“Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with White House reporter and Kamala Harris expert Cleve Wootson about what Harris and Donald Trump need to do at next week’s debate. They also dig into Harris’s record fundraising numbers and how Harris hopes to help down ballot Democrats in key House and Senate races. 

Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Mary Jo Murphy. 

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What Michael B. Moore’s congressional race tells us about gerrymandering, and how a Supreme Court decision affects the future of American democracy.

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Businessman Michael B. Moore is running a surprising congressional campaign: He’s trying to win as a Democrat in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, a seat that is considered solidly Republican in this election cycle. While he won his primary race, it’s unlikely he’ll win the general election because of a recent Supreme Court decision on gerrymandering.

Host Martine Powers speaks with voting issues reporter Patrick Marley about Moore’s race, and what it can tell us about the impact of a conservative Supreme Court on American democracy.

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter.

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Vice President Kamala Harris has been supported by prominent technology executives since the beginning of her political career. She has maintained many of her Big Tech connections while also pushing tighter privacy policies,but she has left her stance on breaking up powerful tech companies largely undefined. This is at odds with the Biden administration’s commitment  to antitrust enforcement, bringing lawsuits against companies like Google and Apple. 

Host Martine Powers speaks with Cat Zakrzewski, a national technology policy reporter for The Post, about how Harris is navigating her close ties to Silicon Valley, and what her approach to Big Tech may be if she becomes president.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson, with help from Peter Bresnan. It was mixed by Sean Carter. It was edited by Monica Campbell and Ariel Plotnick. Thanks to Cristiano Lima-Strong for his reporting. 

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At the Pathways to Independence program in Kearny, N.J., disabled workers sort clothing hangers and unload boxes through work contracted with outside companies. One of those workers is 33-year-old Jaime Muniz, who has been there for 11 years and whose paycheck recently averaged about $1.28 per hour. 

“My payment is not going well,” Muniz told The Post’s disabilities reporter Amanda Morris. “And it's making our lives harder, a lot harder.”

Yet paying workers with disabilities far below minimum wage is completely legal. Muniz is one of tens of thousands of workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are paid subminimum wages at facilities across the country. The labor program, sanctioned by federal law, is supposed to prepare workers for higher-paying jobs in the community, and while many families support them, Morris and her colleagues Caitlin Gilbert and Jacqueline Alemany found in a months-long investigation that they often lack oversight and accountability. 

Today, host Martine Powers speaks with Morris about what she heard from workers and their families, the future of this arcane law, and the growing scrutiny surrounding these programs.

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon with help from Sabby Robinson and Ariel Plotnick. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks to Emily Codik, Caitlin Gilbert, Jacqueline Alemany, Lauren Gurley and Andrea Sachs. 

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When Szu Yu Chen, a graphics reporter at The Washington Post, was covering this year’s Grammy Awards, she couldn’t help but notice how many nominated songs came in under three minutes. The more she looked into it – analyzing Billboard charts and interviewing artists – the more she realized this was a real trend. Meanwhile, when “Post Reports” audio engineer Sean Carter was working in a recording studio in Atlanta, he kept observing a similar shift, too.  

Today, Carter guest hosts “Post Reports,” in conversation with Chen, exploring what’s driving this change in music, and what’s gained and lost as a result. 

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon, edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Rennie Svirnovsky. 

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Jesse Dufton was born with a condition in which the light-sensing cells of his retina gradually deteriorated. This did not stop him from climbing with his family – bouldering by age 2, securing his own ropes by 5. 

When Dufton went to public school and then university, he downplayed his vision problems as he became a better climber. Then he met Molly Thompson, who took note of his long hair that made him look like a mature student. 

The two grew closer and often climbed together. But even as the couple was falling in love, Dufton was losing all of his sight. Dufton and Thompson had to invent new ways of communicating to continue their love of climbing.  

This story was written and read by Kevin Sieff. Audio production and original music composition by Bishop Sand.

“Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb about Harris and Walz’s interview on CNN, new polling that shows continued Democratic enthusiasm, and an altercation between the Trump campaign and an employee at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Ariel Plotnick. It was mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, there has been a big uptick in the use of the powerful anesthetic ketamine to treat anxiety and depression. But after the death last year of actor Matthew Perry, star of the hit sitcom “Friends,” due in part to the effects of ketamine, doctors and government officials are reconsidering the drug’s widespread availability.

On today’s “Post Reports,” Elahe Izadi speaks with reporter Daniel Gilbert, who has been following the ketamine boom for years. They talk about how ketamine became so widely accessible and about the uncertain future of the drug. 

Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan, with help from Emma Talkoff and Ali Bianco. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy. 

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This is not the presidential race that former president Donald Trump prepared for. Today, we unpack the state of the Trump campaign, its struggles to adapt and its strategy to face a new opponent.

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This presidential race has taken several unexpected turns, especially for former president Donald Trump.

Earlier this summer, the spotlight moved off of Trump as Vice President Kamala Harris jumped into the race. Now, the Republican nominee is crisscrossing the country to battleground states to recapture national attention.

Host Martine Powers speaks with national political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf about the state of Trump’s campaign and how it's adapting to an entirely new opponent.

Today’s show was produced by Ali Bianco, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Reena Flores and Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Sean Sullivan and Erin Patrick O’Connor.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And check out the latest story from health columnist Anahad O’Connor on how the avocado oil sold in some grocery stores may be fake.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore were supposed to be on the International Space Station for eight days. But as the Boeing Starliner capsule they were in was approaching the space station, the spacecraft’s thrusters started to fail. Since then, Boeing and NASA have struggled to figure out what went wrong. NASA decided last week that the astronauts should stay put for eight months until they could come back in a SpaceX capsule. 

Host Martine Powers speaks with space industry reporter Chris Davenport about the plan to bring the astronauts home and what the repercussions of this mission will be on Boeing and future space travel. 

Today’s show was produced by Ted Muldoon, with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores. Ted also mixed the show. Thanks to Chris Rowland. 

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