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No matter where you live in the U.S., you’ve probably heard stories — or have your own — about not being able to afford to live. The couple in their 30s that can’t buy a home. The 20-something who can’t afford rent without living with several roommates. The family of five who feel pinched every time they visit the grocery store. The retiree struggling to pay their health insurance premium.
Whatever the situation, these stories are becoming central to how Americans are experiencing the economy. And this feeling is shaping politics.
A CBS poll from October suggests inflation and the economy are now the top concern among Americans. According to the Urban Institute, 52 percent of U.S. families don’t have the resources to cover what it costs to live. The average monthly cost of groceries has also risen 32 percent since 2019.
What do when we mean when we say something is “affordable?” And how do we achieve that goal when the target keeps moving?
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Over 210,000 federal workers left their jobs this year because of the Trump administration.
That’s according to the Partnership for Public Service Harms Tracker. For many, it’s meant walking away from, or being pushed out of, a decades-long commitment to public service.
And one trend that’s emerging? Fired or laid-off former federal employees and contractors are running for public office.
We feature the voices of several former federal workers to hear why they see politics as the next step, especially after being forced out of jobs that were always meant to stay apolitical. What does it mean for the future health of our democracy?
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Have you ever fantasized about going back in time to relive a moment — or change it?
Maybe you’re more interested in traveling to the future where cars fly and the code to immortality has been cracked.If the idea of time travel resonates with you, you’re far from alone — particularly during a year of political upheaval.
Scientists moved one step closer to understanding time travel, at least hypothetically, this year. Two physicists at the University of Queensland in Australia created a model for studying the phenomenon.
We’re not there yet. But when it comes to books, movies and TV shows, that’s a different story. We’ve been thinking about hurtling through history for a very, very long time.
Why do we return time and time again to stories about time travel? Will it ever become a reality?
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Headaches are one of the most common neurological conditions in the world. They’re also one of the most debilitating, mysterious, and misunderstood.
According to the World Health Organization, 3 billion people worldwide suffer from headache disorders. And one in six Americans suffers from headaches that are so severe they limit their ability to work, sleep, or otherwise function.
We discuss headaches as a part of our series “In Good Health,” where we talk about the bodily issues that most affect us.
What do we know about headaches and who they affect? What works when it comes to treating headaches?
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The Democratic party has been plagued by infighting over everything from its aging leadership to the war in Gaza. We talked about those divisions on the program earlier this month.
Now, we’re turning our attention to the cracks in the GOP, which over the last few weeks, have only grown wider.
Shortly after President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the Republican party appeared to be in lockstep. Nearly a year later, a lot has changed.
Internal divisions within the GOP include backlash over antisemitism and the release of the Epstein files. President Trump finally signed the order to release said files last week.
In this installment of our weekly politics series, “If You Can Keep It,” we discuss what these divisions in the Republican party mean for the midterm elections and for its future.
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Congress voted overwhelmingly to authorize the release of the Epstein files. President Donald Trump welcomed the decision, signing the bill on Wednesday.
ICE activity in Charlotte, North Carolina, ramped up this week; authorities reportedly made some 250 arrests.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy added 119,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate edged up to 4.4%. It is the only jobs report the BLS will release until December. On Wednesday, the agency canceled the October jobs report for the first time in 77 years.
And, in global news, US President Donald Trump said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing” about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in direct contradiction of U.S. intelligence. The president welcomed the kingdom’s de facto ruler to the Oval Office where they announced military and investment deals between the two nations.
In Gaza this week, some of the deadliest Israeli airstrikes since the U.S. brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10. On Monday, the UN Security Council endorsed Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force.
And the war of words between Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is heating up. However, both sides have indicated they’d be willing to meet face to face.
We cover the most important stories from around the world in the News Roundup.
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Groundbreaking. Transformative. A new way to unlock human creativity and productivity.
Tech CEOs have promised artificial intelligence will do many things for us. They’ve used these promises to justify billions of dollars of investment in building the language models and data centers needed to power AI.
Four of the world’s biggest tech companies – Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – have promised to collectively spend $380 billion this year in the AI space.
That spending has led to huge rallies in these companies’ stock prices. There are now hundreds of private AI companies with values – on paper – of over a billion dollars. And in October, the AI boom created the world’s first company worth $5 trillion – Nvidia.
So, is this spending justified? Do these companies’ stock values hint at a financial bubble in AI? Or is this situation different?
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The typical American supermarket carries more than 30,000 products.
There are nearly as many opinions about what items you should buy to maintain a healthy diet.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says changing how Americans eat is key to improving our public health — but some of his advice has nutritionists scratching their heads.
Throw in the influence of a multi trillion-dollar food industry, and the grocery aisles can become a very confusing place.
That’s where Marion Nestle comes in. She is one of our country’s foremost nutrition experts — not only on what we should eat, but about the invisible forces that shape our options.
Her new book is titled “What to Eat Now: The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why It Matters." We discuss her new book.
Why do we have so many choices when it comes to groceries? How can we cut through the noise of fad diets and get the nutrition we need each day?
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The last two weeks have highlighted fractures within both the Republican and Democratic parties.
The fight over releasing the Epstein files has shaken the GOP, causing some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies – like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – to call him out. And recent incidents of antisemitism within the MAGA movement have prompted infighting about how (and whether) to root it out.
Despite that, the party in the country’s crosshairs is on the left.
The longest government shutdown in American history ended last week after 43 days. And it ended with eight senators breaking with the Democratic caucus to pass a spending bill – without securing the health insurance provisions they had demanded.
Many Democrats across the country — from Washington strategists to local activists — called the move a surrender. They say the defectors gave up a winning hand right when public opinion was on their side. The loudest criticism came from younger Democrats who called for new party leadership.
In this latest installment of “If You Can Keep It,” our weekly series on the state of democracy, we look at the fractures the shutdown exposed on the left and how a new generation of lawmakers thinks the party should govern in the years ahead.
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