1A

Hurricane Ian made landfall in the contiguous United States this week, devastating southwest Florida after it blew its way through Puerto Rico, knocking out the island's power grid.

Meanwhile, protests in Iran continue. The death of a woman being held in custody over laws about wearing the hijab in public inspired these demonstrations. The government has responded with force and the death toll has now risen to 76 as protests enter their second week.

And Italy is set to welcome its first-ever female prime minister to office. Giorgia Meloni is a far-right, neo-fascist politician whose party supports anti-immigrant policies and focuses on "traditional" families.

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Salimata, her husband Moussa, and their baby son, Ibrahim, fled violence in their home country of Ivory Coast. They arrived in Texas this year, seeking asylum in the United States. After a day at a shelter, they were put on a bus and dropped off in Washington, D.C.

In D.C. they found a home with Sue Kenney-Pfalzer, an immigration attorney looking for a way to help.

1A producer Avery J.C. Kleinman talked to Salimata and Sue as part of a conversation on 1A about what's happening to migrants being bussed north.

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Hurricane Ian reached Florida on Wednesday.

This week, about 2.5 million Floridians were asked to leave their homes and move inland or to higher ground to avoid the winds and flooding. Many people didn't leave, braving the storm at home even as local emergency services were temporarily suspended.

We discuss the damage caused by Ian and what happens next. We also check in on how Puerto Rico is dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Fiona.

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The American Library Association has reported 681 challenges to more than 1,600 titles this year. That puts 2022 on track to see the highest number of book challenges in decades.

This summer, a library in Lafayette, Louisiana, was forced to remove a Pride Month display.

In Iowa, a proposed bill would give city councils the power to overturn librarians' decisions about what books to buy and where they're displayed.

And these are just a couple of examples.

We discuss the future of public libraries and library workers in this climate of unprecedented censorship.

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California's two initiatives concerning online gambling regulations are set to be the most expensive ballot campaign in U.S. history. The measures would make sports betting in the state legal both in person and online.

Currently, the U.S. is a patchwork of regulations on betting. One gray area that's grown in the past several years is the popular online streaming platform Twitch. Gambling content on the platform has received a lot of attention recently, to which Twitch responded with a partial gambling ban.

We talk about California's gambling initiatives, Twitch's new gambling policy, and the future of betting online.

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Thousands of migrants have been bussed to northern cities from Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Republican governors say blue states should share in the responsibility of taking care of the record number of migrants coming over the border.

Sue Kenney-Pfalzer, is an immigration attorney who was looking for a way to help migrants in Washington, D.C. She provided a room in her home for a family before her move to San Diego.

We hear from Sue and the family she housed and talk to immigration experts experts about the situation at large.

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Actor Danny Trejo has over 380 acting credits to his name, from playing an action star in the Machete series a drug cartel boss in Breaking Bad.

Trejo has become one of Hollywood's go-to badasses and bad guys. It could be because his life experiences aren't too far away from those of many of his characters.

Growing up, Danny was in and out of the most notorious prisons in California, enmeshed in crime and struggling with substance use.

He's written about it in his memoir, Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood, which is out in both English and Spanish.

This conversation was recorded in 2021.

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The lights went out in Puerto Rico this week after Hurricane Fiona devastated the island. The already fragile electric infrastructure crumbled, invoking memories of the 11-month blackout the island suffered after Hurricane Maria.

A Texas sheriff opened a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he arranged for 50 Venezuelan migrants to be flown to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in a political stunt.

Russia's defense minister announced this week that 300,000 men will be drafted in the next phase of its invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities are also planning to hold referendums on separation in Russian-controlled portions of Ukraine in a potential effort to dissuade counter-offensives by Ukrainian troops.

Protests continue in Iran over the killing of a woman who was in custody for breaking laws pertaining to wearing the hijab in public. Authorities have cracked down, leading to the deaths of at least 9 people involved in the demonstrations.

We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.

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The pandemic changed the 2020 election. Voters turned out in record numbers. Many Americans took advantage of mail-in and early voting.

Since 2020, pro-democracy groups say states have enacted 50 laws that make voting harder or undermine the election process.

We discuss a case that could drastically change how federal elections are run. We also ask law experts what legal standing this theory has and what it could mean for your vote.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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During an appearance on 60 Minutes, President Joe Biden declared that the pandemic is over.

But the pandemic isn't a thing of the past yet—something Biden should know well. His comments come as his administration asks Congress for an additional $22 billion to fight the pandemic. Some 400 to 500 Americans die each day from COVID-19.

We discuss what the data tells us about this stage of the pandemic, and who gets to decide if the pandemic is over.

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