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National issues are increasingly crowding out more local concerns in elections across the country.

With that in mind, we hear from five NPR correspondents covering some of the issues that may shape the course of the midterms.

Scott Horsley unpacks inflation. Sarah McCammon explains how this year’s Supreme Court decision striking down a constitutional right to abortion is shaping voter decisions. Joel Rose puts immigration numbers in context. Martin Kaste explains why Republicans are making crime an election issue. And Miles Parks explains why Democrats say Democracy itself is on the ballot.

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.

Over the last four decades, affirmative action has helped transform diversity on college campuses in the United States. But soon, affirmative action in higher education may come to an end.

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Many Court observers believe that the current 6-3 conservative supermajority will rule that higher education can no longer consider race as a factor in admitting students.

If affirmative action is overturned, what tools can colleges and universities use to make their campuses more diverse? For answers, we look to California. In 1996 the state banned the use of affirmative action in public universities.

Mitchell Chang is Associate Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Los Angeles. He spoke with NPR’s Adrian Florido.

The extremes of climate change are wreaking havoc on the Mississippi.

Over the past two months, this critical waterway has seen below average rainfall. In some places, water levels haven’t been this low for more than 30 years.

NPR’s Debbie Elliot explains how that is helping the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico push upriver, threatening municipal and commercial water supplies.

Then Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Eva Tesfaye, of The Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk, show us how life on the river can be just as hard when climate change produces too much water.

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 attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and other recent incidents have security experts worried about the potential for political violence around the midterm elections.

NPR’s Miles Parks and Odette Yousef explain what law enforcement and elections officials are preparing for.

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.

Billions will be watching when the men’s soccer World Cup begins in Qatar this month. But the country’s human rights record will also be in the global spotlight during the tournament.

A 2021 investigation by The Guardian revealed that more than 6,500 migrant laborers died during the construction of World Cup facilities and infrastructure.

There are also questions about how LGBTQ soccer fans and players may be treated in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

We hear from one man who is speaking out about the lack of LGBTQ rights in his home country. And we speak with Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that has been putting pressure on Qatar ahead of the World Cup.

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.

More than eight months after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, new challenges are emerging.

NPR’s Franco Ordoñez reports that Ukrainian soldiers are preparing for what could be their toughest battle yet: the fight for the southern city of Kherson.

Meanwhile, supply chain issues are complicating the flow of Western military aid to Ukraine. We hear about that from NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR global economics correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith.

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.

Elections are tight in many parts of the US these days. They certainly are in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the last two presidential elections were decided by very thin margins. This year’s midterms could be just as tight in the state.

For Democrats, who are hoping to pick up a US Senate seat in Wisconsin, a key factor will be turnout among young voters. NPR’s Juana Summers talked to three Wisconsin voters under the age of 30 to find out what issues are driving them to the polls this year.

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 Friday, federal authorities issued an internal bulletin that warned of the potential for violence from domestic extremists during the midterm election season.

The same day, a federal Judge in Phoenix refused to stop a group from patrolling outdoor ballot boxes. Members of the group have been showing up heavily armed, often masked and wearing tactical vests. Critics say this is intimidating voters. The judge said that barring the group would violate their constitutional rights.

From election deniers who continue to insist without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen, to a flood of recent state laws that make voting more difficult, for many Americans, voting feels much more fraught. But volunteers are stepping up across the country to make sure that all voters feel safe casting their ballot.

Host Michel Martin talks to the Reverend Barbara Williams-Skinner of Faiths United to Save Democracy and TurnOut Sunday and Emily Eby, Senior Election Protection Attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project.

On Sunday, Brazilians will go to the polls to choose between two very different presidential candidates. One is the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been called Latin America’s Trump. The other is leftist former president and working class icon, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The outcome of the presidential runoff vote will of course shape the future of Brazil’s democracy. But the vote’s impact could also be felt far beyond the country’s borders.

We hear what the outcome could mean for the future of the Amazon rainforest and efforts to prevent catastrophic climate change. And then, NPR’s Shannon Bond explains why conspiracy theories about Brazil’s elections are circulating in the United States.

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 G.I. Bill of 1944 provided free education, unemployment pay and home loans for millions of veterans returning from fighting in World War II. These benefits helped to expand the American middle class after the war.

But many returning Black veterans were excluded because of segregation. And that exclusion helped widen the wealth gap between white and Black Americans.

A bill in Congress would repair some of that harm by paying reparations to the families of nearly one million Black veterans who served in World War II.

NPR’s Quil Lawrence spoke with the family of Bill Dabney, who fought in the little known Barrage Balloon Battalion, about what that money would mean to them.

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.