their stamp of approval to the group: Presidential hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former president Donald Trump all gave speeches at the summit.Today, campaign reporter Hannah Knowles takes us inside the Moms for Liberty summit and explains how the group is influencing Republican Party politics.

Today on “Post Reports,” why experts are suddenly feeling a bit more optimistic about the economy. And whether we can finally stop worrying about a recession … or not.Read more:For the past few years, the U.S. economy has been in a period of chaos. The coronavirus pandemic caused supply chains to go haywire, and inflation shot up. Many people were laid off early in the pandemic – followed by historic job growth and hiring struggles. But now, it seems as if the economy might be settling into a new normal: The job market is going strong, inflation is cooling off, and wages are finally keeping up.Despite these positive indicators, Washington Post economic reporter Rachel Siegel says, people might not be feeling totally ready to celebrate.Today, we talk about whether we should still be worried about the ever-looming recession, and whether consumers will feel any relief coming out of this tight financial period.

The much-anticipated movie “Oppenheimer” opens today – about the scientist who led the development of the atomic bomb. On “Post Reports,” we’re joining The Post’s Lillian Cunningham on a journey to the site of the bomb’s first test.Read more:White Sands National Park contains a geological rarity: the largest field of gypsum sand dunes anywhere on Earth. The blinding white dunes stretch for miles in every direction, dazzling tourists, inviting selfies and sled rides.But there’s much more to this park than meets the eye. White Sands National Park, one of the newest in the system, is embedded within White Sands Missile Range, the largest military installation in the country. Today the missile range is a testing ground for cutting-edge weapons. It’s also home to the Trinity site, where the first test of an atomic bomb was conducted in 1945. In that instant, the sand beneath the bomb fused into greenish glass. And life changed forever for people living in communities nearby.That same sand also holds evidence of humanity’s origins on this continent. One observant park ranger at White Sands National Park has spent years uncovering footprints delicately preserved in the shifting sand. Those tracks have painted a picture of prehistoric families living alongside mammoths and giant ground sloths. They’ve also raised new questions about just how long ago the first people might have crossed into North America.In this episode of “Field Trip,” Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham visits these two very different sites in the New Mexico desert and asks why this landscape has been both safeguarded and sacrificed. Subscribe to Field Trip here or wherever you're listening to this podcast.

Beyond Shein’s uber cheap clothes, the fast-fashion retailer from China has been involved in numerous scandals, including claims of human rights abuses. Even if you’ve never done a Shein haul, it’s time to get to know the massive company.Read more:A few weeks ago, a handful of influencers went on a paid brand trip for the fast-fashion company Shein. Known for its persistent TikTok ads and clothing haul videos, Shein showed off a factory where some of its clothes are made. Most influencers created videos about how much they love Shein and how well the workers were treated.When these creators and social media stars got back from their trip, they faced an enormous amount of backlash, given allegations that Shein perpetuates human rights abuses, steals products from designers and inappropriately collects user data. Shein denies any wrongdoing.Rachel Tashjian is a fashion reporter with The Post, and she says the multibillion-dollar company is more than just cheap sundresses and knickknacks. It’s now even drawing attention from U.S. lawmakers who oppose China’s alleged hand in Shein’s business dealing.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off on July 20. Get up to speed on why this is a historic tournament in women’s soccer. Read more:We’re doing something a little different today. Our resident sports experts are taking over the mics. Join sports columnists Candace Buckner and Sally Jenkins as they prepare us for the women’s World Cup with The Post’s soccer reporter Steven Goff. They’ll discuss the players and teams to watch out for and if the U.S. women's national team can pull off the tournament hat trick – winning a third World Cup in a row. Also, they dig into how the sport has changed since the U.S. Soccer equal-pay settlement in 2022 and what this means for other countries fighting for equity.All this ahead of the U.S. women’s first game on July 21 at 9 p.m.

Hollywood is facing a crisis. Almost every writer and actor is on strike against major studios, halting production. Massive protests have taken over LA and New York. Today, we unpack the upheaval that will change Hollywood forever.  Read more: Hollywood is going through an existential crisis. In a historic double strike, nearly every performer and writer in the industry is on strike against major studios for the first time in more than 60 years. In an era of artificial intelligence and streaming, they are demanding limits on AI in the creative process and changes to their work and pay.Today, breaking news features editor Avi Selk explains what led to this impasse, what writers and performers are demanding, and how this strike will reshape the future of entertainment.

The Red Cross’s lifeguard certification program is considered the gold standard in water safety, but an investigation into the nonprofit reveals alleged gaps in its oversight of lifeguard training. Read more:In 2019, Doug Forbes and his wife left their 6-year-old daughter, Roxie, at Summerkids Camp, an idyllic day camp in the Los Angeles area. Less than an hour later, they got a phone call from the camp director. Roxie was being transported to a nearby hospital. The next day, Roxie was pronounced dead; she had drowned.Forbes would spend the next four years trying to understand how his daughter’s tragic death could have happened. What he – and The Post’s corporate accountability reporter, Doug MacMillan, discovered – is a series of loopholes in the Red Cross’s lifeguard training program that allegedly allows lifeguard trainees to go rogue and skip lifesaving training protocols.Today, Doug MacMillan takes us inside The Post’s investigation of the Red Cross, the story of a father who lost his daughter to drowning, and why one whistleblower from inside the organization says he doesn’t trust lifeguards to protect his children.

In the tiny town of Plains, Va., the conservative Christian neighbors of the gay-owned Front Porch Market and Grill have been working to shut down the restaurant. It's a story of ideological differences, accusations of harassment and the monopolizing of town resources.This story is the second in a collection of occasional weekend bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism. Today’s story was written by Tim Carman of The Washington Post and read by Michael Satow for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.  

Decades after we were first promised a “paperless office,” nearly half of Americans still own a printer. But most aren’t happy with them, and that might be by design.Read more:The Washington Post’s Help Desk is here to discuss all things printers. Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler rounds up a series of investigations he and his colleagues conducted into most people’s least favorite piece of personal tech. Many people still need to print shipping labels, school projects, legal documents and medical forms, so printers aren’t going away anytime soon. The printer industry seems to be taking advantage of this reality – by jacking up the price of ink and convincing you to update your equipment more often than might be necessary.But there are ways you can make owning a printer cheaper and less frustrating. There are also alternatives to buying a home printer, but make sure to protect your privacy when using a third-party printing service. Listen to find out how. 

On June 14, a ship with as many as 750 migrants aboard from countries including Pakistan and Syria sank off the Greek coast. Hundreds of people died. We hear about what happened and about a Post investigation that suggests this was a preventable tragedy. Read more:Today on “Post Reports,” we hear the story of one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in recent history, when an overpacked ship sank in one of the deepest points of the Mediterranean Sea. Louisa Loveluck, The Post’s Baghdad bureau chief, explains what happened on the ship and what survivors described. She also discusses a recent Post investigation of the disaster, which casts doubt on some of the main claims by Greek officials in response to the tragedy and suggests that more could have been done to save lives.

Today on “Post Reports,” we head to Lithuania, host of a pivotal NATO summit this week. Plenty is at stake, including the possible expansion of NATO and the biggest question of all: how to support Ukraine while keeping it outside of the alliance.Read more:As tensions build between the West and Russia, world leaders met in Lithuania this week for the annual NATO summit. The Post’s Brussels bureau chief, Emily Rauhala, brings us her reporting from the meeting and breaks down how the Biden administration and NATO allies are navigating their support for Ukraine.

It was a deal that stunned the world: The PGA will merge with LIV Golf, a rival league funded by the Saudi Arabian government. But many are unhappy, including members of Congress investigating it.Read more:For decades, the PGA Tour was the dominant organization in professional golf. Then the government of Saudi Arabia funded the creation of a new league, LIV Golf. Backed by millions in Saudi funding, LIV managed to attract several high-profile players, despite concerns about partnering with a country infamous for numerous human rights violations. Initially, the PGA retaliated by banning golfers from participating in both leagues, and its commissioner even admonished those who would work with the Saudi government. That’s why many were stunned in early June when the PGA announced plans to go into business and partner with LIV Golf. Since the announcement, golfers and fans have expressed shock and outrage over the surprise deal — and now a congressional committee is investigating the deal. Sports columnist Sally Jenkins joins us to explain why the PGA is joining forces with the Saudi government. 

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley often depicts her removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s State House as her key move to take on the history of enslavement. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear how that chapter is more complex than portrayed. Read more:As she runs for the GOP presidential nomination, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley often portrays her decision to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds as the culmination of her work to move South Carolina beyond its history of succession and enslavement.Today on “Post Reports,” political investigative reporter Michael Kranish tells us about Haley’s meetings with Confederate heritage groups while she was governor and how she let the flag fly until a massacre forced her hand. 

This is the first bonus installment of "Deep Reads," the best of The Post's narrative journalism. It's a story about two tennis stars, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who turned a rivalry into an enduring friendship – and cancer support system.Read more: Tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova became friends as teenagers but then split apart as each rose to No. 1 in the world. But they grew back together as they forged one of the greatest rivalries in sports and embarked on ambitious lives in retirement. After 50 years, they understood each other like no one else could. So when cancer came, they turned to each other.This story is the first in a collection of new, occasional bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism. Today’s story was written by Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post and read by Adrienne Walker for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.

Compared to the chaos of Earth, outer space can seem serene. But, thanks to a recent discovery, we now know that the very fabric of the cosmos is being pushed and pulled by gravitational waves — waves powerful enough to distort space-time.Read more:Victoria Jaggard is a deputy health and science editor at The Post. She reported on the breakthrough research proving the existence of a gravitational wave background. Now, we know that low-frequency gravitational waves from objects such as supermassive black holes can alter space-time. It won’t change your daily lives. You’ll still have to go to work on Monday. But scientists believe this discovery could rewrite our understanding of the universe. 

Today on “Post Reports,” we join The Post’s Lillian Cunningham on her journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s most awe-inspiring places: the national parks. Next stop? Glacier.Read more: All 63 national parks sit on Indigenous ancestral lands. They’re places Native Americans called home for thousands of years. But for more than 100 years, these places have also been public lands, intended to benefit all Americans. Sometimes that puts Native American tribes and the National Park Service into conflict. That’s particularly true in Glacier National Park, where members of the Blackfeet have fought to preserve their deep connection to the land in the nearly 130 years since the tribe ceded it to the U.S. government. In this episode of “Field Trip,” Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham takes listeners on an immersive journey, as she drives off the park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road and onto the Blackfeet reservation. Because to get inside the heart of Glacier today, you have to go outside it.We’ll hear the story of how Ed DesRosier challenged park officials for the right to tell his people’s story inside Glacier; meet two women, Rosalyn LaPier and Theda New Breast, who practice their families’ traditions on both sides of the park border; and talk to Ervin Carlson about a plan, years in the making, to return free-roaming buffalo to the park.We’ll also take a detour to Washington, D.C., where we’ll hear from Charles Sams III, the first Native American to helm the National Park Service, about what the future of collaboration between parks and tribes could look like.  You can see incredible photos of Glacier and find more on the national parks here. Subscribe to Field Trip here or wherever you're listening to this podcast.

Today on “Post Reports,” we join The Post’s Lillian Cunningham on her journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s most awe-inspiring places: the national parks. First stop? Yosemite.Read more:California’s Sierra Nevada is home to a very special kind of tree, found nowhere else on Earth: the giant sequoia. For thousands of years, these towering trees withstood the trials of the world around them, including wildfire. Low-intensity fires frequently swept through groves of sequoias, leaving their cinnamon-red bark scarred but strengthened, and opening their cones to allow new seeds to take root.But in the era of catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change, these ancient trees are in jeopardy. And Yosemite National Park is on the front lines of the fight to protect them.In the first episode of “Field Trip,” Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham takes listeners inside this fabled landscape — from the hush of the Mariposa Grove to the rush of the Merced River — to explore one of America’s oldest and most-visited national parks.We’ll hear from Yosemite forest ecologist Garrett Dickman on the extreme measures he’s taken to protect iconic trees; from members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk working to restore Native American fire practices to the park; and from Yosemite Superintendent Cicely Muldoon about the tough choices it takes to manage a place like this.We’ll also examine the complicated legacies that conservationist John Muir, President Abraham Lincoln and President Theodore Roosevelt left on this land.The giant trees of Yosemite kick-started the whole idea of public land preservation in America. Join us as we visit the place where the idea of the national parks began — and ask what the next chapter might look like. You can see incredible photos of Yosemite and find more on the national parks here. Subscribe to Field Trip here or wherever you're listening to this podcast.Subscribe to The Washington Post with a special deal for podcast listeners. Your first four weeks are free when you sign up here.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court restricted race-based affirmative action policies, changing the landscape of higher education in the United States. Today, we look at what this decision means for college admissions and beyond. Read more:A decision this summer on the future of affirmative action was one of the most anticipated cases on the Supreme Court’s docket. In a 6-3 decision Thursday, the court overturned decades of precedent by restricting affirmative action policies. They declared that considering race in college admissions violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The decision has sparked outcry and celebration across the nation. We sit down with higher education reporter Nick Anderson to understand how this decision will affect the future of college admissions in the United States.

“Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Mission Impossible 7” – the list goes on. Today we’re reviewing the movies you shouldn’t miss this summer. Plus, a closer look at Hollywood and the state of the movie industry. Read more: Summer movie season is upon us. The Washington Post’s movie critic Ann Hornaday and pop culture reporter Sonia Rao sit down with us to make sense of which movies to watch in theaters this summer. They break down which action movies are poised to be blockbusters, which under-the-radar movies you should go see, and their favorite movies this season. Plus, we look at the state of moviegoing in a world increasingly dominated by direct-to-streaming movie models, how Hollywood celebrities are trying to save the traditional movie theater experience, and if the writer’s strike will affect movies coming out this fall. 

President Biden’s son Hunter pleaded guilty to two minor tax crimes, and though President Biden wasn’t implicated, it could pose a problem for him as he ramps up his reelection campaign.Read more:Last week, President Biden’s son Hunter Biden reached an agreement to plead guilty to two minor tax crimes as part of a deal struck with federal prosecutors. It’s just the latest in a series of scandals surrounding Hunter and his relationship with his father. For years, critics of President Biden have scrutinized his son and accused Hunter of improperly leveraging his relationship with his father to enrich himself. Some have even accused President Biden himself of being aware of these arrangements. Though no clear evidence has surfaced that President Biden engaged in any wrongdoing, the charges against Hunter could become a thorny political problem for the president, especially as he ramps up his bid for a second term in office. White House reporter Matt Viser joins us today to explain those charges, whether they will impact President Biden’s reelection campaign, and how the president’s 2024 strategy is developing. Plus, journey with Lillian Cunningham through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s most awe-inspiring places: the national parks. The “Field Trip” podcast’s first two episodes are out now. 

The American College of Pediatricians has promoted views on abortion and transgender care that have been rejected by the medical establishment. But their views are still shaping conservative laws restricting abortion and trans rights across the country.How does a small group such as the American College of Pediatricians gain such an outsized influence in conservative statehouses? Lauren Weber is The Washington Post’s health and science accountability reporter focused on the forces behind medical disinformation. On today’s episode, Weber explains the discoveries from ACP’s internal documents and how it has become a go-to organization for right-wing lawmakers.

Today, we explain why an armed revolt in Russia, led by the Wagner mercenary group, represents one of the biggest challenges to Vladimir Putin’s 23 years of rule. Read more:A fast-moving crisis unfolded in Russia over the weekend: A group of mercenary soldiers, known as the Wagner Group, marched toward Moscow, getting within 120 miles of Russia’s capital before abruptly turning back. Although the rebellion was short-lived, it raises serious questions about Vladimir Putin’s grip on Russia and his war effort in Ukraine. Today, national security reporter Shane Harris explains why Wagner Group leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin led the revolt and what it could mean for Putin’s political future. If you want to learn more about Yevgeniy Prigozhin and the Wagner Group, you can listen to our earlier episode explaining the rise of the shadowy Russian mercenary network.