To wrap up our pre-Valentine’s Day week of reads, we revisit two roundtable discussions with contemporary romance authors. First, Here & Now’s Celeste Headlee speaks with Helen Hoang and Emily Henry about the state of the genre – and how the authors approach writing sex scenes. Then, Here & Now’s Kalyani Saxena moderates a conversation between Beverly Jenkins, Jasmine Guillory, and Ali Hazelwood in front of a crowd of romance fans at WBUR’s CitySpace.
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Consider This from NPR - Sen. Ron Johnson blames state and local leaders for Alex Pretti’s killing
The civilian killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good by federal immigration agents have launched a larger debate in Washington about funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Democrats want to carve off DHS money from the broader spending package to keep the government open, and they want new limits on immigration agents, like a prohibition on masks and a requirement that officers carry ID.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says he blames the actions of state and local leaders for the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good. He insists local leaders should have done more to cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis.
NPR’s Ailsa Chang spoke with Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson to discuss his thoughts on whether ICE, and other immigration enforcement agencies, need the reforms Democrats have asked for.
At the time this episode aired, lawmakers were at an impasse regarding the federal spending package. But Senate Democrats now say they’ve reached a deal to separate DHS funding from the other five appropriations bills. You can read more details on npr.org.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata, Courtney Dorning and Kelsey Snell. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Senate Democrats want to carve off DHS money from the broader spending package to keep the government open, and they want new limits on immigration agents, like a prohibition on masks and a requirement that officers carry ID.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says he blames the actions of state and local leaders for the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good. He insists local leaders should have done more to cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis.
NPR’s Ailsa Chang spoke with Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson to discuss his thoughts on whether ICE, and other immigration enforcement agencies, need the reforms Democrats have asked for.
At the time this episode aired, lawmakers were at an impasse regarding the federal spending package. But Senate Democrats now say they’ve reached a deal to separate DHS funding from the other five appropriations bills. You can read more details on npr.org.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata, Courtney Dorning and Kelsey Snell. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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State of the World from NPR - Can Mideast peace be treated like a business deal?
President Trump approaches Middle East peacemaking as a business deal. In today’s episode we go to Israel and the Palestinian territory of the West Bank to hear about the different ways that those economies are being affected by war, and what that means for the peace process going forward.
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Up First from NPR - Senate Funding Vote, ICE Family Detention Protest, Fed Holds Interest Rates
Senate Democrats are threatening a partial government shutdown unless Republicans agree to new limits on immigration enforcement by Friday's deadline.
A protest at an ICE family detention center in South Texas turned confrontational as demonstrators demanded the release of a five-year-old boy and his father taken from Minnesota and held at the facility hundreds of miles away.
And despite pressure from President Trump to lower interest rates, the Federal Reserve is holding steady to fight lingering inflation and rising prices.
Want more 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 Kelsey Snell, Susanna Capelouto, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Ava Pukatch and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:58) Senate Funding Vote
(05:41) ICE Family Detention Protest
(10:28) Fed Holds Interest Rates
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The Indicator from Planet Money - Hawaii’s worker shortage goes NUTS
Macadamia nuts. Labor shortages. Volcanoes. All that might sound like econ Mad Libs, but they’re all connected to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s entry into the Beige Book this month: labor shortages are hurting macadamia nut harvests in Hawaii.
On today’s show, we take a vacation and talk to someone on the Big Island who runs a macadamia nut farm. He calls them “mac nuts.”
Related episodes:
Why beef prices are so high
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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NPR's Book of the Day - A meet-cute followed by real life: ‘Party of Two’ is about love in the real world
Romance writer Jasmine Guillory writes beautiful love stories – but that doesn't mean they aren't based in reality. Her novel Party of Two, from the summer of 2020, is about a Black woman and a white man who have a meet-cute and start a casual long-distance relationship. But race does have an impact on their connection because of the different ways the world has received them. Guillory told former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that real-life couples have these conversations, so her characters should too.
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Planet Money - Can transforming neighborhoods help kids escape poverty?
In the 1990s, Congress created HOPE VI, a program that demolished old public housing projects and replaced them with more up-to-date ones. But the program went further than just improving public housing buildings. HOPE VI was designed to transform neighborhoods with concentrated poverty into neighborhoods that attracted people with different incomes. Some people who moved to HOPE VI neighborhoods earned too much to qualify for public housing. And some even paid for market-rate housing. The idea was that this would help create new opportunities for the low-income people who lived there and even lift people out of poverty.
For years though, there wasn’t a clear answer to whether this approach actually succeeded. A new working paper from Raj Chetty and the team at Opportunity Insights finally provides some answers. On today’s show: Who really benefits when people living in poverty are more connected to their surrounding communities? Are there lessons from the HOPE VI experiment that could apply to other kinds of policies aimed at fostering upward mobility?
More about Opportunity Insights’ study and a link to their interactive map here.
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For years though, there wasn’t a clear answer to whether this approach actually succeeded. A new working paper from Raj Chetty and the team at Opportunity Insights finally provides some answers. On today’s show: Who really benefits when people living in poverty are more connected to their surrounding communities? Are there lessons from the HOPE VI experiment that could apply to other kinds of policies aimed at fostering upward mobility?
More about Opportunity Insights’ study and a link to their interactive map here.
Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+
Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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State of the World from NPR - What to know about President Trump’s Board of Peace
In the past year, President Trump has often threatened or turned to military force. Yet he likes to present himself as a peacemaker, and that includes his new plan for a global Board of Peace. We hear from two NPR correspondents about what the Board of Peace could be.
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Consider This from NPR - Will a new leader for ICE operations quiet tensions in Minnesota?
After the shooting of Alex Pretti, the Trump administration is making a leadership change in Minneapolis. Will anything change?
A new Trump administration official has taken over the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
Tom Homan, the White House’s so-called border czar, takes over after the departure of Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino, who has been the public face of the operation, including encounters that left two American citizens dead.
NPR's Scott Detrow talks to The Atlantic investigative journalist Caitlin Dickerson about Homan's background and what it will mean for Minneapolis.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Karen Zamora and Vincent Acovino.
It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Sarah Handel.
Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Up First from NPR - Trump’s Economic Message, DC Helicopter Crash Report, New Nuclear Regulations
President Trump takes his economic message to Iowa, trying to refocus on affordability after weeks of distractions ranging from Greenland to Venezuela and fallout from federal shootings in Minnesota.
Nearly a year after a deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., investigators say deep, systemic failures at the FAA allowed known risks to go unaddressed until it was too late.
And NPR has obtained documents showing the Trump administration quietly loosened nuclear safety and environmental rules to fast-track new reactors, raising concerns about oversight and public trust.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Nearly a year after a deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., investigators say deep, systemic failures at the FAA allowed known risks to go unaddressed until it was too late.
And NPR has obtained documents showing the Trump administration quietly loosened nuclear safety and environmental rules to fast-track new reactors, raising concerns about oversight and public trust.
Want more 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 Rebekah Metzler, Russell Lewis, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Ava Pukatch and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
Our Supervising Producer is HJ Mai.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Trump Economic Message
(05:43) DC Helicopter Crash Report
(10:02) New Nuclear Regulation
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