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The United States has 27 years to reach its net-zero emissions goal. And among other initiatives to move towards that goal, the Biden administration is offering incentives for carbon capture and storage.

Carbon capture is a way to suck up carbon dioxide pollution from ethanol plants, power plants and steel factories, and store it deep underground.

While the companies that build the pipelines say the technology will help the U.S. meet its greenhouse gas emissions goals, they have also run into problems.

In Iowa, farmers are pushing back against the pipelines crossing their land. And for a town in Mississippi, a CO2 pipeline endangered lives.

NPR’s Julia Simon reports from Satartia, Mississippi on the aftermath of a pipeline rupture. The Climate Investigations Center obtained recordings of the 911 calls from Satartia and shared them with NPR.

Harvest Public Media’s Katie Peikes also provided reporting in this episode.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The Hollywood writers’ strike has meant three weeks of late-night comedy and soap opera reruns for television fans. And for some fans, it might feel familiar. 15 years ago a Writers Guild strike lasted 100 days. And the effect of that strike was felt on shows from Saturday Night Live to Friday Night Lights.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with veteran TV writer David Simon about the strike and the changing business practices in the entertainment industry.

And writer and cultural critic Emily St. James explains how the 2007 WGA strike may have saved the life of an iconic character in Breaking Bad.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recently recommended allowing birth control pills to be sold without a prescription.

While more than 100 countries currently allow access to birth control pills over the counter, the U.S. is not one of them.

Washington Senator Patty Murray says it’s important that the pill is easily available – but also affordable.

When – and if – that day comes and the pill is available over the counter, Murray wants to require insurance companies to cover the cost, free of charge.

NPR’s Sarah McCammon speaks with Senator Murray on the proposed legislation.

And we hear the latest on the legal challenge to the abortion medication mifepristone, as attorneys gather in New Orleans at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to argue whether it should be removed from the market.

NPR’s Becky Sullivan and Selena Simmons-Duffin contributed reporting on the real-life experiences of individuals taking mifepristone.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Across the country, members of the class of COVID are graduating: students who started high school before the pandemic, then spent the end of their freshman year and subsequent years navigating a new reality.

And it was a very difficult path.

According to many studies there has been considerable learning loss for K-12 students throughout the pandemic. And a recent study from researchers at Harvard and Stanford shows that the pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities.

NPR’s Sarah McCammon talks with three graduating high school seniors about how they made it through remote learning and coped with social isolation, and what they learned about themselves.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Few stars shined brighter in the 80’s than Michael J Fox, and when the ’90s rolled around, he was still one of the top names in show biz.
But in 1991, after a night of heavy drinking, Fox noticed a tremor developing in his right pinky, an early symptom symptom of Parkinson’s Disease, a diagnosis that would change the course of his life.
Fox speaks to NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer, about his new documentary “Still”, and how he found meaning in sharing his disease with the world.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

At least fourteen states in the US have passed laws or policies that limit or restrict gender-affirming care for young people. Republican lawmakers claim the bills are meant to protect kids, but most medical groups say the treatment is safe, effective and potentially live-saving.

Even so, Republican leaders like Texas governor Greg Abbot compare gender-affirming care to child abuse. Meanwhile trans people, parents, and their supporters have protested outside of Republican controlled statehouses across the country.

Florida has targeted gender-affirming care more than most other states. And on Wednesday, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed the latest such bill into law. It’s gotten to the point where some trans youth are leaving the state, rather than living under the ban.

With reporting from WUFS’s Stephanie Columbini and WFSU’s Regan McCarthy.

The state of Israel turned 75 this week. For many Israeli Jews, it’s a moment of celebration – the nation was established as a homeland and refuge from the persecution they have faced throughout history.
But in the war surrounding Israel’s founding, the majority of Palestinian Arabs were permanently displaced from their homeland.
Palestinians call the anniversary of Israel’s founding “The Nakba”, an Arabic word that translates to “the catastrophe.” And many say the catastrophe is not history, it is ever present with the Israeli military occupation.
NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells the story of how one Palestinian family stays connected to their home village, decades after it was destroyed.
In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Hospital emergency rooms saw some of the most painful scenes of the pandemic: beds filled to capacity, nurses and doctors risking sickness themselves, and patients dying without their loved ones.

Today, ERs are still living with the consequences of the pandemic. They face staffing challenges, patients who delayed care and arrive sicker, and the lingering emotional strain.

We visit an emergency room at a hospital outside Baltimore to hear how this moment looks to the doctors and nurses who work 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.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

On Thursday, the Biden administration lifted title 42, a pandemic-era policy that shut down virtually all avenues for migrants to seek asylum in the US. In March of 2020 then president Trump invoked the rule as a public health emergency measure, allowing for the quick expulsion of migrants at the border.

Now that Title 42 has been lifted, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty, violence and political instability will be subjected to decades-old immigration laws that will allow them to stay in the country while their cases make their way through immigration court. But the process could cause a bottleneck at the border and strain federal, state and local government resources.

How will the Biden administration respect asylum law and get control of the border, all while running a re-election campaign?

Host Asma Khalid talks to White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Also NPR’s Joel Rose provide a view from the southern border.

Sudan’s month-long conflict has been a story of broken ceasefires, constant clashes, mass displacement and an exodus of refugees.

Now, a conflict that started in the capital has spread across the country. At the center of this conflict is a bitter rivalry between two generals. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the country’s military, and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Sudan is Africa’s third largest country, it shares a border with seven other countries in an already volatile region. The longer the conflict drags on, the greater the risk that it could erupt into a civil war – and the greater the danger that the conflict could spill over into surrounding countries.

NPR’s Asma Khalid speaks with Africa correspondent Emanuel Akinwotu, Middle East correspondent Aya Batrawy, and Michele Kelemen who covers the U.S. State Department.

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

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.