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Consider This from NPR - What We Learned From This Week’s Jan. 6 Hearing — And What Questions Still Remain

In a tweet sent on December 19, 2021, former President Trump issued what Democrats now say was a "clarion call" to his supporters. "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," he wrote. "Be there, will be wild!" This week, in a hearing of the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol, we learned more about what happened in the days and weeks after the President sent that tweet — and the tense moments in the White House just hours before.

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the House committee investigating January 6th, tells NPR that next week's primetime hearing — the final scheduled hearing of the committee — will unravel minute-by-minute events at the Capitol and present an account of what President Trump was doing during that time.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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Short Wave - Real Life ‘Goonies’? A Mysterious Shipwreck Found Off the Oregon Coast

For centuries, mysterious blocks of beeswax and Chinese porcelain have washed up on the Oregon coast, leading to legends of pirates, treasure, and a sunken Spanish galleon. It became known as the Beeswax Wreck, and it inspired centuries of treasure hunters—and maybe even Steven Spielberg, as he created The Goonies. Now, researchers have found nearly 330-year-old timbers from the ship in a hard-to-access cave. This is the story of how a team of volunteer archeologists are working to solve one of the most enduring mysteries of the Pacific Northwest, using old-school detective skills and one well-timed natural disaster.

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NPR's Book of the Day - In ‘Poet Warrior’, Joy Harjo uses poetry to deal with pain and heal

In celebration of the new U.S. poet laureate this year, Ada Limón, today's episode revisits another poet laureate's conversation with Michel Martin about how poetry has been used to deal with pain and healing. Joy Harjo, who has been the U.S. poet laureate since 2019 says she has always been drawn to healing ever since she was little. She even studied pre-med in college. But it wasn't until Harjo heard Native poets that she realized "this is a powerful tool of understanding and affirmation." She shares her poetry and story in the book, Poet Warrior.
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Consider This from NPR - As New Variant Surges, Officials Warn More Will Follow Without Global Vax Effort

A new omicron subvariant is now the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. It's called BA.5 — and it appears to evade neutralizing antibodies, making it easier for fully-vaccinated people to become infected or those who recently had COVID to get re-infected.

Dr. Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the African Union's Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance, warns that more variants will follow unless global vaccine efforts get more aggressive.

Atul Gawande, head of global health for the U.S. Agency for International Development, says Congress needs to authorize a new round of spending to help get vaccines to countries where many people still have not been vaccinated.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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NPR's Book of the Day - In ‘Fresh Banana Leaves’ an indigenous approach to fighting climate change

According to Jessica Hernandez, "as long as we protect nature, nature will protect us." Hernandez, from the Maya Ch'ortí and Zapotec nations, is a University of Washington postdoctoral fellow. In her new book, Fresh Banana Leaves, she makes a plea for the climate conversation to include indigenous expertise, and highlights practices she believes should be more widespread. In an interview with Celeste Headlee on Here and Now, Hernandez said that, if we want to be successful in the fight against climate change, we need to listen to those who have spiritual connections to Mother Earth.
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Short Wave - BA.5: The Omicron Subvariant Driving Up Cases — And Reinfections

BA.5 is now the dominant SARS-CoV-2 subvariant in the United States. It's driving up COVID cases and hospitalizations across the country.

It's also causing quicker reinfections. More people appear to be contracting the virus multiple times in relatively quick succession.

Today, host Emily Kwong talks with science correspondent Allison Aubrey about this dominant subvariant: What it means for mask mandates, "long COVID" — and why infectious disease experts think this wave will be more manageable than last winter's surge.

Got COVID questions? Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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Consider This from NPR - The Other Gun Deaths

Mass shooting deaths represent just a fraction of people killed by gun violence in America, and more than half of all gun deaths are suicides.

The numbers are staggering: in 2020, the most recent year with available data, 45,000 people in America were killed by guns. This episode, a few of the people touched by that violence share their stories.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or contact the Crisis Text Line: text HELLO to 741741.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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