Post Reports

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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