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This is a special bonus episode of the podcast sharing a particularly good interview I did with the folks at Atlas Obscura.
News more than a decade in coming about missing journalist Austin Tice. Multi-state search for gunman regarding the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO. A Pennsylvania woman's body is recovered from a sinkhole.
We reconstitute Not Even Mad with panelists Liz Wolfe (Reason and the Just Asking Questions podcast) and Michael A. Cohen (MSNBC columnist and author of the Truth and Consequences newsletter) to discuss and debate the pardon of Hunter Biden and all the many, many explanations for the Democrats poor showing on election day 2024. Plus, goats are grinded over Standard Time, "Increasingly," and Pamela Anderson with or without makeup.
Windell Curole spent decades working to protect his community in southern Louisiana from the destructive flooding caused by hurricanes. His local office in South Lafourche partnered with the federal government's Army Corps of Engineers to build a massive ring of earthen mounds – also known as levees – to keep the floodwaters at bay.
But after Hurricane Katrina called into question the integrity of those levees, Windell decided to take a gamble that put him at odds with his partners in the Army Corps. He decided that the best thing he could do to protect his community was to go rogue and build his levees as tall as possible as quickly as possible, without federal permission.
On today's show, what the story of Windell's levee can teach us about how the federal government calculates and manages the risk of natural disasters, and how those calculations can look a lot different to the people staring straight into the eye of the storm.
This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Mary Childs. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Valentine Rodriguez Sanchez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
TikTok is facing an uncertain future in the United States after a federal appeals court upheld a law that would ban the app. The TikTok ban goes into effect January 19 unless the company’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells it to a non-Chinese company. TikTok said it would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
President Joe Biden’s reported plans to preemptively pardon friends and allies has Washington abuzz. Biden granted his son Hunter a sweeping pardon Sunday, which draw swift backlash from across the political spectrum. Now there’s talk that Biden could pardon potential targets of retribution from the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Trump’s pick for secretary of defense picked up a key endorsement from Senator Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican. Pete Hegseth spent the week in Washington to meet with senators who will vote on his confirmation in January. Hours after Britt signaled her support, Trump today posted on Truth Social to reiterate his confidence in Hegseth.
Plus:
The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez officially entered the race to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
The manhunt continues in New York City for the killer of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
The Department of Agriculture announced it will start testing milk for the bird flu virus on Dec. 16.
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Divide between Chicago’s mayor and its city council remains over how to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap. Meanwhile, drama in the Johnson administration continues as alders call for reforms to the city's “Do Not Hire” list.
Reset goes behind the headlines of those stories and more with Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long, Chicago Sun-Times reporter covering government and politics
Mitch Armentrout, and Block Club Chicago reporter covering the Loop, West Loop, River North and the Gold Coast Melody Mercado in our Weekly News Recap.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
A manhunt is underway in New York City for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He was shot and killed on a busy Midtown Manhattan street in a targeted early morning attack.
And despite saying that he wouldn't do so, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, this week for federal crimes.
Also this week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. The move was rejected by the parliament and reversed by the president six hours later. His political future hangs in limbo.
And rebel groups now control significant parts of the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama, forcing government forces to retreat.
Trump may have authoritarian aspirations, but he's very bad at governing and managing—four weeks into the transition, he's had two major Ls. Meanwhile, Democrats have to rebuild their connection to voters with local party clubs, and not wait until an election year. Plus, a reverse cancel culture is silencing any conversation about the role that gender and race played in Kamala's loss. And finding solace in the words of Frederick Douglass.
