Post Reports

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What Sinema wants Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Sen. Joe Manchin gets all the attention. But Sen. Kyrsten Sinema could be an even bigger obstacle for Democrats’ spending plans. Today on “Post Reports,” we ask what she wants and how she got here.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D) has been throwing a wrench in the plans of her own party. The Arizona lawmaker has stalled her votes on major legislative plans including raising the minimum wage and increasing drug prices. But her agenda isn’t explicitly clear, and she’s doing deals behind closed doors, angering her colleagues and her constituents.

Congressional reporter Mike DeBonis reports on Sinema’s political trajectory and what we can glean from it about what her motivations are.

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners - one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

Correction: In this episode, we misstated the senator who Sen. Kyrsten Sinema replaced in Arizona. She took over Jeff Flake's senate seat in Arizona, not John McCain's. The audio has been updated to reflect the correction.

3G is ending. Who will be left behind? Nov 16, 2021

Show notes

Why America’s digital divide could soon get worse. And, what happens when extremist beliefs move from the fringe to the mainstream.

When they were rolled out nearly two decades ago, 3G wireless networks served as the bedrock of an explosion in cell phones and connected devices. Now, they’re being phased out by telecommunications companies that want to focus their money on their 4G and 5G networks. Cat Zakrzewski reports on the vulnerable Americans that could be left behind if the transition away from 3G networks isn’t done carefully. And if you use a 3G device, here’s what you need to know about the end of the 3G service.

On Monday, Stephen K. Bannon – one of President Donald Trump’s former advisers – walked into the FBI’s field office in Washington and turned himself in. He’d been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress the week before, having refused to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Hannah Allam reports on some of the other actors facing legal consequences for their involvement in the Capitol riot – and on how the ideologies that fueled the insurrection are finding new homes at school board and city council meetings.

The introduction to this episode has been updated for clarity.

McConnell & Trump: It’s complicated. Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

The intertwined legacies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump. And, what happens to a country when its borders are eroded by climate change.

Mitch McConnell is the most powerful elected Republican in the country. But the most influential member of the GOP is arguably still former president Donald Trump. That dynamic has become the basis for a tense, awkward, sometimes pugilistic alliance between the two men -- one that could define the future of the Republican Party. In recorded telephone interviews with the politicians, reporter Michael Kranish examines a relationship fraying at the seams.

As COP26 concludes, the sinking island nation of Tuvalu prompts the question: Are you still a country if you’re underwater? William Booth reported from the U.N. climate summit.

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners -- one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.

The environmental cost of online shopping Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

During the pandemic, online shopping has become more popular than ever. That’s especially true as we head into the holidays. Today, we look at one community that says it’s seeing the costs of that growth in its air quality.

To meet the increased online shopping demand, companies like Target, Walmart and Amazon use big distribution centers — warehouses that store products and ship things to customers as fast as possible. (We should say here that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

These warehouses can take a toll, though — on Amazon workers, as The Post has reported, and on the community around them.

Today on Post Reports, Kori Suzuki brings us to Fontana, Calif., where a fight over warehouses has consumed the city.

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.

Pandemic math: Retiring without Social Security Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

The Americans who are retiring — but delaying claiming Social Security benefits. Plus, the next installment in our Teens in America series: a story about students taking on the job of educating their peers about race.

For better-off Americans, the pandemic economy created some of the strongest incentives to retire in modern history, with generous federal stimulus, incredible market gains, skyrocketing home values and health concerns drawing many Americans into early retirement.

The surprising twist? Many of these retirees also opted to put off claiming Social Security benefits, an exclusive Washington Post analysis shows. By delaying their benefits, these retirees can expect to collect higher monthly checks in the future, as economics reporter Andrew Van Dam explains.

Later in the show, we continue our Teens in America series by hearing from 18-year-old Zoë Jenkins. Though she was a high-achieving student, her experience at school in Kentucky was clouded by racist incidents — plus, she wasn’t really getting an education on race in her classrooms. So she decided to take matters into her own hands, and created a diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum for Gen Z, by Gen Z.

“There are issues in the world that I feel like I can address,” Zoë said. “I feel like I should be doing that. And I think more teenagers feel like we have to do something. So many things are coming to a kind of a tipping point.”

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners: one year of unlimited access to everything The Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

A post-presidency like no other Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the state of Donald Trump post-presidency — his businesses, his finances, the ongoing criminal investigations into his actions and how all of those things could affect a potential political comeback.

The Post’s David Fahrenthold has spent half a decade reporting on former president Donald Trump’s family and its business interests — first when Trump was a candidate, then when he was president and now that he’s a private citizen again.

There was a narrative popular among liberals during Trump’s presidency that he would face legal and financial ruin as soon as he was out of office. For a number of reasons, the reality is a little bit more complicated. David fills us in on the latest on Trump’s businesses, his legal battles and what it means that the Trump White House’s records could be turned over to the House Jan. 6 committee.

Kyle Rittenhouse on trial Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

The homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse pits claims of self-defense against accusations of vigilantism. Plus, in the next installment in our series on teens in America: Why it can be especially hard for Black immigrant families to talk about racism.

The homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse – the teenager who killed two people and injured a third during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. – continues this week. Kim Bellware reports on the evidence brought by both sides, and why the trial likely won’t end with a high-profile conviction.

“We have a small set of facts that everybody agrees on,” Bellware says. But while the prosecution is arguing this was first-degree intentional homicide, “The other side is saying, ‘Yes, he did kill these people. He did shoot. But he was doing it to protect himself.’ ”

And later in the show, we hear from 16-year-old Obse Abebe, a teen reporter with YR Media for the latest installment of our series on Teens in America.

Obse was born in Ethiopia but moved to the United States when she was three. Being Ethiopian and living in America meant that Obse had to come to terms with being Black in America.

“Not to say that the topic of race is hush-hush in our family,” Obse said. “But it is difficult to approach when your parents are very passionate about you feeling connected to both their culture from their mother country and the culture that you are currently in.”

A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that nearly three-quarters of teens in America say they’ve talked to a parent about race in the past year. More than half say they’ve had a similar conversation with a close friend. As part of The Post’s Teens in America series, we’re listening in on what those conversations sound like.

For more in this series, visit wapo.st/teens.

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners — one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes online for just $29. To sign up, go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

How a crowd can become deadly Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

After eight people were killed at a Travis Scott concert in Houston late Friday, many of us were left wondering: How did this happen? An expert on crowds explains how too many people packed closely together can become deadly.

An estimated 50,000 people attended the sold-out 2021 Astroworld Festival at NRG Park to see Travis Scott, whose concerts have a reputation for being raucous.

The Washington Post reviewed dozens of videos from the night to understand how the concert became a mass casualty event, synchronizing video from the audience with a live stream of Scott’s performance published by Apple Music. The videos show a chaotic scene, with concertgoers crying out for help as the show continued, the loud music drowning them out.

The crowd surge victims include a 14-year-old who loved baseball, two friends celebrating a 21st birthday and a 27-year-old attending the concert with his fiancee. Here’s what we know about the victims.

We reached out to Keith Still, a professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk in Britain, to talk about how these tragedies happen and how they could be prevented.

The zebra files Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

When you hear hoofbeats, think zebras — especially if you’re in the D.C. suburbs, where fugitive zebras have been on the run from a local farm for many weeks. Buckle up for a wild ride as we delve into this suburban safari.

For more than two months, fugitive zebras in the Maryland suburbs have captured the imaginations of children, neighbors and members of Congress alike. Post Reports producer and amateur zoologist Emma Talkoff started looking into what she thought was a cute local news story — only to unravel a much wilder tale.

Read more from The Post on the zebras from reporters Dana Hedgpeth, Katie Mettler and Maura Judkis.

Listening in as teens talk about race Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

When the pandemic triggered a wave of anti-Asian violence, 18-year-old Miranda Zanca found herself wondering about her own identity and how she fit into the moment. This is the first in a new series in The Post’s Teens in America project.

Miranda Zanca hasn’t always seen herself as particularly Asian, even if others did. That’s because she’s mixed race — her mom is Chinese and Puerto Rican and her dad is White. And earlier this year, when the pandemic triggered a wave of anti-Asian violence, she found herself wondering what role she should play in conversations around anti-Asian hate. “Am I Asian enough to be upset?” she asked. “Am I White enough to be making a difference?”

American teenagers are part of what's likely the most diverse generation in our nation’s history — new Census Bureau data shows that the population under 18 is a majority minority for the first time. These young people are also helping to shape more of the conversations we’re all having about race. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that nearly three-quarters of teens say they’ve talked to a parent about race in the past year. More than half say they’ve had a similar conversation with a close friend. As part of The Washington Post’s Teens in America series, we’re exploring what those conversations sound like.

Miranda’s story is the first in a new five-part series from The Post and YR Media, a nonprofit media, music and technology incubator. Listen in as teen reporters from around the country have tough conversations about race with family and friends, and with host Martine Powers.

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