Post Reports

Georgia, the state that was key to the Democrats taking control of Washington in 2020, could now be responsible for giving some of that power back to Republicans. 

In a contentious Senate race, former NFL star Herschel Walker (R) is taking on the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock. Walker, however, is plagued with controversy that’s making it hard for Republicans to throw their support behind him. 

A rematch for governor pits incumbent Brian Kemp (R) against his 2018 challenger, Stacey Abrams (D). Abrams’s camp hopes her work to expand ballot access will be enough to get her to victory this time, but Kemp’s incumbent status is giving him the edge.

Democracy reporter Matt Brown explains the state of play in Georgia right now, just as the state has already smashed early-voting records.

Correction: A previous version of this episode mistakenly said Stacey Abrams lost the race for Georgia governor in 2020. She lost that race in 2018.

A new Washington Post investigation has uncovered the fact that hundreds of veterans have taken lucrative foreign jobs — often for countries with known human rights abuses. U.S. officials approved these contracts — but fought to keep them secret.

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The Post found more than 500 retired members of the military – from helicopter mechanics to high-ranking generals – have cashed in on work with foreign governments since 2015, sharing military expertise and political clout. 

Many worked for countries with known human rights abuses and political repression, but the U.S. military approved these contracts anyway. The activity lacks transparency or congressional oversight, and largely remains out of public view. 

Those seeking foreign work must first obtain approval from their branch of the armed forces and the State Department. The Post found these requests are largely rubber-stamped: Of more than 500 submitted since 2015, about 95 percent were granted. For military retirees who do this work without seeking approval, few penalties exist.

Correction: A previous version of this episode mistakenly said Keith Alexander was the first head of the U.S. Cybersecurity Command. The correct name is the U.S. Cyber Command.

Today, hearing aids are finally available over the counter. What this means for accessibility and first-time buyers. Plus, a test of the Earth’s planetary defense.

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For the hard of hearing, it feels like the Food and Drug Administration is finally listening. On Monday, the FDA is allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. This means you no longer need a prescription or custom fitting to get a hearing aid. Experts have called it a game changer that is expected to make hearing aids more affordable and accessible for millions of people.

Disability reporter Amanda Morris walks us through different types of hearing loss, the range of hearing aids available for consumers, and what this might mean for accessibility for the hard of hearing. 

Plus, some good news about our planetary defense system: NASA successfully altered the course of an asteroid, a technique that might someday stop an asteroid from crashing into Earth. 

After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered child abuse investigations of the parents of transgender children, Morgan Davis – a trans man with Child Protective Services in Austin – was assigned two cases. They didn’t go as planned.

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Morgan Davis used to believe that his workplace – the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services – had a noble mission: to remove children from abusive situations.

But when he was asked to comply with a new mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott – one that required his office to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of families with transgender children – that changed.

As a trans man with the support of his small team, he thought he could comfort the flagged families and close investigations quickly. “I was told that I would go into the home, I would assess it, I would come out, and we would be done.”

But that’s not what happened. Casey Parks reports.

This spring, Howard Schultz returned as Starbucks CEO to stop a rapidly growing unionizing effort. Today, what happens when an anti-union leader comes up against one of the fastest growing union efforts in the country. 

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With more than 225 stores voting to unionize since last fall, the Starbucks unionization effort has been seen as a beacon of hope for the labor movement. But despite his track record of providing workers with substantial benefits, Starbucks's founder and current CEO, Howard Schultz, sees the movement as a personal threat to his life's work. Reporter Greg Jaffe spent time with Schultz to try to understand his beliefs on unionizing, and what the future of the labor movement could be now that it has such a powerful adversary in Schultz.

The balance of power in Washington could come down to one or two states. In recent weeks, Republicans have set their sights on Nevada as their Senate candidates in other states, such as New Hampshire and Georgia, have stumbled. 

It’s an uphill climb for Republicans, who haven’t won a Senate race in Nevada in a decade. They see inroads with Latino voters and workers in the tourism and hospitality industries who were hurt by Democratic policies during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. But Democrats say they’re holding the line with a brigade of union workers and Nevadans who are frustrated with skyrocketing housing prices. 

National politics reporter Hannah Knowles spent some time in Las Vegas tracking the race between the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, and hard-line conservative Adam Laxalt. She joined us on today’s “Post Reports” to tell us about what she learned from talking to voters in the Silver State.  

Over the weekend, the rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) had antisemitic posts quickly taken down by Twitter and Instagram. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about how content moderation could change if Elon Musk and GOP leaders have their way.

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Over the weekend, the rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) posted antisemitic messages on Twitter and Instagram. They were quickly taken down, and his accounts were restricted. But as Will Oremus reports, there’s a conservative-led movement that could change how companies approach such decisions. Between a growing field of state laws that seek to restrict content moderation and Elon Musk’s determination to loosen Twitter’s policies, posts such as Ye’s could soon become more prevalent online.

A wave of Russian airstrikes rocked Kyiv on Monday morning, shattering months of calm and thrusting the city back into the center of the war. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear from our reporter on the ground in Ukraine’s capital. 

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On Monday morning, Russian forces fired a series of airstrikes on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv. At least 11 people  were killed and more than 80 were injured nationwide according to Ukraine’s national police department. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attacks as punishment after Ukraine bombed the Crimean Bridge this past Saturday. 

Russia’s strikes come after a relatively quiet summer in the Ukrainian capital. Missy Ryan, reporting on the ground in Kyiv, says the attack “brings home the fact that [the war] remains an incredibly volatile situation…and puts Kyiv back at the center of this escalating conflict.”

The Supreme Court of the United States reopened its doors to the public this week for the first time since March 2020. This new term brings new cases, a new justice and renewed questions about its legitimacy. 

Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes runs down the slate of cases that will be heard this term and offers his insights about how Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the associate justices handled public disapproval during the summer recess.    

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Supreme Court debates Alabama’s refusal of second Black voting district

Supreme Court will allow public at arguments, continue live audio

A tax policy by the new administration in Britain sent the price of the pound plummeting and the global economy spiraling. Today on “Post Reports,” we explain why it caused such turmoil, and what else to expect from Prime Minister Liz Truss. 

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Prime Minister Liz Truss has been in office for only about a month, but already her proposals have weakened the struggling British economy and worsened her party’s support. Most notably, her administration proposed removing income tax for the most wealthy earners in Britain— a move that she quickly reversed after it was met with anger from the public and politicians alike. London correspondent Karla Adam explains Truss’s political ideologies and how these decisions could lead to a political power shake-up in the U.K.