Category: International

More Americans are expected to vote by mail this year than ever before. But President Trump has called the U.S. Postal Service “a joke,” and now a major GOP donor runs the organization.

A USPS employee tells NPR’s Noel King that changes from the new Postmaster General are making her job harder.

And NPR’s Pam Fessler reports that secure drop boxes for ballots could help some states rely less on the mail.

If you want to hear NPR’s latest coverage on Joe Biden’s pick for Vice President, Senator Kamala Harris, the NPR Politics Podcast will have a new episode on Tuesday evening — listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

NPR’s Up First will have more Wednesday morning — also on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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A school district in Georgia learned firsthand last week that the virus is almost impossible to contain — especially without masks and social distancing.

A new effort in New York City encourages travelers to self-isolate when they get into town.

And public health workers in Texas and California explain that the size of the outbreak makes contact tracing a huge challenge.

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The app doesn’t seem to collect any more data than other social media platforms. But the Trump administration argues that data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

NPR’s Bobby Allyn reported on TikTok’s role in the racial justice movement.

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States are scrambling to replace older poll workers with younger ones. The two major political parties will hold their conventions mostly online. And in one big battleground state, the pandemic is shifting the political geography.

NPR’s latest battleground state map is here.

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First New York, then the Sun Belt. Now, new states like Illinois and Mississippi are urging residents to wear masks and take the virus more seriously.

Bars remain one of the most dangerous places to be during the pandemic. Reporter Will Stone explains why, from Seattle.

While Michigan and New York saw similar spikes in cases near the beginning of the pandemic, New York has flattened the curve. Michigan hasn’t. Reporters Kate Wells and Fred Mogul discuss what lessons can be learned from the disparity.

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After rising for weeks, the rate of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has started to level off. But now, just as we saw in the spring, the country is facing a spike in deaths.

In the new issue of The Atlantic, two stories share the cover. One, by Ed Yong, is about the pandemic. The other, by Ibram Kendi, is about racism in America. Both ask the same question: how did it come to this?

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Millions of students are getting ready to head back to school. Some already have. NPR’s Anya Kamentez reports on what happens when positive cases crop up — as they inevitably will.

School nurses understand the challenges of returning to school safely better than just about anyone. But NPR’s Clare Lombardo reports somenurses have no input in the process.

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Rosa Brooks, law professor at Georgetown University, recently helped organize an experiment to game out what might happen if the winner on election night isn’t immediately clear. She explains what she found.

And NPR’s Sally Herships reports on cuts at the postal service — and concerns they’re politically motivated.

Garrett Graff wrote about how election day could go off the rails for Politico Magazine.

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The spread of the virus exceeds our capacity to test, contact trace, and isolate those who test positive. Some public health experts say the only option that remains is a second shutdown. NPR’s Rob Stein reports on what that would look like.

Derek Thompson, writer and editor at The Atlantic, says there’s another part of our virus strategy we may need to rethink. He calls it ‘hygiene theater.’

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The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google faced questions today from a House subcommittee. Some lawmakers believe those companies have too much economic and political power. Former Facebook policy executive Dipayan Ghosh agrees.

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