Post Reports

How the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., reached its tipping point. Plus, one Peruvian farmer’s fight for climate justice.

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The capital city of Jackson, Miss., has been without drinkable tap water since late July. But this isn’t the first time there’s been a water crisis in the majority-Black town. 

“I think what's really been lost is that there was a crisis in Jackson long before,” reporter Emmanuel Felton says, “And what had been going on for years was really almost constant boil water notifications.”

Residents say sewage is spilling into backyards and people are getting rashes and lumps from the water. “It’s horrible, it’s horrible, everything is horrible,” resident Tammie Williams says. “And it’s it’s a disaster, really, you know? Disaster.”

Today on Post Reports, Felton explains how the water crisis in Jackson got so dire, and whether there’s any end in sight.

Plus, we bring you to the mountains of Peru, where one farmer is trying to save his city from drowning by suing one of the biggest carbon emitters in the world. The case could set a precedent for holding polluters accountable for harming the planet. Reporter Sarah Kaplan has more.

The latest in the Justice Department’s investigation into Donald Trump. And the students who survived the mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex., return to school for the first time. 

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On Monday, a federal district judge pumped the brakes on the Justice Department’s investigation into the material seized from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. The judge granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the documents. Rosalind Helderman, a political enterprise reporter for The Post, walks us through what this news means for the Justice Department and what we can expect next in this investigation. 

After much delay and postponement, students at Robb Elementary School are finally returning to school in Uvalde, Tex., this week. In May, a gunman entered the school and killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Questions over safety, security and adequate student support have divided this small community and broken trust with the school district and law enforcement. Today, Arelis Hernández brings us the story of families struggling with these difficult back-to-school decisions as they try to recover from the unimaginable.

In the fourth episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, we explore the minutes between approval for a no-knock warrant and a deadly raid. 

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All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

The fourth episode of this series is called “The blink of an eye.” In this episode, we head to Port Allen, La.

On July 25, 2019, a Black man was killed during a no-knock raid on a motel room in Louisiana. His fiancee was also inside. An investigation into what led up to the fatal shooting reveals the speed with which it happened — and raises questions about electronic warrants, a relatively new technology being adopted by law enforcement agencies across the country.

For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

In the third episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, we come face to face with a sheriff and a judge.

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All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

The third episode of this series is called “‘You’re interrogating me.’” In this episode, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.

After hearing from survivors of no-knock raids and learning about the deadly consequences, we put our questions directly to the sheriff and the judge who had allowed these raids in Monroe County. People in the community still live in fear as Ricky Keeton’s family continues their battle for justice.

For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

In the second episode of the “Broken Doors” podcast, a family confronts a sheriff after a deadly no-knock raid.

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All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, an investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

The second episode of this series is called “‘Why y’all had to go in that way?’” In Episode 2, we return to a rural county in Mississippi.

Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2015, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office hurled a battering ram into the home of Ricky Keeton to carry out a no-knock search warrant. After the raid turned deadly, Ricky’s family confronted the sheriff — and began secretly recording. 

For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

An unusual warrant. A pattern of questionable no-knock raids. A reporting thread that just kept going. “Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series from The Washington Post, hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

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No-knock warrants allow police to force their way into people’s homes without warning. What happens when this aggressive police tactic becomes the rule, rather than the exception? 

All this week on “Post Reports,” we’re airing episodes of the “Broken Doors” podcast, a six-part investigative series about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

Today, we have the first episode of this series, called “‘That’s what you get.’”

In Monroe County, Miss., sheriff’s deputies burst through the front door of a man’s home as he slept. He said they pointed a gun at his head and ransacked his home in search of drugs and cash. The no-knock search warrant they used was threadbare. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

For any updates to the series since the podcast aired earlier this year, check out Monday’s Post Reports episode, “No-knock warrants, revisited.”

Today on “Post Reports,” we revisit the use of one of the most intrusive and dangerous tools in policing: no-knock warrants.

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Two years after the death of Breonna Taylor, the Justice Department announced federal charges against four officers involved in her death. At the time, officers had a no-knock warrant for the young Black woman’s apartment.

For Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, the Justice Department investigation represented a step toward justice for her daughter — but it was also a reminder of how much further police accountability has to go.

Since this spring, and the release of the “Broken Doors” podcast, activists, local government leaders and national law enforcement officials have continued to scrutinize the use of no-knock warrants by police. Today on “Post Reports,” investigative reporters and “Broken Doors” hosts Nicole Dungca and Jenn Abelson bring us updates from across the country, revisiting fatal no-knock cases and weighing in on what’s happened in Kentucky since Taylor’s death. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Helena Andrews-Dyer on her new book, “The Mamas” and what it takes to be an authentic Black mother in a mostly White mom group.

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Washington Post culture writer Helena Andrews-Dyer talks about her latest book “The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class and Race from Moms Not Like Me.”

The book is a memoir of Andrews-Dyer’s personal experience of what it was like to be the only Black woman in her neighborhood’s mom group. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to join at first. 

“I think for me as a Black mother, immediately just instantly the image that comes up in your head is White women,” Andrews-Dyer said. “It's like strollers taking over the local cafe, going to baby yoga, baby music class in their yoga pants. It's just like all of these images and stereotypes pop into your head and you immediately think, as a Black woman and woman of color, ‘Oh, that's not for me.’”

But in some ways, Andrews-Dyer writes, “I needed this space as much as they did.” Andrews-Dyer is a middle-class, Black professional woman living in a rapidly gentrified neighborhood in Washington, D.C., with two little girls and a husband. 

But she “had not seen a story about motherhood that looked like me. … And so I had to tell it.”

“The Mamas” was released by Crown Publishing this week.

President Biden’s new plan to cancel some student loan debt will impact millions of Americans. On today’s “Post Reports,” we learn how this program works, what it means for the economy and why some people are unhappy with this approach. 

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Millions of Americans rely on the federal government to cover the cost of college. Soaring tuition costs, higher enrollment and changes to the federal lending system have all contributed to the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student debt. 

This week, President Biden announced a plan to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for many borrowers, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

National higher education reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel provides a walkthrough of who qualifies for the plan and the arguments for and against this massive debt forgiveness.  

In the last days of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber set off a blast at Kabul airport. It killed an estimated 170 Afghans and more than a dozen U.S. troops. Today, one year after the withdrawal, Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe takes a closer look at the days leading up to that devastating blast and what happened in its aftermath. 

From a Marine in a scout-sniper team, to the top military commander who planned and directed the operation, today’s episode shares the stories of the U.S. service members who lived through the violent evacuation process. Some of these never-before-heard accounts offer a different and more nuanced picture than the story the U.S. government tells.