1 big thing

From Portland to New Orleans, heat watches, warnings, and advisories are in effect across 19 states. It’s just the latest in a series of extreme heat waves, floods and wildfires across the world that have been made worse by the ongoing climate crisis. How should we be thinking about how to solve all of these climate calamities?

Guests: Author of Ida B. The Queen, Michelle Duster, Axios' Andrew Freedman, and Ina Fried.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Yesterday the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol held its first hearing. Four officers shared difficult testimony about the physical and verbal assaults they endured while responding to the riot.

Guests: Axios' Margaret Talev, Dave Lawler, and Ina Fried.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require its employees to be vaccinated. The news came as officials from New York City and the state of California announced similar mandates for their workers.

Guests: Axios' Caitlin Owens, Alayna Treene, Mike Allen, Ina Fried, and author of Friends Forever, Suzanne Degges-White.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

The recent protests in Cuba were driven largely by food shortages and prices. But it’s not just Cuba. About a tenth of the world’s population was undernourished in 2020 as world hunger hit a 15-year high. That’s according to a recent report by the United Nations that outlined how the pandemic has reversed years of progress in global malnutrition.

Guests: Axios' Bryan Walsh, Sara Fischer and Kendall Baker.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

For Americans, the Tokyo Olympics will be a test of what patriotism looks like in 2021. Axios and our partners at Momentive have polled more than 5,000 people on their feelings about the U.S. and other countries at the Games.

Guests: Axios' Dave Lawler, Bob Herman, and Sarah Mucha.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Margaret, Talev, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Back in June, the House of Representatives passed a resolution launching a special committee to investigate the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol. Minority leader Kevin McCarthy could choose five committee members, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have veto power and the final say.

On Wednesday, Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s appointees, saying they could have “an impact on the integrity of the investigation.”

Guests: Axios' Alayna Treene, Ina Fried, and Alexi McCammond.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

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As the Delta variant spreads and covid safety measures loosen across much of the country, many are starting to think about the fall and how kids will stay safe when they return to crowded classrooms.

Guests: Axios' Marisa Fernandez, Stef Kight, and Russell Contreras.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

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Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to be sponsors at the Olympic games -- an investment that can mean big returns. But this year the pandemic has put sponsors in a very tight spot.

Guests: Axios' Hope King, Danielle Chemtob, and Sam Baker.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

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The flood waters in Germany and Belgium have started receding with more than 180 people dead. It’s the worst flooding the region has seen in decades and comes on top of a worsening COVID outbreak throughout Europe.

Guests: Axios' Dave Lawler, Kim Hart and Felix Salmon.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

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On our latest installment of our Hard Truths series, we go inside the fight to build a $2.4 billion telescope on the highest mountaintop in Hawai'i. For astronomers it would mean the chance to answer deep questions about the universe. But for indigenous Hawai'ians, it would mean the desecration of sacred land.

Guests: Aurora Kagawa-Viviani, post-doctoral researcher and scientist at UH-Hilo Hawaii Cooperative studies unit at the University of Hawai'i Hilo and Axios' Miriam Kramer.

Credits: "Axios Today" is brought to you by Axios and Pushkin Industries. This episode was produced by Nuria Marquez Martinez and edited by Alexandra Botti. Alex Sugiura is our sound engineer. Dan Bobkoff is our executive producer. Special thanks to Axios space editor Miriam Kramer, Executive Editor Sara Kehaulani Goo, and Hard Truths Editor Michele Salcedo.