Absent a holiday miracle, premium subsidies for the Affordable Care Act are set to expire at the end of this year. This will greatly increase the cost of health insurance for many who rely on the marketplace for their coverage. Today on the show, we are visited by the ghosts of Obamacare past, present and future to learn what’s next for this landmark healthcare legislation.
Many countries are frustrated with U.N. climate conferences. While some countries urgently want to transition away from fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming — others are blocking that language from climate agreements. Today on the show, Emily talks with Julia Simon from NPR’s climate desk. She takes us to Brazil and introduces us to a group of countries that are trying something new.
Interested in more science and climate related news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. have been growing over the past few months. And last Wednesday, the pressure point was oil.
The U.S. government seized a tanker it says was filled with illegal oil headed to the black market, in violation of sanctions.
The seizure was an unprecedented move. And it represents an escalation in the standoff between the two countries. In recent months, the U.S. has struck nearly two dozen suspected drug boats in nearby waters, issued new sanctions targeting Venezuela, and increased its naval presence in the Caribbean.
The U.S. has long had economic and political interests in Venezuela. And the oil industry there has been a key part of that relationship. Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American Energy Program at the Baker Institute at Rice University, explains how the two nations got to this point.
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 Ava Berger and Alejandra Marquez Janse, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. It was edited by Sarah Handel. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
One method of combating extreme poverty is providing cash grants to allow people to start businesses. We go to Uganda to take a look at one such program that has changed their model in an effort to increase the impact of their support. And the changes caused intended consequences.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made a lot of changes to the federal student loan system. One of those changes put a new cap on the amount of loans students in graduate school can take on. Today on the show, we explain the theory behind this change and how it could impact the broader labor market going forward.
A son of filmmaker Rob Reiner and producer Michele Singer Reiner has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail. Authorities in Rhode Island are asking for the public’s help in identifying the gunman behind the shooting at Brown University. And, Australian authorities say the two suspected gunmen behind the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach were inspired by Islamic State.
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 Matteen Mokalla, Andrea DeLeon, Rebecca Rosman, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woefle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
Humankind has the technology to go to space. Space architect Ariel Ekblaw says the bottleneck now is real estate: getting larger volumes of space stations in orbit. Her company is working on the equivalent of giant, magnetic space Legos—hexagons that could self-assemble in space into livable, workable structures. This episode, host Regina G. Barber talks to her about this space architecture and why she says that the goal isn’t to abandon Earth–but to off-world industries like agriculture and manufacturing in order to build a better Earth.
Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn has spent more than three decades in Congress. But he’s not the first Black congressman to represent South Carolina; there were eight others before him. His new book, The First Eight, dives into the political careers of figures like Robert Smalls and George Washington Murray. In today’s episode, Clyburn speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about one major takeaway from the project – and his thoughts on reelection .
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
Jews in Israel had been looking forward to the Hanukkah holiday this year, since recent public celebrations had been curtailed first by COVID and then the wars that followed the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023. But this year’s celebration is happening in the aftermath of a horrific attack on a Hanukkah event in Australia that killed at least 15. We go to Tel Aviv to hear how people are feeling about the holiday this year.
On Sunday, during a celebration for the first day of Hanukkah, a father and son opened fire on Bondi Beach near Sydney. Killing or wounding dozens of people.
Officials are calling it a terrorist incident. Even though the Jewish community in Australia is small, with just over 115,000 people in a country of more than 25 million, antisemitism is a persistent and rising threat. The spike in Australia comes amidst a rise in antisemitic attacks globally.
What do we know about this trend and what does it mean for the Jewish community around the world?
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 Michael Levitt and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.