

Post Reports
The Washington Post
Post Reports is the daily podcast from The Washington Post. Unparalleled reporting. Expert insight. Clear analysis. Everything you’ve come to expect from the newsroom of The Post, for your ears. Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi are your hosts, asking the questions you didn’t know you wanted answered. Published weekdays around 5 p.m. Eastern time.
Episodes
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Sep 8, 2020 • 32min
The postmaster general’s alleged straw-donor scheme
The postmaster general faces new allegations of campaign finance violations. Why the pandemic is making it so hard for people to sleep. And your questions about immunity, answered. Read more:Investigative reporter Aaron Davis has discovered that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s prolific campaign fundraising was bolstered for more than a decade by a practice that left many employees feeling pressured to make political contributions to GOP candidates –– money DeJoy later reimbursed through bonuses, former employees say.Health and science reporter Karin Brulliard has noticed that the pandemic is making it harder for her (and a lot of other people) to sleep. Experts say this “coronasomnia” could imperil public health.General assignment reporter Meryl Kornfield recently asked immunologists all your immunity-related questions. Some of their responses are encouraging. Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

Sep 7, 2020 • 16min
Is it okay to laugh at Florida Man?
The beginnings of the Florida Man meme, and what it’s like to go viral on the worst day of your life.Read more:Is It okay to laugh at Florida Man? Writer Logan Hill investigates what happens after someone goes viral as the “world’s worst superhero”— and the moral implications of laughing along.Subscribe to The Washington Post: postreports.com/offer

Sep 4, 2020 • 19min
The U.S. is deporting Nicaraguan asylum seekers
The story of a Nicaraguan dissident who — in fear for his life and his family’s — sought asylum at the border. U.S. officials sent him back instead. Moises Alberto Ortega Valdivia is a political dissident from Nicaragua who sought asylum in the U.S. He was denied that right. What happened next at the border was “shocking,” says Post correspondent Kevin Sieff. “To them and to basically anyone who follows immigration law.” After the Post published this article, Congress members wrote to President Trump, demanding Nicaraguan asylum seekers be allowed to apply. Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

Sep 3, 2020 • 26min
Why your groceries just got more expensive
On today’s Post Reports, how presidential candidates are shifting their focus to the Midwest. How the pandemic is making us pay more for less at the grocery store. And how grocery store workers morale is at an all-time low.Read more:Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is shifting his strategy in an attempt to win the Midwest. Matt Viser reports that the intentional contrast with President Trump makes the region the most crucial battleground in the 2020 campaign. What’s on your grocery store shelves? Turns out, it’s a lot less, for a lot more. Laura Reiley reports on how the pandemic is affecting the food supply chain. “They don’t even treat us like humans anymore”: Abha Bhatarrai explains how grocery store worker’s morale is at an all-time low. Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

Sep 2, 2020 • 23min
The children left behind in online learning
On today’s Post Reports, how distance learning widens the digital divide and leaves disconnected students behind. The unique challenges of special education during the pandemic. And, the toxic side of positivity.Read more:Education reporter Moriah Balingit on how schoolchildren are being locked out of virtual classrooms because of poor Internet connections. As many of the nation’s classrooms are moving online, more than 17 million students do not have high-speed Internet at home. As schools reopen, education reporter Perry Stein says that “the stakes are high for everyone. They are high for every child who’s not in school. But they are particularly high for special education kids.” The world has been turned upside, and experts say it’s okay if you’re not okay with that. Wellness reporter Allyson Chiu reports on the toxic effects of forced positivity. Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

Sep 1, 2020 • 30min
The TikTok ban, explained
Tech reporter Rachel Lerman on why President Trump wants to ban TikTok, and what a ban could mean for users and employees in the United States. Emily Rauhala explains what the pandemic means for international students in America. Plus, Lauren Lumpkin on what it feels like to start college remotely. Read more:‘45 days of ambiguity’: What a U.S. TikTok ban could mean for users and employeesEducation, interruptedFreshmen waited for their schools to share reopening plans. Then things got complicated.Subscribe to The Washington Post: postreports.com/offer

Aug 31, 2020 • 32min
What happens when federal workers get political
Lisa Rein reports on the Hatch Act and the uneven way the anti-corruption law has been enforced for the past three years. Matt Zapotosky breaks down what we know about Stephen K. Bannon’s arrest. And remembering actor Chadwick Boseman. Read more:As Trump appointees flout the Hatch Act, civil servants who get caught get punished.Steve Bannon has been charged with defrauding donors in a private effort to raise money for Trump’s border wall.Chadwick Boseman praised student protesters in his 2018 commencement speech at Howard University. Watch the video.

Aug 28, 2020 • 28min
Two conventions, two American realities
Political correspondent Dan Balz looks back at two very different conventions that painted two different portraits of America. Plus, NBA reporter Ben Golliver and sports columnist Jerry Brewer on what happened in the bubble and what it means for the role of sports in protests against racial injustice.Read more:Trump and Biden look to brutal fall campaign over pandemic, race and the economyMost sports leagues pause with second day of protests, some more unified than othersNBA players set a new standard of civil disobedience. Now there’s no going back.Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

Aug 27, 2020 • 34min
A story on repeat in America
Today on Post Reports, Kim Bellware is following protests in Kenosha, Wis., where a Black man was shot multiple times by police. Columnist Eugene Robinson on the civil rights moment we’re in, and why we need Black Lives Matter. Elise Viebeck reports on how voting by mail went in the primaries. And, deputy weather editor Andrew Freedman on what happens when you’re dealing with climate change, a pandemic and a Category 4 hurricane. Read more:Opinion: We need Black Lives Matter. The police who shot Jacob Blake prove it.More than 500,000 mail ballots were rejected in the primaries. That could make the difference in battleground states this fall.Hurricane Laura struck Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. Read live updates here.Subscribe to The Washington Post: postreports.com/offer

Aug 26, 2020 • 28min
The quiet ambition of Mike Pence
Tonight at the Republican National Convention, Mike Pence will accept the nomination for another term as vice president. White House bureau chief Philip Rucker explains how Pence has secured his longevity in the administration. Also on Post Reports, science reporter Carolyn Johnson on the truth behind the plasma treatment Trump has been touting as a coronavirus breakthrough. And climate reporter Sarah Kaplan on what the pandemic can teach us about fighting climate change.Read more:Mike Pence hopes four years of subservience to Trump will lift his political futureTrump touts FDA’s emergency authorization of convalescent plasma as historic breakthrough, but scientists are doubtfulWhat the coronavirus can teach us about fighting climate changeSubscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer


