Consider This from NPR

About one in 31 children in the U.S. has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, according to CDC data released this month.

When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed these findings, he declared that autism is a rapidly growing "epidemic" in the U.S. and vowed to identify the "environmental toxin" he says is to blame.

Which of Kennedy's remarks rang true to those in the autism community?

Jill Escher is the president of the National Council on Severe Autism, and had both gratitude and criticism for the new initiative.

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U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have become some of the biggest issues facing Canadians as they head to the polls in their federal election on April 28th.

Scott Detrow speaks to Lloyd Axworthy, a member of the Liberal party, who served as Canada's top diplomat between 1996-2000, about the schism between the two longtime North American allies and how Canada's next prime minister can reposition the country's foreign and economic policy in the face of growing tensions with the United States.

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Long before he was elected to run the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis was essentially exiled from his Argentinian Jesuit order. Francis often referred to this two-year period, which happened when he was in his 50s, as a "dark night" and a "crisis" in his life.

For our weekly Reporter's Notebook series, we talk with NPR religion editor Daniel Burke about what he learned by digging into this little known period of Francis' life that shaped him and his papacy.

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Whether a "chainsaw," per Elon Musk, or "scalpel," as President Trump has said — the Trump administration is making deep cuts to the federal government within its first 100 days.

And Trump has appointed personal allies with little experience in government to key cabinet positions.

For the civil servants working to enact the missions of these government agencies, that's often meant another word: "chaos."

NPR correspondents Tom Bowman, Michele Kelemen and Selena Simmons-Duffin recap what they are hearing from federal workers at the Departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services.

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When you think of a successful protest movement, most Americans probably think of the American Civil Rights movement, and the March on Washington in 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind a podium on the steps of the Lincoln memorial delivered his most famous speech and a line that would come to define the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act just nine months after the March. A year after that Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The quest for equality continues. In the decades since that bright summer day in August 1963, many other Americans have tried to use the model of protest to achieve their political goals.

But do protests work?

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On March 23, the death toll in Gaza surpassed 50,000 people killed by Israeli fire in the war with Hamas.

This is the story of 15 people who were killed the same day.

There were airstrikes across the territory, and in the south Israeli troops opened fire on a crew of emergency workers in ambulances and a firetruck.

At first, the Israeli military said the vehicles were "advancing suspiciously" toward troops, "without headlights or emergency signals." It said the soldiers had eliminated a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

A recording unearthed days later told a different story ultimately leading the Israel to conduct an investigation. The results blamed an "operational misunderstanding" and cite professional failures.

In more than 18 months of war – it's been rare for the Israeli Military to acknowledge failure.

Coming up the story of what happened.

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What does it take to keep the economy stable?

That is a question that Jerome Powell considers every day in his role as Chair of the Federal Reserve. It's also a role that is meant to be done independent of politics.

However, Powell's name has been making headlines, following a series of comments made by President Trump attacking Powell, after he warned that the President's aggressive tariff policies could hurt the economy.

President Trump has been threatening to fire Powell, something he backed away from Tuesday afternoon.

As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, all this is further rattling financial markets, making Jerome Powell's task of keeping the economy stable even harder to do.

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On Monday morning in Rome Cardinal Kevin Farrell Camerlengo or Cardinal Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church announced the death of Pope Francis I.

That was followed some 17 hours later by the rite of ascertainment. A formal acknowledgement of Francis' death...and the transfer of his body to his coffin.

And it's one a few of the many centuries-old rituals that will play out over the next several days as the church mourns Pope Francis.

There will be the mourning of the faithful as Francis' body lies in St. Peter's Basilica. A funeral, where Francis will be remembered by his fellow priests, followers and world leaders. Then, the Conclave where the College of Cardinals will meet to choose his successor.

Pope Francis has died at 88. Now the church has to chart a course without his leadership. Who will be his successor, and what path will he choose?

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Viktor Orban is in his fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister of Hungary. In that time, he has dismantled democratic checks and balances, taken control of the country's media, civil society and universities, and consolidated power in him and his Fidesz party.

NPR's Rob Schmitz looks at how Orban's step-by-step dismantling of Hungary's democracy has become a point of fascination for political scientists around the world, including those advising the Trump administration.

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This week, two federal judges handling separate immigration cases escalated their attempts to get the Trump administration to comply with court orders.

One case involves President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 18th-century wartime law, to deport migrants without due process.

The other is about the wrongful deportation, also without due process, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the government's refusal to bring him back to the U.S.

The growing conflicts point to a potential constitutional crisis, where the president openly defies the country's highest court — or at least, as one legal scholar maintains, a crisis at the Supreme Court.

Our guest is University of Virginia professor Amanda Frost, who specializes in immigration and citizenship law.

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