This episode originally aired on Jan. 11, 2020. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in December that there is an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio. Like many other states, Ohio can't procure the drugs necessary to carry out lethal injection. At the same time, public opinion is shifting, and some politicians are reevaluating the need for capital punishment.

This episode originally aired on Jan. 21, 2020. Millions of Americans took up gardening this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For new gardeners, how to sustain their new hobby and how to build a garden that is a part of a sustainable environment are important considerations.

This episode originally aired on Jan. 11, 2020. Continuing his unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen, outgoing President Donald Trump earlier this month incited a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol. A New York University history professor who studies autocratic rulers says the insurrection attempt and the fervent allegiance displayed by Trump’s followers are straight out of the authoritarian playbook.

The founding fathers knew that democracy depends on an educated citizenry that understands how the system works. Thomas Jefferson advocated for public education for that reason and defended the need for citizens to be taxed for it. But for years civics education has been shuffled aside for the sciences and mandatory testing.

While much of the restaurant industry was battered by shutdowns and other Covid restrictions, pizza parlors, and especially independents, proved well-suited to thrive. Columbus foodies have always supported their hometown pizzerias, which have a rich, and cheesy, history stretching back nearly a century.

Researchers and public health experts are holding the line on the need for widespread mask wearing. Increasingly, researchers say, data supports the idea that two masks may be better than one.

As president-elect, Joe Biden assembled an advisory board of experts to provide science-based recommendations on COVID-19. Scientists applauded the move and took it as a hopeful sign that independent science advice would be welcomed at the White House after four years of anti-science rhetoric.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency told congressional investigators last week it didn’t need court authorization to monitor mobile device locations because the data is commercially available. The agency admitted it gathered the information as part of ongoing investigations without obtaining a warrant. It’s not the first time.

In words and in policy, former President Trump painted immigrants, especially those from majority non-white countries, as a burden and a threat. With the stroke of a pen, President Joe Biden on his first day in office began to dismantle Trump’s nativist immigration policies.

Both Merriam Webster’s and Dictionary.com named “pandemic” their word of the year for 2020. On March 11, 2020, the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the word fueled Merriam Webster’s single largest spike in dictionary traffic in 2020, an increase of more than 115,806% over searches the same day in 2019.