Category: International

As many countries have loosened their COVID-19 restrictions and reopened their borders, the demand for travel is high. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of flights getting canceled and delayed on a daily basis across the globe. A shortage in airline staff, especially pilots, is a big reason why.

Pilots took to the picket lines this week to protest this shortage. They are also frustrated by stalled contract negotiations and strained pilot schedules.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro spoke to Captain Casey Murray from Southwest Airlines Pilots Association about what has caused this shortage.

Airline companies are having to get creative in their efforts to recruit, hire and retain pilots. NPR’s David Schaper reports about how one major airline opened its own flight school.

Additional reporting in this episode came from Amanda Andrews at George Public Broadcasting.

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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While the last few decades have shown major progress when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights globally, queer people have had to continue to fight for them.

During Pride month there have been several high-profile instances of violence targeted at queer people. These events are stark reminders that the struggle for equal rights and safety for LGBTQ+ people continues.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro spoke with three high-level diplomats assigned to LGBTQ+ issues – the U.S.’s Jessica Stern, Italy’s Fabrizio Petri and Argentina’s Alba Rueda – about whether life is improving for queer people globally.

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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Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the January 6th committee landed with a bang. The surprise hearing on Tuesday, featuring this aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was the most powerful evidence to date in the case that House investigators have been building through hours of public hearings.

NPR Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro and NPR National Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson walk through the case the committee has built so far, its implications for a potential criminal prosecution of former president Donald Trump and the impact it might have on an extremely polarized American public.

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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There are 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in the United States. Very few of them get a chance to earn a bachelor degree. That’s due to a decades-old ban on the use of federal money to help people in prison pay for college classes.

But that’s about to change. Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will be eligible to receive Pell grants in the amount of nearly $7,000 per year. Experts say this change will mean a chance at higher education for hundreds of thousands who are academically eligible.

NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports on what the change means, and tells the story of a man who earned the type of degree that will soon be available to many more people.

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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Congress and the Supreme Court took big steps in opposite directions last week, in the country’s long standing debate on whether and how to regulate guns.

Congress passed the first major federal gun legislation in decades, with bipartisan support. President Biden signed it into law on Saturday.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion striking down a major gun control law in New York. The sweeping ruling puts many other gun regulations in states across the country, on shaky ground.

Daniel Webster, whose research focuses on policies intended to reduce gun violence, explains the real world impact he anticipates after these changes. Webster is Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

This episode features reporting from NPR’s Nina Totenberg.

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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Omar Little, Jimmy McNulty, Stringer Bell, Snot Boogie. If you recognize these names, you are probably a fan of the HBO series The Wire.

This month marks 20 years since the series premiere. It ran for five seasons, following the lives of the cops, criminals, political players, and everyday folks caught up in Baltimore’s often futile war on drugs.

Many argue that The Wire is the best television show ever created and has earned praise for its realistic, humanizing, multi-dimensional portrayal of Black characters. But 20 years on, the conversation about policing in Black communities has changed. The deaths of Freddie Gray, George Floyd, and many others after encounters with police and the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement have brought about more public scrutiny, debate, and criticism of the police.

As social commentary, is The Wire still relevant? We speak with NPR TV critic Eric Deggans and Ronda Racha Penrice, editor of the essay collection, Cracking The Wire During Black Lives Matter.

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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On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion no longer exists. For nearly 50 years, Americans have had a constitutional right to an abortion. We’re about to find out what the country looks like without one. The court’s ruling doesn’t mean a nationwide ban– it allows states to do what they want.

NPR’s Nina Totenberg walks us through the ruling, and NPR’s Sarah McCammon discusses the states where “trigger bans,” or laws passed in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s action, are already in place.

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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Listed rents are up 15% nationwide, and as much as 30% in some cities. At the same time, inflation and rising interest rates are pricing many buyers out of the housing market — increasing the pressure to rent. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports that competition is so intense, some people find themselves in bidding wars.

The red-hot rental market could mean that more people face the threat of eviction at a time when most pandemic-era protections have disappeared. Carl Gershenson, Project Director of the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, explains how being evicted makes it all the more harder to find a new place to live.

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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Two American citizens who’d traveled to Ukraine to join the fight against Russia have reportedly been captured by pro-Russian forces. The State Department says it’s “closely monitoring” the situation and has urged Americans not to travel to the country, noting the risk and danger. But still, thousands of foreign fighters have journeyed there.

NPR’s Ryan Lucas met some of them — a group of Americans and Brits who have formed a unit that is fighting in the east.

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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As soon as Thursday, the Supreme Court could rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A leaked draft opinion in that case showed a majority of justices agreeing to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would end the constitutional right to an abortion.

However the court rules, this moment is the culmination of a decades-long effort by conservative activists around the country. One man in particular has played an outsized role in that effort: Leonard Leo, Co-Chairman of the Federalist Society. He’s devoted his career to getting conservatives appointed to the country’s most powerful courts.

We look at how he came to have so much sway.

In this episode, you’ll hear excerpts from the interview NPR’s Deirdre Walsh conducted with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

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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