Month: April 2025

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Marketplace All-in-One - 100 days of DOGE

For President Donald Trump's 100th day back at the White House, we’re checking in on the cost-cutting efforts of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It claims $150 billion in savings from layoffs, canceled government contracts and shuttered agencies. Analysts dispute that number, and it's far short of what Musk had promised. And later: The president is set to give automakers a break on some tariffs.

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Marketplace All-in-One - Canada’s prime minister tells Trump: You’ll never own us

From the BBC World Service: After claiming victory in Canada's election, Prime Minister Mark Carney has strong words for the Trump administration. We'll hear what he has to say and unpack the role that antagonism from the U.S. president played in the election. Plus, what does Carney's win mean for Canada's economic relationship with the States? Meanwhile, energy giant BP faces new pressure from investors to pivot back to fossil fuels.

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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - The Table Is Packed With Chicagoans Working To Close City’s $1.12 Billion Budget Gap

Faced with a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall between now and 2027, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is bringing as many stakeholders to the table as possible to try to solve the problem. What options are on the table for them to explore? Reset dives in with University of Chicago research professor Justin Marlowe. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Up First from NPR - Grading Trump’s First 100 Days, Presidential Retaliation, Detained Student Speaks

In a new poll, voters graded President Trump's first 100 days in office. An NPR analysis finds more than 100 people and groups the President targeted for retribution in his second term, and NPR traveled to Vermont to speak with a Columbia University student detained by the Trump administration.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratz, Barrie Hardymon, Jan Johnson, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.

Editor's note: After this segment aired, Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, responded to our request for comment. She said: "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the of killing Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country." McLaughlin did not respond to NPR's request that the government provide evidence for its allegations that Mahdawi's actions amounted to antisemitism and led to violence. Mahdawi and his lawyers say those allegations are false.

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The Intelligence from The Economist - The Carney army: Canada unites against Trump

Canada’s election campaign was dominated by Donald Trump’s threats against the nation. Now the Liberal party has won, it faces a tougher fight: confronting the US president. Japanese salarymen used to take a job for life, now they are finally switching companies – and even careers (9:32). And Volkswagen brings out the wurst (16:07).


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Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders - S10 E30: Ravi Pratap Maddimsetty, Uniqode

Ravi Pratap Maddimsetty lives in Bangalore with his family. Early on, he joined startups where his friends worked, in order to get to know the landscape of how they functioned. He fell in love with the tech, team and early innings of building a business - so much so, that he eventually started his own. He has been an entrepreneur for 15 years - or in the woods, as he says. But outside of tech, he's married with 2 girls. He loves spending time with his family, playing tennis, being outdoors or skiing.

Ten years ago, Ravi was riding the wave of smartphones, tinkering with numerous technological solutions to connect users to their world via their smartphone. After moving through beacons, NFC, GPS and others - they started to think about how they could use the camera, which was on every device, to read QR codes.

This is the creation story of Uniqode.

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Headlines From The Times - Palisades Fire Test, L.A. County Strike, Tech Layoffs, Dollar Drops

Federal investigators begin a controlled burn in Pacific Palisades to determine the cause of January’s deadly fire. Tens of thousands of L.A. County workers walk off the job, disrupting major public services. Tech layoffs surge across California, shaking confidence in an industry long seen as secure. And the U.S. dollar faces its worst first 100 days under a president since 1973, raising fears of a longer-term economic shift.


 

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Marketplace All-in-One - A battery farm in the Bronx could help clean up New York’s power grid

One of the most powerful tools in the fight against climate change is the money sitting in investment portfolios - especially the trillions of dollars invested on behalf of public retirees. That’s money that could continue to fund fossil fuel development, or help pay for  climate solutions instead.


New York City has implemented an ambitious Net Zero plan for its public pensions. That plan includes divesting from some fossil fuel companies and investing billions of dollars in climate solutions. One company benefiting from that investment is NineDot Energy.   


Wedged between an elementary school and a big box shopping center in the Northeast Bronx, NineDot Energy is operating a battery farm that the city’s utility company, Con Ed, can call on to help relieve the grid when it gets overstressed. “The batteries hold a combined three megawatts of battery storage. That’s enough to power about 3,000 New York City households for four hours on a hot summer day. Last summer, the battery farm was called half a dozen times, which was enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a combined 24 metric tons. That’s the equivalent of nine thousand car trips on the Cross Bronx Expressway.


Currently, the city has the dirtiest energy grid in the state. More than 90% of its power comes from fossil fuels. NineDot Energy is still in growth mode, but battery farms like this could eventually help the grid transition to renewable sources, like wind and solar.


“The sun only shines when nature tells it to; the wind only blows when nature tells it to, but people use electricity when they decide to,” explained Adam Cohen, co-founder of NineDot Energy. “A battery helps mediate that process. It pulls in the extra power when it's available, and then puts it back out when people call for it.” 


On a recent visit to the Bronx facility, 12-year-old Virtue Onoja showed off a mural she helped paint along with other students from the elementary school across the street, envisioning a future powered by cleaner energy.


“One thing about me, I'm definitely an artist,” she said. “I drew a clear blue sky, no pollution, no nothing [and] beautiful yellow flowers and the sun.”



There are also drawings of windmills and electric school buses. “There's still a lot of pollution, not just in the Bronx, but just in New York in general,” Onoja said. “All of this is the goal that we want to achieve.”


This is an excerpt from the latest season of How We Survive. Listen to the full episode here.