Year: 2021

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast has a tradition to look back on some of their favorite things from the last 12 months of television, movies and music. In this episode they’re revisiting the pop culture that thrilled them, moved them and kept them company during another challenging year.

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On Jan. 6, three Fox News hosts desperately urged former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get the president to tell supporters to stop attacking the Capitol building.

The texts, which were made public this week as the House of Representatives voted to hold Meadows in contempt, reveal a starkly different message than the one those same Fox hosts delivered to their audiences about the insurrection.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach discuss the gap between Fox’s messaging behind closed doors and in front of the camera.

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The COP26 Summit, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last month brought together people from all over the world. And everyone had stories of how climate change is already affecting their lives. But, did the conference accomplish what it set out to do?

Alok Sharma, president of COP26, gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what the conference felt like from the inside, why he apologized for the process, and what it was like trying to get delegates from nearly 200 countries on the same page.

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Five days after tornadoes first touched down in the Midwest and South of the U.S., survivors are coming to grips with what they have lost.

Of the several states that the storms tore through last weekend, Kentucky was the hardest hit. At least 74 people have been confirmed dead there. Many more are unaccounted for.

As survivors, volunteers, and officials sort through and pick up what’s left, how might they think about shoring up homes, businesses and buildings for the future? NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with University of Florida civil engineering professor David Prevatt about how to prepare buildings for tornadoes and hurricanes.

The severity and timing of these storms have also raised the question of whether climate change has anything to do with tornadoes. NPR correspondent Dan Charles reports.

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Kevin Dawes, an American from California, traveled to Syria in 2012 with hopes of a launching a career as a foreign correspondent. But shortly after crossing the border he was arrested and jailed for three-and-a-half years. And he hasn’t shared his story publicly until now.

NPR correspondent Deborah Amos interviewed Dawes about his nightmarish experience in a Syrian prison, how he’s seeking to bring the government to court, and how he hopes to help do the same for the family of a British doctor he met in the cell next to his.

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Almost two years into the pandemic, at-home rapid tests can still be difficult to find in the U.S. If you do find them, they’re often expensive. Other countries are faring better, like the U.K. and South Korea, which provide free tests each day to anyone who wants them.

Why is the U.S. different? NPR’s Yuki Noguchi reports.

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After seven days of testimony directly from Elizabeth Holmes, her defense announced it had rested its case this week in a federal fraud trail that began in September.

Holmes, a former Silicon Valley luminary, was CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos. She told jurors she was not responsible, as prosecutors allege, for fleecing investors of millions of dollars and delivering flawed results to patients.

And as NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn explains, Holmes detailed a story of abuse that could sway the outcome of the trial.

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During oral arguments last week in a major Supreme Court case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett brought up the idea of adoption as an alternative to abortion. But many people who choose not to have a child do not consider adoption and abortion equal and opposite choices, sociologist Gretchen Sisson tells NPR.

Plus, one woman shares her experience of relinquishing her rights as a parent.

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At least six conservative broadcasters who spread misinformation about COVID-19 and questioned coronavirus vaccines have now died from just this year.

Their deaths may mirror a wider trend in the United States: Americans who live in pro-Trump parts of the country are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to die from COVID-related complications.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel reports on new analysis from NPR showing that counties that voted for Donald Trump had almost three times the death rate of the counties that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

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In October of 1941, a young soldier was on leave in southern California when he met the woman he was sure he would marry. Then, two months later while stationed in Hawaii, Art “Bud” Montagne witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor firsthand, and was swept up in the conflict that followed.

NPR special correspondent Renee Montagne tells the story of what her father witnessed on that day 80 years ago, and how a cinematic love story — put on pause by war — turned out for him.

Read more about Art Montagne’s experiences at Pearl Harbor.

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