All 5,300 plus Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs nationwide will begin requiring shoppers to wear masks next week. On the state level, half of the governors in the US have now instituted at least some kind of mask requirement in public settings.
New safety recommendations from the National Academies of Science, Engineering,and Medicine say schools should prioritize younger children and children with special needs where it is safe and possible. But the committee offered no guidance on what level of infection makes in-person learning unsafe.
And in headlines: verified Tweeters get hacked, RBG out of the hospital, and an update on Goya’s Beangate.
Rising cases, not enough testing, and not enough people taking the virus seriously. NPR science correspondent Richard Harris explains why the virus is surging again, what's causing lower fatality rates, and how to think about the future of the pandemic.
What to know today about another COVID-19 record in the U.S. and how the response efforts compare to other disasters.
Also, an unprecedented and high-profile Twitter hack: what happened and who was hit.
Plus, an update on Kanye's 2020 bid, the largest sports crowd in months, and where you can now buy one shoe at a time.
All that and more in just 10 minutes!
Then, hang out after the news for the Thing to Know Thursday bonus interview. Our guest talks about how professional basketball players are adapting to life on lockdown in the NBA bubble.
New York Times opinion writer and editor Bari Weiss is the latest victim of the cancel culture, resigning after what she calls bullying by more liberal colleagues at the newspaper. Jarrett Stepman, a contributor to The Daily Signal and co-host of "The Right Side of History" podcast, joins today's show to talk about Weiss' resignation, the goal of cancel culture, how you can fight it, and more.
We also cover these stories:
President Trump says some cities run by Democrats are like war zones.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces new sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese tech companies.
A town in North Carolina greenlights reparations for African Americans.
In the second half of a two-part interview, novelist Curtis Sittenfeld is continues talking her new novel Rodham. She and Mike discuss the critiques of Hillary within the book, the final choices in the book, and how it might relate to modern superhero stories.
In the spiel, the need for tough follow-ups with Trump.
A lot of Americans are having trouble getting a coronavirus test. If they do get one, they may have to wait more than a week for results.
On Tuesday, some of the country's biggest banks announced their second quarter results. The bottom line? The pandemic and the economy can't be separated.
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, announced they will require customers to wear masks beginning next week. Small businesses around the country are already dealing with fallout when customers refuse.
And in a surprise move, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they will rescind regulations barring international students from staying in the U.S. if their colleges don't offer in-person classes this fall.
Khruangbin is a band from Houston, Texas, who first formed in 2010. NME called them the "low key superstars" of psychedelic music. They’ve released three albums. The most recent, which came out in June 2020, is called Mordechai.
In the past, most of Khruangbin’s songs have been instrumental, or if they did have vocals, they'd be minimal. Their new album is different. It features vocals prominently, and in this episode, the three of them explain their philosophy on vocals and their process on writing lyrics. I spoke to each of them to get their perspective on how they made the song "So We Won’t Forget."
All this week we’re looking back 25 years to Chicago’s deadly heatwave of 1995. Today we talk to the former head of Chicago’s medical examiner’s office, who dealt with the hundreds of bodies as politicians and others downplayed the danger.
Three L.A. comedians are quarantined in a podcast studio during a global pandemic. There is literally nothing to be done EXCEPT make content. These are "The Corona Diaries" and this is Episode #54. Our guest today is the inimitable comedian and history professor, Dr. Benjamin Sawyer! Ben is hilarious and one of our absolute favorite guests. Give him a follow on all forms of social media at @SawyerComedy and listen to his podcast he does with Bob Crawford of The Avett Brothers, "The Road to Now" available wherever you're listening to this. Music at the end is "Juggalo Island" by The Insane Clown Posse.
A day after President Trump signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act enabling sanctions on those that threaten the autonomy of China (and the companies that do business with them) and the UK worked to ban Huawei 5G infrastructure, this episode of the Breakdown looks at the key faultlines and issues that have that relationship in a dangerous downward spiral:
