Category: International

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial began this week. He’s accused of murdering Minneapolis resident George Floyd in May of 2020, when Chauvin was recorded kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes.

NPR’s Adrian Florido has been covering the trial and reports from Minneapolis.

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Scientists are growing concerned the U.S. may be headed for a fourth wave. COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly, mirroring an increase in many countries around the world.

Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage tells NPR he’s worried another surge in the U.S. will fuel the spread of the variant known as B.1.1.7.

In the meantime, there’s new evidence that vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are effective at preventing viral spread — and that they produce “robust” antibody response in children ages 12-15. NPR’s Joe Palca has more.

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Two distant cousins connect online, only to learn that one is a militant leftist and the other is in a right-wing militia. Their story shows the complexities of a timely question: Who’s an extremist?

NPR’s Hannah Allam followed both men for weeks, charting the growth of their relationship and revealing the moment they met in-person for the first time. NPR is withholding their last name, which the two men share, for security reasons.

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The city of Evanston, Ill., authorized spending on a reparation program this week — believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Here’s the report on Evanston’s racial history we mention in this episode.

Alderwoman Cecily Fleming — an African American resident of Evanston — tells NPR why she voted against the plan.

And Dreisen Heath, researcher at the Human Rights Watch, argues that reparations can take many forms.

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Sohla El-Waylly was one of the most vocal critics of her previous employer, Bon Appétit, and eventually resigned after the magazine’s racial reckoning.She’s now a columnist at Food52 and star of the YouTube series Off-Script with Sohla. She and Sam talk about racism in the food media industry (and everywhere else), The Cheesecake Factory, and certain kinds of mushrooms.

In Europe, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been slow. The U.S. is doing better — vaccinating as many as 3 million people per day this past weekend.

Some of those people were vaccinated by Chichi Ilonzo Momah, who runs Springfield Pharmacy in Springfield, Pa. Momah says local independent pharmacists are trying to make sure no one falls through the cracks.

The rollout is also progressing thanks in part to military personnel stationed at vaccine sites around the country that are run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. WUSF’s Stephanie Colombini visited one site in Tampa.

Additional reporting this episode from NPR’s Allison Aubrey.

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America’s infrastructure GPA is a C-minus, according to the American Society Of Civil Engineers, which this month called for massive investment in the nation’s roads, bridges and transit system.

The Biden administration is preparing to propose that kind of investment — along with green energy policies and progressive programs that would total more than $3 trillion. NPR’s Mara Liasson reports on the plan, which Biden has signaled he wants to pass with Republican support.

That’s just one political balancing act Biden will have to negotiate. Another is with a key part of his political coalition: labor unions. NPR’s Don Gonyea explains.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s David Schaper.

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Colorado has universal background checks, a red flag law and the city of Boulder recently passed an assault weapons ban. None of it was enough to stop a man from shooting and killing 10 people at a Boulder grocery store this week.

State Rep. Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the 2012 Aurora movie theatre shooting, reacts to the events of this week — and tells NPR why he still believes incremental action at the state level can help prevent gun violence.

Additional editing help in this episode from Bente Birkeland of Colorado Public Radio.

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Reports of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders have skyrocketed in the past year, coinciding with former President Trump’s racist rhetoric.

The pattern is clear: Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are being terrorized by harassment and violence. State representative Bee Nguyen tells NPR the shootings in Atlanta this week have rattled the Asian-American community in Georgia.

New York Congresswoman Grace Meng outlines a bill she’s introduced to help address the issue.

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Dante Disparte, founder and chairman of Risk Cooperative and member of FEMA’s National Advisory Council, explains how lessons from last year can help us in the next pandemic — and why warnings from former Presidents Bush and Obama were not enough to prepare the U.S. for the coronavirus.

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