The Daily

The Senate is preparing to vote on another stimulus bill — the third of the pandemic.

The bill has the hallmarks of a classic stimulus package: money to help individual Americans, and aid to local and state governments. It also contains provisions that would usher in long-term structural changes that have been pushed for many years by Democrats.

Today, we explore the contours of the Biden administration’s stimulus bill and look at the competing arguments. 

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• The stimulus bill is polling strongly across the country, including with many Republican voters, despite a scattershot series of attacks from congressional Republicans.
• Before the vote on President Biden’s stimulus package, here’s a fact check on some of the common talking points. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Even as the cold has lifted and the ice has melted in Texas, the true depth of the devastation left by the state’s winter storm can be difficult to see.

Today, we look at the aftermath through the eyes of Iris Cantu, Suzanne Mitchell and Tumaini Criss — three women who, after the destruction of their homes, are reckoning with how they are going to move forward with their lives.

Guest: Jack Healy, a Colorado-based national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Even with power back on across most of the state and warmer weather forecast, millions of Texans whose health and finances were already battered by a year of Covid-19 now face a grinding recovery from the storm.
• Here’s an analysis of how Texas’s drive for energy independence set it up for disaster.
• As the freak winter storm raged, historically marginalized communities were among the first to face power outages.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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It all started when Sigrid E. Johnson was 62. She got a call from an old friend, asking her to participate in a study about DNA ancestry tests and ethnic identity. She agreed.

Ms. Johnson thought she knew what the outcome would be. When she was 16, her mother told her that she had been adopted as an infant. Her biological mother was an Italian woman from South Philadelphia, and her father was a Black man.

The results, however, told a different story.

Today on The Sunday Read, what the growth in DNA testing, with its surprises and imperfections, means for people’s sense of identity.

This story was written by Ruth Padawer and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Odessa is a four-part audio documentary series about one West Texas high school reopening during the pandemic — and the teachers, students and nurses affected in the process.

For the past six months, The New York Times has documented students’ return to class at Odessa High School from afar through Google hangouts, audio diaries, phone calls and FaceTime tours. And as the country continues to debate how best to reopen schools, Odessa is the story of what happened in a school district that was among those that went first.

All episodes of the show released so far are available here. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Five years ago, Judge Merrick B. Garland became a high-profile casualty of Washington’s political dysfunction. President Barack Obama selected him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, but Senate Republicans blocked his nomination. In the process, Mr. Garland became known for the job he didn’t get.

Now, after being nominated by the Biden administration to become the next attorney general, Mr. Garland is finding professional qualifications under scrutiny once again. In light of the attack on the Capitol, we explore how his career leading investigations into domestic terrorism prepared him for his Senate confirmation hearing.

Guest: Mark Leibovich, the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, who spoke with Judge Merrick B. Garland.

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Background reading: 

• In his confirmation hearing this week, Mr. Garland said the United States now faced “a more dangerous period” from domestic extremists than at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
• Here’s why Mr. Garland described his experience leading the Justice Department’s investigation into the 1995 bombing as “the most important thing I have ever done in my life.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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When the pandemic was bearing down on New York last March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration issued a directive that allowed Covid-19 patients to be discharged into nursing homes in a bid to free up hospital beds for the sickest patients. It was a decision that had the potential to cost thousands of lives.

Today, in the second part of our look at New York nursing homes, we explore the effects of the decisions made by the Cuomo administration and the crisis now facing his leadership. 

Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s Metro desk. 

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Background reading: 

• Trying to quell a growing outcry over the state’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched into a 90-minute defense of his actions while hitting back at critics.
• The scrutiny of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes has also put Mr. Cuomo’s aggressive behavior in the spotlight.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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When New York was the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerged as a singular, strong leader. Now his leadership is embattled, particularly over the extent of deaths in nursing homes during the peak.

Today, in the first of two parts on what went wrong in New York's nursing homes, we look at the crisis through the eyes of a woman, Lorry Sullivan, who lost her mother in a New York nursing home.

Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s Metro desk. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Trying to quell a growing outcry over the state’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched into a 90-minute defense of his actions while lashing out at critics.
• The scrutiny of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes has also put Governor Cuomo’s aggressive behavior in the spotlight.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh died last week. He was 70.

For decades, he broadcast mistrust and grievance into the homes of millions. Mr. Limbaugh helped create an entire ecosystem of right-wing media and changed the course of American conservatism.

Today, we look back on Rush Limbaugh’s career and how he came to have an outsize influence on Republican politics.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine. 

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Background reading: 

• With a following of many millions and a a divisive, derisive style of mockery and grievance, Rush Limbaugh was a force in reshaping American conservatism. Read his obituary here.
• Weaponizing conspiracy theories and bigotry long before Donald Trump’s ascent, the radio giant helped usher in the political style that came to dominate the Republican Party.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In recent years, travel — cheap travel, specifically — has boomed. Like all booms it has its winners (including influencers and home-sharing platforms like Airbnb) and its losers (namely locals and the environment). Somewhere in that mix is The Points Guy, Brian Kelly, who runs a blog that helps visitors navigate the sprawling, knotty and complex world of travel and credit card rewards.

Today on The Sunday Read, a look at the life and business of Mr. Kelly, a man who goes on vacation for a living.

This story was written by Jamie Lauren Keiles and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The end of summer 2021 has been earmarked as the time by which most American adults will be vaccinated. But still remaining is the often-overlooked question of vaccinations for children, who make up around a quarter of the U.S. population.

Without the immunization of children, herd immunity cannot be reached.

Today, we ask when America’s children will be vaccinated.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Pfizer and Moderna have begun testing their vaccines on children 12 and older. The vaccine for kids is coming, but not for many months.
• New research has cast doubt on the idea that prior infections with garden-variety coronaviruses might shield some people, particularly children, from the pandemic.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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