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Bay Curious - Meet the Duduk Whisperer

While you might not recognize the name, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the haunting, almost otherworldly sound the duduk makes. This humble shepherd’s flute wandered out of the Armenian countryside and into Hollywood, making cameos on the scores of movies and shows like The Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ. The duduk was even recently synthesized on both Dune soundtracks. Audiences in the Bay Area don’t get many chances to hear the instrument live — unless they’re able to catch a performance by Santa Rosa-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian -- the duduk whisperer.


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This story was reported by Elize Manoukian. This story first aired on the California Report Magazine and was produced by Victoria Mauleon, Suzie Racho, Brendan Willard, Katherine Monahan, Srishti Prabha and Sasha Khokha. 


Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Headlines From The Times - DHS Barrels Towards Shutdown as Congress Leaves Washington and a CA Bill May Provide Mortgage Relief to LA Fire Victims

The Department of Homeland Security could shut down this weekend if lawmakers leave Washington for a holiday break without reaching a deal on a funding bill. Meanwhile, inflation cooled in January. New data shows U.S. inflation at 2.4%, just above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In other news, President Trump repealed the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, reversing years of federal climate policy. And in Southern California, a storm is expected to bring moderate rain and potentially dangerous waves to the coast next week. In business, a proposed California bill would extend mortgage relief for homeowners rebuilding after the Palisades and Eaton fires, and Wall Street is selling stocks seen as vulnerable to artificial intelligence disruption. Read more at LATimes.com.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Strange News: The FAA’s Big Whoopsie (or Conspiracy), Epstein Updates, Sketchy Phone Calls

With no warning to the public or the local government, the FAA suddenly announced airspace in El Paso would be completely shut down until February 20th -- only to rescind the order less than 11 hours afterward. Cue the conspiracy theories. The guys review some of the recent Epstein revelations, mysterious phone call cover-ups, the story of a mysterious biolab in Vegas, and more in this week's strange news segment.

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Up First from NPR - DHS Shutdown, Ukraine Peace Talks, Olympics Stars Stumble

Congress is out on recess as a partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security is underway after talks collapsed over immigration enforcement reforms.
Officials from the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine prepare for new peace talks in Geneva as Moscow presses territorial demands and Kyiv insists on security guarantees.
And at the Winter Olympics in Italy, American speed skater Jordan Stolz is making history while other superstar athletes struggle with the intense pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage.

Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, Kate Bartlett, Tina Kraya, Eric Whitney, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adam Bearne.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Simon-Laslo Janssen.

(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) DHS Shutdown
(05:38) Ukraine Peace Talks
(09:26) Olympics Stars Stumble

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The Daily - When A.I. Comes to Town: The Backlash Over Data Centers

Tech companies are racing to build thousands of huge data centers to power the artificial intelligence revolution. To find the land they need, they are barreling into rural communities across the United States with the promise of good jobs. But not everyone is buying that pitch.

Karen Weise, a technology correspondent for The New York Times, tells the story of one county pushing back against Big Tech. 

Guest: Karen Weise, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.

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Photo: AJ Mast for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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Start the Week - Breakage and repair

When society, financial systems and human beings fall short, how can we repair the damage? Tom Sutcliffe hosts Radio 4's discussion programme which starts the week, exploring the social, moral and political contradictions of the world we face today, with US novelist George Saunders, Turkish writer Ece Temulkuran and investigative journalist Oliver Bullough,

The Booker Prize winning novelist, George Saunders new book Vigil deals with the moral ambivalence of a greedy oil executive; the death bed reckoning of a man who resists facing his life and legacy. The Turkish writer, Ece Temulkuran's new book Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding a Home in the 21st Century explores the rising global displacement of people who will need to forge stronger connections amid political and social upheaval.

In an investigation of money laundering, Oliver Bullough's Everybody Loves Our Dollars sets out the scale of the problem and why we are failing to tackle the global systems that allow illicit money to move freely using sites as varied as Bicester Shopping Village in Oxfordshire and a casino in Vancouver, Canada.

Producer: Ruth Watts

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Kids Sports Are Now Adult Driven—And Incredibly Expensive

Youth sports have grown into a $40-billion dollar per year industry, where eager parents shell out for private coaches, off-season practice, and travel leagues, in the hopes of giving their child a competitive edge. 


Guest:  Anna North, senior correspondent at Vox. She writes Kids Today, a newsletter about kids.


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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The Daily Detail - The Daily Detail for 2.16.26

Alabama

  • Sen. Tuberville warns about mass migration to US and the chaos it causes
  • Sen. Britt talks about negotiations between Dems and WH over DHS funding
  • Governor Ivey to sign bill that increases penalties for fatal DUI cases
  • A 3rd civil lawsuit filed re: Madison childcare center and sex abuse 
  • House Majority Leader Scott Stadhagen on leave of absence for a few weeks

National

  • SoS Marco Rubio delivers impassioned speech to European leaders in Munich
  • TN Senator says SAVE Act has 51 votes: work underway to get to floor vote
  • Border Czar says defends ICE policies of masking agents during raids
  • Thomas Massie of KY says Epstein files/names not going away
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Strict Scrutiny - S7 Ep19: Is Sam Alito On His Way Out?

The legal news just kept coming this week, and Melissa, Leah, and Kate break it all down. Could Friend of the Pod Sam Alito be retiring? Possibly! Can Pete Hegseth retaliate against Senator and veteran Mark Kelly for free speech? No! Just how wild was Pamela Jo Bondi’s Epstein files testimony in Congress? Pretty flippin’ wild! They also cover the latest out of Minnesota, Democratic representatives tearing the head of ICE a new one, some very bad news for humans who enjoy clean air, the Heritage Foundation’s crusade against birth control, and other legal flotsam and jetsam. Finally, Kate speaks with Elliot Williams about his new book, Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation.

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Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 


  • 3/6/26 – San Francisco

  • 3/7/26 – Los Angeles