Month: April 2022

Over the past two years, about 200 journalists across the country have been detained or arrested while on the job. Many were covering the social and racial justice protests that began after the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.

NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and NPR producer Marc Rivers look at the growing tension between police and the press through the lens of one March 2021 night at Echo Park Lake, when police detained at least 16 journalists.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask mandate on planes, trains and buses ended earlier this month, and it came down, in part, to a judge’s interpretation of the word “sanitation.” U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle voided the mask requirement, citing a 1944 law that gives the CDC power to stop the spread of communicable diseases through measures like inspection, fumigation, disinfection and sanitation.

Lawrence Gostin is a professor of public health law at Georgetown University. He explains what the 1944 Public Health Service Act did and why he thinks the judge’s interpretation could have an impact on the United States’ ability to respond to future health crises. Additional reporting by NPR’s Pien Huang also appeared in this episode.

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One Palestinian man’s struggle to get life-saving medical care while living in the Gaza Strip highlights many lesser-seen victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Since the militant group Hamas took over Gaza 15 years ago, Israel’s travel restrictions have resulted in many barriers for Palestinians seeking critical health care.

Palestinians can try to get medical treatment both in and outside of Gaza, but need a travel permit to choose the latter. And while Israel grants thousands of travel permits a year, the timeline for securing one can be long. Some doctors have also fled Gaza. All of these factors can pose dangerous delays for vital treatment.

NPR Jerusalem Correspondent Daniel Estrin followed one patient’s difficult journey to get heart surgery.

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Stephanie is one of nearly one million Americans who have died of COVID-19. Her family says Stephanie’s death was avoidable, but in recent years, she had been drawn into conspiracy theories.

She believed that the coronavirus was a hoax and refused to get vaccinated. When she got COVID-19 last winter, Stephanie refused treatments and eventually died just a few days after Christmas.

While there is no way to know exactly how many people like Stephanie have died because they believed conspiracy theories, the Kaiser Family Foundation recently found that more than 200,000 Americans would be alive today, had they had been vaccinated.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel reports.

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Between the 1990s and late 2000s, people in Chechnya described Russia’s wars there as a nightmare. Its former leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, resisted Russian forces.

But today, the Muslim-majority Chechen Republic is ruled by Kadyrov’s son, Ramzan. He’s a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is accused of numerous human rights abuses and is also leading his own forces against Ukraine to aid the Kremlin.

Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division, explains Ramzan Kadyrov’s stake in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NPR National Security Correspondent Greg Myre, who reported from Chechnya during the wars, also breaks down the republic’s evolution over the last 25 years.

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You introduce yourself and then someone mispronounces your name. At that point you have to decide if you correct them or let it slide.

For many people from immigrant communities, this has been a lifelong experience. And sometimes, it’s about more than mispronunciation, it can signal exclusion and disrespect. Some people even change their names in order to fit in more easily and not be “othered.”

For years, LA Times columnist, Jean Guerrero, let people say her name without rolling their r’s, the way it would be said in Spanish. But after becoming the target of MAGA trolls online, she decided to reclaim the proper Spanish pronunciation.

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For years, most states have reported a shortage of special education teachers. Now, according to federal data, nearly every state is struggling to hire qualified educators. And when schools can’t find a licensed teacher, they hire people who are willing to do the job, but lack the training.

From member station WFYI in Indianapolis, Lee Gaines reports on what that means for students, and Dylan Peers McCoy reports on one approach — in Hawaii — that’s helped to fill shortages.

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California’s Reparations Task Force is preparing to release its first report on the impact of racism on African Americans in June. It’s the next step for the Task Force, following a narrow vote late last month to exclude some Black residents from being eligible if and when a reparations plan becomes law.

Under the current proposal, only those who can trace their lineage to enslaved or freed Black people before the end of the 19th century will qualify for reparations from the state.

Some Black Californians are fine with that for now. State residents Derika Denell Gibson, Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, and Kaelyn Sabal-Wilson discuss what reparations would mean to them.

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The pains of every war ripple out beyond the borders of the conflict zone. And as the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on, the disruptions in the global food supply chain are beginning to deepen the already dire hunger crisis around the world.

Ukraine and Russia have an outsized role in global food production: combined, they are responsible for about 30% of the wheat in the world, about two-thirds of sunflower seed oil, large amounts of barley and corn, and more.

Now, because of the ongoing war, the price of food worldwide is skyrocketing and 38 countries are facing acute food insecurity, meaning they are just one step from famine.

NPR global health and development correspondent Nurith Aizenman reports on how the war is driving up prices.

David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Programme, talks about how food insecurity looks inside of Ukraine, and what is to come for the rest of the world.

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A federal judge struck down the CDC’s mask mandate for public transportation on Monday, clearing the way for airlines and ride hailing companies to eliminate mask requirements for passengers. What might the change mean for travelers — especially those most vulnerable to infection or too young to be vaccinated?

NPR science correspondents Selena Simmons-Duffin and Maria Godoy explain.

NPR’s Tamara Keith outlines the political implications for the Biden administration.

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