What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Will Crime Decide Chicago’s Mayoral Race?

In Chicago, a city plagued by recent crime concerns from its citizens, a progressive former Teachers Union organizer faces an opponent who has described himself in the past as “more of a Republican than a Democrat.” 


Guest: Gregory Pratt, Chicago Tribune reporter covering Mayor Lori Lightfoot and City Hall.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Woes

Elon Musk has been promising fully self-driving Teslas to the public for years and the beta version of Full Self-Driving is already in over 300,000 cars. But as a recent recall attests, the software still isn’t ready to take the wheel—and Musk himself may be a big reason why. 


Guest: Faiz Siddiqui, tech reporter for the Washington Post


Host: Lizzie O’Leary


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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - What To Expect When You’re Expecting An Indictment

On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick talks with Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office and former Chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice from 2015 - 2019.


Together, they tackle the tangled web of investigations into the former President, and the trajectory of possible indictments. And Andrew helps us hone in on some crucial details we may have missed in the fog of building barricades outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

Andrew Weissmann’s book, Where Law Ends, was published by Random House in 2021


In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern to understand how Trump judges could tank the economy, the latest on abortion in states trying grapple with the (entirely predictable) deadly consequences of the Dobbs decision, and why all this underlines why the Wisconsin Supreme Court election really matters.  


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Slate Books - Future Tense Fiction: Can a Pandemic Story Have a Happy Ending?

On this month’s episode of Future Tense Fiction, host Maddie Stone talks to Annalee Newitz about “When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis.” Annalee’s short story follows a disease-fighting robot—and its companions, both human and crow—on a quest to track an outbreak and develop a vaccine before it's too late. The story was published in December 2018, but now, three years after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, it offers a look at how public health responses could better reflect the needs of the communities they serve. Plus, Annalee shares how they learned to speak crow language. 


Guest: Annalee Newitz, author of the Terraformers, the Future of Another Timeline, and Autonomous.


Story read by Gin Hammond


Podcast production by Tiara Darnell


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | The Case Against TikTok

To most of its 150 million American consumers, TikTok is a fun app. To some creators, TikTok is a job and their platform. But to members of the US government, TikTok is a national security risk. As the fight over TikTok’s future comes to Capitol Hill this week, what’s next for the embattled social media platform?


Guest: Emily Baker-White, senior writer, tech reporter at Forbes


Host: Lizzie O’Leary


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Why Biden Broke his Promise on Drilling

Despite his campaign promises, President Biden has signed off on the Willow Project, an $8 billion plan to extract 600 million barrels of oil from public lands in Alaska. But how useful might this 30-year project be with the country continually prioritizing electric energy?


Guest: Ben Lefebvre, energy reporter at Politico. 


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Why Is Adderall So Hard to Find?

Since last summer, it’s been difficult to fill an Adderall prescription. The shortage is driving some people to try other ADHD medications—causing shortages of those medications too—while others are sourcing their medication on the “gray market.” 


Why is such a common drug nowhere to be found?And why has the FDA been so mum on the subject? 


Guests: 

Ike Swetlitz, health journalist for Bloomberg News

Sheila McClear, writer for Los Angeles magazine


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Atlanta’s Battle Over “Cop City”

The Atlanta Police Foundation’s $90 million police training facility, a mock-urban space with a nightclub, convenience store, and even homes, has drawn the ire of police reform activists, environmentalists, and even advocates for the homeless. The months-long effort by forest-dwelling protesters to prevent the construction of this facility has left an advocate dead, a state trooper shot, 35 individuals facing terrorism charges, and a community divided.


Guest: Madeline Thigpen, criminal justice reporter at Capital B Atlanta.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Could Trump Be Arrested Over Stormy Daniels?

This weekend, former President Trump warned supporters on Truth Social he could be arrested on Tuesday, and called for them to “TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” Although it’s unclear whether Trump is facing imminent arrest, many observers believe legal proceedings focused on Trump’s “hush money” payment to Stormy Daniels suggest an indictment is coming soon.


How strong is this case, and how likely is it that Trump will face real legal consequences? 


Guests: 

Dahlia Lithwick, host of Slate’s Amicus, and author of “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.”


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, and Madeline Ducharme, with help from Jared Downing and Laura Spencer.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | When A.I. Steals Your Voice

Using just what you’ve posted to social media, generative A.I. can create a “puppet version” of your voice—one that’s close enough to scam your family into paying thousands in, say, bail money. And imitating public officials to create “deep fakes” who say whatever they’re told is even easier. 


Guest: Pranshu Verma, tech reporter for the Washington Post.


Host: Lizzie O’Leary


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