Lots of news this week! President Trump threatens to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. Texas House Democrats announce plans to leave Illinois and return home. And the Cook County State’s Attorney decides not to file charges against officers who killed motorist Dexter Reed.
Reset breaks down these stories and much more with WBEZ statehouse reporter Alex Degman, WTTW News correspondent Nick Blumberg and Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
P.M. Edition for Aug. 15. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun their face-to-face meeting in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. We talk to WSJ reporter Jim Carlton, who is in Anchorage, about where the leaders stand going into the summit and the vibe on the ground. Plus, tariffs have hit their highest rate in decades, but inflation hasn’t surged—and economists are puzzled. WSJ economics reporter Konrad Putzier discusses a theory about why that happens. And EV maker Rivian says a change to U.S. fuel economy rules is holding up $100 million in revenue. Ryan Felton, who covers the auto industry for the Journal, explains the change and what it means for the EV industry. Alex Ossola hosts.
For most Americans, we just lived through the highest period of inflation in our lives. And we are reminded of this every time we go grocery shopping. All over TikTok, tons of people have posted videos of how little they got for … $20. $40. $100. Most upsetting to us: an $8 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Food prices are almost 30% higher than they were five years ago. It’s bad. And those new, higher prices aren’t going away.
At the same time, prices are no longer inflating at a wild pace. For the last two years, the rate of inflation has slowed way down. And yet, our fears or feelings that things will spiral out of control again? Those have not slowed down.
This mismatch has been giving us all the …. feelings. Inflation feelings. Infeelings.
On our latest show: we sort through our infeeltions. We talk to the economists who have studied us. We learn why our personal inflation calculators don’t always match the professional ones.
Support Planet Money, get bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening and now Summer School episodes one week early by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Plus: Shares of Ukrainian telecommunications company Kyivstar fall on their Nasdaq listing debut. And the world’s first humanoid robot games begin in China. Julie Chang hosts.
Plus: UnitedHealth’s stock soars on news of Berkshire Hathaway stake. Applied Materials takes a tumble after lowering its forecasts. Katherine Sullivan hosts.
An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this episode by creating summaries that were based on Wall Street Journal reporting and reviewed and adapted by an editor.
A couple in Los Angeles say they wanted a big family. Surrogates who carried their children say they were deceived. WSJ’s Katherine Long explains why an investigation into a family who say they have 22 children is raising alarm among the commercial surrogacy industry, a fast-growing and multibillion-dollar market. Jessica Mendoza hosts.
When listener Rob from Devon, UK, heard of a newly detected planet light years away, he was struck by the sheer scale the light must travel to reach us here on Earth. It got him wondering: How long does light last? What’s the oldest light we’ve ever observed? And does light ever die?
To find out, presenter Anand Jagatia calls on some of the brightest minds in astronomy and physics.
Astronomer Matthew Middleton from the University of Southampton describes himself as “a kid in a sweet shop” when it comes to physics, and that enthusiasm comes in handy, because scientists still struggle to define exactly what light is. What we do know is that light comes in many forms, and choosing the right kind can peel back the cosmic curtain, revealing the universe’s deepest and darkest secrets. That knowledge will prove vital in Anand’s search for the oldest light ever observed.
At the European Southern Observatory in Chile, staff astronomer Pascale Hibon gives Anand a behind-the-scenes look at the Very Large Telescope, one of the most advanced optical instruments on Earth, perfectly placed under some of the clearest skies on the planet. Light from the objects Pascale studies has often travelled for billions of years, making her images snapshots of the distant past. In a sense, she’s pretty much a time traveller.
If light has crossed the vastness of the universe to reach us, it must be unimaginably ancient. But what will become of it in the far future? Could we trap it and preserve it forever?
“If we knew what light is, that might be an easier question to answer,” says Miles Padgett at the University of Glasgow, who has spent his career trying to pin it down. As Anand discovers, physics can be more philosophical than you might expect.
From redshifted galaxies at the edge of the observable universe to exotic materials that can slow light to walking pace, CrowdScience explores whether we can catch light, how it changes over time, and why truly understanding it remains one of physics’ most stubborn challenges.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Harrison Lewis
Editor: Ilan Goodman
(Image: An area of deep space with thousands of galaxies in various shapes and sizes on a black background. Most are circles or ovals, with a few spirals. More distant galaxies are smaller, down to being mere dots, while closer galaxies are larger and some appear to be glowing. Red and orange galaxies contain more dust or more stellar activity Credit:ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Östlin, P. G. Perez-Gonzalez, J. Melinder, the JADES Collaboration, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb))
More than six years after the disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died in prison, unanswered questions remain. Who else was involved? Is there a list of known accomplices who participated in the abuse of children? In the first part of this two-part series, the gang investigates the disturbing, lingering questions surrounding the ongoing Epstein scandal -- as well as new revelations that only recently came to light.
A sit down takes place this week between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he will not exchange land for peace.
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
On the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in WWII, the legacy
of a biological warfare unit still haunts. And human rights activists are
alarmed by the Trump administration’s changing focus.
