Month: April 2021

Last year, hackers believed to be directed by the Russian intelligence service, the SVR, slipped a malicious code into a routine software update from a Texas- based company called SolarWinds. They then used it as a vehicle for a massive cyberattack against America and successfully infiltrated Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and other companies, and federal agencies including the Treasury Department, Justice Department, Energy Department and the Pentagon.

The Biden administration recently announced a roster of tough sanctions against Russia as part of what it characterized as the “seen and unseen” response to the SolarWinds breach.

NPR investigative correspondent Dina Temple-Raston has spent months examining the landmark attack that — based on interviews with dozens of players — reveals a hack unlike any other.

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A little more than half of adults in the U.S. have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. That means a growing number of Americans are figuring out how to navigate life in a hybrid society where some people are vaccinated and some are not.

Two experts offer advice on how to do that: Dr. Leana Wen with George Washington University, and Dr. Monica Gandhi with the University Of California San Francisco.

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As crowds gathered Tuesday evening after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd, two themes emerged. Many expressed joy and relief for the verdict delivered by the 12-person jury. But they also said the work isn’t over, and the national debate over police violence and accountability can’t end with a single criminal trial.

That message was also shared by the White House and Vice President Harris. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Justice Department is opening an investigation into possible patterns of discrimination and excessive force within the Minneapolis Police Department. And lawmakers in Congress are renewing a push for a police reform act that bears George Floyd’s name.

For the last eleven months, one of the loudest voices demanding justice for George Floyd — insisting that the country and the world not forget him — has been his brother, Philonise Floyd. Philonise and Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family attorney, share what lasting change will look like to them now that a verdict has been delivered.

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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted on three counts in the trial over George Floyd’s killing. The jury announced their verdict on Tuesday and found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

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Starting Monday, every person in America 16 and older is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 40% already have. Now public health officials will begin to focus more on those who have not.

WHYY’s Nina Feldman reports on the effort in Philadelphia, which is focused on racial equity.

Two groups of people who are most likely to say they won’t get a shot are Republicans and white evangelical Christians. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN in Nashville reports on outreach to those groups.

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Flexible hours for working parents, daycare centers at the office, equal pay. Between the 1960s and 1980s, there was a real sense that big workplace changes were just beyond the horizon.At the time a very common job for women was clerical work. And in 1973, a group of secretaries in Boston formed a women’s labor organization. They called themselves the “9to5.”Actress Jane Fonda then decided to turn the real life struggles of working women into a hit Hollywood movie. Starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and country singer Dolly Parton (who also wrote the famous theme song), 9 to 5 was one of the first movies focused on the lives of women in the workplace.Today on the show, we meet the women behind the movement that inspired the movie. And a look at how far we have — or haven’t — come since then.

A movement to unionize workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., was seen as a potential turning point for the American labor movement. But the effort failed resoundingly. Stephan Bisaha of member station WBHM in Birmingham examines why.

Mohamed Younis, editor-in-chief of Gallup, tells NPR that public opinion of labor unions is generally lower in the South.

Additional reporting this episode from NPR’s Alina Selyukh.

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President Biden announced this week that all U.S. troops if Afghanistan will be withdrawn by Sept. 11, marking the end of America’s 20-year war there.

Former U.S. Army Col. Christopher Kolenda tells NPR there is “no easy ending” to American involvement in Afghanistan.

Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., tells NPR Afghan civilians will continue to face daily threats of violence.

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There have been nightly protests in Brooklyn Center, Minn., following Sunday’s killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was shot by former police officer Kim Potter.

Police officials have said Wright’s death resulted from an “accidental discharge,” saying Potter mistook her handgun for her Taser.

State Rep. Esther Agbaje tells NPR the city has been living in “a continuous state of trauma.”

NPR’s Adrian Florido has been covering the trial of former Minneapolis police Derek Chauvin, which is taking place just miles from where Wright was killed. Wednesday was the second day for the defense to call witnesses in Chauvin’s trial.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration announced a recommended pause in use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-use COVID-19 vaccine, while the agencies investigate reports of a rare but serious blood clot in six people.

The pause comes at a time when public health officials face the growing challenge of vaccine hesitancy, as NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel reports.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Pien Huang explain the science behind the pause, and how it’s occurring at a challenging moment for the Biden administration.

Additional reporting in this episode comes from NPR’s Allison Aubrey.

The NPR Politics Podcast is also covering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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