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In what some have called “Striketober,” workers in factories as well as the health care and food industries have either started or authorized strikes in the past month.

Thousands of workers across the U.S. are on strike, demanding better wages, better working conditions and more benefits.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Joseph McCartin, professor of history at Georgetown, about what this moment means for the future of labor in America and how long the momentum may last.

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

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A U.N. climate summit is underway this week in Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the world’s top carbon emitting-countries will be represented there. Scientists say they need to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

The U.S, along with the China, are the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters. India is third. And Brazil plays a crucial role in global climate, because it is home to vast rainforests that feed on carbon. But those rainforests are disappearing faster until the current government.

Ahead of the summit, NPR international correspondents in China, India, and Brazil gathered to discuss what climate action those countries are taking: Emily Feng in Beijing, Lauren Frayer in Mumbai, and Philip Reeves in Rio de Janeiro.

NPR’s Lauren Sommer outlined the stakes at the Glasgow summit here.

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

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In this episode of NPR’s investigative podcast Embedded, Chris Benderev reports on the trial of a man who shot and killed five people in the office of an Annapolis newspaper in 2018.

Embedded‘s series of episodes on the Capitol Gazette began in February of 2021. Listen via Apple, Spotify, or Google.

A final girl in the horror genre is the woman who is left to deal with the aftermath of surviving a terrifying killer. From The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to Friday the 13th, to Halloween.

The term ‘Final Girl’ was first coined by writer Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.

Society knows this trope well. But after the credits roll, audiences typically don’t know much about what actually happens to that final girl. Or whether she can live a normal life after being hunted down by a masker killer.

Author Grady Hendrix unpacks that in his latest novel, The Final Girl Support Group.

“The ultimate faceless killer they can’t escape is the forces of market capitalism. There’s always a sequel. So even if you survive Part I and II, they’re going to get you in Part III. And there’s something terrible about that to me, that you never get to let your guard down,” Hendrix said.

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

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Two years ago, a massive protest movement swept through Iraq. People were angry about corruption and a lack of basic services like electricity and health care in a country that brings in billions of dollars in oil revenue each year. That protest movement culminated in a parliamentary election, held earlier this month.

NPR international correspondent Ruth Sherlock reported on the election closely from inside Iraq. Through her reporting, and in conversation with host Ari Shapiro, Ruth explains why Iraq’s election failed to deliver on hopes for reform — and what it revealed about America’s long and costly investment in the country’s democracy.

This episode contains excerpts from multiple stories Ruth Sherlock reported over the course of weeks inside Iraq. You can find more of her work here.

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

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Last summer, when former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen sat down to tape their podcast, the country was facing a pandemic, joblessness and a contentious election.

And their conversations, they say, were an effort to offer some perspective and an attempt to try and find a unifying story for the country. The two talked about their dads, race, and the future of the country.

Those conversations have now become a book, titled Renegades: Born in the U.S.A. — and they spoke to Audie Cornish about it’s publication.

You can watch a video of this interview and see images from the book here.

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

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The CDC has now released booster guidance for all three vaccines available in the U.S. — making tens of millions of people eligible for another shot. And on Tuesday, an FDA panel met to review data from Pfizer on their vaccine for children ages 5 – 11.

NPR’s Alison Aubrey explains what those data say about the vaccine — and how it might be rolled out.

Pediatrician Dr. Reah Boyd tells NPR how she’s talking to parents about vaccinating their young children.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s Pien Huang, Rob Stein, and Selena Simmons-Duffin.

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

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School board members across the country are being intimidated and threatened. Now the National School Boards Association wants the federal government to step in. The group said in a recent letter to President Biden that acts of school board harassment and confrontations seem to be coordinated.

The online newsletter Popular Information has written about national groups targeting school boards.

NPR Ed correspondent Anya Kamenetz travelled to Gwinnett County, Georgia, where school board members have been targeted with threats. Read more in her story, What it’s like to be on the front lines of the school board culture war.

NPR White House Correspondent Tamara Keith has also reported on why school board elections will be an early test of what issues motivate voters.

Anya and Tamara recently discussed their reporting on school boards on the NPR Politics Podcast. Listen via Apple, Spotify, or Google.

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

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This episode is from our friends at Wisdom From The Top.

From the creator of How I Built This, host Guy Raz invites you to listen in as he talks to leadership experts and the visionary leaders of some of the world’s biggest brands. Along the way, you’ll hear accounts of crisis, failure, turnaround, and triumph, as the leaders reveal their secrets on their way to the top. These are stories that didn’t make it into their company bios, and valuable lessons for anyone trying to make it in business.

In this episode: As a child growing up in Ibadan, Nigeria, Dara Treseder was often told to get her head out of the clouds. But her mother encouraged her to dream big and to follow her ambition if it would lead her to contentment. For Treseder, that meant moving across the world to attend both Harvard and Stanford, and chasing a deeply-held desire to make a positive impact on the world. Her career in marketing began with stints at Apple and Goldman Sachs, then, in 2020, she became SVP, Head of Global Marketing and Communications at Peloton. Today, she is one of the most influential marketing leaders of her generation.

Listen to more Wisdom From The Top via Apple, Spotify, or Google.

A record 4.3 million workers in America quit their jobs in August.

Anthony Klotz coined this ongoing phenomenon “The Great Resignation.”

Klotz is an organizational psychologist at Texas A&M University.

In part, he says, the pandemic has made workers reevaluate what they are actually getting out of their jobs.

“During the pandemic, because there was a lot of death and illness and lockdowns, we really had the time and the motivation to sit back and say, do I like the trajectory of my life? Am I pursuing a life that brings me well-being?” Klotz said.

Employers are also having to rethink what their employees really need.

NPR’s Audie Cornish spoke with Laszlo Bock, co-founder and CEO of the human resources company Humu, about the basic human need for respect.

“You know, in the pandemic, people have talked a lot about essential workers, but we actually treat them as essential jobs,” said Bock. “We treat the workers as quite replaceable.”

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