Category: 1-HeadlineNews

Since the start of 2021, L.A. Times national correspondent Tyrone Beason has been on the road. He’s doing what a lot of us are thinking about: he’s on a quest to find out what’s up with the United States. In a year-long series called “My Country,” Beason has been trying to find the things that bind us, while also trying to make sense of the issues that keep tearing us apart.

Today, we check in with Beason and hear some of his dispatches. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times national correspondent Tyrone Beason

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Read Tyrone Beason’s full “My Country” series here

In the vastness of the Inland Empire, people of color find ‘peace in these troubled times’

This California wine country town is multicultural. So why do so many feel invisible?

For her role as the ethically flexible attorney Kim Wexler in “Better Call Saul,” Rhea Seehorn is nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series. She joins “The Envelope” host Yvonne Villarreal to delve into the show’s last twists and turns and talk about the scariest day on the set. Seehorn also discusses her efforts to balance gratitude with confidence and shares stories about how her father’s alcoholism shaped her. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Yvonne Villarreal

Guests: Rhea Seehorn

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Rhea Seehorn knows her ‘Better Call Saul’ character is toast. And she’s loving every minute

A couple that schemes together, dreams together

Rhea Seehorn on reading a ‘Better Call Saul’ script: ‘I’m not dead yet. Are you dead?’

Decades ago, when you couldn’t conceive or carry a child, your options for becoming a parent were limited. But then in 1978, in-vitro fertilization became possible. But IVF can be very expensive. And one method in particular can lead to heartache and scandal.

Today, how one woman’s attempt to offer more affordable surrogacy services collapsed, leaving in its wake heartbroken couples, frustrated surrogates and an FBI investigation. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: Former L.A. Times national correspondent Emily Baumgaertner

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She promised babies at bargain prices using surrogates in Mexico. Now the FBI is investigating

LA Times Today: Why the FBI is investigating surrogates in Mexico

The audio of the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, is from a video news release produced by London Television Service and made available by the BFI National Archive. 

To get to the U.S. border from South America, Haitians have to trek through an isolated stretch of jungle called the Darién Gap. In the latest episode of “Line in the Land,” a podcast produced by the Houston Chronicle and Texas Public Media, Haitian migrants take listeners with them on a jungle journey like no other. Read the full transcript here. 

Hosts: Joey Palacios and Elizabeth Trovall

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Lost in the deep of Darien

Crossing the Darién Gap

This remote sliver of northwest Colombia is one of the world’s busiest migration corridors

Binge all the episodes of Line in the Land here. Episodes are in both English and Spanish. A Line in the Land was made possible, in part, by the Catena Foundation, providing more than 100,000 asylum seekers in the U.S. with community and legal support. Learn more at asylum.news

Last year, frustrations over COVID-related school closures slammed into the nation’s culture war and tipped an election. It all started in Virginia’s Loudoun County, whose schools became a lightning rod as they grappled with mask mandates, a bathroom policy for transgender students and efforts to fix systemic racial discrimination.

Today, we discuss how conservative parents in Virginia began a powerful nationwide movement and how Democrats are trying to win this important voting bloc back. We also explore how parents in Loudoun County really feel. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times White House reporter Courtney Subramanian

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Focus on the economy, not ‘critical race theory’ or sex ed: Inside Democrats’ plan to win back parents

School boards become battle zones over COVID-19 rules, critical race theory, trans students

Opinion: Teachers have to put the welfare of transgender students before their own beliefs

You might know Liz Cheney for her recent leadership of the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Her prominent role in the televised hearings has boosted her status nationally, but back at home, in conservative Wyoming, Cheney has effectively been disowned. Her vote to impeach President Trump and the decision to take part in the investigation has forced her into a sort of exile from her home state.

Bill Hader became popular on "Saturday Night Live" with silly characters like Stefon, but his titular character on the HBO show "Barry" is more twisted and brilliant. It’s a great dark comedy about a hitman who wants to become an actor and how his worlds collide. 

In this conversation with “The Envelope” host Mark Olsen, Bill brings both the fun and the darkness: He’s pleasant and light, and he laughs while talking about some of the most disturbing things on his show. Read the full transcript here.

This summer, some of the biggest names in music decided that we all need to dance. Drake, Beyoncé, Charlie XCX, Bad Bunny — they all departed from their usual styles to create albums inspired by a genre called house music.

Today, we talk about how house music became the sound of liberation and why it’s back and more mainstream than ever.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times pop music reporter August Brown

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Beyoncé returns with liberating house jam ‘Break My Soul’

The Gold Line carries house music to downtown L.A.

The Beyoncé effect: ‘Break My Soul’ propels ’90s star Robin S and the Great Resignation

Today, we offer episode 2 of “A Line in the Land,” from our friends at Texas Public Radio and the Houston Chronicle. It’s a podcast that explores the human story behind the Haitian immigration journey. On this episode, hosts Elizabeth Trovall and Joey Palacios try to answer the question of why many Haitians went to Chile after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. And what happened to those refugees when the Chilean government became more hostile to immigration. 

Last week, Nancy Pelosi became the first House Speaker  in a quarter century to visit Taiwan. China viewed Pelosi’s trip as a direct challenge. As tensions over the self-governed island ratchet up, Taiwan is preparing for war. But are its people ready?