Category: International

A week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance that vaccinated people can safely return to most activities without wearing a mask. But the announcement caught many local officials and business leaders off guard. One of them was Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports on the confusion among businesses, which now have to decide what to do on their own.

NPR’s Yuki Noguchi interviewed behavioral scientists about whether the new guidance may encourage more people to get vaccinated.

Additional reporting in this episode came from NPR’s Allison Aubrey and Pien Huang.

Read more about what the new CDC guidance means for unvaccinated kids — and their parents.

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We know that Americans in blue states are getting vaccinated at higher rates than those in red ones. But that gap obscures another growing divide in America’s vaccine campaign — the divide within states between rural and urban areas. An NPR analysis of county-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that divide exists across age groups in almost every state. NPR’s Austin Fast explains why.

The Biden administration says it’s making progress on closing the gap. Their focus is on getting as many people vaccinated as possible. But public health officials tell NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel that the U.S. may never reach ‘herd immunity.’

Additional reporting in this episode from Veronica Zaragovia of member station WLRN in Miami.

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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Over the past year, QAnon conspiracies have migrated from obscure corners of the internet into national headlines. The false belief that left-wing Satanists are controlling the government helped fuel the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6.

These theories didn’t come from nowhere. Back in the 1980s a similar “satanic panic” swept through the country and led to lawsuits that alleged preschool teachers were performing evil rituals with children. These claims were debunked but the accusations themselves had staying power.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro reports on what factors contributed to the original “satanic panic” and what it can teach us about the conspiracy theories that attract followers today.

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Nine-year-old Hallel is the oldest of three children. They also identify as a “boy-girl,” which was a revelation to their parents Shira and Ari when Hallel made the announcement to them.

Through a series of family recordings and interviews with WBUR’s Martha Bebinger, the family shared the story of how this realization unfolded, and what they’re learning.

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The conflict between Israel and Hamas has gone from bad to worse. The Biden administration says it’s engaging in “quiet, intensive diplomacy” to broker an end to the violence.

Leni Stenseth of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency tells NPR that the humanitarian situation in the region is “extremely alarming.”

NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro explains how the recent outbreak of violence began — and the historical seeds of the region’s conflict.

What is the diplomatic path toward some sort of peace? Israeli political analyst and journalist Akiva Eldar, a contributor to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, discuss what life on the ground is like for each of them, and the role of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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This week, House Republicans voted to expel Rep. Liz Cheney from party leadership after the Wyoming congresswoman repeatedly called out former President Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.

Republican Congressman John Curtis of Utah told NPR the party’s decision had nothing to do with her opposition to the former President.

The fracture reminds Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Editor Gerald Seib of another era when Republican leadership tried to capture and control a growing political force: the tea party. Seib is the author of We Should Have Seen It Coming: From Reagan to Trump — A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution.

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The promise of post-pandemic life is exciting, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get awkward at times. We asked for your questions about how to navigate this new normal and we have some answers.

Dr. Lucy McBride, a primary care physician, and public theologian Ekemini Uwan have both written about this transitional moment Americans are living in and have some advice.

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Comic book publishers like Marvel and DC sit on a treasure trove: thousands and thousands of comic book characters. Pieces of intellectual property. You know the big ones–Superman, Ironman, Captain America. They each make millions off of movies and merchandise. But for every marquee character, there are hundreds of others sitting unused.

Property ownership eludes Black Americans more than any other racial group. NPR’s Ailsa Chang and Jonaki Mehta examine why. They tell the story of LA’s Sugar Hill neighborhood, a once-vibrant black community that was demolished to make way for the Santa Monica Freeway.

Their story is part of NPR’s special series We Hold These Truths.

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Three officers, each from a different generation, weigh in on Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction and other recent acts of police violence.

Isaiah McKinnon became a police officer for the city of Detroit in the 1960s, and eventually became chief of police. He also served two years as the city’s deputy mayor starting in 2014.

Cheryl Dorsey is a retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who first joined the force in the 1980s.

Vincent Montague is president of the Black Shield Police Association, which supports officers serving in the Greater Cleveland area. He’s been in law enforcement for 13 years.

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