Year: 2023

A majority of the Nashville Metro Council supports reappointing former state Representative Justin Jones to the seat he was expelled from last week.

Jones was one of two Democrats ousted by the Republican-controlled Tennessee state legislature after taking part in protests calling for stricter gun control in the state.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Nashville Council Member-At-Large Zulfat Saura about her vote to send Jones back to the State House.

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Whether you’re a politician, a mental health expert, or a parent, it seems everyone has a problem with TikTok. Some concerns stem from the social media platform’s addictive qualities or its effects on one’s mental health. Critics have also noted dangerous video trends. Members of Congress in both parties are calling for a ban over fears that the Chinese government could harvest Tik Tok user information. And many states and colleges have taken steps to regulate the platform.

But for tens of millions of Americans, TikTok has become a part of their lives, providing entertainment, news, and even community.

Are the threats to ban TikTok missing the point?

Host Scott Detrow talks to Mark Pocan, a Democratic Congressman from Wisconsin, and Rebecca Jennings, who covers internet culture for Vox.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a 19th century abortion ban took effect in Wisconsin and forced those practicing and seeking reproductive healthcare to travel across state lines.

Earlier this week, voters elected Judge Janet Protasiewicz to become a justice on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, flipping control of the court to liberals for the first time in 15 years. That could have big implications on the future of abortion in the state.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Dr. Kristen Lyerly, an OB-GYN from Green Bay, Wisconsin, about how the judicial change could impact Wisconsin doctors who provide reproductive healthcare and their patients.

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2023 is on track to beat last year’s record when it comes to book bans. The free speech group PEN America counted 2,500 instances of book bans in U.S. schools during the 2021-22 academic year.

Author Judy Blume has had a number of her books banned. She spoke to NPR ahead of the release of a documentary about her life, “Judy Blume Forever,” streaming on Amazon Prime April 21.

And NPR’s Tovia Smith spoke to other authors of banned books about how the scrutiny has negatively impacted their sales – and about alternative ways they’ve found to get their stories to readers, outside of schools.

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Black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans. And there’s a growing number of Black families who have to live with the pain of losing a loved one at the hands of police.

NPR’s Juana Summers speaks with two women who have been living that reality for years.

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The legal and political worlds officially moved into uncharted waters when former President Donald Trump was arraigned on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

NPR’s Carrie Johnson breaks down the case against Trump, and the difficult path to conviction for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

And Peter Skinner, an attorney who worked alongside Bragg for several years in the Southern District of New York, talks about what Bragg is like as a prosecutor.

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The FDA has approved over-the-counter sales of Narcan, a nasal spray version of the life-saving medication naloxone. The medication is known for its ability to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

The FDA’s move will make Narcan more widely available than ever before. But experts say this is just one step in the right direction, when it comes to preventing overdose deaths.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Nabarun Dasgupta, a senior scientist at the University of North Carolina who has been studying opioid overdose prevention and addiction treatment since 2002, about what this means for the opioid epidemic.

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In the twenty-five years since the Japanese media franchise Pokémon launched in the US, it has become a staple of American culture — from trading cards to t-shirts, from action figures to videogames, from Oreo cookies to McDonald’s Happy Meals. And of course, the animated series.

Since the launch of that series the biggest stars have undoubtedly been aspiring Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum and his adorable pocket monster sidekick Pikachu. But now fans must say goodbye to these iconic heroes as the series moves on without them.

Host Scott Detrow talks to Izzie Ramirez, culture writer for Vox Media, about the legacy of the show and the future of the Pokémon franchise after Ash and Pikachu. And we hear reactions from fans and from Sarah Natochenny, who has voiced Ash since 2006.

Former President Trump has been indicted by a New York grand jury, making him the first former president in American history to face criminal charges.

The case involves hush money paid by Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump.

NPR’s Andrea Bernstein says the lengths Trump’s company went to cover up the hush money payment is part of a larger pattern of how Trump has long operated his businesses.

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It’s been another month of impressive and unsettling AI breakthroughs. And, along with excitement, these breakthroughs have also sparked concerns about the risks AI could pose to society.

Take OpenAI’s release of GPT-4, the latest iteration of its ChatGPT chatbot. According to the company, it can pass academic tests (including several AP course exams) and even do your taxes. But NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel test drove the software, and found that it also sometimes fabricated inaccurate information.

Wednesday more than a thousand tech leaders and researchers – among them, Elon Musk – signed an open letter calling for a six month pause in the development of the most powerful AI systems. NPR’s Adrian Florido spoke with one signatory, Peter Stone, a computer science professor at the University of Texas.

NPR’s Shannon Bond has more reporting on AI and disinformation.

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