Short Wave

A new Covid-19 variant called Omicron is spreading throughout the world and public health officials are worried about its transmissibility. President Biden addressed the nation saying, "this variant is a cause for concern — not a cause for panic." But the variant is reigniting anxieties about the pandemic.

This episode: White House Correspondent Tamara Keith, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, and health correspondent Allison Aubrey.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Puerto Rico was still recovering from Hurricane Maria and a string of earthquakes when the pandemic started. The island was initially hit hard by COVID-19, but is now is a leader in vaccination rates across the United States. Ciencia Puerto Rico's Mónica Feliú-Mójer explains the cultural factors that may have contributed to the success of Puerto Rico's COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

In order to resist a congressional investigation into the January 6th insurrection, former President Trump and his associates are claiming executive privilege. They say the communication between a president and his advisers should remain confidential. Congress says it wants to get to the bottom of what the president knew. So where does executive privilege come from, and does it take precedent over congress' power to investigate?

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid and national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Cokie Roberts was one of NPR's "Founding Mothers," a pioneering journalist whose career blazed a trail for generations of women at the network. NPR's Tamara Keith and Nina Totenberg talk to Cokie's husband Steve Roberts about the ways in which she was also a role model in her personal life. Steve Roberts new book about his wife is Cokie: A Life Well Lived.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Though it has grown more popular with time, the Affordable Care Act was widely disliked by the public in 2010 and cost Democrats dearly in the midterms. Democrats failed to successfully explain the legislation's benefits in the face of Republican attacks. Could Biden's infrastructure plan and, should it pass, social programs bill face the same fate?

And the investigation into what role former President Trump played in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, led by House Democrats, has interviewed more than 200 people. Investigators are weighing a contempt of Congress vote against another top aide, then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

This episode: demographics and culture correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben, congressional reporter Claudia Grisales, and acting congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Health insurance can be tremendously confusing, with its complexity, jargon and acronyms. But putting in a bit of time to learn what these health insurance terms mean can empower you to better understand what signing on to a plan might mean for your budget and your health.

Whether you're picking a plan for the first time, thinking of changing a plan, or want to see your options, NPR health correspondent, Selena Simmons-Duffin offers tips for browsing and choosing a health insurance plan. This episode is brought to Short Wave in conjunction with our colleagues at Life Kit.

What other tips and tricks would you like from Short Wave? E-mail us at [email protected].

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

More than 100,000 people died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period beginning April 2020. Despite a growing consensus that recognizes addiction as a public health problem, many effective interventions like safe consumption sites and needle exchanges are politically unpopular and legally complex.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro, and addiction correspondent Brian Mann.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Millions of Americans are planning to travel this week and gather inside for Thanksgiving — many in groups of 10 or more. At the same time, COVID-19 cases are rebounding. NPR correspondent Allison Aubrey's been talking to experts to find out how to gather in-person as safely as possible and minimize a new surge.

Read the CDC's tips on gathering for the holidays: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/celebrations.html

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

COVID-19 case numbers are once again rising in the United States ahead of the holiday season, but the country is in a much different place than it was this time last year.

Fifty-nine percent of the country is now fully-vaccinated, and tests are widely available. Mandates, including one that took effect today for federal workers, are expected to spur more people to get vaccinated in the months to come.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and health correspondent Allison Aubrey.

Connect:
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.
Find and support your local public radio station.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In movies, asteroids careening towards Earth confront determined humans with nuclear weapons to save the world! But a real NASA mission to change the course of an asteroid (one not hurtling towards Earth), the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is about to launch.

NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce joins the show to talk about what it takes to pull off this mission and how it could potentially protect the Earth in the future from killer space rocks.

Email the show at [email protected].

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy