Author: Slate Podcasts

After oral arguments last week, the Supreme Court looks ready to overturn Roe v. Wade. How did conservatives get to this moment when the majority of Americans favor legalized abortion? And do liberals have the patience to keep the fight alive?

Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, staff writer at Slate covering the Supreme Court.

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On Monday, Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter. It’s not the first time he’s left the job. 

Is this really the end for the man who guided Twitter through the Trump era? And how will the platform change without him at the helm?

Guest: Nick Bilton, special correspondent at Vanity Fair

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was recently placed on indefinite leave by the network for his involvement in the damage control operations of his brother, former NY governor Andrew Cuomo, over the last year. A trove of documents revealed that Chris had overstepped ethical lines to help protect Andrew while he was under fire for allegations of sexual harassment. 

Why did the younger Cuomo wade into the political muck, putting his job at risk? And will CNN hold him accountable?

Guest: Erik Wemple, media critic for the Washington Post.

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In November, South Africa alerted the world to Omicron, a new strain of COVID-19. Then, as cases began to pop up worldwide, the World Health Organization labeled it a “variant of concern.” What do we know about Omicron, and just how worried should we be?

Guest: Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, assistant professor with the School of Public Health at UTHealth and author of Your Local Epidemiologist on Substack.

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Child care has long been a “textbook example of a broken market,” as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this fall. How have government efforts so thoroughly failed to fix this industry? And does Biden’s infrastructure bill threaten to hamper child care businesses even more?

Guest: Claire Suddath, writer for Bloomberg Businessweek. 

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If you had to take the SAT for your college admissions process, you largely have the University of California System to thank for that. When the university adopted the test in 1968, hundreds of other colleges followed suit. But now, U.C. has decided not to use standardized tests in admissions anymore. Could the decision spur a retooling of the college admissions process more broadly? 

Guest: Teresa Watanabe, education reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

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This episode originally aired in January 2021

The story of how GameStop went from the verge of a bankruptcy to a $15 billion market value isn’t an easy one to wrap your head around. But it helps to go back to the beginning; almost three years ago, in a subreddit called r/wallstreetbets.

Guests:

Brandon Kochkodin, reporter at Bloomberg

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The Supreme Court is considering a case that may strike down New York state’s strict restrictions on carrying a gun in public. Some public defenders think that might be a win for criminal justice reform. 

Guest: Sharone Mitchell Jr., Chief Defender for the Cook County Public Defenders. 

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Last August, then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse and fatally shot two people and wounded another with a semi-automatic rifle during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse’s lawyers leaned heavily on the teenager’s right to defend himself. In Wisconsin, that means the prosecution had to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Was it inevitable that Rittenhouse would walk free? And how did the community react when he did?

Guest: Stacy St. Clair, reporter for the Chicago Tribune. 

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