WAMC News Podcast

Longtime NPR Music contributors Ann Powers and Alison Fensterstock stop by to discuss the new book “How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History From NPR Music.” The book is part reclamation, part encyclopedia, and part critical reconsideration.

The presidential election is almost here, and it features a familiar face who’s already held the office against a trailblazer many Americans are still learning about. A new PBS “Frontline” documentary is the latest in an election year series focused on the candidates that dates to 1988. We speak with filmmaker Michael Kirk about “The Choice: Harris vs. Trump.”

The last several years have been a rollercoaster for state and local budget-writers, who confronted the disruption and uncertainty of the COVID pandemic, which torpedoed revenues, then an influx of federal aid that shored things up in the near term but left question marks in the out years. We speak with Justin Theal about new research from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Author Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic has spent years studying how figures in Washington secure power and hold on to it – often regardless of the outcome of any particular election. The Atlantic's latest issue is making some headlines of its own, with its wordless cover suggesting the peril to American institutions that may be in store in a second Trump term. Leibovich's new article is titled "Hypocrisy, Spinelessness and the Triumph of Donald Trump."

The Trust for America’s Health has released a new report on American obesity rates, and the numbers are startling. Four in 10 American adults are obese, and 23 states have adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent. We speak with Trust president Dr. Nadine Gracia.

We speak with Region 2 Deputy Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Andrew D’Amora about National Preparedness Month and his memories of responding to the 9/11 attacks during his NYPD career.

WAMC's Josh Landes and James Paleologopoulos stop by to discuss the results of Tuesday's primaries in Massachusetts.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to answer questions before a U.S. House coronavirus committee Tuesday. We talk about that and the latest scandals in state politics with WNYC's Jon Campbell.