During the brutal Hamas-led attack on Israel earlier this month, more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 Israeli and foreign hostages were kidnapped.So far, Hamas has released just four hostages. The families of the remaining hostages fear that time may be running out to save their loved ones. Israeli airstrikes continue and a ground invasion into Gaza seems imminent. Experts say that would put the hostages in danger.NPR's Michele Kelemen speaks to host Juana Summers about the diplomatic efforts to free the remaining hostages.And host Mary Louise Kelly talks to Bader Al-Saif, a professor of history at Kuwait University, on the Gulf nation of Qatar's role in negotiating for the hostages' release.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The violence between Israel and Gaza is entering its third week. As the number of dead and wounded continues to rise, survivors of the October 7th attack by Hamas are still reeling from shock. And thousands of friends and family are left mourning loved ones and wondering how they'll pick up the pieces of their lives. The Natal helpline has existed for 25 years to help people experiencing PTSD from war. But for the last two weeks they have been in "emergency mode" and calls are surging. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Emi Palmor, chair of Natal, the Israeli helpline.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hockey season is underway and NPR followed one hopeful rookie dreaming of taking the ice for the Washington Capitals.NPR's Scott Detrow spends time at hockey training camp with goalie Mitchell Gibson.A note for our listeners. We want to hear from you about what you like and how we could improve. Please visit npr.org/fallsurvey to complete a short, anonymous survey. Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ever since Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker of the House by only eight members of Congress, things have been pretty messy in the chamber. Ohio Republican Jim Jordan tried and failed to rally support for his nomination. After losing three ballots on the House floor and a secret Republican-only vote, he's out. Not having a speaker has essentially shut down the business of governing, and House Republicans have no consensus on a candidate. Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR's Congressional Correspondent Deirdre Walsh and Political Correspondent Susan Davis about the ongoing speaker battle and what comes next. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

During his visit to Tel Aviv this week, President Biden reiterated a desire for peace between Israelis and Palestinians through the implementation of a two-state solution.For years, the idea of establishing a state for the Palestinian people and a state for the Israeli people has been a strategy that presidents - on both sides of the political aisle - have evoked as a framework for peace in the Middle East.With the unprecedented violence playing out between Israel and Hamas for many political analysts, a peaceful, two-state agreement seems impossible. But a little over two decades ago there was hope that it could be achieved.NPR's Scott Detrow talks with ambassador Dennis Ross about how 23 years ago Palestinian leaders and Israel's prime minister came close to an agreement.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the days after Hamas' attack on southern Israel. Some of those deaths appear to be reprisal killings. NPR's Leila Fadel visited the village of Qusra in the West Bank where some of these killings have taken place.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At a military base south of Tel Aviv, Israeli soldiers and medical examiners are working around the clock to identify remains of hundreds of people killed in the Hamas attacks earlier this month.NPR's Ari Shapiro visited the base and spoke with those conducting the work about the challenges of identifying so many bodies.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel's military has ordered all residents of Gaza City and northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern end of the territory ahead of an expected ground invasion. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are struggling to evacuate - as closed borders hamper those efforts. Others refuse to leave the areas Israeli military forces say they will target. For Jordanian Palestinians who have family in the Gaza Strip their loved ones are just 90 miles away. But that distance can feel painfully close AND impossibly far. NPR's Ari Shapiro traveled to Amman, Jordan. He spoke with two Jordanian Palestinians who have family in the Gaza Strip about their hopes and fears. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's been more than a week of war in Israel and Gaza, following Hamas attacks in southern Israel that left more than 1,300 Israelis dead. In response, Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed more than 2,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The intense violence — and the prospect of more to come — is having a deep emotional impact on people who care about both Israelis and Palestinians.NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Aziza Hasan, executive director of NewGround: A Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change, and Alyson Freedman, a member of Sisterhood Salaam Shalom. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

How do you evacuate more than a million people across a cramped, urban bombed out territory and get them to safety — in just one day? In the lead up to a likely ground war invasion, Israel on Friday gave residents of Gaza an ultimatum: move to the southern end of the territory, or face the full force of the Israeli military as it plans to go after Hamas militants on the ground. Israel's government is intent on stamping out the Hamas militants who planned and carried out last week's attack that killed 1,300 Israelis. Since then, Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes into Gaza that Palestinian health officials say have killed at least 1,500 civilians. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Mark Regev, Senior Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ari Shapiro speaks to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti a member of the Palestinian National Initiative in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Following the surprise attack launched by Hamas militants, hundreds of thousands of Israeli forces are gathering along the border of Gaza.All signs suggest an Israeli ground invasion of the Palestinian territory is imminent. The last time this happened was in 2014.NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with reporter Gregg Carlstrom, who covered that conflict, to hear what we might expect if Israel invades Gaza again in the coming days.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Amazon is by far the U.S.'s largest online marketplace. But sellers say they're being squeezed out by higher fees and cheaper merchandise sold direct from Amazon itself. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Conflicts have broken out between Israel and Gaza several times over the years. But this past weekend saw Hamas launch a surprise attack unlike any other before.Hamas killed over a thousand people, took others hostage, and even assumed control of several Israeli communities. Israel's military was caught completely unaware. Now the Israeli military has laid siege to Gaza. Retaliatory Israeli air strikes have killed at least 800 Palestinians and displaced around 200 thousand people. They've cut off fuel, electricity and food supplies into the area. How did we get to this point?NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Tal Schneider, political and diplomatic correspondent for the Times of Israel, and Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland. Additional reporting in this episode by Daniel Estrin and Aya Batrawy.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

One of the main challenges to countering homelessness is to figure out who's most at-risk of losing their homes and getting them the resources they need. Now, in a first-of-its-kind experiment, Los Angeles is using artificial intelligence to help make those predictions and keep people in their homes.NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the program and meets people who are benefitting from this new use of AI technology.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The death toll rose in both Israel and Gaza as the Israeli military and Hamas militants battled for a second day on Sunday. The surprise multi-pronged attacks by Hamas against Israel have killed at least 700 people, according to Israeli media reports.Israel's response has included air strikes gainst targets in Gaza. At least 400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials. Thousands are injured in both Gaza and Israel.Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR correspondent Aya Batrawy in Tel Aviv for the latest developments on the ground, and we also hear from NPR's Michele Kelemen about diplomatic efforts to try and contain the violence in Israel and Gaza. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Who doesn't love a lush, perfectly manicured grass lawn? It turns out, a lot of people are actively trying to get rid of their lawns, ripping out grass in favor of native plants, vegetables, and flowers to attract pollinators. As the realities of climate change become starker, more and more people are looking for ways to create environmentally friendly spaces. NPR's Scott Detrow talks with research ecologist Susannah Lerman with the United States Forest Service about the impact of grass lawns on the environment and sustainable alternatives.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the 1980s the U.S. Army launched a recruiting drive around the slogan, "Be all you can be." They've relaunched the slogan now as the push is on to make up for a drop off in recruitment. The Army is having a hard time convincing potential recruits that the military is the best place to reach their full potential. Last year, the Army was 15,000 soldiers short of its recruiting goal. Army surveys have found that many potential recruits don't want to join because they fear getting wounded or killed, even though the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are over. And the tight labor market means recruits have lots of other job opportunities. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth about the struggle to staff up the largest branch of the U.S. military. NPR's Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman provides additional reporting for this episode.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It took just eight Republicans, voting with Democrats, to oust Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership. His removal may have been unprecedented, but for several years now the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives has been marked by chaos and unruliness. The job to lead them seems increasingly impossible.NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Rep. Matt Rosendale, of Montana, who was one of the eight Republicans to vote for McCarthy's removal. Co-host Juana Summers speaks with NPR Congressional Correspondent Deirdre Walsh about the challenge Republicans face to replace McCarthy.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Supreme Court heard a case Tuesday that threatened the existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on the legal arguments in a case brought by payday lenders against the watchdog agency.And NPR's Scott Horsley walks through the track record of the CFPB since its founding in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a tenure marked by a relentless series of challenges. He served through the U.S. withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions with China. He also served under an American president with little regard for the norms that have historically separated politics from the U.S. military: Donald Trump.In an interview shortly before his retirement last weekend, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asked Milley about the relationship between the military and the executive branch — and how it was tested under Trump.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Not too long ago, crypto was being trumpeted as the next big thing. Celebrities were getting in on it, including Kim Kardashian, Matt Damon and Tom Brady.Now the former face of crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried, who ran the FTX exchange, is going on trial. He's accused of orchestrating one of the largest frauds in history. As his case gets underway it's as if the whole crypto industry is on trial.NPR's David Gura speaks with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux who wrote the book "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall," and Sheelah Kolhatkar, a staff writer for The New Yorker who has a new article out on Bankman-Fried and his parents.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When the video game Mortal Kombat released in 1992, it took arcades — and later the American home — by storm. Thirty years on, the franchise is still going strong. NPR's Scott Detrow faces off against co-host Juana Summers in the latest version of the game, Mortal Kombat 1, and speaks with co-creator Ed Boon. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The federal government will shut down on October 1st if Congress doesn't pass funding legislation for the next fiscal year before then. That looks increasingly likely as House Republicans continue to hold out for deep spending cuts before agreeing to any deal to keep the government running.A shutdown could potentially affect millions of Americans, among them some of the country's most vulnerable people.Host Ari Shapiro speaks with a trio of NPR correspondents about the potential impact of a government shutdown. Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. government and 17 states sued Amazon on Tuesday in a landmark case that could take down the tech giant.The Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general say that Amazon is a monopolist that chokes competitors and raises costs for both sellers and shoppers.Lina Khan, the head of the Federal Trade Commission, has spent years arguing that a few big companies have too much control over corporate America. The new lawsuit against Amazon is the biggest test of these arguments yet. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to FTC Chair Lina Khan, the driving force behind the case.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Biden made history on Tuesday when he joined members of the United Auto Workers union on a picket line outside Detroit as they strike for better pay and benefits from the Big Three automakers.Biden is walking a political tightrope. He wants a better contract for workers–and to win union members' votes in battleground states. He also wants to support carmakers as they transition to a future of electric vehicles.NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Micheline Maynard, the author of The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car Market, to understand how profitable the big carmakers are right now. And NPR's Michel Martin speaks with historian Jefferson Cowie about the unprecedented nature of Biden walking the picket lines.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

146 days.That's how long it took for the WGA to reach a tentative agreement with major Hollywood studios.WGA leadership is scheduled to vote Tuesday on accepting the new three-year deal. They'll pass it on to the guild's entire membership for ratification. It will take longer for the WGA membership to learn the details and vote. While this is happening, actors are still on the picket line. SAG-AFTRA hasn't reached an agreement yet.Until then, writers say they will stand in solidarity with actors, which means many TV shows and movies won't be resuming production right away. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter's editor, about the WGA's new deal and what it means for the industry at large as actors continue to strike.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As president Joe Biden's campaign for a second term gets underway, a slew of recent polls show that voters have concerns about his age. At the end of a second term, he would be 86 years old. The Republican frontrunner, former president Donald Trump, is just a few years younger.We wanted to check in with some voters who have first-hand experience with aging: seniors. So we headed to Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs, a pivotal region in a pivotal state in the 2024 race, and spoke with older voters how they're thinking about age in this election.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Close to five thousand people have died in federal prison since 2009.There are 100 federal prisons across the U.S. An NPR investigation found that a quarter of those deaths happened at one federal prison. Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. Inmates have a constitutional right to health care. Being denied care is considered cruel and unusual punishment. But many of the sick inmates who wind up at Butner don't get the healthcare they are entitled to – and some end up dying. NPR's Meg Anderson tried to find out why.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

New York City has become an unlikely battleground for migrant rights.The city, like others, has struggled to deal with the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants - bussed in from Republican-led states like Texas and Florida. Amid rising pressure to do something to alleviate this problem, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it was granting Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to nearly a half million Venezuelans - thousands of whom are in New York City. TPS protects them from deportation and allows them to apply for work permits.Host Ailsa Chang speaks with NPR's Jasmine Garsd about how New York has landed at the center of America's immigration debate and what the Biden administration's policy announcement means for migrants.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Tuesday, five Americans detained for years in Iran stepped off a plane back onto US soil. They were released in the US-Iran prisoner swap that also saw five Iranians freed and the US agreeing to 6 billion dollars of Iranian oil money being unfrozen. Per the deal, Iran is supposed to spend the money only on humanitarian goods like food and medicine.Among the five freed Americans: Siamak Namazi. The longest-held US citizen in Iran, detained since 2015. When he stepped off that plane yesterday, his brother Babak was there to greet him.NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Babak Namazi on what the prisoner swap means for his family.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The state of California has filed a massive lawsuit against oil companies. The charge is that oil companies knew they were causing climate change, and lied to cover it up. And now, California is suing for damages. The state is suing to force fossil fuel companies to help fund recovery efforts related to California's extreme weather related events — floods, fire, dangerous heat --which have been made more common and intense by climate change. Back in the 1990s, states across the country sued tobacco companies - demanding that they be compensated for healthcare costs associated with treating people for smoking-related illnesses. It was a long and complicated process, but states won more than $360 billion. The victory brought a big change to the tobacco industry, forcing companies to accurately label cigarettes as potentially lethal, and limiting where and how cigarettes could be marketed. Host Ailsa Chang speaks with Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity on the ramifications of the climate lawsuit.A previous version of this episode did not include a statement from the American Petroleum Institute responding to Richard Wiles' comments.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Monday, five Americans who were imprisoned in Iran, stepped off a plane in Doha, Qatar. They were freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal between the U.S. and Iran.Despite the happy news, the Biden administration is facing a lot of criticism for this deal, which also gave Iran access to about $6 billion of its oil revenue - money that had been frozen under sanctions targeting the government in Tehran. The deal also comes just a little over a year after the death of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini. Her death sparked the biggest anti-regime protests that Iran had seen in years. NPR's Arezou Rezvani tells us about the legacy of those protests a year later. We also hear reporting from NPR's Michele Kelemen about the U.S.-Iran prisoner swap. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Since becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy has faced the constant threat that members of the right wing of his own Republican Party could move to oust him from power. And now, many view his launch of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden as a political move to protect his flank.Host Scott Detrow speaks with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich about McCarthy's political dilemma and with NPR's Congressional Correspondent Deirdre Walsh.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

If you're over a certain age and you love movies, when you think "movie critic", you probably picture Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and their popular TV shows. Their iconic "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" move made it clear what each of them thought about a film. In some ways, the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes is the opposite of Siskel and Ebert. Their viewers depended on the insights of two individuals that they trusted, and felt they knew.Rotten Tomatoes aggregates and averages reviews from lots of critics to assign a movie a number ranking, and declare it "fresh" or "rotten". Since its launch 25 years ago, it's become the the go to site for lots of potential movie goers, offering everything they need to decide whether or not a movie is worth seeing. But for a while now, there have been complaints about the way the site ranks films. And concerns that those rankings unfairly influence whether a movie succeeds or bombs.Host Scott Detrow talks to Lane Brown, who took the site to task in a recent article on Vulture, and film critic Jamie Broadnax, editor-in-chief of the culture site, Black Girl Nerds.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It can be hard to see how big government policies have a direct effect on an individual's experience. But it was easy to measure the difference made by the expanded child tax credit. Giving more money to low-income families with children had a big impact. After the expanded child tax credit took effect, child poverty hit a record low of 5.2% a year ago.But less than a year later, Congress let it expire. New census data shows that child poverty has more than doubled. Host Ari Shapiro speaks with pediatrician and researcher Megan Sandel, who has seen the health consequences for kids play out in real time.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The president of the United Auto Workers says the union is planning to carry out sudden, strategic and partial strikes at plants should contract talks with Detroit's Big Three automakers fail ahead of a contract deadline on Thursday night.UAW President Shawn Fain also held out the possibility of an all-out strike in the future of the nearly 150,000 union members.In addition to concerns over pay, workers are worried about what electric vehicles mean for their future. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports on how the transition to electric vehicles has many autoworkers concerned about their job security.And Senior White House Correspondent Tamara Keith reports on why the UAW hasn't endorsed President Biden for re-election in 2024.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Right now it seems like people all around us are testing positive for COVID. But for the most part, they are not getting seriously ill. The Food and Drug Administration just approved a new booster. And on Tuesday advisers to the CDC recommended it for everyone six months and older.With a new variant and a new booster, how should we think about the pandemic in this moment? Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019, both countries were in a different position. Russia had yet to invade Ukraine.Four years later, Russia is trying to secure weapons from North Korea. The two leaders are expected to meet this month to discuss a deal. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Jean Lee, the former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press, and Georgetown University's Angela Stent, about the upcoming meeting between Kim Jong Un and Putin — and what North Korea might get out of it.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The National Football League's regular season is finally underway. And for loyal fans who have been devouring all the news of their favorite teams, it couldn't have come soon enough.But even if you're just a casual viewer of football, or really any network television program, you've probably seen the star-studded ads for a related business: sports betting.The league's partnership with major sports betting sites continues to draw criticism. Ten NFL players have been suspended for gambling violations since April, leaving critics and fans wondering if the relationship between football and gambling will harm the integrity of the game.Host Nathan Rott speaks with David Purdum who covers the gambling industry for ESPN.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this year. The landmark law has been successful for decades at stopping extinctions of several plants and animals.Recovering endangered or threatened species to the point where they no longer need federal protection has been more difficult because of climate change.NPR's Nathan Rott speaks with Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the agency's plans to mitigate threats of extinction caused by climate change.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The writers and actors strikes have been grinding on for months with no end in sight. Many on the picket lines are struggling to pay for basics.NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Fran Drescher about what it's going to take to end the strikes. Drescher's the president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents the actors on strike. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Giant machines sucking carbon dioxide out of the air to fight climate change sounds like science fiction, but it's close to becoming a reality, with billions of dollars of support from the U.S. government. And a key player in this growing industry is a U.S. oil company, Occidental Petroleum.With a major petroleum company deploying this technology, it begs the question, is it meant to save the planet or the oil industry? NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Google was founded 25 years ago by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergei Brin. The company went on to shape the internet and now, after a quarter century, finds itself at a turning point. With the rise of AI and social media platforms like TikTok, its continued dominance is not assured.NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, about Google's legacy and what the future holds for the company.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's been over three years since the pandemic started and changed the way millions of Americans work. The possibilities of remote work gave a new kind of freedom to many workers. But as more and more companies demand employees return to the office, is the work from home era coming to an end?Host Scott Detrow speaks with Anne Helen Petersen, culture writer and the author of Out of Office, about the future of remote work.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

After three and a half years, the pause on federal student loan payments is coming to an end. Getting more than 40 million borrowers back into repayment will be an enormous challenge, especially because many students who graduated when the pause was already in place have never made a payment.We put borrowers' questions to two experts: NPR Education correspondent Cory Turner, and Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program, a non-profit funded by New York State to help residents navigate repayment of their student loans.Read Cory's list of 12 things every student loan borrower should know.And if you're having an issue with your student loan servicer, Cory wants to know. Email him at [email protected] us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hundreds of towns, cities and counties across the country impose curfews on young people. On September 1st a curfew went into effect in seven neighborhoods across the District of Columbia that will affect those aged 17 and under. Like many other cities, the nation's capital has seen an increase in violent crime. And some of the most shocking crimes have been committed by young people.Teens as young as thirteen as well as pre-teens have been suspected of, or charged with carjacking. In the past couple of months a 14 year-old and a 16 year-old have been charged with murder. And young people are also the victims of violent.Keeping kids inside at night may seem like a good strategy for cities facing a surge in youth violence. But experts say that research doesn't back up the effectiveness of curfews.Host Scott Detrow speaks with Kristin Henning, director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown University about what does and doesn't work.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For the second time this summer the top Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, abruptly went silent at a news conference. He was about to answer a question from a reporter when he suddenly froze up. He seemed unable to speak. An aide then stepped in, trying to keep things moving along.The senator's silences have raised concerns about his mental fitness – and larger questions about an aging Congress.NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Dr. Ann Murray, the Movement Disorders division chief at the Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at West Virginia University.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When people find themselves in the path of a hurricane they are faced with the question: should they evacuate or not? Who makes that call and how? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate about the decision-making process behind evacuation orders and why people should heed them ahead of hurricanes making landfall.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy