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Reclaiming stolen bitcoin Jun 08, 2021

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The Justice Department strikes back against hackers who carried out a lucrative ransomware attack last month. And what President Biden hopes to get out of his meeting with the Group of Seven.
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In May, hackers extorted millions of dollars in bitcoin from Colonial Pipeline through a ransomware attack. Now, the Justice Department has broken into the hackers’ virtual wallet, effectively wiping out their profits from the scheme. Cybersecurity reporter Joseph Marks takes us through the cat-and-mouse game.
The first foreign trip of Biden’s presidency will take him to Britain to meet with leaders of the Group of Seven nations. As columnist Ishaan Tharoor explains, the allies are hoping to have a smooth — even boring — gathering now that Donald Trump is no longer in attendance.

Manchin on a mission Jun 07, 2021

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Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) says he will not support his party’s voting rights bill. The coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on Latin America’s middle class. And, the White House partners with dating apps to promote vaccinations.
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Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) has broken from his party once again to reject a broad voting rights bill. Congressional reporter Mike DeBonis has more on what this means for the rest of the Democrats’ priorities.
In Latin America, a previously burgeoning middle class has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Anthony Faiola reports from Columbia on the disproportionate impact that rising poverty and inequality have had on Afro Latinos.
And, a group of dating sites has teamed up with the White House on an initiative to allow users to indicate whether they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Marisa Iati reports.

Is baseball broken? Jun 04, 2021

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Baseball is back, and almost normal — which means the sport is once again plagued with lots of problems that predate the pandemic. Today, we explore the fastball, the nonstop no hitters, and what’s wrong with baseball.
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There’s a growing trend in baseball — and it could be the downfall of America’s favorite pastime. We revisit a past episode with sports reporter Dave Sheinin on how high-velocity pitches are now dominating the sport. “What's being lost in baseball is the nuance, and it’s always been a game of nuance,” Dave says. “You're losing things like the stolen base, the bunt, the hit and run play. A lot of strategy and nuance is lost from the game when all it is is power versus power.”
Major League Baseball’s offensive woes are complicated, and they don’t appear to be going away. National baseball reporter Chelsea Janes explains what might be going on, and what MLB might try to do about it.

Bye-bye, Bibi? Jun 03, 2021

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What it’ll take to replace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Why we’ll probably all need a coronavirus booster shot. And what makes Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour” resonate across generations.
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An unlikely alliance of opposition lawmakers announced on Wednesday that they had come to a power-sharing deal that would oust longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Steve Hendrix reports on what this major political shift would mean for the future of the country.
Vaccine developers are beginning to test coronavirus vaccine booster shots. Science reporter Carolyn Johnson on why we'll probably need them.
Olivia Rodrigo’s new album “Sour” shot to the top of Billboard’s 200 albums chart. Pop culture reporter Sonia Rao digs into the singer’s cross-generation appeal.

A brief history of Black rebellion Jun 02, 2021

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The fight over voting rights in the United States. How one historian is thinking about the George Floyd protests a year later. And, what the HIPAA federal privacy law says about vaccination records.
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On Sunday night, Texas Democrats staged a dramatic walkout to block a restrictive voting bill from passing — but as Amy Gardner reports, this is far from the end of the battle over voting rights in the United States.
It’s been a year since the killing of George Floyd sparked a global uprising against police brutality and systemic racism. In her book “America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s,” historian Elizabeth Hinton connects the Black Lives Matter protests to a long history of Black rebellions in response to police violence.
As more Americans get vaccinated, misinformation is spreading about whether requiring proof of vaccination is a violation of the HIPAA federal privacy law. Allyson Chiu explains who can ask for your vaccination status and whether you have to tell them.

Fauci’s inbox Jun 01, 2021

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What we can learn from Fauci’s emails. Why tennis star Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open. And, the joyous sounds of Americans reuniting.
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The Post recently obtained 866 pages of Anthony Fauci’s emails from March and April of 2020. Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta report on the correspondence behind some of the most frantic days of the coronavirus crisis.
Naomi Osaka is the second-ranked tennis player in the world. After a back-and-forth about whether she would be required to speak with the media at the French Open, she withdrew from the tournament. Sports reporter Ben Strauss says the episode raises questions about athletes' mental health and the utility of sports journalism.
For more than a year, families and friends have been kept apart because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, as more and more people get vaccinated, loved ones are finally reuniting.
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.

On cicada time May 28, 2021

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Love them or loathe them, the cicadas of Brood X are here. One Washington Post editor recalls his first taste of the bug. A Smithsonian entomologist demystifies the science of Brood X. And a biologist takes us on a journey through cicadas’ deep past.

When the cicadas of Brood X last emerged, the world was a different place. George W. Bush was president. “Shrek 2” topped the box office. And Cameron Barr, lately the interim leader of The Washington Post, was a general-assignment reporter tasked with sampling frozen cicadas sauteed in butter and parsley.

Smithsonian entomologist Floyd Shockley has long loved periodical cicadas. He takes us on a tour behind the scenes at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which houses cabinets full of preserved insects. There we learn about cicadas’ elegant bodies — and the mysterious way they count the passage of the years.

And finally, biologist Gene Kritsky takes us back many, many emergences to the time when cicadas serenaded the dinosaurs.

Entomologists want your help documenting Brood X for their Cicada Safari project. If you would like to contribute photos or videos of cicadas, download the Cicada Safari app or go to cicadasafari.org.

The mystery of covid’s origins May 27, 2021

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Top health officials say they can’t rule out the possibility that the coronavirus leaked from a lab in China. For many Indian Americans, the covid crisis in India is close to home. And Texas enacts the strictest abortion law yet.
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We still don’t know the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. President Biden is asking the intelligence community to redouble their investigation into one theory: that the virus leaked from a Wuhan laboratory. Shane Harris reports.
Even as the United States gets the pandemic under control, Indian Americans are watching as loved ones suffer through India’s devastating surge. Fenit Nirappil reports on Indian American doctors scrambling to help from afar.
And Texas’ new law will ban abortions before many people realize they’re pregnant. OB/GYN Jen Gunter explains the science.
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.

Decisions, decisions May 26, 2021

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What it’s like to cover the Supreme Court, year after year. And, the not-so-secret life of audio producers.
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Longtime Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes on how he prepares for the decision season each year, and what he’ll be watching out for this month.
What exactly does it mean to “produce” a podcast? After a listener asked the question, the Post Reports team started thinking: What if we pulled back the curtain on our process? Producer Bishop Sand and editor Alexis Diao give a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a producer on the show.
Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

A dissident, a plane and the future of Belarus May 25, 2021

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What a forced plane landing in Belarus could mean for state sovereignty and press freedom. And, how some Americans are dealing with accent bias.
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On Sunday, Belarusian authorities forced the landing of a commercial flight carrying travelers from Athens to Lithuania, mere minutes before its final descent. Michael Birnbaum reports on President Alexander Lukashenko’s goals in downing the flight, and the international response to the arrest of a dissident journalist on board.
Accent bias is a subtle but insidious form of discrimination. But as some Americans seek to get ahead in their careers by taking accent modification courses, others are asking whether they should have to change their accents to get ahead. Rachel Hatzipanagos reports.
Today is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. In our episode, “The Life of George Floyd,” we hear about Floyd’s family, his upbringing and how racism hobbled his ambition — a story that reflects the lives of many Americans.

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