Post Reports

Latest Episodes:

An immigration crisis in Del Rio, Tex. Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

Thousands of mostly Haitian migrants are crossing into the U.S. from the southwest border of Texas. When they arrive, they face rough territory: hostile law enforcement, mass airlifts for deportations, and a squalid, overcrowded migrant camp in the U.S.
Read more:
Crossing the Rio Grande into Texas as a Haitian migrant is a treacherous journey. That became apparent after images came out of U.S. Border Patrol agents using whips and horses to police the border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also made it clear that there will be law and order conditions where agents are seeing an influx of travelers. This also comes at a time when the Biden administration has begun deporting Haitian nationals in droves.
Arelis R. Hernández covers the southern U.S. border for The Post. She reports from the Rio Grande, giving a glimpse into what life is like on the border and explaining the Trump-era policy under which mass expulsions are taking place.
To learn more about Title 42, the public health order that President Biden has kept in place to expel migrants out of the United States, listen to “Marooned in Matamoros,” a two-part documentary series from Hernández and Post Reports editor Ted Muldoon. It’s about a woman’s treacherous journey from El Salvador to the Matamoros encampment in Mexico.

The young and the vaccinated Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

What the latest news from Pfizer means for getting younger kids vaccinated. Plus, who will be able to get a booster shot and when.

On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech said that children ages 5 to 11 had a robust immune response to smaller doses of their coronavirus vaccine. Anita Patel, a critical-care pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital, explains what these results mean for slowing the spread of the coronavirus and what it has been like to take care of severely sick children during the pandemic.

The Biden administration had promised that this would be the week anybody vaccinated on or before Jan. 20 would be able to get a booster shot. Health and science reporter Lena Sun explains the confusion around who is actually eligible for a booster and when people could get one.

Who are the Oath Keepers? Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

Members of far-right extremist organizations — such as the Oath Keepers, a self-styled militia movement — are being charged by federal prosecutors for their alleged participation in the Jan. 6 riot. But prosecution may not wipe out their ideologies.

Law enforcement officials in D.C. were prepared for a big rally this weekend — the so-called Justice for J6 rally in support of people charged in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection. While turnout in D.C. was low, underlying conspiratorial ideologies are thriving, showing up in protests at local government offices and school board meetings around the country.

One of the groups that has pushed that hard-right agenda is called the Oath Keepers. Many members are now being investigated and charged by federal prosecutors. Hannah Allam reports that the ideologies of this anti-government militia group continue to spread, even as members face legal consequences.

America’s Song, Part 2 Sep 18, 2021

Show notes

With his performance of “God Bless America” during Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, NYPD officer Daniel Rodriguez comforted a nation still grieving in the wake of 9/11. It felt like a timeless moment. Instead, it proved fleeting. Twenty years later, the reasons for that tell a story of the political divisions and embellished patriotism that now polarize American sports. The weight of it all can be felt through the struggles of Rodriguez, who’s still trying to bless people with his voice as America attempts to rediscover its own.

Join Washington Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer, sports features writer Kent Babb and audio producer Bishop Sand as they explore how a man and a nation have attempted to heal and find meaning after trauma and tragedy.

In Part 2, Jerry, Kent and Bishop visit Daniel in L.A. to see what his life is like now, and look into the origins of the song that made him famous. Then they look at what else happened to him, the song and the country in the years after 9/11, as shifting political winds drove the Americans further apart.

America’s Song, Part 1 Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

The end of the Merkel era Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

After a decade and a half in office, Germany’s Angela Merkel is stepping down. On today’s show, we take a closer look at the chancellor’s life and legacy, and what this shift in power will mean for Germany and the world.
Read more:
Angela Merkel grew up the daughter of a pastor in communist East Germany, and political possibilities opened up for her after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. As chancellor she carried Germany and by extension the European Union through crisis after crisis with a steady hand. But her legacy is somewhat more complicated at home than it is abroad, as Loveday Morris and Ishaan Tharoor report.
“Some applaud her humble, consensus-driven political style,” Morris writes. “Others see a lack of bold leadership, particularly in the face of a more aggressive Russia and rising Chinese power.”
As Merkel leaves office, we talk about the vacuum of power she leaves behind and what might happen next.

When an OB/GYN is antiabortion Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

When we talk about abortion access in the U.S., we talk a lot about Roe v. Wade, the actions of state lawmakers, the court system. But we don’t talk about doctors — and what they do or don’t say to patients behind closed doors.

After Texas passed the country’s most restrictive abortion law, many abortion rights advocates feared that other states would follow suit — states like West Virginia that have already made moves in the past to restrict access to abortion.

But reporter Caroline Kitchener has found that there are other barriers to abortion already in place, some of which are invisible to us: “I had never even thought about this other barrier that is doctors,” Caroline said. “Doctors who might not talk to women about the option of abortion.”

Caroline has spent many, many months reporting on Byron Calhoun, the only high-risk pregnancy OB/GYN in central West Virginia. He also happens to be staunchly antiabortion.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about what that means for his patients — and, more broadly, how doctors’ political beliefs can affect the kind of care they provide their patients.

Delta’s stress test on schools Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

The Biden administration has made in-person learning a priority for this school year. Now that most kids are back in school, the question on everyone’s mind is: Will it last?
Read more:
By now almost all students are back to learning in person. But what some school districts are calling vague guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has led to widely varying coronavirus protocols — only some districts are requiring masks, while others may not be properly notifying parents of positive cases at their kids' schools. With the delta variant surging, many parents, teachers and experts are frustrated with this patchwork response. Health and policy reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb shares how schools have fared in the first weeks of classes, and why the guidance from the White House isn’t more prescriptive.

California’s recall fever Sep 13, 2021

Show notes

A recall election in California ends Tuesday night. After pandemic-related shutdowns and mandates, can Gov. Gavin Newsom survive the challenge to his liberal policies?

Forty-six candidates on the recall ballot. One governor with his first term on the line.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is fighting to hold on to his seat, with the recall election that could replace him set to end Tuesday night. Newsom needs more than 50 percent of the vote to maintain his governorship.

Senior correspondent Scott Wilson says recall elections are baked into California life. Every governor for the past 60 years has been challenged with a recall, but only one attempt has been successful.

This recall election could flip leadership of the country’s most populous state to a vastly different candidate — and have far-reaching implications for national politics and the makeup of the U.S. Senate.

Inside the newsroom on 9/11 Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

Watching the chaotic end of America’s longest war, we’ve been thinking a lot about the terrorist attack that set it in motion. We interviewed colleagues who covered 9/11 to try to make sense of how that day changed the country and the world.

“Where were you on September 11th?” Most Americans over a certain age have a 9/11 story — of the moment they heard the news of the terrorist attacks, or of anxiously calling family members to make sure they were okay.

In the 20 years since the attacks, that day for some may feel like a slowly fading memory. But the direct consequences of that Tuesday in 2001 are still playing out in the news in front of us every day.

Today on Post Reports, we’re telling the story of 9/11 through the eyes of our newsroom. We spoke with Post colleagues who covered it — from senior editors, to reporters at the Pentagon, to an intern.

“It changed everyone's lives,” says Post reporter Juliet Eilperin, who was covering Congress that day, “not only in terms of those who lost people that they cared about that day, but what it meant for the commitment of our military and what it meant for people living in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Middle East.”

As the Afghanistan war comes to a harrowing close, we look at how the 9/11 terrorist attacks shaped our world and how the consequences of that day are still with us.

This story was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Maggie Penman, Renita Jablonski and Martine Powers.

It was scored and mixed by Ted Muldoon, who wrote original music for this show.

Reena Flores and Rennie Svirnovskiy were also a huge help with this story.

In this story, you’ll hear the voices of Leonard Downie, Arthur Santana, Juliet Eilperin, Valerie Strauss, Amy Goldstein, Amy Argetsinger, Marc Fisher, Katie Shaver, Karen DeYoung, Mike Allen, Rosalind S. Helderman, Chuck Lane, Debbi Wilgoren and Matt Vita.

Thank you to WTOP News for sharing its 9/11 archive.

We talked to so many people for this story who helped shape our understanding of that day, including Tracy Grant, Freddy Kunkle, Dana Milbank, Ellen Nakashima, Ann Gerhart and Dudley Brooks.

And a big thank-you to Joe Heim, who pitched this idea to our show.

The Post has many other stories reflecting on the anniversary of 9/11 and how our country has changed 20 years later.

Listen to “America’s Song,” a special podcast series from The Post about how a singing police officer comforted a grieving nation after 9/11 — and why the moment couldn’t last.

9/11 was a test. Carlos Lozada writes that the books of the past two decades show how America failed.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected