Last week President Biden announced a six-pronged strategy to combat the newly surging pandemic — including a federal rule that all businesses with 100 or more employees must ensure their workers are vaccinated for COVID-19, or submit to weekly testing for the virus.
Delta Surge Slows Recovery As Parts Of Pandemic Safety Net Disappear
Last week’s jobs report for the month of August show signs the delta surge is slowing the economic recovery, just as some pandemic safety net programs disappear. The Supreme Court recently struck down a federal eviction moratorium, and supplemental pandemic unemployment benefits expired on Monday.
NPR’s chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley explains what that could mean for the pace of the recovery.
With a federal eviction ban no longer in effect, renters could tap into billions of dollars in federal rental assistance authorized by Congress. But there’s a problem: states have been slow to get that money into programs that can distribute it to tenants and landlords. NPR’s Laurel Wamsley reports on one effort to speed things up in Tennessee.
Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s Chris Arnold, who’s been covering evictions during the pandemic.
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In A New Afghanistan, Some Women Fear For Their Rights — But Others Are Hopeful
This week, women protested in Kabul after the Taliban announced an all-male interim government. One woman who helped organized the protests told NPR “the world should feel” what Afghan women are facing. That woman — and another who was desperately trying to leave the country — spoke to Rachel Martin on Morning Edition. More from their interviews here.
While some women fear the rights they’ve gained in the last 20 years will disappear, other women — particularly in rural areas — are hopeful for a future with less violence and military conflict. Anand Gopal wrote about them for The New Yorker in a piece called “The Other Afghan Women.” He spoke to Mary Louise Kelly.
Special thanks to NPR’s Michele Keleman for production help on this episode.
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What Kids Feel Entering A Third COVID School Year (And How To Help Them Through It)
Most kids are now in their third year of school during the pandemic. It’s been a time of ups and downs; adjustments and re-adjustments. Some have flourished in online school and want to stay home — others have floundered and are excited to go back.
NPR spoke to a group of kids ages 6 and up about what the pandemic has been like, and how they’re feeling about the new school year.
Two experts in childhood education and development explain how the pandemic has challenged kids and what we can do to help them: Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Education; and Katie McLaughlin, a psychologist at Harvard University.
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As A Destructive Fire Season Rages On, What Might Prevent The Next One?
The good news is that firefighters in California have regained control of the Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe and tens of thousands of evacuated residents can now return to their homes. The bad news is the Caldor Fire is the second wildfire this season to burn through the Sierra Nevada Mountains from one side to the other. Something that never happened before this year.
The other fire to do it is the Dixie Fire further north, which is on pace to be the largest California wildfire on record. And while thousands have been impacted with evacuations, millions of people in western states have been living with the smoke for weeks.
The general guidance when living with hazy and polluted air is to stay indoors. But NPR’s Nathan Rott reports on new research that shows the air behind closed doors may not be much better.
And NPR’s Lauren Sommer reports on a region of the country that is leading the way with fire prevention that may surprise you.
Did The Supreme Court Just Overturn Roe v. Wade?
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority allowed a Texas law banning most abortions to go into effect. Almost immediately, abortion providers had to begin turning people away.
NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports on the court’s interpretation of the Texas law and its controversial enforcement provision, which allows any private citizen to sue someone who helps a person get an abortion — with the plaintiff due $10,000 in damages and court costs.
Kathryn Kolbert, co-founder of the Center for Reproductive Rights, explains how abortion rights activists are responding.
Additional reporting in this episode came from stories by NPR’s Wade Goodwyn and Ashley Lopez of member station KUT.
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Scenes From The Aftermath Of The U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan
The U.S. military’s mission in Afghanistan is over. For many still living in the country, a new struggle has begun: how to move forward after they were not able to make it before the U.S. withdrawal.
Mark Schmitz is also grappling with how to move forward. His 20-year-old son, Jared, was one of 13 U.S. service members killed in an attack on the Kabul airport. Schmitz spoke to NPR’s Rachel Martin — his interview was produced and edited by the staff of NPR’s Morning Edition, where it originally aired. More from the interview here.
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The Delta Surge Keeps Getting Worse. What Happens When Hospitals Fill Up
Some states in the south are have more people in the hospital than at any point during the pandemic — fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant and low vaccination rates.
Dr. David Kimberlin, co-division director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tells NPR the hospital system is Alabama is on the verge of collapse. He spoke to reporter Pien Huang.
So what happens — for patients and the people who treat them — when hospitals are full? NPR put that question to two people in charge of hospitals: Dr. Aharon Sareli, Chief of Critical Medicine with the Memorial Healthcare System near Miami; and Dr. Adriano Goffi, a medical director at Altus Lumberton Hospital east of Houston.
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How A Bankruptcy Deal Could Offer Clean Slate For Opioid Billionaires
A federal bankruptcy judge says he’ll rule Wednesday in the case of Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin. The company is owned by the Sackler family, who are at the center of a national reckoning over the deadly opioid epidemic.
NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann has been covering the story of Purdue Pharma for years, and explains how the Sacklers may emerge from Purdue’s bankruptcy proceedings with their personal fortunes in tact. Find more of Brian’s reporting here or follow him on Twitter @BrianMannADK.
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How Climate Change Is Making Storms Like Ida Even Worse
Hurricane Ida’s winds intensified rapidly as the storm approached coastal Louisiana over the weekend — making landfall at its most powerful. NPR’s Rebecca Hersher explains how Ida was supercharged by climate change.
Now the hurricane’s remnants are moving north and east, where millions are bracing for flooding and tornado threats. Janey Camp with Vanderbilt University tells NPR why climate change means flooding will become more common in areas where people haven’t been accustomed to it in the past.
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