Author: Matt

A task force set up by the California state legislature is studying how the legacy of slavery has harmed the state’s Black residents. This summer it will submit recommendations for how the state legislature should compensate African-Americans for that harm.

The task force has to answer thorny questions like who should qualify for reparations, how to measure the suffering that Black people have endured and how to attach a dollar figure to that suffering.

The chair of the task force, Kamilah Moore, says she hopes the panel’s work will make a real difference in the lives of millions of Black Californians and serve as a model for a national program.

NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports on one big obstacle to a federal reparations package: public opinion is firmly against it. That’s especially true among white Americans.

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Donald Trump was the first president in American history to be impeached twice. Now, he may be the first modern president, current or former – to be charged with criminal conduct.

The New York investigation into hush money paid to adult entertainment actor Stormy Daniels is just one of several criminal probes currently faced by Donald Trump, And it’s the one that is closest to issuing charges.

Amid all the legal drama Trump has announced his third bid for the White House. A pending indictment would usually be a golden opportunity for Trump’s Republican challengers – some who have declared – like Nikki Haley – and those who are expected to jump in the race – like Mike Pence and Ron DeSantis.

But for the field of Republican presidential candidates, taking Trump down while not alienating his base is risky business.

Host Scott Detrow talks to NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell. He also talks to Jeff Sharlet, a professor of English at Dartmouth college and the author of the new book “Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War.”

On March 24, 2018, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Washington, D.C. to demand an end to gun violence. That was also the start of the March For Our Lives movement, which continues to call on young people to make their voices heard through the ballot box.

Survivors of a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida organized that first march. One of them was David Hogg. NPR’s Adrian Florido speaks with Hogg about the triumphs and frustrations of the past five years and the movement’s hopes for the future.

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PIMCO founder and legendary investor Bill Gross was known as the “Bond King.” People all over the finance world listened to his market calls. He helped change a sleepy bond market into the highly competitive and profitable world we know today. His story is also the story of how American financial markets work, how people game them, and what happens when they implode.

NPR’s Mary Childs wrote about Gross in her book, The Bond King: How One Man Made A Market, Built An Empire And Lost It All. She reported an episode about Gross for NPR’s Planet Money.

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School districts across the country are struggling to fill vacancies among their teaching staff. In addition to stepping up their recruitment efforts, some districts are looking to turn more of their existing staff into teachers.

NPR’s Cory Turner reports on the Mississippi Teacher Residency program, and on the impact it is having in the state’s capital, Jackson.

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The Cherokee Nation has been hit hard by opioid addiction and fentanyl-related overdose deaths. But the tribe has a plan to heal.

Like many communities around the country, the Cherokee Nation received settlement money from big drug companies and pharmacy chains accused of fueling the opioid crisis. The tribe is investing that $100 million in programs to support treatment, harm reduction and a fight against stigma.

Tribal leaders say the funds will save lives and save families.

NPR’s addiction correspondent Brian Mann traveled to Oklahoma to see how the Cherokee Nation is fighting the opioid crisis.

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On March 20, 2003, the United States launched its invasion of Iraq. We recall how the war started, and the trauma it left behind.

NPR’s Eric Westervelt was embedded with the U.S. Army’s Third Infantry Division as it pushed north from Kuwait. He describes what he saw in the first days of the war.

We also hear reporting from NPR’s Ruth Sherlock, who spoke to young Iraqis who grew up in the years since the invasion and are still trying to realize a better future for their country.

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Today, when we hear the word pandemic, most people think of COVID-19. But by 2003, while rates of HIV infections and deaths from AIDS had stabilized and fallen in the US, in sub-Saharan Africa, the rates were at epidemic proportions.

In his State of the Union address that January, President George W. Bush announced a massive investment in the global fight against HIV –The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

In the twenty years since, the program has dedicated billions of dollars to HIV prevention and treatment across Africa and other regions, saving tens of millions of lives.

NPR’s Pien Huang speaks with Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and Dr. Helene Gayle, an epidemiologist and president of Spelman College, who spent 20 years at the CDC focused on HIV treatment and prevention and global healthcare.

When it comes to TV ratings, women’s college basketball is trending upward – even as the men’s game is losing viewers. When it comes to resources and media coverage? There’s still a wide gap between the men and women.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Chantel Jennings, senior writer covering women’s basketball for The Athletic, about the factors that contribute to that gap and how the women’s game could overcome them.

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President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that he says can keep more guns out of the hands of dangerous people by increasing the number of buyers who have to submit background checks.

The White House says that’s the closest the U.S. can get to universal background checks without additional legislation from Congress, where Democrats and Republicans remain divided on any new actions aimed at reducing gun violence.

NPR’s Deepa Shivaram reports on the order, which Biden announced during a visit to Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people and injured nine more in January, one of over 110 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year.

And NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice about the order’s potential impact and where gun legislation goes from here.

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