Post Reports

The jury had been brought in for a murder trial. It was a homicide with no body, a case that had been first classified as a missing person instead of a death. There had been no confession. No blood. No weapon. No witnesses. The alleged murder had gone unsolved for more than a decade, and onlookers had wondered, not unreasonably, whether it was simply unsolvable.

The question at hand was whether, 13 years ago, a man named Isaac Moye had murdered a woman named Unique Harris. The trial was an attempt to bring an ending, at last, to a mystery that had tortured her family and baffled strangers, including Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse, who had followed the case from the very beginning. By the end of the trial, Monica realized she’d understood the whole case wrong.

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This story is part of a new collection of occasional bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads,” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism.

Today’s story was written by Monica Hesse and read by Adrienne Walker for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.  

Strikes by Hollywood actors and entertainment writers are in full-swing, making this an unusual fall, television-wise. We’re looking at the impact on the coming season of television and the future of the industry. 

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A Hollywood strike marches on, but that has not stopped the production of new shows altogether. The Post’s television critic Lili Loofbourow discusses some of the most hotly anticipated shows, including new series such as “The Other Black Girl,” “The Changeling” and “A Murder at the End of the World.” Then Lili breaks down what impact the Hollywood strike could have beyond the fall.

Catastrophic flooding in Libya last week left an estimated 10,000 people dead or missing. Today, we report from the ground and explain how warming oceans and a hotter planet contributed to the scale of the disaster.

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At the end of what has already been a summer of extremes, floods have spanned the globe with remarkable intensity in recent weeks. Countries from Spain to Brazil to Japan have been inundated. Libya was hit the hardest last week, with catastrophic flooding in coastal cities such as Derna and Sousa that left an estimated 10,000 people dead or missing. And while the causes for these catastrophes vary, they all have one thing in common: climate change. 

Today, foreign correspondent Louisa Loveluck reports from Libya, bringing us the extraordinary story of one family that narrowly survived the floods. 

Then, global weather reporter Scott Dance explains how the world’s oceans, warmed by record-breaking heat, are making storms more intense and more dangerous. 

Today on “Post Reports,” a look at what has happened to Iranians in the year since massive protests swept the country. We hear from family members impacted by the government’s harsh crackdown and how Iran’s repression playbook works. 

One year ago, the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Iran’s morality police sparked what analysts have described as the longest-running, anti-government protest in Iran’s recent history. 

In the months since, Iranian security forces have unleashed a harsh crackdown, killing at least 530 protesters, according to human rights groups. Yet far more common and far more difficult to quantify are the tens of thousands of family members and acquaintances of the dead, who have been pressured, arrested and harassed, or who have disappeared.

“I think that the government understands the power of grief and how powerful that can be to move people,” visual forensics reporter Nilo Tabrizy tells “Post Reports.”  

One year after Mahsa Amini’s death, and after these protests began, Tabrizy shares the stories of what two families have endured amid an evolving movement and a regime’s exacting repression playbook. 

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Their loved ones were killed in Iran’s uprising. Then the state came for them.

A year after Mahsa Amini’s death: repression and defiance in Iran.

How a killing in Canada has caused a geopolitical crisis that is sending shock waves through India, the United States and beyond. 

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On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in a speech to Parliament that agents of the Indian government killed a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil. Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, was killed in June in British Columbia..

Trudeau’s announcement led to the Canadian government expelling an Indian diplomat. India denied the allegations and expelled a Canadian diplomat in return. Canada has called upon its allies to publicly condemn the killing, just as countries including the United States are hoping to bolster their relationship with India in hopes of fending off China. 

The Post’s South Asia correspondent Karishma Mehrotra walks us through how we got to this geopolitical crisis and what it means for India’s global relationships. 

First it was Hollywood, and now another big union strike is underway. For the first time ever, thousands of United Auto Workers members are striking against Detroit’s Big Three auto companies. 

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An historic autoworkers fight is now on, with thousands of UAW members walking off the factory floors at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and Chrysler. Workers are asking for pay increases and more equal benefits for temporary workers, particularly as companies post profits and increase executive pay. 

It’s the latest union fight in the United States as workers such as nurses and Hollywood scriptwriters and actors seek better pay and job security. Meanwhile, the specter of the presidential election hovers over the autoworkers strike. 

Global business reporter Jeanne Whalen explains what’s at stake in this strike and how the issues at hand go well beyond the auto factories. 

Today on “Post Reports,” residents in Lahaina are healing after the deadly Maui wildfires with the help of a Hawaiian tradition: surfing. 

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The Aug. 8 wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii – the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century – took the lives of at least 115 people, with the number of missing still unknown. With lives and homes  devastated, residents are searching for a sense of normalcy. Surfing offers a reprieve for many of those affected by the tragic event.

“It can be a great way for people to heal. Like ocean therapy, saltwater therapy,” said former professional surfer and surfboard shaper, Jud Lau. “The ocean is a healing place.”

With the help of his Instagram followers and donations, Lau and other board shapers on Maui are replacing boards for those who lost them in the fire. 

Lahaina resident Victoria Gladden, a mother of three daughters, lost five boards in the fire, as well as everything else she owned. Getting back in the water was crucial for her to reconnect with herself in post-fire chaos. 

With the help of the Surfboard Replacement Project, Gladden and her eldest daughter Brianna reconnected with the water, finding peace on the waves. 

“This is just my favorite place in the whole entire world is the ocean,” she said after surfing for the first time since the fire.“I will never, ever live in a place where I cannot be in the water. I wouldn't, no way. What kind of life would that be?”

Last spring, South Carolina English teacher Mary Wood was horrified when her students reported her to the local school board for teaching about race. As she starts a new school year, we ask what it’s like for her to step back into the classroom. 

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Last spring in Chapin, S.C., two students in high school English teacher Mary Wood‘s class reported her to the local school board for teaching about race. Wood had assigned her all-White AP English Language and Composition class readings from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me,” a book that examines what it means to be Black in America.

In emails, the students complained that the book made them ashamed to be White, violating a South Carolina rule that forbids teachers from making students “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” on account of their race.

Wood’s case drew national, polarizing attention. Conservative outlets and commentators decried Wood’s “race-shaming against White people.” Left-leaning media declared her a martyr to “cancel culture,” the latest casualty of raging debates over how to teach race, racism and history that have engulfed the country since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Wood is not the first teacher to get caught in the crossfire: The Post previously reported that at least 160 educators have lost their positions since the pandemic began because of political debates. 

South Carolina is one of 18 states to restrict education on race since 2021, according to an Education Week tally. And at least half the country has passed laws that limit instruction on race, history, sex or gender identity, according to a Washington Post analysis. 

Today, as a new school year begins, education reporter Hannah Natanson talks to Wood about what it’s like for her to return to teaching, and whether she feels she can trust her students again.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has directed House committees to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden – a move that appears to appease hard-right lawmakers. The investigations center on whether Biden benefited from his son’s business dealings.

Claiming there are “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption,” McCarthy has directed House committees to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Yet House Republicans have not put forth evidence directly showing that Biden benefited from his son’s business deals in Ukraine and elsewhere. 

Congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor puts this inquiry into perspective, explains where the GOP stands on investigating Biden, and what this could mean for the president as he heads into an election year. 

Today on “Post Reports,” why an earthquake in Morocco was so deadly, the anger over the government response, and what survivors say they need now. 

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The massive earthquake in central Morocco that killed at least 2,900 people was unusual for that part of the country — and that’s part of what made it so deadly. 

Claire Parker has been on the ground reporting from the remote villages that were hit the hardest. 

“It's quite different from, for example, the earthquake in Syria and Turkey earlier this year when people were still pulling out survivors days later, I think partly because of just how poorly constructed these buildings are,” Parker said.

Days later, many survivors are still waiting for basic necessities, and feeling abandoned. Morocco has also been reluctant to accept outside aid, baffling foreign governments. In the absence of government aid, ordinary Moroccans are trying to fill in the gaps.

“The solidarity shown by ordinary Moroccans has been astounding,” Parker said. “We've seen again and again on these really twisty, turny, narrow mountain roads that are very difficult to navigate, hundreds of small cars packed full of blankets and milk and water and diapers, all of these supplies making their way to these remote villages just out of a sense of an obligation to help.” 

The country declared three days of mourning nationwide as rescuers and recovery teams mobilize. Some residents described using their bare hands to pull loved ones from the rubble.

Here’s how and where you can make a donation to help earthquake survivors in Morocco.