Author: Slate Podcasts

The delta variant is making its way through the country, becoming the leading strain of the coronavirus and increasing case counts as it goes. In few places is the crisis more severe than in Florida, where new daily case counts are hitting all-time highs and vaccination rates have leveled out around 50%. Gov. Ron DeSantis has refused to instate a mask mandate and insists that the spike is just a “seasonal wave” -- even as healthcare workers are pushed to the brink trying to care for ill patients.

Guest: Bernard Ashby, a vascular cardiologist in Miami and the Florida director of the Committee to Protect Healthcare.

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America used to be at the vanguard of railroad technology. What went wrong? And can the new infrastructure bill fix our broken system?

Guests: Alon Levy and Eric Goldwyn of the Marron Institute at NYU 

Host

Henry Grabar

 

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The Federal Election Commission can barely get anything done. With its commissioners stuck in partisan gridlock, one is finding new ways to make sure election law is upheld. 

Guest: Ellen Weintraub, commissioner at the FEC.

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is back on his heels again, following the release of the state attorney general’s extensive report on his pattern of sexually harassing women working around him. Now, even former allies of the governor are calling for him to resign or face impeachment. How long can Cuomo hang onto his office?

Guest: Brigid Bergin, political reporter for WNYC. 

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After months of negotiation, an infrastructure bill is finally on its way to the Senate floor. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are touting their one big successful bipartisan move, but what’s actually in the legislation? And why are Republicans willing to sign off on a win for Joe Biden? 

Guest: Jordan Weissmann, Slate’s senior business and economics correspondent.

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Why aren’t people returning to jobs they lost during the pandemic? The answer is more complicated than generous unemployment checks. 

Guest: Bram Sable-Smith, investigative reporter at Wisconsin Watch. 

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Whether it’s a phone screen or a coffee machine, why is it so hard to fix our own stuff? And what can we do to make it a bit easier?

Guest: Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Motherboard and contributor to the CYBER podcast

Host

Lizzie O’Leary

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This week, four officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department testified in front of a bipartisan House select committee investigating the events of January 6. They each gave powerful and emotional statements, describing the harrowing moments the Capitol was attacked. But what can the committee actually do about it? 

Guest: Jeremy Stahl, senior editor at Slate.

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On Tuesday morning, Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, withdrew from the team all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics citing mental health concerns. Biles’ move shocked most watchers but may reveal a deeper cultural shift happening within USA Gymnastics. 

Guest: Rebecca Schuman, former gymnast and the author of Schadenfreude, A Love Story.

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