Episodes

  • Maintaining stability is key to the economy. That's getting harder.

    Maintaining stability is key to the economy. That's getting harder.
    Apr 22 2025
    What does it take to keep the economy stable?

    That is a question that Jerome Powell considers every day in his role as Chair of the Federal Reserve. It's also a role that is meant to be done independent of politics.

    However, Powell's name has been making headlines, following a series of comments made by President Trump attacking Powell, after he warned that the President's aggressive tariff policies could hurt the economy.

    President Trump has been threatening to fire Powell, something he backed away from Tuesday afternoon.

    As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, all this is further rattling financial markets, making Jerome Powell's task of keeping the economy stable even harder to do.

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    8 mins
  • Pope Francis I has died. What happens now?

    Pope Francis I has died. What happens now?
    Apr 21 2025
    On Monday morning in Rome Cardinal Kevin Farrell Camerlengo or Cardinal Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church announced the death of Pope Francis I.

    That was followed some 17 hours later by the rite of ascertainment. A formal acknowledgement of Francis' death...and the transfer of his body to his coffin.

    And it's one a few of the many centuries-old rituals that will play out over the next several days as the church mourns Pope Francis.

    There will be the mourning of the faithful as Francis' body lies in St. Peter's Basilica. A funeral, where Francis will be remembered by his fellow priests, followers and world leaders. Then, the Conclave where the College of Cardinals will meet to choose his successor.

    Pope Francis has died at 88. Now the church has to chart a course without his leadership. Who will be his successor, and what path will he choose?

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    8 mins
  • Dismantling Democracy: Lessons from Hungary's Viktor Orban

    Dismantling Democracy: Lessons from Hungary's Viktor Orban
    Apr 20 2025
    Viktor Orban is in his fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister of Hungary. In that time, he has dismantled democratic checks and balances, taken control of the country's media, civil society and universities, and consolidated power in him and his Fidesz party.

    NPR's Rob Schmitz looks at how Orban's step-by-step dismantling of Hungary's democracy has become a point of fascination for political scientists around the world, including those advising the Trump administration.

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    8 mins
  • Behind two high-profile deportation cases, a legal crisis grows

    Behind two high-profile deportation cases, a legal crisis grows
    Apr 18 2025
    This week, two federal judges handling separate immigration cases escalated their attempts to get the Trump administration to comply with court orders.

    One case involves President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 18th-century wartime law, to deport migrants without due process.

    The other is about the wrongful deportation, also without due process, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the government's refusal to bring him back to the U.S.

    The growing conflicts point to a potential constitutional crisis, where the president openly defies the country's highest court — or at least, as one legal scholar maintains, a crisis at the Supreme Court.

    Our guest is University of Virginia professor Amanda Frost, who specializes in immigration and citizenship law.

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    10 mins
  • Raising kids is costly; Tariffs will make it even more expensive

    Raising kids is costly; Tariffs will make it even more expensive
    Apr 17 2025
    When it comes to the cost of raising a child from infancy to the age of 17 in the United States – it's hard to settle on a precise figure.

    There's one thing we do know – it's going to be expensive.

    By some estimates, raising a kid, who was born in 2015, could cost a middle class family close to $320,000 over 17 years.

    That money goes to childcare, healthcare, food, clothes, education, transportation, activities, toys, and a lot more. All of those things will be affected – one way or another – by the Trump administration's tariff policy.

    And the companies that sell products geared at those raising kids – they're going to feel the pinch as well. One CEO argues it could even mean certain products will become unavailable.

    Being a parent in the U.S. is already expensive. Slapping tariffs on the products kids use could make it more so.

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    9 mins
  • Can the U.S. banish its citizens?

    Can the U.S. banish its citizens?
    Apr 16 2025
    The Trump administration's move to send immigrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador is the subject of multiple on-going fights in court.

    But in an Oval Office meeting with the Salvadoran president this week, President Trump was already looking ahead.

    "We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking, that are absolute monsters. I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country," Trump said.

    Trump later clarified that by "homegrown criminals" he meant U.S. citizens.

    No president has tried to do exactly what Trump is proposing.

    In this episode, we hear from someone who argues it's wildly unconstitutional.

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    12 mins
  • Did DOGE take sensitive labor data?

    Did DOGE take sensitive labor data?
    Apr 15 2025
    President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency team, or DOGE, appears to be grabbing sensitive data from all over the government.

    A whistleblower has come forward by filing an official disclosure to Congress about concerning activity on the systems at one independent federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board.

    Elon Musk says DOGE is searching for savings throughout the government. But is the data being accessed valuable?

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    8 mins
  • Vaccine expert worries child measles deaths are being 'normalized'

    Vaccine expert worries child measles deaths are being 'normalized'
    Apr 14 2025
    Measles is an extremely contagious disease. It's also extremely preventable. There's a vaccine. It's highly effective.

    For decades it has made measles outbreaks in the U.S. relatively rare, and measles deaths rarer still. But the U.S. has now seen more than 700 measles cases this year, and 3 deaths so far with active outbreaks across six states.

    The federal response is under scrutiny because Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made a career spreading false information about vaccines.

    What are this administration's views on vaccines, and what do they mean for what is already one of the worst U.S. measles outbreaks this century.

    Kennedy publicly promised he would support vaccines. Dr. Peter Marks, who was forced out as the nation's top vaccine regulator says his department isn't doing enough.

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    11 mins
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