Post Reports

There are a lot of questions heading into the Summer Olympics: Is Paris prepared to host the Games? Who are the star athletes this year? What exactly is a “horsey passport”?

The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace speaks with Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer and sports feature writer Rick Maese about those questions and more in the first episode of The Sports Moment which we're sharing with you this morning. After you listen, look up the show and hit follow to hear more from Ava and the rest of our team in Paris.

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Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Joe Tone, Allison Michaels and Renita Jablonski.

This is a special episode of The Campaign Moment dedicated to answering the questions on everyone’s minds about what happens next now that Harris is the Democrats’ potential nominee.

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post's new Campaign Moment newsletter, and Colby Itkowitz, who covers voting and elections on the democracy team, sit down with Post Reports co-host Elahe Izadi. They talk about how Harris polls against Trump, what it means for her to take over a campaign that was designed for President Biden, and how the GOP is reacting to her campaign.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was mixed by Sean Carter. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Mary Jo Murphy. Thanks also to Trinity Webster-Bass.

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Ava Wallace, sports reporter at The Washington Post, is in France to report on the Summer Games — and eat a lot of croissants. Join her starting July 24, continuing through the entire run of the games, for several episodes a week as she captures the highs, the lows and the Paris of it all, along with other Post colleagues.

Follow The Sports Moment podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or YouTube.

Sign up for The Sports Moment: Olympics Edition newsletter here.

Yesterday, President Biden announced that he would no longer be running for reelection; he also endorsed Vice President Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee for president in November’s election. Over the past 24 hours, endorsements of Harris have been rolling in from top Democrats. 

Today on Post Reports, host Elahe Izadi speaks with The Washington Post’s White House bureau chief, Toluse Olorunnipa, about Biden’s decision to endorse Harris. Plus, host Martine Powers and White House reporter Cleve Wootson dive deep into Harris’s career and how she’s evolved as a politician over the years.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff and Trinity Webster-Bass. It was mixed by Sam Bair and edited by Reena Flores, with help from Ariel Plotnick. 

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On Sunday afternoon, President Biden released a statement announcing that he would stand down from seeking reelection in the 2024 presidential race. The statement came after weeks of mounting pressure from members of his party, many of whom expressed concern over his health and speculated whether he would be able to beat former president Donald Trump. 

Host Elahe Izadi speaks with White House reporter Tyler Pager about this monumental decision by the president and whether it puts Democrats in a better position to beat Trump. 

Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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So far, polling suggests that young voter turnout in 2024 may not match 2020’s rate. In April, only 41 percent of Black people 18 to 39 told a Washington Post-Ipsos poll that they were certain to vote this year, down from 61 percent in June 2020.

The poll mirrored what Shannon Salter was seeing among her civics students, whose interest in voting had been hobbled by poverty, racism and two aging presidential candidates seemingly far removed from the world of a struggling Allentown, Pa., teen.

To these students, American politics was an ego-driven, aimless mess. She had more than a month to go before the end of the term to convince her students that their participation in American democracy was worth it. She had no idea how hard a sell that would turn out to be.

This story is part of our Deep Reads series, which showcases narrative journalism at The Washington Post. It was written and read by Greg Jaffe. Audio narration comes from our partners at Noa, an app offering curated audio articles.

Democrats flipped the typical convention script this week, dominating the news during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. 

Following the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump at a rally Saturday, the GOP aimed to send a message of unity to the party faithful. In his acceptance speech, Trump initially seemed somber, telling the crowd, “I’m not supposed to be here tonight.” They chanted back, “Yes, you are.” But he quickly regained his normal campaign posture, hammering Democrats over immigration and the economy. Meanwhile, new reporting from The Post shows that Biden is hearing concerns about his fitness to lead the ticket from senior Democratic figures like former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and former president Barack Obama.

Martine Powers and Aaron Blake, senior political reporter and writer of The Campaign Moment newsletter, speak with Dan Balz, the chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress at The Post.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Charla Freeland. It was edited by Reena Flores and Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sam Bair. 

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In the early 1980s, the Olympic Games were on the verge of dying out. After a string of disasters, the Games had become unaffordable, politically fraught, and faced serious security concerns. Then came the spectacular 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles that reinvented the way the Olympics were run.

Guest host Ted Muldoon sits down with Les Carpenter, who covers the Olympics for The Post. They break down what changed in the 1984 Games and explore if 2024 could be another turning point.

Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Renita Jablonski. Thanks to Matt Rennie. 

Audio of the 1984 Olympic events courtesy of the ABC Sports Collection, managed by ESPN. Additional audio courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, RunnerSpace.com and Rocky Mountain PBS.

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Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977, during the height of the space age. In the decades since, this unmanned spacecraft has ventured to the outer edges of our universe, sending back one-of-a-kind images and exploring realms that humans will probably never reach. 

Voyager 1 is now more than 15 billion miles away in interstellar space, still collecting data and sending it back to Earth. But late last year, Voyager 1 faced its biggest crisis yet. It went silent and stopped communicating. In the months that followed, scientists at NASA launched an all-hands-on-deck effort to find a solution.  

Today on “Post Reports,” science reporter Joel Achenbach on Voyager’s journey through space, its fragile future and the desperate effort to keep it with us. We hear from Linda Spilker, project scientist for Voyager 1, and David Cummings, a member of a “tiger team” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.   

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Peter Bresnan and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Stephen Smith.  

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On Saturday, Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump. Crooks got on top of a roof near the Butler, Pa., rally and shot toward the rally stage. But almost a minute and a half before Crooks fired, bystanders alerted security that they saw a man on a roof.

Since the assassination attempt, the Secret Service – the organization meant to protect current and former presidents – has been under scrutiny. Today, guest host Chris Velazco speaks with investigative reporter Carol Leonnig about the Secret Service – how they work, their past failures and how they responded at the scene. 

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson and Ali Bianco. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Peter Wallsten and Isaac Stanley-Becker.

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