Year: 2023

On Monday, Israel’s parliament voted into law a key measure to overhaul the country’s judiciary. The measure prevents judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.”

The law strips Israel’s Supreme Court of a key check on the power of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. This marks the first big move in a broader effort to weaken court oversight of senior officials. It comes after six months of protests from Israelis concerned that their government will have unchecked power. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defending it, saying this law is the essence of democracy and will allow the elected government – his government – to carry out its agenda.

We hear from concerned protestors outside Israeli parliament — many citizens are afraid that their way of life is in danger.

Dahlia Scheindlin is a political analyst from Tel Aviv, she explains what this new Israeli law says about the state of democracy there.

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 United States’ preeminent professional soccer league, Major League Soccer, has long lagged behind top European leagues.

However, international soccer superstar Lionel Messi joining the Inter Miami might be the boost the league needs.

NPR’s Scott Detrow reports on the impact of Messi coming to the MLS and what the league’s future could be.

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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Tony Bennett, the crooner whose success spanned generations, died Friday. He was 96 years old.

His voice was synonymous with the Great American Songbook, which he continued to bring to new audiences even as the country’s musical tastes changed.

NPR’s Walter Ray Watson traces the arc of Bennett’s life, from his days as a singing waiter in Astoria, New York, to his Billboard-charting hits as a nonagenarian.

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We know that climate change is making all sorts of extreme weather events more likely all around the globe. So what can we do about that?

In this episode, NPR’s Allison Aubrey gives us tips on how to avoid heat-related illnesses when temperatures soar to dangerous levels.

And we hear from a climate researcher about what steps we would need to take on a global scale to try and bring temperatures down.

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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It’s easy to lose track of the seriousness of the legal cases involving Donald Trump, in part because there are just so many.

This week the former president and current presidential candidate said he received a letter informing him he is a target in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Such a letter often precedes an indictment.

And a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, may soon consider an election interference case there that could lead to yet another indictment of Trump.

We hear about both cases in this episode.

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One of the most cutting-edge and controversial fields of biomedical research right now is the quest to create eggs and sperm in the lab for anyone with their own DNA. And now, private companies have jumped into the race to revolutionize the way humans reproduce.

In vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, would enable infertile women and men to have children with their own DNA instead of genes from the sperm and eggs of donors. It would also provide queer couples the opportunity to have children biologically related to both partners.

NPR health correspondent Rob Stein reports on the excitement and concerns this new technology has fueled.

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Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final was the latest coronation of a tennis great from Spain.

NPR’s Rob Schmitz looks into how the country became such fertile ground for outstanding players.

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Since the 2024 Presidential election may ultimately be decided by a handful of votes in a handful of states, courting young voters will be key. Gen Z has been turning out in record numbers in recent midterms.

Often much of the political conversation focuses on young voters in and around big cities. But since young voters are so key for Democrats’ success, and rural voters are an essential bloc for Republicans, what young, rural voters think really matters.

Host Scott Detrow spoke with NPR’s Elena Moore and Xinema Bustillo, who talked to Gen Z voters in rural North Carolina.

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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James Barber is scheduled to be executed on Thursday in Alabama, for the murder of Dorothy Epps in 2001. It’s the first execution since Governor Kay Ivey paused capital punishment in the state and ordered a “top-to-bottom” review of death penalty protocols after the state failed to execute two inmates last year.

Host Scott Detrow speaks with The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig. She reported extensively on Alabama’s troubles with lethal injection last year. She says the state’s process is very opaque, and almost nothing of the review was made public.

Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham Law School, says lethal injection problems are an issue all around the country.

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Six years ago when former Obama staffer Brian Wallach was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – ALS – a rare neurological disease that kills most people who contract it within a few years, he and his wife Sandra Abrevaya quickly got to work. They launched a non-profit advocacy group I am ALS and a battle to try and fight for increased funding and research that they hoped would lead to a cure for the disease.

Since then Wallach and Abrevaya have changed the face of medical advocacy in the country, helping secure legislation that President Biden signed in 2021 that funds $100 million worth of ALS initiatives each year.

NPR’s Juana Summers spent time with Wallach and Abrevaya to hear about their fight for a cure for ALS.

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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