Year: 2023

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly is on the ground in Iran, where she spoke directly with Iranians about their grievances against the regime.

She later put some of those grievances to Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, during a rare in-person interview in Tehran.

You can hear more of NPR’s interview with Iran’s Foreign Minister, on whether Iranians can freely voice their ideas, here.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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Negotiating a purchase at a car dealership can be a stressful experience. But once you sign the deal and drive away, the car is yours right? Not necessarily.
NPR’s Chris Arnold breaks down how some dealerships engage in a practice called a “yo-yo car sale” that can entrap people in bad deals.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
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President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address seemed like business as usual, until one of Biden’s remarks drew loud boos from some Republican lawmakers.
We ask two House freshmen – Democrat Maxwell Frost of Florida and Republican Mike Lawler of New York – what they made of that moment and how they think the two parties could work together in a narrowly divided Congress.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
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Communities in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey are struggling in the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake and its powerful aftershocks.

NPR’s Ruth Sherlock reports on ongoing rescue efforts in the region.

And we speak with Gönül Tol, director of the Turkey program at the Middle East Institute, who is in Hatay province in Turkey. She raises questions about the Turkish government’s response to the tragedy.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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China and the US were supposed to hold diplomatic talks over the weekend. Instead they sparred over a Chinese balloon that entered American airspace before it was shot down. Where do relations between Washington and Beijing go from here?

This wasn’t the first time a Chinese surveillance balloon flew into into U.S. airspace. NPR’s Greg Myre talks us through past incidents.

Then we speak with Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor of China and Asia Pacific Studies at Cornell University, about where U.S. and China relations now stand.

Football is the most watched sport in the US – and one of the most profitable. The NFL reported that last year, the Super Bowl was watched by two-thirds of Americans.

But for some, the popularity and success of the sport are overshadowed by its continuing problems around race – from its handling of players kneeling in protest against the killing of unarmed Black people, to lawsuits over racially biased compensation for concussed Black players, to the NFL’s inability –or is it unwillingness?–to hire and retain Black coaches in a league where a majority of the players are black.

On Tuesday, the Houston Texans announced that they have hired a new head coach – DeMeco Ryans. He becomes one of three Black coaches among the 32 teams in the NFL.

The league is also touting a historic first in the upcoming Super Bowl – two Black starting quarterbacks. Are these hopeful signs or progress, or, as some critics contend, too little, too late?

Host Michel Martin talks to Justin Tinsley, who writes about sports and culture and appears on ESPN.

And Carron Phillips, of Deadspin, explains why 20 years of the NFL’s Rooney Rule failed to diversity football’s leadership roles.

More than three years since the start of the COVID pandemic, infectious disease experts are studying other viruses with pandemic potential. Their goal is to understand how pandemics begin and how they can be prevented.
This is the focus of the NPR series “Hidden Viruses: How Pandemics Really Begin.” In this episode, NPR’s Ari Daniel takes us to Bangladesh, where researchers studied a dangerous virus called “Nipah” and how it spreads.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
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The Memphis Police Department has disbanded its special SCORPION unit, after five of the unit’s officers were involved in the death of Tyre Nichols. But similar units are still operating across the U.S.

Specialized police units are often created after a spike in crime, as officials come under pressure to do something about it. The units often operate with little oversight and develop a reputation for using aggressive tactics.

We speak with journalist Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” He has studied police tactics and whether special units work to keep communities safe.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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Pamela Anderson has had an incredibly rich, and varied, career. She’s an actress, the author of several books, and a prominent activist – especially for animal rights.
But many people still see her primarily as a sex symbol, the archetypal “blonde bombshell.”
In a new memoir titled “Love, Pamela”, Anderson takes control of the narrative, telling her story in her own words.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
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Signs of a forthcoming recession seem to be everywhere: from grocery stores, where food prices are soaring, to Fortune 500 companies, where workers are being let go by the thousand.

Survey after survey shows fears of recession are high. And if one does come, navigating the downturn can be tricky.

NPR’s Arezou Rezvani shares advice from economists and personal finance experts on how to prepare for a potential recession.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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