Post Reports

How the highly contagious delta variant is affecting the fight against the coronavirus. Plus, Nikole Hannah-Jones's fight for tenure and what it's like to be Black in higher education.Read more:A mutated, more transmissible form of the coronavirus called the delta variant is forcing countries to go back into lockdown and areas of the United States to reinstate mask mandates. Fenit Nirappil reports on what’s known so far about this new variant and how it could affect the United States.On Tuesday, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones announced she would accept a faculty position at Howard University, following a controversy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over whether to offer her tenure. Producer Jordan-Marie Smith spoke to higher ed reporter Nick Anderson and Black professors about what it’s like to be Black in higher education.

With more and more Americans vaccinated and cities reopening again, we’re having some joyous reunions — and a lot of social anxiety. Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax answers your questions about how to navigate a post-vaccine America.Read more:As excited as we are about being vaccinated and emerging into the world again, there are some awkward conversations and social anxiety mixed in there, too. On this special episode, one of The Post’s beloved advice columnists, Carolyn Hax, takes questions from our listeners about how to date, how to talk to people in your life who aren’t getting vaccinated, and how to handle family members who might make comments about pandemic weight gain.

Where voting rights stand after a new court decision. An assessment of a shifting Supreme Court. And the latest legal challenges for Trump’s family business. Read more:The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arizona’s voting restrictions. Reporter Amy Gardner discusses what this means for the Voting Rights Act. And Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes shares how the latest rulings show ideological shifts on the bench.Reporter David A. Fahrenthold discusses new criminal charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.

Why Bill Cosby was released from prison. And why some states are banning lessons on systemic racism.Read more:On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the sexual assault conviction of entertainer Bill Cosby, allowing for his immediate release. Manuel Roig-Franzia reports on this decision and how some victims are responding.Several states have banned teaching about systemic racism and gender discrimination, with dozens more proposing similar legislation. Valerie Strauss reports on how critical race theory became a conservative talking point and what these bans could mean for the future of education. 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.

What the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest has to do with climate change. A doctor trying to close the racial vaccine gap in Philadelphia. And tips to combat burnout. Read more:A climate-change-fueled heat wave blanketed the Pacific Northwest. In some areas, temperatures passed 110 degrees. Sarah Kaplan reports on how people in cities such as Portland and Seattle grapple with extreme heat.While at least 70 percent of Philadelphians have received at least one coronavirus vaccination, only 34 percent of Black Philadelphians have gotten a shot. Akilah Johnson on the doctors trying to close the racial vaccine gap.The pandemic has blurred the boundaries between work and home life. Enter A Better Week, a Post newsletter. Tom Johnson explains how to create a better, more balanced workweek.

Two Post journalists, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, spent months reporting on the chaos inside the White House during the Trump administration’s pandemic response. Revelations include details about how sick President Trump really was and his proposal to send infected Americans to Guantánamo. All of this reporting is in their new book “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” out Tuesday. Read more:Over the past few months, Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta have been looking back to the early days of the pandemic in the United States and at the nightmare scenario that played out when covid-19 and an underprepared federal government collided.“There was so much going on behind the scenes that Americans didn’t realize,” says Paletta.As members of the Trump administration jockeyed for power on the coronavirus task force and debated the politics of mask wearing, the coronavirus was ripping through the country. Paletta and Abutaleb report that the crux of the pandemic came down to that unprepared, disorganized federal response.Their new book is “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History.”

Dozens are still unaccounted for after a sudden building collapse in the Miami area. And introducing The Washington Post’s new executive editor, Sally Buzbee.Read more:In the early hours of Thursday, a 12-story condominium building in Miami-Dade County collapsed. Half of the 40-year-old beachfront structure crumbled and over 150 people are missing. The cause of the collapse is unknown, but investigations are underway. Marc Fisher shares what happened.This month, The Washington Post’s new executive editor, Sally Buzbee, took the helm. Formerly the executive editor and senior vice president at the Associated Press, Sally Buzbee became the first woman to head the nearly 1,000-person newsroom. In an interview, Buzbee discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the future of journalism across the country and at The Post. 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. 

Britney Spears’s fight to end her conservatorship. An experimental brain surgery that could treat substance use disorders. And the forced closure of a Hong Kong newspaper. Read more:On Wednesday, Britney Spears made a rare statement on her own behalf to a Los Angeles court requesting that the conservatorship that has taken her finances and lifestyle out of her own control for more than a decade be terminated. Ashley Fetters on Spears’s fight for freedom.Can an experimental brain surgery help treat substance abuse disorders? Lenny Bernstein reports on the deep brain stimulation that surgeons are using to battle addiction.Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, ceased operations this week after the government froze its assets and arrested top editors. Shibhani Mahtani on China’s move to close the free press. 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. 

Houston Methodist was one of the nation’s first health systems to impose a coronavirus vaccine mandate. Now, 153 people have either resigned or been fired for refusing it. Plus, ethical questions in the Biden administration. And coming out in the NFL. Read more:More than 150 health-care workers who did not comply with a Houston-based hospital system’s vaccine mandate have been fired or resigned, more than a week after a federal judge upheld the policy. Health reporter Dan Diamond on what this story can tell us about ongoing vaccine skepticism in the U.S.On The Post’s podcast “Can He Do That?” host Allison Michaels talks to national political reporter Michael Scherer about the pair of brothers in Biden’s orbit raising questions about White House ethics. Producer Emma Talkoff talks with sports reporter Nicki Jhabvala about the first active NFL player to come out.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.

In Oklahoma City, the 1995 bombing offers lessons — and warnings — for today’s fight against extremism. Plus, what a Supreme Court ruling means for the NCAA.Read more:Reporter Hannah Allam was in high school in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh altered the skyline of her city for good. She remembers her classmates speculating about what could possibly have rattled their school building so intensely — maybe an accident in the chemistry lab? A sonic boom? Twenty-six years later, Hannah found her way back to her hometown, to see what lessons – if any – local lawmakers, survivors and activists were bringing to today’s conversations about far-right domestic terrorism.On Monday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the NCAA’s limits on education-related perks for college athletes. Columnist Jerry Brewer explains what that means for the NCAA going forward. We are thrilled to announce that Post Reports was honored with a Peabody Award for our episode “The Life of George Floyd.” Check out the video of Trevor Noah presenting the award, as well as our acceptance speech. 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.