Voters in New York, Virginia and New Jersey choose new leaders today, and a redistricting vote in California could reshape the balance of power in Congress. The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP benefits, but only partially, leaving millions of families uncertain about how they’ll eat this month. Aid groups warn of a deepening crisis in Sudan after a paramilitary force accused of genocide seized the last major city in Darfur, killing thousands of people and trapping many more without food or water. And former Vice President Dick Cheney has died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family. He was 84 years old.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Ben Swasey, Catherine Laidlaw, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Last month, the Trump administration asked Apple to remove an app from its App Store that crowdsourced sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Today on the show, we explain what an ongoing legal battle involving the developer of the video game Fortnite has to do with Apple’s latest move to comply with the Trump administration.
Why does the New York City skyline look the way it does? In part, because of what happened there 500 million years ago, says geologist Anjana Khatwa, author of the new book Whispers of Rocks. In it, she traces how geology has had profound effects on human life, from magnetism of the ocean floor to voter trends in the Southern U.S.
Interested in more geology episodes? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
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As a newborn, Ed Archie NoiseCat was found in an incinerator at a Catholic-run Indian boarding school. In a new book We Survived the Night, his son, Julian Brave NoiseCat, writes about this trauma in the broader context of Native history in the United States and Canada. The book blends memoir and reporting, exploring a culture of silence around Native stories. In today’s episode, Julian Brave NoiseCat speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about his efforts to understand both his father’s story and Native identity.
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
Every year the President of the United States determines how many refugees can enter this country. The law says he must consult Congress on this number.
But last week President Trump announced just 7,500 refugees would be admitted in the coming fiscal year – a 94% cut from the 125,000 cap set by President Joe Biden.
Sharif Aly leads the International Refugee Assistance Project - an organization that helps refugees and other immigrants navigate the legal process of resettlement. The International Refugee Assistance Project is also challenging Trump’s suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
Aly joined Consider This host Juana Summers to discuss how this historic drop means for the US refugee resettlement system.
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 Jonaki Mehta, Connor Donevan and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Becky Brown and Simon-Laslo Janssen. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Dates and olives are important crops in the Middle East and growing them is essential to the livelihood of many Palestinians in the West Bank. But increasingly Israeli settlers have been attacking and intimidating Palestinian olive farmers there. We go to the West Bank to see how this year’s harvest is going.
And the administration has asked states to turn over voter roll data that includes private information. It’s even sued eight of them for some of that data in an unprecedented push for federal control of voter information.
How are the systems and processes behind the 2026 midterm faring in 2025? Especially as the federal government pushes to have more control over what’s traditionally been the jurisdiction of state and local officials? We hear one of those officials as well as a panel of experts.
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
President Trump returns to Washington D.C. after a week of international travel and a weekend at his resort in Florida while the government shutdown enters its second month. SNAP benefits ran out over the weekend, leaving millions without food aid as courts press the administration to use emergency funds. And New York City voters head to the polls tomorrow in a heated mayoral race between Zohran Mamdani and former Governor Andrew Cuomo that could shape the future of the Democratic Party.
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 Krishnadev Calamur, Russell Lewis, Andrea de Leon, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Companies are starting to use AI to interview potential employees. Sound creepy? Well, a new study suggests it might not be all bad.. Today on the show, we look at why a job interview with AI might be preferable to one with a human. ? And Adrian gets grilled by an AI job recruiter named “Anna.”
For almost three years, Karine Jean-Pierre was White House press secretary for the Biden-Harris administration. Her new memoir, Independent, explains her recent decision to leave the Democratic Party and identify as an independent. In today’s episode, Jean-Pierre joins NPR’s Michel Martin for a conversation about Democratic disunity, former President Biden’s health, and why she says her former party has failed Black women.
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