Author: NPR

Millions of people in Texas have gone three or more days without power, water or both. Texas has had winter weather before, so what went so wrong this time?

Reporter Mose Buchele of NPR member station KUT in Austin explains why the state's power grid buckled under demand in the storm. And Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, explains the link between more extreme winter weather and climate change.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR's Camila Domonoske, who reported on the Texas power grid, Ashley Lopez of KUT, Laura Isensee of Houston Public Media, and Dominic Anthony Walsh of Texas Public Radio.

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

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After the Senate vote failed to convict former President Donald Trump, a clearer picture of the political consequences is emerging — both for the Republican party and for the United States on the world stage.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on Republican infighting the national, state and local level.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells NPR that the events of Jan. 6 have came up in conversations he's had with diplomatic counterparts around the world. Read more of Blinken's wide-ranging interview with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly here.

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There's evidence of at least seven U.S. variants of the coronavirus, while another that emerged from the U.K. is poised to become the dominant strain here by the end of March. One adviser from the Food and Drug Administration tells NPR there's a tipping point to watch for: when a fully vaccinated person winds up hospitalized with a coronavirus variant.

NPR science correspondent Richard Harris reports on concerns that COVID-19 vaccines themselves could cause the virus to mutate.

NPR science reporter Michaeleen Doucleff explains why the story of one COVID-19 patient may hold clues to how variants develop in the first place. For a deeper dive on variants, listen to Michaeleen's recent episode of NPR's Short Wave on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says more than 60 countries around the world are using COVID-19 as an excuse to skirt international law by closing borders and ports to asylum-seekers. That has contributed to an increase in delayed rescues and unlawful expulsions of refugees to dangerous places.

NPR's Joanna Kakissis tells the story of one teenage survivor.

And NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports on a doomed journey of Lebanese refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea — where over 1,000 migrants died in 2020.

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We asked for your questions on navigating love and dating during the pandemic. Therapist and sexologist Lexx Brown-James has answers. She's joined by Sam Sanders, host of NPR's news and pop culture show, It's Been A Minute. Listen via Apple or Spotify.

And University of Georgia social scientist Dr. Richard Slatcher shares some findings from his global research project, Love In The Time Of COVID.

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