She was once the great hope for Myanmar. Though Aung San Suu Kyi fell from grace – and now sits in jail – she still has much support. How LifeWise, a Christian group, is changing religious education in America. And what to make of butter yellow, the colour of the moment.
Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party’s political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China’s surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future.
We’re talking about a marathon in Congress as President Trump’s big budget bill faces some new hurdles.
Also, the end of an era for an agency meant to improve lives around the world—what past presidents are saying about it, and what the Trump administration plans next.
Plus—a big campaign finance case is headed for the Supreme Court, a new kind of flu vaccine is showing promise, and the WNBA is getting bigger than ever.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
As Republicans in Congress look to gut Medicaid with President Donald Trump’s supposed “Big Beautiful Bill,” the Supreme Court ended its session ruling on United States vs. Skirmetti that Tennessee could bar gender-affirming care for minors. The ruling itself centered on whether or not such a ban would violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. In a 6–3 decision, with the three liberal justices dissenting, the court decided the Tennessee law did not violate the clause. To learn more about what gender affirming care does, and what providers working on the ground think of efforts to ban it, we spoke to Dr. Alex Dworak. He’s the associate medical director of family medicine at One World Community Health Centers and specializes in LGBTQ medicine.
Then in headlines: Republicans in the Senate are literally racing to pass President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” by the Fourth of July, the Trump administration’s spat with Harvard continues as it accuses the university of being in violation of the Civil Rights Act, and Trump goes to “Alligator Alcatraz,” Florida’s new migrant detention center.
Senate Republicans jam through a final vote on the so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill." Senator Chris Murphy steps away from the Senate floor to join Tommy and Lovett to talk about Republican Senator Tom Thillis's unexpected opposition to the bill, the Medicaid cuts that sparked it, and what the bill's passage would mean for Americans' wallets (you guessed it: more money for the rich, less for the poor). Then, Tommy and Lovett discuss Trump's trip to "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility in the middle of the Everglades, the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision ending the practice of nationwide injunctions, and the White House doubling down on their claim that airstrikes "totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
The Big Beautiful Bill would be the biggest law in our lifetime… so we’ll explain it using ice cream.
Goodwipes launched luxury Porta-Potty Palaces to give out wet wipes… it’s a VIP Sample.
Robinhood created a new thing: ½ stock, ½ crypto… because it moves fast by faking things.
Plus, the untold origin story of… Hamilton The Musical
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Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… “Hamilton 🎭 From Founding Father to Broadway Star”
About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, TBOY Lite is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.
Iran’s already-precarious financial system was brought to its knees by Israel-aligned hackers. The WSJ’s Angus Berwick walks us through the cyberattack. Plus: Research suggests companies should pause before promoting the AI in their AI-powered products and services. Katie Deighton hosts.
The novel The Rachel Incident is rooted around a wonderful, messy friendship. Rachel and James live together, party, and get themselves into a peculiar situation with an older married couple. In today's encore episode, author Caroline O'Donoghue speaks with NPR's Miles Parks about how abortion and sexual repression in Irish society play a large role in Rachel's early adulthood. O'Donoghue also shares why it was important to her that the novel be told from an older Rachel's perspective, reflecting on her youth.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Over the past century, the world's human population has exploded from around 2 billion to 8 billion. Meanwhile, the average fertility rate has gradually declined. And if that trend continues as it has, we may soon see a crash in the population rate, which some argue could have disastrous effects.
Last week’s big Supreme Court decisions walked back rights for individuals and the powers of the lower courts—and in aggregate made it ever more difficult to believe the court is anything other than another vehicle for delivering the outcomes favorable to Republicans and the conservative project.
Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate senior writer covering courts and the law.
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Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
