The Biden administration stuck a deal with Russia to free WNBA star Brittney Griner.  In exchange for her freedom, the U.S. released arms dealer Vitkor Bout, who is known as the “Merchant of Death.”  This caps a 10 month ordeal for Griner after she was arrested for possession hash oil cartridges in Russia.  Alex Ward, national security reporter at Politico, joins us for what to know about her release and what happens to Paul Whelan another American in Russian custody for espionage chargers.

 

Next, the chip manufacturing boom in the U.S. is just beginning.  This week President Biden toured a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plant in Arizona that is tripling its investments to build new semiconductor chips.  As the relationship between China, Taiwan, and the U.S. continues to be strained, we are rushing to build our own local supply.  Matt Phillips, markets correspondent at Axios, joins us for how the U.S. semiconductor industry is just starting.

 

Finally, more businesses are getting rid of their customer service reps you can reach by phone and increasingly offering options such as chat boxes to resolve issues.  For many companies, it is cost prohibitive to maintain staff just to answer calls and the result is they are making their numbers harder to find or getting rid of them all together.  Rachel Wolfe, consumer trends reporter at the WSJ, joins us for why connecting with a human is almost impossible.

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