Politico reports on how Democratic senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin are frustrating some in their party by continuing to offer few specifics on what they would support in the broad spending bill being considered by Congress. The NBA season is set to begin. Rolling Stone describes one of the league’s biggest problems: players who refuse to get COVID-19 shots. The arrival of thousands of Afghans has split a rural Virginia community. The Washington Post looks at how some residents have rushed to help the new arrivals, while others have been unwelcoming. U.S. officials say the ivory-billed woodpecker is officially extinct after years of futile efforts to save it. The Washington Post has the story of a new report that also declares 22 other species extinct.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.