Post Reports

What happens when an entire fast-food restaurant staff quits? Today for our special series on “Quitters,” the story of a McDonald’s walkout, and what it can tell us about the labor market right now.Read more: In September, the entire staff of a McDonald’s in Bradford, Pa., walked out and quit their jobs. One of the staff members left a parting note for the customers, written in blue highlighter because he couldn’t find a pen: “Due to lack of pay, we all quit.”“The signs are…kind of like primal screams,” says reporter Greg Jaffe. “It’s [the worker’s] chance to convey a message: We’re being mistreated. We’re tired of it. This corporation treats us badly, and doesn’t care about us.”Today on Post Reports, we’re bringing you the second installment in “Quitters,” a three-part podcast series about a few of the millions of Americans who quit their jobs this year. Jaffe takes us inside the fast-food workers’ season of rebellion.You can listen to the first part of the series here.

2021 was a big year for quitting. Millions of Americans resigned. For the first episode in our series on “quitters,” we go to a restaurant in Arkansas where nearly every employee – and the owners – found themselves reassessing their work, and their lives.Read more:This year, millions of Americans quit their jobs in the “Great Resignation.” Over the next three days on “Post Reports,” we’re talking to some of the “quitters” and exploring why so many people are reassessing the role of work in their lives right now. On today’s show, economics correspondent Heather Long and “Post Reports” Executive Producer Maggie Penman head to Arkansas to tell the story of a family-run restaurant. And they report on how the stressors of covid, the pressures of running a small business and the hope for better, more-balanced lives led to a great resignation of sorts. 

How the fight in Chicago over a proposed scrap metal facility became a test case for the Biden administration’s approach to environmental justice. Read more:General Iron Industries is a Chicago-based scrap metal recycling company with a bad track record of pollution. When the company announced its intention to move from a wealthy, White neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side to a working-class, Latino neighborhood on the city’s Southeast Side last year, the plan set off alarm bells. This proposal — and its apparent approval from city officials and state environmental regulators — sparked a massive backlash from Southeast Side residents. They claimed discrimination and argued that their neighborhood was already overburdened by pollution. After a series of protests, a federal civil rights complaint and even a month-long hunger strike, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intervened in May. The opening of the facility has been temporarily paused, but more than seven months later, the conflict over whether the company will operate in that neighborhood is still unresolved.Environmental justice reporter Darryl Fears and senior producer Robin Amer delve into the high-stakes fight between residents and the company, and what the outcome might reveal about the lengths the Biden administration is willing to go to to protect communities of color that disproportionately bear the cost of pollution — something it has explicitly promised to do.

On the ground in Mayfield, Ky., after a string of tornadoes devastated the town, flattening buildings and leaving streets unrecognizable. The tornadoes tore through a 200-mile swath of land, and may be the sign of a lengthening tornado season. Read more: Late last week, a string of tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest regions of the United States. Dozens have died, and thousands of structures have been destroyed. National breaking news reporter Kim Bellware takes us on the ground to the hard-hit town of Mayfield, Ky., where survivors are in shock.  Plus, Capital Weather Gang contributor Jeffrey Halverson explains how unusual it is to see a tornado event this powerful during the winter months, and why it may be a sign of a changing weather patterns. Follow The Washington Post’s live coverage of the tornado recovery efforts here. 

How the tight-knit community of Oxford, Mich., is healing after a mass shooting. Plus, remembering Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt.Read more:A 15-year-old opened fire at his Michigan high school on Nov. 30, killing four students and wounding seven others, police say. This is the deadliest episode of on-campus violence in almost three years. Reporter Kim Bellware and producer Rennie Svirnovskiy examine what it looks like for a town to start healing. The Post remembers Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt, who died this week after a sudden cardiac arrest. A beloved colleague and friend, Hiatt worked for The Post’s editorial pages for 21 years. He is survived by his wife of 37 years and his three children. You can also listen to the tributes for Hiatt on the Post’s Opinions podcast “Please, Go On.” 

What self-defense means in a country deeply divided over gun rights and race. And a story that shows the stakes of disappearing local news – about an Alaska community where climate change is costing them their school. Read more:After the high-profile trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery – we wanted to unpack the legal questions with Post columnist and Georgetown law professor Paul Butler and talk about what self-defense looks like in a country with gun rights, stand-your-ground laws and deep racial divides. In a remote town in western Alaska, climate change has become a daily reality: Thanks to erosion, the community’s only school sits just feet from a crumbling riverbank. But the state won’t pay to replace it until it falls in. Greg Kim reports from Alaska’s radio station KYUK as part of a Washington Post project on vital stories out of America's news deserts.

Earlier this year, Joe Biden ended the controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy — but a court has now reinstated it. Today, what that means for asylum seekers, who are forced to wait in Mexico for their immigration proceedings. Read more:Today on Post Reports, we revisit Nancy, a woman we followed as she fled gang violence in El Salvador and ended up stuck in a border camp in Matamoros, Mexico. Nancy’s story shows how this program affects asylum seekers left in limbo on the U.S. southern border.

The limitations of American diplomacy — at the border between Russia and Ukraine, and at the Olympics in Beijing.Read more:According to U.S. intelligence and The Post’s reporting, Russia is planning to move up to 175,000 troops to its border with Ukraine — plans that have the international community concerned. On a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, President Biden threatened economic sanctions and other measures if the Kremlin were to escalate the situation and invade Ukraine. Shane Harris reports on Putin’s plans, and on how difficult it is to deter a country like Russia.Plus, the United States’ diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. Rick Maese reports on the pointed snub in protest of China’s human rights abuses.

The trial of Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos founder and CEO. Read more:Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of the medical technology start-up Theranos, is on trial for 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Tech reporter Rachel Lerman has been covering Holmes’s trial for about three months now. Lerman dives into what we’ve learned about the Theranos founder from her extraordinary moments on the stand – and what that tells us about the “fake it ‘til you make it” culture of start-ups in Silicon Valley.Do you think you’re experiencing long-haul covid symptoms? Share your experience with The Post. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the question of how some may have to live and reckon with long-haul covid, or lingering symptoms after having had covid-19, remains open. Help The Post understand what it’s like to experience long-haul covid symptoms and how they affect your everyday life. A reporter may follow up with you.

Why dozens of students at Howard University spent part of their fall semester living in tents. And, omicron comes to the United States.Read more:Mold, mice, water damage and no WiFi. Those have been some of the conditions in Howard University’s housing units in Washington. This fall, the conditions led to protests that lasted more than 30 days. Some students even slept in tents on the historically Black university’s campus. But such conditions aren’t new. For years, students and graduates have complained about building conditions at a school that’s often called “the Mecca.”Many students blamed university president Wayne A.I. Frederick. But some students say Corvias, a private company that manages 60 percent of the housing on Howard’s campus, is the real culprit. Schools often hire companies to handle dining halls and custodial services because they don’t get enough funding from federal, state and local governments. Education reporter Lauren Lumpkin and producer Jordan-Marie Smith report on the relationship between universities and the private companies managing their housing — and the students who say those relationships need to end.Plus later in the show, national health reporter Dan Diamond explains what President Biden’s administration plans to do about the omicron variant of the coronavirus.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

What Jack Dorsey’s departure from Twitter means for Silicon Valley, the platform and its dedicated users. And how the new CEO, Parag Agrawal, could change the direction of the company. Read more:In a casually written tweet Monday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that he would be stepping down from his position. As the company’s co-founder, he’s been a Silicon Valley icon for 15 years, and he leaves behind a complicated legacy. Tech reporter Will Oremus says that his departure is shrouded in mystery and that the resignation letter he posted to Twitter did not explain whether he was voluntarily leaving the company or was ousted by investors. Dorsey’s replacement is Parag Agrawal, the company’s former chief technology officer. While he’s well-liked by staff, he was an unexpected pick to head one of Silicon Valley’s most fraught and politically embroiled social media companies — and it’s up in the air whether his limited experience will limit his ability to navigate important and thorny questions around content moderation. 

Today on Post Reports, a deep examination of the sheriffs involved in the controversial 287(g) program. Plus, how the new republic of Barbados signals a changing tide for the British crown.Read more:Investigative reporter Debbie Cenziper has been looking into the expansion of a controversial program called 287(g) that allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to recruit sheriffs as partners to question and detain undocumented immigrants.“What I found most surprising is that some of the sheriffs empowered by the federal government with enforcement authority, the power to investigate and detain undocumented immigrants, had made very public statements — some might call them bombastic statements — about their views on immigration policy,” Cenziper said. Later on the show, we’ll talk about Barbados officially removing Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and inaugurating its first president — and bestowing Rihanna as a “national hero.” As Jennifer Hassan reports, the importance of Barbados transitioning to a republic goes beyond one country and reflects a growing debate over why the British monarchy still exists.

It’s a critical week for abortion rights in the United States. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could roll back the protections of Roe v. Wade. But the arguments to gut Roe are coming from the surprising lens of women’s empowerment.Read more:Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization goes before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The caseputs Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortions to the test, and it could be the case that defines abortion rights for generations. When The Lily reporter Caroline Kitchener first read a brief in Dobbs written by the attorney general of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, she found an argument against abortion that she hadn’t heard before. Fitch was urging the court to use the Dobbs case to gut Roe v. Wade because restricting abortion access, Fitch said, empowers women. Kitchener reports on the landmark case before the court, and examines the pitch advocates like Fitch are making with their antiabortion arguments — and why some people aren’t buying it.On Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, The Washington Post is hosting a live Twitter Space conversation about the omicron coronavirus variant. Join Martine Powers and Post health reporters to hear the latest on what scientists have learned about omicron. Set a reminder to join the Twitter Space here.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get a subscription to The Post for just 99 cents every four weeks, and you can give a full year as a gift for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. It's the best deal we’ve ever offered, and it ends today.

Omicron, a new variant of the coronavirus, could be the next big hurdle in beating the pandemic. Today on Post Reports, what we know so far, and why you shouldn’t panic just yet.Read more:Last week, a new coronavirus variant was detected in southern Africa. Since then, public health officials and government leaders have been trying to figure out what’s next. Some countries have reinstated travel bans, while others are urging people not to panic.While as of Monday there were no known cases in the United States, President Biden said that “sooner or later we’re going to see cases of this new variant here.”Reporter Dan Diamond explains what we know about the omicron variant and why you should proceed with caution but not panic. We also talk about what this new variant reveals about tensions between countries where vaccines are widely available and those where they’re not.  Relatedly, Post Reports recently aired an interview with Dr. Fauci. He talked about booster shots, and why he thinks all eligible Americans should be getting them. You can listen to that episode here.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get a subscription to The Post for just 99 cents every four weeks! And you can give a full year as a gift for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. It's the best deal we’ve ever offered and it's happening only for a couple more days.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the “first Thanksgiving” between English pilgrims and Wampanoags in Massachusetts. But historians say the true story of what happened bears little resemblance to the myth that many Americans learn in grade school.Read more:In 1621, some pilgrims and some Wampanoags shared a feast. It wasn't the first meeting between the two groups and it wouldn't be the last, but for many reasons — including the American Civil War — the anniversary of that meal took on both an outsized importance and a whitewashed simplicity.This year, in honor of the 400th anniversary of that meal, Post reporter Dana Hedgpeth wanted to hear the Wampanoags’ side of the story. 

In the final installment of our series Teens in America, what it sounds like for the family of one 17-year-old to confront White privilege and racism.Read more:With Thanksgiving coming up this week, a lot of us might be feeling anxious about seeing relatives we may not have seen in a while, especially if we don’t always see eye to eye with them. We might be bracing for some awkward conversations or even some intense debates around politics or what we’ve been seeing on the news.Iris Santalucia can relate to that. In the final installment of our series Teens in America, we listen in as the 17-year-old New York City native has a tough conversation with her parents about the role White privilege plays in their family. Iris’s mother is White. Her father is Latino and has often felt targeted by police because of his race. Although her mother says she knows people of color are sometimes profiled, she doesn’t believe her husband is among them. Iris sees White privilege as one element in her parents’ dynamic and confronts her mother about it on tape. This series is produced in collaboration with YR Media, a nonprofit media, music and technology incubator. For more stories in this series, visit wapo.st/teens. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get a subscription to The Post for just 99 cents every four weeks. And you can give a full year as a gift for just $9.99. Go to www.washingtonpost.com/subscribe. It's the best deal we’ve ever offered and it's only happening for a few days.

Today on “Post Reports,” a conversation with Anthony S. Fauci: We cover why you should get a booster, how you can gather safely with family over the holidays, and how Fauci feels about having his job — and science — politicized. Read more:Anthony S. Fauci has become a familiar voice for many Americans during the pandemic. As a high-profile member of the White House coronavirus task force and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he led the country through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and continues to guide the U.S. response. Ahead of the holidays, we spoke to Fauci about how to gather with friends and family safely. “If people are vaccinated, then they should feel good and safe about enjoying, in their own homes, a typical Thanksgiving meal,” Fauci said. However, Fauci does recommend a level of caution, especially if you’re going out or gathering with family and friends who might be unvaccinated. We also spoke to Fauci about the toll that it’s taken on him to be a public figure at a time when science and public health are increasingly politicized. “What kind of society [is it] in which you have a public servant, who’s not a political person, who the only thing he’s saying is he wants people to get vaccinated [...] and for that his life gets threatened, his wife and his children get harassed and threatened?” Fauci said. “To me, it's an assault on me. But it is also an assault on science in general.”He cautioned that this assault on science is “very threatening to the foundation of our society.”Reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb has been covering a recent wave of death threats sent to Fauci. “Throughout the pandemic,” Abutaleb said, “we've seen public health officials resign at alarming rates because of the burnout and the hostility that's been directed toward them.” Fauci and his office have been swamped by so many angry messages and threats that in late October, his assistant quit answering the phone for two weeks. Just as he and the Biden administration were preparing for the campaign to vaccinate young children, our colleagues reported, he got 3,600 calls in 36 hours. “A lot of people just don't want to follow the public health guidelines that we've had to during this pandemic,” Abutaleb said.“They've been difficult. And I think they take out that anger and resentment out on the health officials who are telling them what they should do.”If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get a subscription to The Post for just 99-cents every four weeks. And you can give a full year as a gift for just 9-dollars and 99-cents. Go to www.washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

Today a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all counts in last summer’s shootings in Kenosha, Wis. We talk about the verdict, what it means and why this trial captivated the nation. Read more:After three and a half days of deliberation, jurors in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse have found the 18 year-old not guilty on all charges — including homicide and reckless endangerment. Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and shot and wounded a third during a protest against police conduct in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020. Rittenhouse, who is White and was 17 at the time of the shootings, said he was acting in self defense. National reporter Mark Berman says the prosecution and defense presented dramatically different narratives of the shootings. And Kim Bellware reports from outside the Kenosha courthouse, where a crowd is gathering in support of the family members of the people shot by Rittenhouse.Gun control groups and racial justice activists are calling the verdict a dangerous decision. The parents of Anthony Huber, one of the people fatally shot by Rittenhouse, said in a statement they are “heartbroken and angry” over the verdict. “We watched the trial closely, hoping it would bring us closure,” they said. “That did not happen.”Follow The Washington Post’s live coverage of the Rittenhouse trial here. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get a subscription to The Post for just $0.99 every four weeks. And you can give a full year as a gift for just $9.99.. Go to www.washingtonpost.com/subscribe. It's the best deal we’ve ever offered and it's only happening for a few days. 

How Belarus’s president is weaponizing a refugee crisis to get back at the European Union. And, what it means to “pass” as White. Read more:Thousands of refugees are currently stuck in limbo on the border between Poland and Belarus, invited by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko when he announced that his state would no longer secure Belarus’s border with the European Union. The invitation was his way of retaliating against sanctions that the E.U. has enacted against Belarus for a number of reasons. But the power play has created a refugee crisis at the border — one that threatens to grow deadlier as temperatures drop in the forests between Belarus and Poland, Loveday Morris reports. Later in the show, we continue our Teens in America series with a story from 17-year-old Ichtaca Lira. Ichtaca has always been certain of their identity as a person of color. But when people on social media told them that they looked White, it sent them down a path of self-exploration: What does it mean to “pass” as White?  “Language has simply not evolved fast enough with the rate that these complex discussions about race are happening,” Ichtaca says. “We don't have enough words to describe people of color who also just don't feel like they fit into anything that's out there right now.”This series is produced in collaboration with YR Media, a nonprofit media, music and technology incubator. For more stories in this series, visit wapo.st/teens. 

Sen. Joe Manchin gets all the attention. But Sen. Kyrsten Sinema could be an even bigger obstacle for Democrats’ spending plans. Today on “Post Reports,” we ask what she wants and how she got here.Read more:Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D) has been throwing a wrench in the plans of her own party. The Arizona lawmaker has stalled her votes on major legislative plans including raising the minimum wage and increasing drug prices. But her agenda isn’t explicitly clear, and she’s doing deals behind closed doors, angering her colleagues and her constituents.Congressional reporter Mike DeBonis reports on Sinema’s political trajectory and what we can glean from it about what her motivations are.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.Correction: In this episode, we misstated the senator who Sen. Kyrsten Sinema replaced in Arizona. She took over Jeff Flake's senate seat in Arizona, not John McCain's. The audio has been updated to reflect the correction.

Why America’s digital divide could soon get worse. And, what happens when extremist beliefs move from the fringe to the mainstream. Read more:When they were rolled out nearly two decades ago, 3G wireless networks served as the bedrock of an explosion in cell phones and connected devices. Now, they’re being phased out by telecommunications companies that want to focus their money on their 4G and 5G networks. Cat Zakrzewski reports on the vulnerable Americans that could be left behind if the transition away from 3G networks isn’t done carefully. And if you use a 3G device, here’s what you need to know about the end of the 3G service. On Monday, Stephen K. Bannon – one of President Donald Trump’s former advisers – walked into the FBI’s field office in Washington and turned himself in. He’d been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress the week before, having refused to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Hannah Allam reports on some of the other actors facing legal consequences for their involvement in the Capitol riot – and on how the ideologies that fueled the insurrection are finding new homes at school board and city council meetings.The introduction to this episode has been updated for clarity.

The intertwined legacies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump. And, what happens to a country when its borders are eroded by climate change. Read more: Mitch McConnell is the most powerful elected Republican in the country. But the most influential member of the GOP is arguably still former president Donald Trump. That dynamic has become the basis for a tense, awkward, sometimes pugilistic alliance between the two men -- one that could define the future of the Republican Party. In recorded telephone interviews with the politicians, reporter Michael Kranish examines a relationship fraying at the seams. As COP26 concludes, the sinking island nation of Tuvalu prompts the question: Are you still a country if you’re underwater? William Booth reported from the U.N. climate summit. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners -- one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.

During the pandemic, online shopping has become more popular than ever. That’s especially true as we head into the holidays. Today, we look at one community that says it’s seeing the costs of that growth in its air quality. Read more:To meet the increased online shopping demand, companies like Target, Walmart and Amazon use big distribution centers — warehouses that store products and ship things to customers as fast as possible. (We should say here that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)These warehouses can take a toll, though — on Amazon workers, as The Post has reported, and on the community around them. Today on Post Reports, Kori Suzuki brings us to Fontana, Calif., where a fight over warehouses has consumed the city.  If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.

The Americans who are retiring — but delaying claiming Social Security benefits. Plus, the next installment in our Teens in America series: a story about students taking on the job of educating their peers about race.Read more:For better-off Americans, the pandemic economy created some of the strongest incentives to retire in modern history, with generous federal stimulus, incredible market gains, skyrocketing home values and health concerns drawing many Americans into early retirement.The surprising twist? Many of these retirees also opted to put off claiming Social Security benefits, an exclusive Washington Post analysis shows. By delaying their benefits, these retirees can expect to collect higher monthly checks in the future, as economics reporter Andrew Van Dam explains.Later in the show, we continue our Teens in America series by hearing from 18-year-old Zoë Jenkins. Though she was a high-achieving student, her experience at school in Kentucky was clouded by racist incidents — plus, she wasn’t really getting an education on race in her classrooms. So she decided to take matters into her own hands, and created a diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum for Gen Z, by Gen Z.“There are issues in the world that I feel like I can address,” Zoë said. “I feel like I should be doing that. And I think more teenagers feel like we have to do something. So many things are coming to a kind of a tipping point.”If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the state of Donald Trump post-presidency — his businesses, his finances, the ongoing criminal investigations into his actions and how all of those things could affect a potential political comeback. Read more:The Post’s David Fahrenthold has spent half a decade reporting on former president Donald Trump’s family and its business interests — first when Trump was a candidate, then when he was president and now that he’s a private citizen again.There was a narrative popular among liberals during Trump’s presidency that he would face legal and financial ruin as soon as he was out of office. For a number of reasons, the reality is a little bit more complicated. David fills us in on the latest on Trump’s businesses, his legal battles and what it means that the Trump White House’s records could be turned over to the House Jan. 6 committee.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

The homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse pits claims of self-defense against accusations of vigilantism. Plus, in the next installment in our series on teens in America: Why it can be especially hard for Black immigrant families to talk about racism.  Read more:The homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse – the teenager who killed two people and injured a third during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. – continues this week. Kim Bellware reports on the evidence brought by both sides, and why the trial likely won’t end with a high-profile conviction. “We have a small set of facts that everybody agrees on,” Bellware says. But while the prosecution is arguing this was first-degree intentional homicide, “The other side is saying, ‘Yes, he did kill these people. He did shoot. But he was doing it to protect himself.’ ”And later in the show, we hear from 16-year-old Obse Abebe, a teen reporter with YR Media for the latest installment of our series on Teens in America. Obse was born in Ethiopia but moved to the United States when she was three. Being Ethiopian and living in America meant that Obse had to come to terms with being Black in America. “Not to say that the topic of race is hush-hush in our family,” Obse said. “But it is difficult to approach when your parents are very passionate about you feeling connected to both their culture from their mother country and the culture that you are currently in.”A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that nearly three-quarters of teens in America say they’ve talked to a parent about race in the past year. More than half say they’ve had a similar conversation with a close friend. As part of The Post’s Teens in America series, we’re listening in on what those conversations sound like. For more in this series, visit wapo.st/teens.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes online for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

After eight people were killed at a Travis Scott concert in Houston late Friday, many of us were left wondering: How did this happen? An expert on crowds explains how too many people packed closely together can become deadly.Read more:An estimated 50,000 people attended the sold-out 2021 Astroworld Festival at NRG Park to see Travis Scott, whose concerts have a reputation for being raucous.The Washington Post reviewed dozens of videos from the night to understand how the concert became a mass casualty event, synchronizing video from the audience with a live stream of Scott’s performance published by Apple Music. The videos show a chaotic scene, with concertgoers crying out for help as the show continued, the loud music drowning them out.The crowd surge victims include a 14-year-old who loved baseball, two friends celebrating a 21st birthday and a 27-year-old attending the concert with his fiancee. Here’s what we know about the victims.We reached out to Keith Still, a professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk in Britain, to talk about how these tragedies happen and how they could be prevented.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

When you hear hoofbeats, think zebras — especially if you’re in the D.C. suburbs, where fugitive zebras have been on the run from a local farm for many weeks. Buckle up for a wild ride as we delve into this suburban safari.Read more:For more than two months, fugitive zebras in the Maryland suburbs have captured the imaginations of children, neighbors and members of Congress alike. Post Reports producer and amateur zoologist Emma Talkoff started looking into what she thought was a cute local news story — only to unravel a much wilder tale.Read more from The Post on the zebras from reporters Dana Hedgpeth, Katie Mettler and Maura Judkis.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

When the pandemic triggered a wave of anti-Asian violence, 18-year-old Miranda Zanca found herself wondering about her own identity and how she fit into the moment. This is the first in a new series in The Post’s Teens in America project.Read more:Miranda Zanca hasn’t always seen herself as particularly Asian, even if others did. That’s because she’s mixed race — her mom is Chinese and Puerto Rican and her dad is White. And earlier this year, when the pandemic triggered a wave of anti-Asian violence, she found herself wondering what role she should play in conversations around anti-Asian hate. “Am I Asian enough to be upset?” she asked. “Am I White enough to be making a difference?” American teenagers are part of what's likely the most diverse generation in our nation’s history — new Census Bureau data shows that the population under 18 is a majority minority for the first time. These young people are also helping to shape more of the conversations we’re all having about race. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that nearly three-quarters of teens say they’ve talked to a parent about race in the past year. More than half say they’ve had a similar conversation with a close friend. As part of The Washington Post’s Teens in America series, we’re exploring what those conversations sound like. Miranda’s story is the first in a new five-part series from The Post and YR Media, a nonprofit media, music and technology incubator. Listen in as teen reporters from around the country have tough conversations about race with family and friends, and with host Martine Powers.

In a major upset for Democrats Tuesday, Republican Glenn Youngkin eked out a victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial race. Today, we look at the results of that election, and others, to understand the nation one year after the divisive 2020 elections.Read more:On Tuesday, Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican to be elected governor of Virginia since 2009. For Democrats, the race took on new national significance, with many seeing the results as a reflection of where the country stands nearly a year into Joe Biden’s presidency. But it wasn’t just Virginians who went to the polls on Tuesday. New Jersey also held a gubernatorial election, and major cities like Boston and Minneapolis held mayoral elections. National politics reporter Sean Sullivan discusses the implications of Virginia’s elections for both Democrats and Republicans, and examines how other local elections give a snapshot into the division among Democrats when it comes to police reform. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes online for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

On this Election Day, we talk about how the events of Jan. 6 have affected our elections. Plus, what nations participating in COP26 will have to give up to avoid more climate change catastrophes.  Read more:For months, journalists at The Washington Post have been trying to understand: How did the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 happen? And what’s happened to the country since then?As part of a three-part investigative series by The Washington Post, Rosalind S. Helderman has been reporting on how a deep distrust of the voting process has taken root across the country.“Democracy is in some ways a trust exercise,” she says. “We all go into it together and we make an agreement with each other that we are going to trust each other enough to hold an election, and if we lose, to accept the will of the majority. And if you don’t trust that anymore — if the bonds of that trust erode — you just can’t have a democracy.” Then we turn to climate reporter Sarah Kaplan for an update on COP26 in Glasgow — the massive climate change summit of almost 200 countries where she says “humanity tries to figure out once again how we are going to tackle climate change.” If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

In the days leading up to Jan. 6, mounting red flags tipped law enforcement agencies off to the coming violence. Why did they fail to act?Read more:All year, journalists at The Washington Post have been seeking to understand: How did the insurrection on January 6th happen? Why wasn’t it stopped?A new three-part investigative series by The Washington Post reveals how law enforcement officials failed to heed warnings of violence on Jan. 6., the bloody consequences of President Donald Trump’s inaction during the siege, and how a deep distrust of the voting process has taken root across the country.On Post Reports, we’re taking you behind the scenes of this mammoth reporting project, talking to the journalists who worked on it about what they learned and how.On today’s episode, we look at what law enforcement agencies knew about plans to storm the Capitol and when they knew it. And we try to understand why little was done even after terrorism experts across the country met to discuss the coming riot. Investigative reporter Aaron Davis takes us inside the failures of law enforcement leading up to the attack on the Capitol. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Instagram’s CEO steps into the limelight in an unexpected public interview. And, after a firestorm, Facebook’s big attempt to pivot.Read more:In an impromptu interview on Twitter Spaces, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said he still believes building an app for children is “the right thing to do.” The company had paused development of Instagram Kids last month over concerns about privacy, screen time and the mental health of young people. But Instagram is just one piece in the puzzle that is Facebook — now rebranded as Meta. Tech reporter Will Oremus discusses the fallout from the Facebook Papers and the company’s latest attempt to move on. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Today on Post Reports, we talk about the latest news on vaccines for young children, booster shots for adults and at-home coronavirus tests for us all. Physician and columnist Leana Wen offers her advice on the next phase of the pandemic.Read more:Leana Wen is an emergency physician and contributing columnist for The Post. Her newsletter, The Checkup, offers the latest research and advice on such questions as which booster shot to get and how to safely gather with family for the holidays. You can find it and subscribe at Wapo.st/checkup.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

As new details emerge about the shooting on the “Rust” movie set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, we talk to reporter Sonia Rao about how Hollywood is rethinking firearms on sets. Read more:In the days since Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of the movie “Rust,” killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, many of us have been asking the question — how could this have happened?“How was it that this actor was seemingly handed a gun that had the potential to kill someone on a movie set? ” asked pop culture reporter Sonia Rao.Today on the show, we cover the latest on the investigation, and talk about the conversation this tragedy has started in Hollywood about the safety of real guns on sets. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes online for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

President Biden’s economic agenda is on hold — thanks, in no small part, to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). The families in his home state could pay the price for it.Read more:The constant man in the middle, Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), is trying to scale back the president’s Build Back Better economic plan. Part of the White House agenda on Manchin’s chopping block: the permanent expansion of the child tax credit. It’s a recent policy that experts say has been a key part of reducing child poverty in the United States, especially during the pandemic.Amid reports that Manchin wants to impose caps and include work requirements for families receiving the credit, economics reporter Yeganeh Torbati takes us to the senator’s home state. And she poses the question: What happens when Manchin’s political calculations collide with the realities of West Virginians?If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

A trove of internal documents turned over to the SEC exposes Facebook’s role in fomenting the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.Read more:Relief flowed through Facebook in the days after the 2020 presidential election. The company had cracked down on misinformation, foreign interference and hate speech — and employees believed they had largely succeeded in limiting problems that, four years earlier, had brought on perhaps the most serious crisis in Facebook’s scandal-plagued history.“It was like we could take a victory lap,” said a former employee. “There was a lot of the feeling of high-fiving in the office.”Many who had worked on the election, exhausted from months of unrelenting toil, took leaves of absence or moved on to other jobs. Facebook rolled back many of the dozens of election-season measures that it had used to suppress hateful, deceptive content. A ban the company had imposed on the original Stop the Steal group stopped short of addressing dozens of look-alikes that popped up in what an internal Facebook after-action report called “coordinated” and “meteoric” growth. Meanwhile, the company’s Civic Integrity team was largely disbanded by a management that had grown weary of the team’s criticisms of the company, according to former employees.But the high-fives, it soon became clear, were premature.Elizabeth Dwoskin reports on how this gap in the company’s protective measures paved the way for rioters to organize the Jan. 6 insurrection using their platform.

Five years after the debut of “Insecure,” the acclaimed HBO comedy-drama is finally coming to a close. Creator and star Issa Rae discusses the characters’ journeys, personal growth and “betting on herself.”Read more:For a certain generation of Black women, Issa Rae’s volume of work is like the Harry Potter books — stories about characters who grow and mature alongside their fans. “In shooting this final season, we've been very nostalgic and thinking about where we came from and imagining what our impact would be like,” says Rae, the creator and star of HBO’s “Insecure.” “Maybe people will hold on to this show as part of their lives in that way, and we may go down in history, you know, if we stick the landing. … And that makes me feel really good.”“Insecure” debuted on HBO in 2016, focusing on the lives of two late-20s best friends in Los Angeles who are trying to navigate messy romances, social lives and professional aspirations. But Rae has been the voice of millennial Black women for more than a decade, all the way back to her hit Web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.”“I used to binge-watch this show in my dorm cafeteria on Fridays,” says Martine Powers, “Post Reports” host. “I'd be like, ‘Oh, all my essays are done, getting ready for the weekend. I'm going to watch “Awkward Black Girl.” This is going to be amazing.’”As Rae reflects on the final season of her show, her characters’ trajectory, and her own personal growth, she says that she’s learned to trust the choices she’s made along the way that have led to greater artistic freedom — and power. “One of the scariest things to me … is just, like, the fork-in-the-road choice,” Rae says. “There's something so terrifying about knowing that this is a decision that I could make that could change the course of my life. And I just have to make it.”

Ahmaud Arbery’s killing changed his Georgia community. Now, as the state grapples with a judicial legacy shaped by racism, three White men stand trial for murder.Read more:This week, the trial began for Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan. It hinges in part on Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which helped codify White vigilante violence for 150 years. The law was repealed in May 2021, but its legacy reverberates today.Margaret Coker, editor of nonprofit investigative outlet The Current, is reporting on the trial for The Washington Post. She shares her insights on the decades-old law that has its roots in the Civil War, and how it might be used as a defense in the murder trial. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Health officials are worried about a severe “twindemic” this year, when influenza and coronavirus cases increase at the same time. What parallel surges could mean for an already exhausted health-care system and efforts to end the pandemic.Read more:Last year, similar warnings were made about a potential “twindemic.” Instead, the flu practically vanished. Health officials say this year could be different: Much of the country is up and running again, and 2020’s mild flu season means population immunity is probably lower. That’s why officials are urging Americans to get the flu shot. “The flu shot is proven effective and has been shown year after year to save lives,” says health reporter Fenit Nirappil. “And that's going to be particularly acute this year when we're also dealing with a new strain of coronavirus.”

The commercial pipeline is clogged. Every year, this supply chain brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics and furniture from Asia to the United States. And right now, no one knows how to unclog it. Read more:For months, consumers have confronted shortages of goods such as clothing, toys, groceries and cars. And those shortages aren’t going away any time soon. Reporter David J. Lynch visited the ports of Southern California— where giant container ships are waiting up to two weeks to unload their berth – and several of the country’s crammed rail yards and warehouses to figure out what’s clogging the global supply chain.Correction: A previous version of this episode description incorrectly stated where the reporter visited. He visited ports in Southern California, not shipyards.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners – one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

The legacy of Colin Powell, the first Black secretary of state, is complicated — by his role in the Iraq war, by the evolution of the Republican Party and by how he lived his life after public office.Read more:Former secretary of state Colin Powell died Monday of complications from covid-19. His long career in the public eye — as a decorated military officer and statesman — was marked by choices he made leading up to the Iraq War. But Powell’s life is also characterized by a shift away from the Republican Party, and his adherence to the old guard of American conservatism. The Post’s Karen DeYoung, who wrote a biography of Powell, reflects on Powell’s life and the complex lessons of his legacy. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes, for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has been benched over his decision not to get vaccinated. Today on Post Reports we discuss what responsibilities famous athletes bear and why this story is resonating beyond the basketball world.Read more:Kyrie Irving has been benched indefinitely because of his refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. His team, the Brooklyn Nets, has been favored to win the NBA title this year, but that is now being thrown into question.Irving has long been a controversial figure in the league, because of his outspokenness and his espousing of baseless conspiracy claims. But the stakes and implications of his stance are high, with hundreds of millions of dollars and a championship on the line.NBA reporter Ben Golliver says that beyond the court, the situation raises questions about the social responsibility public figures bear and the collective impact of one individual’s choice. 

In recent days, record numbers of Chinese warplanes have flown into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, signifying a deteriorating relationship between Taiwan and China — and putting the United States in an awkward position.Read more:Last week, China flew nearly 150 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. Taiwan responded by scrambling to engage its fighter jets and missile systems. Meanwhile, the United States is in an increasingly awkward spot. While the United States may technically recognize Beijing over Taipei, it is deepening its ties to the island, says foreign affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor.Today on the show: how the situation has escalated, and what it means for geopolitics. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

In a predominantly Black Chicago neighborhood, how one affordable housing program is addressing inequality by enabling homeownership. Read more:Over the years, rows of two-story stone houses and small buildings have fallen into disrepair in the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale. The neighborhood was made famous in 1966, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — hoping to turn the focus of the civil rights movement on housing inequalities in the North — moved his wife and four children into a dilapidated apartment there. Decades later, much has stayed the same in North Lawndale, where crime and poverty rates remain high. Last year, more than 2,000 empty lots dotted the neighborhood. But a group of local developers and activists are pushing to change things. They’re planning to build 1,000 standalone affordable homes for people who already live in the neighborhood as renters, so they can buy homes and start building equity and generational wealth through homeownership.The approach aims to end poverty by focusing not on rental subsidies, but on finance classes and helping people buy their own homes. But according to reporter Kyle Swenson, it’s an approach that will need federal government buy-in to really succeed. 

The “benefit of the doubt” portion of Joe Biden’s presidency is over. His poll numbers are down, especially among Black voters. Today on the show, we return to some of the voters we talked to in Georgia during the state’s runoff election and hear how they’re feeling now.Read more:A little over nine months into Joe Biden’s presidency, the infrastructure bill is languishing in Congress and his poll numbers have fallen, especially among key Democratic constituencies, including Black Americans. We’re still a year away from the midterms, but it made reporter Cleve Wootson wonder: Are the same people who worked so hard to turn Georgia blue in 2020 willing to do it again?“If midterms are about enthusiasm and turnout, who do you think is excited to vote on November 2 at this moment?” said Nsé Ufot, chief executive of the New Georgia Project, which has registered more than a half-million voters. “Because it ain’t Democrats. It ain’t Black folks. It ain’t young people.”Today on Post Reports, we revisit Georgia.Listen here to our episode from December ahead of the two Senate runoffs in Georgia.If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Working in a day care is a demanding job — but the pay is typically around just $12 an hour, and often without benefits. Many child-care workers have quit during the pandemic, leaving parents without options and struggling to return to work themselves.Read more:Hiring and retaining good workers has been tough in the child-care industry for years, but it is escalating into a crisis. Pandemic-fueled staffing challenges threaten to hold back the recovery, as the staffing problems at day cares have a ripple effect across the economy. Without enough employees, day cares are turning away children, leaving parents — especially mothers — unable to return to work, as economic correspondent Heather Long reports. If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Facebook had a bad week. A whistleblower testified before Congress about the danger the company poses, and an outage took down the site and its products for hours. Now, some are rethinking their relationship with Facebook. But can we live without it?Read more:This week on the hill, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told lawmakers that the company systematically and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users, painting a detailed picture of an organization where hunger to grow governed decisions, with little concern for the impact on society. Plus, a prolonged global outage on Monday knocked out Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for hours, causing inconvenience for some and serious disruptions for others. And now, it seems many are struggling with this tension: We keep hearing over and over again that Facebook is dangerous. But we can’t seem to live without it even for a couple of hours. So, what do we do about Facebook?On today’s Post Reports, we hear from social media reporter Elizabeth Dwoskin about Facebook’s disastrous week and Help Desk reporter Heather Kelly about how to make the platform safer for us and our kids in the absence of regulation.

Cambodia wants its religious artifacts returned. Dozens tied to an indicted collector remain in prominent museums. The Pandora Papers expose his reliance on offshore secrecy. Plus, U.S. lawmakers respond to revelations in the Pandora Papers.Read more:Cambodia wants its religious artifacts returned. Dozens tied to an indicted collector remain in the Met and other prominent museums. The Pandora Papers expose his reliance on offshore secrecy, as Peter Whoriskey reports. Although it’s only been a few days since the Pandora Papers published, there has already been a wave of reaction around the world, including in the United States. Will Fitzgibbon, a senior reporter with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, reports that lawmakers are calling for a crackdown on financial “enablers.”

Secret money, swanky real estate and a Monte Carlo mystery: Pandora Papers documents tie a woman allegedly in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin to a luxury Monaco apartment. Read more: There’s little about the humble background of Svetlana Krivonogikh to indicate that she had the means to acquire luxury property in Monaco, a playground for the world’s elite. The Russian woman reportedly grew up in a crowded communal apartment in St. Petersburg and held jobs that included cleaning a neighborhood shop. But previously undisclosed financial records – combined with local tax documents – show that she became the owner of a luxury apartment in Monaco through an offshore company created just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. That child was born at a time when, according to a Russian media report last year, she was alleged to be in a secret, years-long relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those involved in arranging the Monte Carlo purchase for Krivonogikh took measures that ensured that her name did not appear on public records. The clues connecting Krivonogikh to the Monaco property are contained in a massive new repository of financial materials called the Pandora Papers, which expose a hidden world that has allowed government leaders, a monarch, billionaires and criminals to shield their assets.And the material in the Pandora Papers on Russian officials and oligarchs, Paul Sonne reports,reinforces the depiction of Russia as a country where elites close to government power make millions of dollars and safeguard that personal wealth using opaque financial structures overseas.