Year: 2021

CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job.

But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can’t even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.

In the second of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR’s Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job.

But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can’t even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.

In the first of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR’s Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

For those living with long COVID, daily activities like going for a walk, washing the dishes, or being on a Zoom call can be incredibly draining.

These long-term effects of a COVID infection – called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, PASC, or more simply long COVID – have been a reality for many patients since the start of the pandemic.

While it is not known exactly how common long COVID is, it isn’t rare. One study found that some 30% of participants across multiple age ranges reported persistent symptoms. For some, symptoms fade after a few months, while for others, long COVID feels like their new reality.

NPR’s Mallory Yu has been reporting on long COVID and gathered the stories of patients who are desperate for answers.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Migrants from faraway countries are stuck in Belarus, just across its border with Poland. They’ve traveled there to seek asylum in the EU. But Poland has refused to accept them.

How did they get there? They were invited — and in some cases, their travel facilitated — by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. EU leaders say Lukashenko and his backers in Russia are ‘weaponizing’ migration in retaliation for sanctions placed on Belarus last year. Those sanctions came after the EU accused Lukashenko of rigging his most recent election.

Now, many hundreds of migrants are stuck on the Belarus side of the border. There have been at least nine recorded deaths, but observers think there have been many more. Migrants were reportedly moved from makeshift camps outdoors to a government-run shelter on Thursday, though it’s unclear what Belarus plans to do with them next.

NPR international correspondent Rob Schmitz has seen the crisis up close. This episode is a collection of his reporting. Find more of it here, and see photos from the border on NPR’s Picture Show.

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

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Afghanistan is facing its worst drought in decades, but that’s not the only reason it is on the verge of a hunger crisis. After the Taliban took over, much of the country’s international development aid was suspended, and the United States froze $9.5 billion in Afghan government assets. The economy has plummeted.

Richard Trenchard, country director for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Afghanistan, explains what he’s heard from farmers and herders.

PBS NewsHour special correspondent Jane Ferguson recently returned from a reporting trip in the country, where she saw hospital wards filling up with malnourished babies and toddlers.

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

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This week’s virtual summit between President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping may have restored a tone of respect between the world’s two largest powers, but U.S. intelligence is telling a different story.

NPR’s Greg Myre reports on a national security conference held in Georgia last month where former and current U.S. intelligence officers were surprisingly candid about what they see as the biggest growing threat: China.

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

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The holiday shopping season is basically here. But a lot of things that Americans want to buy are not. Now the race is on to get goods off ships and into stores and warehouses — before it’s too late.

NPRs Scott Horsley reports some retailers are already feeling the pinch from less inventory and higher shipping costs.

Even if goods do make it into the U.S., many are sitting in warehouses, which are bursting at the seams. NPR’s Alina Selyukh explains why.

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

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Thousands of youth activists from all over the world gathered in Scotland this week for the COP26 UN climate summit. They say climate change is already transforming their countries — and that their generation has the most to lose if greater action isn’t taken.

This episode contains reporting from Ari Shapiro in Glasgow, with production and editing by Mia Venkat, Noah Caldwell, and Ashley Brown.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Who is to blame for the deaths of nine people at the Astroworld Festival last Friday? Houston police have opened a criminal investigation and concertgoers have already filed more than 20 lawsuits against the event organizers and rapper Travis Scott, who continued to perform for more than half an hour after officials declared a mass casualty event.

Crowd safety expert Keith Still explains the science behind how a concert crowd can transform into an uncontrollable mass that threatens human life.

Houston Chronicle music critic Joey Guerra, who attended the festival, grapples with how music fans are processing the tragedy.

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

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Following the Columbine shooting in April of 1999, top leaders of the National Rifle Association huddled in private to discuss their public response to the tragedy.

Secret tapes of those deliberations were obtained by NPR investigative correspondent Tim Mak. He explains what’s revealed in the tapes: that the group considered a much different stance than the one it ultimately took — a stance that would help set the stage for decades of debate about gun violence in America.

Tim Mak is also author of the book Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.