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Lullabies. We all know one. Whether we were sung one as a baby or now sing one to our own children. Often, they’re used to help babies gently fall asleep. But lullabies can be more than that. They can be used to soothe, to comfort, and to make children feels closer to their parents and vice versa.

We hear from Tiffany Ortiz, director of early-childhood programs at Carnegie Hall, about their Lullaby Project, which pairs parents with professional musicians to write personal lullabies for their babies. Also NPR’s Elissa Nadworny takes a look at a program inside a South Carolina prison that helps incarcerated mothers write lullabies for their kids. And NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin examines the science behind a good lullaby.

In the months ahead of the election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced criticism for his government’s response to devastating earthquakes and for crushing inflation.

Yet, he still managed to come out ahead in this week’s runoff election, extending his two-decade tenure leading Turkey by another five years.

His victory was a case study in how to use populism, intimidation and division to harness a democracy and stay in power.

NPR’s Fatma Tanis breaks down his victory and what it means for democracy in Turkey and more broadly.

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 right to repair movement scored a big victory last week in Minnesota, where it got legislation signed into law that requires manufacturers to let independent shops and consumers buy the parts and tools necessary to repair their own equipment. The new law could make fixing your own devices, gadgets and appliances a lot easier in states across the country.

NPR’s Eric Deggans speaks with Gay Gordon-Byrne the executive director of the Repair Association, about the importance of the new law. And Minnesota State Rep. Peter Fischer talks about how he got involved in the movement and the obstacles he and others faced on the path to getting this law passed.

It’s been five years since the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal. What followed: the U-S re-imposed crushing sanctions, over time, Iran stopped adhering to the limits the deal had set and day-by-day its nuclear program crept forward.

So how close is Iran to a bomb? What can the U.S. do to stop Iran, if it chooses to pursue one? And how are regional and global shifts changing the equation?

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly puts these questions to the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, and to Vali Nasr with the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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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Back in March, roughly 80 people in Hong Kong marched in opposition to a land reclamation project that protesters say would increase pollution. Police were watching closely. Demonstrators had to wear numbered badges around their necks as they walked in the rain.

It was a different image from the hundreds who protested in 2019. Back then, the people of Hong Kong showed up in unprecedented numbers. They were opposing what they saw as mainland China’s latest efforts to impose authoritarian restrictions to chip away at Hong Kong autonomy.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Louisa Lim, author of Indelible City: Dispossession And Defiance In Hong Kong. They discuss the long history of friction between Hong Kong and China, and the state of freedom of expression in Hong Kong today.

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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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign announcement on Twitter did not go as planned. A series of awkward technical glitches delayed the event for about 20 minutes.

Nevertheless, it was still a big moment, not just for DeSantis, but for Twitter, too.

In fact, Desantis’ announcement is just one example of how the social media platform has changed since Elon Musk took over the company.

NPR’s Eric Deggans talks with writer Charlie Warzel, who has covered the platform for 15 years, about his latest piece in The Atlantic, “Twitter is a Far Right Social Network.”

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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Tina Turner, one of Rock and Roll’s greatest stars, died this week in her home in Switzerland at the age of 83, after a long period of illness.

In a career that spanned six decades, Turner left behind an indelible legacy in music, on the stage and on screen. Host Eric Deggans looks back on her tumultuous, and triumphant, life. Also we answer whether the “Queen of Rock and Roll” was somehow still underappreciated.

Since its relaunch in the 1980s, Jeopardy! has had thousands of contestants. For some of the its most memorable champions, the gameshow has been a launchpad for wider success.
However, the disappearance of one of the earliest champions from the show left fans mystified for decades.
NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Claire McNear, a staff writer with The Ringer, about the 40-year-long mystery behind one of Jeopardy’s most enigmatic champions.
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 been one year since an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and 2 teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The tragedy reignited debates around gun safety in America and has haunted a community still seeking to fully understand how law enforcement was so slow to take down the shooter.

About a month after the shooting, Congress passed the most significant gun legislation since the Federal Assault Weapons ban of 1994, but many Republican led-states, including Texas, have resisted gun safety legislation, even loosening gun restrictions.

Uvalde, too, is divided — between those who want stricter gun laws and those who oppose them, between those who want to mark a year since the massacre, and those who want to move on. And for the families who lost loved ones, they’re still searching for justice, accountability, and healing. NPR’s Adrian Florido reports from Uvalde. And we hear from Texas Tribune reporter Zach Despart about the police response to the shooting.

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.

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