Post Reports

A deadline to end the war in Afghanistan. Biden’s vision for the future of infrastructure. Plus, how Native communities are tackling vaccinations. 
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Biden announced that the United States will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. Missy Ryan explains that the decision tells us a lot about the administration’s priorities. “Nobody is going to say that the situation in Afghanistan is what anybody would have wanted in 2001 or 2011 or 2020. The government is incredibly fragile. The Taliban is very powerful, and the prospects for peace are very dubious,” she says. 
President Biden’s infrastructure plan calls for the federal government to take on a vast new role in funding the nation’s transportation networks, seeking to rebuild roadways and transit while battling climate change, racial injustice and traffic deaths. Transportation reporter Ian Duncan says the plan is not quite the easy bipartisan victory some may have hoped.
Native Americans were vaccinated against smallpox and then pushed off their land. Reporter Dana Hedgpeth says this history has created generational trauma that tribes are working hard to counteract in their drive to vaccinate Native communities.

Correction: In a previous version of this episode, we misstated a Brooklyn Center Police Department policy about guns and tasers. According to the former police chief, tasers are kept on the non-dominant hip, and guns on the dominant hip.
Why the CDC and FDA are recommending a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Another police killing in Minnesota. And, remembering DMX.
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The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women developed extremely rare cases of blood clots. Health-care reporter Paige Winfield Cunningham explains. 
On Sunday, an officer of the Brooklyn Center Police Department fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Wright was unarmed. Kim Bellware reports that his death has prompted a renewed outcry over police use of force in Minneapolis, where the highly watched murder trial of Derek Chauvin is reaching its close.
Earl Simmons, the rapper known as DMX, died April 9. Pop culture reporter Bethonie Butler says his contributions to rap and hip-hop are still felt today.
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How surveillance networks are helping federal authorities track down the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. And, the legacy of Prince Philip.
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A Washington Post review of hundreds of pages of court records has revealed how federal law enforcement officials are using license plate scanners, facial-recognition software and other controversial surveillance technologies to hunt down Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. Post tech reporter Drew Harwell analyzes their use in one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history. 
Prince Philip, the former naval officer and husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, died last Friday. He was 99 years old. Reporter Adrian Higgins discusses the prince’s life and legacy.
The Post is asking listeners to reflect on their mementos from different homelands. Drop us a line at [email protected] with your story about the object you brought when you immigrated to the United States. Or visit our submission form here to tell us more.

This week in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, officers and medical experts testified on the cause of George Floyd’s death. And why it’s so hard to prosecute police officers. 
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During the second week of the Derek Chauvin murder trial, prosecutors focused on two subjects: how the former officer’s tactics, denounced by fellow police officers on the stand, did not align with his training; and what was happening biologically to George Floyd in the key moments before his death. Holly Bailey reports from Minneapolis. 
Brown University associate professor Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve on the interdependence between prosecutors and police officers – and why it means that officers rarely face consequences in excessive-use-of-force cases. 
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What’s at stake in the biggest union battle this country has seen in decades. The future of community colleges. And, facing the prospect of “vaccine passports.”
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Jay Greene reports on Amazon workers’ fight for a union in a warehouse in Alabama — and the drive’s potential to inspire other workers. 
Normally during an economic downturn, higher-education reporters like Nick Anderson expect to see a rise in enrollment in community colleges. This time, that didn’t happen. Nick explains what that means for these schools and the students they serve, at a time when community colleges are being given increased political attention. 
The scramble to develop vaccine passports — and the potential problems they pose — from health reporter Dan Diamond. 
If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer. 

Understanding Georgia’s controversial new voting law. And, how to tell if it’s allergies … or covid. 
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Georgia just passed a new voting law. Amy Gardner reports on the background of the controversial law and what actually ended up in it. 
As spring reaches full bloom, some allergy sufferers are wondering: Are their stuffy noses and itchy eyes actually symptoms of the coronavirus? Wellness reporter Allyson Chiu allays those fears and answers other reader questions about allergies and vaccines.

Why some prominent economists and Republican lawmakers are worried the economy might recover too quickly. And, what it’s like to be a teenager while lawmakers debate your right to exist.
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The Federal Reserve has emerged as a White House ally in rejecting concerns about overdoing the stimulus. But Rachel Siegel reports that some economists and market analysts are raising alarm bells about the risks of overstimulating the economy and triggering inflation. In other words — could we be recovering too quickly?
What used cars tell us about the risk of too much inflation hitting the economy.
On Tuesday, the nation's first ban on medical treatments for transgender youths passed in Arkansas. Similar bills are being considered in at least 17 other states. Samantha Schmidt reports from one of those states, Missouri, where a transgender girl is struggling to find her voice as legislators attack her right to exist. 
If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer. 

Experts warn that the United States may be entering a fourth surge of coronavirus cases. And, the things we take when we leave home. 
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Some scientists are warning that the United States is entering a “fourth wave” in the pandemic. Others are questioning that conclusion. Reis Thebault reports. 
When Post community editor Yu Vongkiatkajorn left Chiang Mai at 18, she tried to bring with her a veritable library — books collected over the years, journals she treasured. But when making her home in the United States, the object that stayed with her through her cross-continental moves was an unexpected one: a traditional silk shirt from Thailand that she never wears but lives permanently in her closet. For Post Reports producer Linah Mohammad, she also holds on to clothing, with two scarves that represent the Jordanian and Palestinian parts of her cultural identity. 
The Post is asking listeners to reflect on their own mementos from different homelands. Drop us a line at [email protected] with your story about the object you brought when you immigrated to the United States. Or visit our submission form here to tell us more.

As more vaccines become available in the U.S., the problem stops being supply and starts being how you get everyone to take one. Ariel Plotnick reports on the public health effort to bring the vaccine-hesitant around to getting a shot.
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“We want to be educated, not indoctrinated,” say Trump voters wary of coronavirus vaccines. Dan Diamond reports on the findings of a focus group he sat in on last month with vaccine-hesitant Trump voters.
“We can do this”: Biden unveils pro-vaccine TV ads and a network of grass-roots leaders to push vaccinations. The administration plans to spend more than $10 million on the ad campaign in April.
If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners -- one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.

Emotional testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged in the killing of George Floyd. And, Biden’s massive infrastructure plan. 
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The murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin began in Minneapolis this week, with emotional testimony from witnesses to George Floyd’s death. National correspondent Holly Bailey lays out what the jurors heard.Follow The Post’s live coverage of the Chauvin trial here. 
On Wednesday, President Biden unveiled a $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Economics reporter Rachel Siegel explains what’s in the sprawling proposal and the challenges Biden will face in garnering congressional support.