Consider This from NPR

As Social Media Giants Plan For Disinformation, Critics Say It's Not Enough

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook and Twitter have plans for an election season rife with disinformation on their platforms. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg e...

Trump's Baseless Attacks On Election Integrity Bolstered By Disinformation Online

30 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump used Tuesday night's debate to attack the integrity of the upcoming election with false claims about voter fraud and mail-in ballots. ...

With 1 Million Dead Worldwide, The Latest On A Coronavirus Vaccine

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With 10 vaccine candidates now in phase three trials, one expert predicts another million people worldwide could die within three to six months.One of...

Ahead Of First Presidential Debate, Almost 1,000,000 Americans Have Already Voted

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will meet Tuesday night in Cleveland for the first of three presidential debates. Michael McDonald...

What's Next For Breonna Taylor's Family, And The Movement That Followed Her Death

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Kentucky attorney general said this week that police were "justified" in the shooting that killed Breonna Taylor during a botched narcotics raid, ...

How Countries Around The World Are Coping With New Surge In Coronavirus Cases

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

India is poised to overtake the U.S. as the country with the most COVID-19 cases. This week the Taj Mahal reopened to tourists for the first time in m...

What The SCOTUS Vacancy Means for Abortion — And The 2020 Election

23 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. She'll be the first woman in history to do so. Ginsburg's death sparked r...

White Support For BLM Falls, And A Key Police Reform Effort Is Coming Up Short

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Prude died of asphyxia a week after his brother called 911 on March 23. His death was ruled a homicide. Joe Prude told NPR his brother was havi...

With Nearly 200,000 Dead, Health Care Workers Struggle To Endure

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The coronavirus has killed nearly 200,000 people in America — far more than in any other country, according to Johns Hopkins University. And experts...

Costs Of Climate Change Continue To Rise As Storms Become More Destructive

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There have been so many tropical storms this year that the National Hurricane Center has already made it through the alphabet to name the storms. The ...

This Election Season Is Shaping Up To Be The Most Litigated Ever

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

During the 2000 Presidential election season, it took 36 days and a Supreme Court decision before George W. Bush became the 43rd president of the Unit...

Who Was Breonna Taylor Before She Became The Face Of A Movement?

16 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in March. Her killing in Louisville, Ky., was part of the fuel for the nationwide protests against police...

Conspiracies Add Fuel To An Already Challenging Wildfire Season

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wildfires in Western states aren't slowing down and conspiracy theories about who started them are only making things harder for responders. Conrad Wi...

Journalist Bob Woodward Says Trump Is 'The Wrong Man For The Job'

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If President Trump knew how contagious and potentially deadly the coronavirus was back in February, why didn't he express that to the American public?...

Wildfires Have Gone From Bad To Worse — And More Are Inevitable

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

More than 3 million acres have burned in California this wildfire season. The previous record in a single season was 1.7 million, two years ago. Towns...

Why Are So Many Americans Hesitant To Get A COVID-19 Vaccine?

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As trials continue for a coronavirus vaccine, some of the world's biggest drug companies have come together in an unusual way. This week, nine drugmak...

Gen Z Is Getting Ready To Vote. Are Political Parties Speaking To Them?

09 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Youth voter turnout exceeded expectations in 2018 and may do so again in 2020. Generation Z — those born after 1996 — is the most pro-government a...

School Is Off To A Slow Start, And It's Going To Be A Long Year

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With Labor Day weekend gone, summer is unofficially over — and millions of children head back to school this week, many virtually. Two teachers —...

What's Driving California's Biggest-Ever Wildfire Season

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

California set a new record high this week for the most acres burned in a single wildfire season. In an average season, 300,000 acres burn. This year ...

Banning Evictions Should Help The Economy. But Can The CDC Do That?

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, told NPR today that keeping people in their houses and 'connected to the economy' will cost money now...

The President's New Advisor Is A Fan Of 'Herd Immunity' — And Scientists Are Worried

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the Northern Hemisphere prepares for a flu season with COVID-19, there are lessons to be learned from the south. Countries like Australia and Argen...

President 'Heaping Fuel On The Fire' Of Unrest, Ex-Trump DHS Official Says

02 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump has stoked tensions and repeatedly failed to condemn acts of violence from racially — and ethnically — motivated attackers, says E...

Getting Back To School Isn't Easy For Anyone — But It's A Lot Harder For Some

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's September and millions of kids are going back to school this month. Millions more already have. And while some students are beginning the new yea...

Race, Hollywood, And The Rise Of Chadwick Boseman

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Chadwick Boseman had raw talent, world-class training and the will to defy Hollywood gatekeepers. As a college student at Howard University, he had a ...

Scientists Fear The Trump Administration Is Putting Politics Before Public Health

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

From therapeutics to testing to vaccine development, public health experts are increasingly worried the Trump administration is letting politics guide...

The Reaction To Kenosha, From Pro Sports To Washington, D.C.

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Professional athletes from several leagues said they would not play scheduled games Wednesday night in response to events in Kenosha, Wis.Basketball, ...

2016 On Loop: GOP Targets White Voters Amid Police Shootings, Protests

26 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump told the Republican National Convention: "The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon — and I mean very soon — co...

Believers Of Internet Hoax 'QAnon' Could Be Headed To Congress

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The FBI has called it a potential domestic terror threat. The President says he doesn't know much. Now, congressional candidates who've signaled suppo...

Postmaster General Says 'No, I Will Not' Put Mail Sorting Machines Back

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Louis DeJoy testified in front of the House Oversight Committee today. He denied ordering the removal of mail sorting machines, but also said he would...

Voters React To A Virtual Convention Unlike Any Before

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in modern history, a major political party convention was not about the optics, the crowds, or arena-sized production value. The De...

What Would A Biden-Harris Administration Look Like?

20 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Former President Barack Obama reportedly changed the speaking order during Wednesday night's Democratic National Convention so that he would speak bef...

Chaos And Confusion: The President, The Postal Service, And Voting By Mail

19 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For months President Trump has tried to suggest voting by mail is not reliable, while 'absentee' voting is. There's no difference. NPR's Pam Fessler r...

Can College And COVID Co-Exist?

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill welcomed students back to campus, only to cancel all in-person classes a week later. Can any college c...

Why Are Testing Rates Going Down?

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Testing is down 40% in two of the hardest-hit states — Texas and Florida. Ashish Jha of Harvard's Global Health Institute explains what might be goi...

The 2020 Census Could Be The Least Accurate Ever — And It's Ending A Month Early

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Census Bureau has said it needs more time to complete their count of every person living in the country. But the Trump administration is ending th...

Congress Is Stuck On Coronavirus Aid. What's President Trump Doing?

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on a new coronavirus aid package. The president has his own plan — a handful of executive orders...

Former 'Top Cop' Kamala Harris And America's Reckoning With Police

12 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

No major political party has ever put a woman of color on a presidential ticket. Until now, when Senator Kamala Harris — a former district attorney ...

What's Changing At The Postal Service, And What It Could Mean For 2020

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

More Americans are expected to vote by mail this year than ever before. But President Trump has called the U.S. Postal Service "a joke," and now a maj...

5,000,000 Cases And Counting: The U.S. Is Still Failing To Contain The Virus

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A school district in Georgia learned firsthand last week that the virus is almost impossible to contain — especially without masks and social distan...

President Trump Wants To Ban TikTok. Is It Really A National Security Threat?

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The app doesn't seem to collect any more data than other social media platforms. But the Trump administration argues that data could fall into the han...

From Online Conventions To Teen Poll Workers, The Virus Is Transforming Election 2020

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

States are scrambling to replace older poll workers with younger ones. The two major political parties will hold their conventions mostly online. And ...

The Patchwork Pandemic Continues As New States Approach A 'Danger Point'

05 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

First New York, then the Sun Belt. Now, new states like Illinois and Mississippi are urging residents to wear masks and take the virus more seriously....

Americans Want To Go Back To Normal, But 'Normal' Is What Got Us Here

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After rising for weeks, the rate of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has started to level off. But now, just as we saw in the spring, the country is f...

The Virus Is Out Of Control, And Kids Are Headed Back To School Anyway

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of students are getting ready to head back to school. Some already have. NPR's Anya Kamentez reports on what happens when positive cases crop...

Slow Mail, Misinformation, And The Pandemic: What Could Go Wrong On Election Day 2020

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rosa Brooks, law professor at Georgetown University, recently helped organize an experiment to game out what might happen if the winner on election ni...

The U.S. Has Lost Control Of The Coronavirus. What Now?

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The spread of the virus exceeds our capacity to test, contact trace, and isolate those who test positive. Some public health experts say the only opti...

In The Pandemic, Big Tech Is Bigger Than Ever. Should Consumers Be Worried?

29 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google faced questions today from a House subcommittee. Some lawmakers believe those companies have too much ...

John Lewis Fought For Voting Rights His Entire Life. Why His Work Is Still Unfinished

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John Lewis, the civil rights icon and late congressman from Georgia who represented Atlanta for more than three decades, spent his life fighting for e...

First Phase III Vaccine Trial Underway, Government Seeks Thousands Of Volunteers

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This morning in Savannah, Georgia, the first volunteer was injected in a phase-three vaccine trial administered by Moderna and the National Institutes...

Expanded Unemployment Set To Expire; Americans Face 'Utterly Preventable' Evictions

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

More than 25 million Americans have been receiving expanded federal unemployment benefits — $600 a week. Those benefits disappear in days.Congress i...

The Fight Over Confederate Statues, And How They Could Tell Another Story

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Monument Avenue is a large, tree-lined street in Richmond, Virginia that used to have several confederate statues and monuments. In the wake of protes...

Voting By Mail Will Increase Dramatically This Year — And It Could Get Messy

22 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Up to 70% of vote this November could be cast by mail. But not all states will allow it. And a recent NPR survey found that 65,000 absentee or mail-in...

Masks May Protect Those Wearing Them; Vaccines To Enter Large-Scale Trials

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Anthony Fauci tells NPR he's glad the President is promoting masks, and hopes more frequent White House briefings will be a source of clear and co...

Federal Officers Could Expand Beyond Portland; Trump Searches For Campaign Strategy

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Portland, Oregon, federal agents have been using violent force against protesters. Some protesters have been arrested by officers in unmarked vehic...

Money Is Flowing For Big Banks. For Unemployed Americans, It's About To Be Cut Off

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The United States had 71,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Back in June, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wouldn't be surprised to see 100,00 cases per ...

Trump Administration Push To 'Consolidate' CDC Data Worries Public Health Experts

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected important information about COVID-19 hospitalizations and equipment from aroun...

There's No Untangling The Pandemic From The Economy

15 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of Americans are having trouble getting a coronavirus test. If they do get one, they may have to wait more than a week for results.On Tuesday, s...

Can Schools Open Safely? What Other Countries Have Decided

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Admiral Brett Giroir of the White House coronavirus task force tells NPR that the United States is still growing testing capacity. Positivity rates in...

Florida ICU Could Hit Capacity 'In Days' As Health Care Workers Face Burnout

13 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Governors in Southern states like Louisiana are starting to come around to mask mandates, but not all residents are following suit. On Sunday, Florida...

Consider This: Make Sense Of The Day

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Every weekday afternoon, Kelly McEvers and the hosts of NPR's All Things Considered — Ailsa Chang, Audie Cornish, Mary Louise Kelly and Ari Shapiro ...

The GOP Operatives Toying With Trump, Hoping For A President Biden

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The President traveled to Florida today. It's one of three states that just set records for new daily deaths from the coronavirus. Trump's trip there ...

Testing Labs Falling Behind; SCOTUS Rules On Trump Taxes

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With so many new coronavirus cases, testing labs are falling behind and people are waiting days for results. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled...

3 Million Cases And Counting, U.S. Faces Same Problems From Beginning Of Pandemic

08 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women to get access to birth control. The opinion upheld a Trump administration rule that allow...

Ideas For Reopening Schools; Evidence Of Airborne Spread

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Australian state of Victoria, which includes Melbourne, just started a new six-week lockdown. The state just recorded a record number of new dail...

Lawsuit Forces Release of Government Data On Racial Inequity Of Coronavirus

06 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in the states history, Arizona has activated "crisis of care standards," a set of protocols health care workers can use to make dec...

America Relied On 'Individual Decisions' To Slow The Virus. It Didn't Work

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It can feel a bit like headline deja vu: New cases on the rise; bars and restaurants closing back down. More than 130,000 people have died in the Unit...

Fauci Admits Government Fault On Masks; Celebrating July 4 Safely

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Employers added 4.8 million jobs last month but the U.S. is still down 15 million jobs since February. And those new figures are from a survey before ...

The Mask Debate Is Over; Fauci On Mandates, Vaccine Skepticism

01 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Arizona hits new records of coronavirus cases and deaths, the state announced they will pause their reopening plans.More and more Republicans are s...

Gaps In The Russian Bounties Story; Fauci Warns Of 100k Cases A Day

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Anthony Fauci told members of Congress Tuesday that although he can't predict the ultimate number of coronavirus cases in the United States, he "w...

After SCOTUS Decision, The Future Of Abortion Rights; Mask Mandates

29 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a major decision on access to abortion. The court struck down a Louisiana law that required doctors who perform ab...

Welcome to Consider This

27 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The hosts of NPR's All Things Considered help you make sense of a major news story and what it means for you, in 15 minutes. New episodes six days a w...

White House Task Force Briefing Is Back; Texas Emergency Rooms Are Filling Up

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 cases are at an all-time high in the U.S. And for the first time in almost two months, The White House Coronavirus Task Force had a televised...

Mask Debate Heats Up; Creating A Vaccine For A Mutating Virus

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Just two months ago, the Northeast was the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. On Wednesday, there were just 581 new reported cases of the coronavir...

The Pandemic Isn't Over: Nearly 10 Million Coronavirus Cases Worldwide

24 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, started Wednesday's coronavirus briefing on a somber note: By next week there will be a t...

Fauci Fact-Checks Trump On Testing

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wearing a face mask, with hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes close at hand, Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the House Tuesday, to explain why the U.S. ...

Florida Passes 100,000 Cases; More Young People Are Testing Positive

22 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Florida passed a grim milestone: 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The latest numbers include a lot of people in their 20s and 30s. Some officials are...

The President's Indoor Rally; Rise In Cases Not Explained By More Testing

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some states — and more testing isn't the only explanation.Find out how cases are in your community. Today is Junet...

Restaurants Are Closing. Again.

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration's plan to end DACA — Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals — was "arbitrary and ca...

Which Masks Are Better; The Rich Aren't Spending (And That's Hurting The Economy)

17 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While President Trump wants to celebrate an uptick in retail sales as states reopen, there's still a long way to go before the economy is back on trac...

Isolation Causes Loneliness. What Else Can It Do To Our Bodies?

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There's a cost to staying home, too. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a neuroscientist and social psychologist at Brigham Young University, explains the toll th...

There Is No 'Second Wave.' The U.S. Is Still Stuck In The First One

15 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nationwide, numbers were never trending downward in any big way. Now in some states that are reopening, they are going up. Oregon and Arizona are two ...

What We Don't Know About Potential Vaccines; Protest Safety

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

All week we've been hearing about rising cases in states around the country. The stock market reacted on Thursday, in part after Federal Reserve offic...

Masks Are Even More Important Than We Thought

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many states that reopened a few weeks ago are seeing spikes in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. In Arizona, officials say if cases continue to ...

Numbers Steady, Hundreds More Dead Each Day; The Cost Of Opening Schools

10 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The numbers aren't really changing. 20,000 new cases a day, and more than 800 dead. Experts warn that by fall, in America, the death count could rise ...

Kids And COVID-19; Mixed Messages On Asymptomatic Spread

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

George Floyd's killing by police sparked protests around the world. Because of the coronavirus, attendance at Floyd's Houston funeral was limited and ...

New York Reopening; Hindsight On Sweden's Lack of Lockdown

08 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After a nearly three-month lockdown and over 20,000 coronavirus-related deaths, New York City is taking its first steps to reopen parts of its economy...

Surprising Job Gains Are Good News — But Not For Everyone

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Editor's note: In this episode, we mispronounced the name of professor Sven-Eric Jordt.It looks like another weekend of protests across the country. A...

Phase III Vaccine Trials Could Start In July

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's been 96 days since the first person in America was reported to have died of COVID-19. And for the first time, the federal government will require...

Fauci's New Vaccine Hopes For 2021; A Pandemic Election

03 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Eight states and the District of Columbia went to the polls Tuesday. More mail-in ballots and fewer in-person polling places caused long delays in som...

The Coronavirus In America: One More Racial Inequity

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The more we learn about the coronavirus, the clearer it becomes that it's disproportionately affecting communities of color. And as protests continue ...

Protesting In A Pandemic; The Fight Over Mail-In Voting

01 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The coronavirus pandemic has collided with protests all over the country over police brutality and the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and many ...

Q & A: Voting And Acts Of Kindness

30 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bestselling author Cheryl Strayed joins NPR's Ari Shaprio as listeners share stories about acts of kindness they've experienced.These excerpts come fr...

The Rural/Urban Divide; Safe Summer Activities

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats want another coronavirus relief bill. A sticking point for Republicans is $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits — which means some ...

Why Are Some Countries Doing Better Than Others?

28 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A new study suggests the coronavirus is both more common and less deadly than it first appeared, NPR's Jon Hamilton reports. From NPR's Joel Rose: a s...

Global Vaccine Competition; More Than 100,000 Dead

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 100,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19, and experts at the World Health Organiza...

99,000 People Dead And A Dire Summer Prediction

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the United States nears 100,000 coronavirus deaths and states begin to re-open, what's next for the country? Dr. Ashish Jha of Harvard's Global Hea...

The Cost Of Being "Essential"

25 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

From NPR's Embedded: The workers who produce pork, chicken, and beef in plants around the country have been deemed "essential" by the government and t...

Q & A: Vaccine Development And Kids' Questions

23 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca answers listener questions about vaccine development, and medical experts tackle questions sent in by kids.These e...

Fauci Optimistic On Vaccine; What's Different About Military Homecomings

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this week, an experimental coronavirus vaccine showed promise. But, for the moment, the full data from that research hasn't been released. Fri...

Optimism For A Vaccine; Strapped Unemployment Offices Leave Many Waiting

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A new analysis from Columbia University says that roughly 36,000 people could've been saved if the United States had started social distancing just on...