Post Reports
1,462 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★ - 4.7K ratingsPost 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.
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Episodes
The steel mill town being reshaped by abortion
August 04, 2022 18:54Today on “Post Reports,” we take you to a conservative-leaning steel town in Illinois grappling with its new role as home to the closest abortion clinics for many patients in the South and Midwest post-Roe. Read more: Granite City is a conservative-leaning community in Southern Illinois that’s seen layoffs at the local steel mill and had dozens of businesses close in recent years. But the city is now becoming known for something else: abortion. It’s home to the closest abortion clinics for...
When abortion is on the ballot
August 03, 2022 22:12An abortion access victory in Kansas. Trump-backed candidates on the rise. What the results of Tuesday’s elections could mean for the midterms in the fall. Read more: Kansas voters delivered the first election win to protect abortion access since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Campaign reporter Hannah Knowles unpacks this surprising outcome — supporters of abortion rights overwhelmingly won — and what lessons it carries for the politics of abortion. At the same tim...
Is Afghanistan harboring terrorists — again?
August 02, 2022 21:18The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the world’s most wanted terrorist, leaves al-Qaeda in a leadership crisis. But the drone strike ordered by President Biden also highlights new tensions with the Taliban one year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Read more: Ayman al-Zawahiri’s safe house in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, was targeted by a drone strike Saturday after months of planning, officials said Monday. And Zawahiri had been a U.S. target for more than two decades: He oversaw ...
He voted to impeach Trump. Did it kill his career?
August 01, 2022 20:09Rep. Peter Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, but back in his district a right-wing base on the rise hopes to punish him for his vote. Read More: Less than two weeks after arriving in Congress, one of Republican Rep. Peter Meijer’s first votes was to impeach former president Donald Trump after the events of January 6, 2021. Now, Meijer is fighting for his seat back home in his western Michigan district where supporters of the former president have mobilized in s...
Your kids’ apps are spying on them. Here’s what to do.
July 29, 2022 21:25Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler about how apps are spying on our kids — and what we can do to stop it. Read more: Geoff has been looking at tech from a consumer perspective in his series We the Users, and he says apps are spying on our kids at a scale that should shock you. More than two-thirds of the 1,000 most popular iPhone apps likely to be used by children collect and send their personal information out to the advertising industry, according to...
The true story of a 10-year-old’s abortion
July 28, 2022 21:51The story of a 10-year-old who crossed state lines for an abortion after Roe v. Wade fell sparked loud skepticism from media and politicians. Today, how local journalists uncovered the truth — and why the public rarely hears such abortion stories at all. Read more: When the Indianapolis Star published a story July 1 about a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of new restrictions in her home state, it sparked a national frenzy. An in...
The Justice Department eyes Trump
July 27, 2022 22:11Today on Post Reports, how the Justice Department is investigating former president Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 election. Plus, how same-sex marriage has become a bipartisan issue. Read more: This week, a Washington Post investigation revealed that the Justice Department is investigating former president Donald Trump’s conduct surrounding efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Devlin Barrett reports on what the investigation looks like and whether any crimina...
The race to contain monkeypox
July 26, 2022 20:23The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency over the weekend — leading to debate within the White House over whether the United States should do the same as case numbers continue to climb. Read more: The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the nation’s monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. As health policy reporter Dan Diamond explains, officials are hoping to make a decision this week – but the deliberations are complicated by politic...
How U.S. interest rates could fuel a global hunger crisis
July 25, 2022 21:27While the U.S. government is scrambling to lower inflation for Americans, there’s a growing concern about what rising interest rates means for the rest of the world, especially poorer countries. Read more: It has been said that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold, and White House economic reporter Jeff Stein says in this case, it could be much worse than a cold. “We're on the precipice of a tsunami of debt slamming into dozens, if not hundreds, of countries with rising interes...
Trump’s missing hours on Jan. 6
July 22, 2022 21:18The House committee investigating Jan. 6 has wrapped up its first series of hearings. Today on “Post Reports,” a debrief on what we’ve learned about what happened behind-the-scenes that day, and what’s next for the committee. Read more: For over a month now, members of Congress have been calling witnesses and making the case that former president Donald Trump played a critical role in the attack on the Capitol. On Thursday night, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack...
The end of universal free school lunch
July 21, 2022 21:09Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about the end of a grand experiment: universal free school lunch. The program started to address childhood hunger early in the pandemic, but it's set to expire at the end of the summer. Read more: For many school administrators, providing universal free meals has been a no-brainer. “The reason we like this program is that it takes all the shame out of all the kids that eat free lunch,” said Donna Martin, a school nutrition director in a rural county in ...
Inflation is making people homeless
July 20, 2022 20:29Today on “Post Reports,” how the rising cost of living is pushing many Americans into homelessness, even if they have good jobs. Read more: The sheriffs arrived at 6 a.m. in early June to tell Josanne English what she already knew: She was being evicted. She’d lost her job as a project manager near Sacramento in April, then fell behind on rent as $6-a-gallon gas and higher costs for food and utilities depleted her monthly budget. By the time she lost her home two months later, she owed $...
Britain’s hottest day ever
July 19, 2022 20:25Today on Post Reports, the 104-degree day that came years too soon in Britain. Plus, why President Biden is contemplating declaring a climate emergency in the U.S. Read more: London correspondent Karla Adam takes us to a non-air-conditioned housing bloc in London on the hottest day ever recorded in Britain. One tenant tells her he’s unplugged the fridge because he’s scared it’ll catch fire. Plus, London bureau chief William Booth explains why Britain's heat wave is just the beginning of ...
‘Multiple systemic failures’ in Uvalde
July 18, 2022 21:02Today on “Post Reports,” the most comprehensive report to date on the Uvalde school shooting blames multiple “systemic failures” of law enforcement on the scene. Read more: On Sunday, a special committee from the Texas House of Representatives released the most exhaustive report yet on the May 24 mass shooting inside a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school. The mass shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead. The report spread blame on every law enforcement agency responding to the attack...
'The Gringo Hunters'
July 15, 2022 19:49Today, we join an elite police squad in Mexico trying to solve an immigration problem we don’t often hear about: American fugitives fleeing south across the border. Read more: The Mexican police squad is officially called the International Liaison Unit. But to locals, they’re known as “the Gringo Hunters.” This spring, Mexico City Bureau Chief Kevin Sieff rode along with this team as they worked to apprehend fugitives who fled American soil for the freer terrain of Baja California. Wha...
Inside Gretchen Whitmer's abortion fight
July 14, 2022 21:31In a political party that has been criticized for its lukewarm response to the Dobbs decision, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan appears to stand out. We take you inside her fight — and her family’s — to protect abortion access in her home state. Read more: A year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was already thinking about how to protect abortion rights in her home state. In particular, she was working to overturn a 1931 abortion ba...
The Twitter-Elon Musk showdown has arrived
July 13, 2022 21:24A billionaire, a social media company and a lawsuit — the “epic” saga between Twitter and Elon Musk’s acquisition deal. Plus, NASA’s James Webb telescope captures galaxies light-years away. Read more: Twitter is officially suing Elon Musk, after the billionaire said he wanted to back out of a deal to buy the social media company. Silicon Valley correspondent Elizabeth Dwoskin has for months been following Musk’s threats to cancel the purchase, and she explains what this moment means for Tw...
Why is President Biden so unpopular?
July 12, 2022 22:18As the White House confronts multiple crises, some Democrats are openly questioning whether the president is capable of leading their party through a contentious midterm election. President Biden has been mired in low approval ratings for months. Despite coming into office with a bold vision to combat climate change, rising wealth inequality and political partisanship, Biden’s agenda has consistently faced obstruction from Republicans and even members of his own party. Meanwhile, a spate ...
The Uber Files
July 11, 2022 21:20Today on Post Reports, we dig into the findings of an explosive new report about Uber, and reveal the human cost of Uber’s quest for rapid growth. Read more: The Uber Files is an international investigation into the ride-hailing company’s aggressive entrance into cities around the world — while frequently challenging the reach of existing laws and regulations. Documents illuminate how Uber used stealth technology to thwart regulators and law enforcement and how the company courted prominen...
The next abortion fight is over state lines
July 08, 2022 21:28The president is taking steps to safeguard abortion access, even as some lawmakers are talking about blocking patients from seeking the procedure across state lines. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore abortion’s next legal battleground. Read more: Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection to abortion in the United States, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding abortion rights. This includes measures to ensure access...
Boris makes his Brexit
July 07, 2022 22:17It’s official: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. We review the scandals that led Johnson here and try to understand what happens next for his party. Then we discuss WNBA star Brittney Griner’s guilty plea and why it’s not surprising. Read more: After a week of government resignations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday that he is stepping down as the leader of the Conservative Party. The calls for Johnson to resign came after the discovery that the pr...
A rescue mission outside of Kyiv
July 06, 2022 21:13Many of those who are covering the war in Ukraine also call it home. Today on Post Reports, the story of a reporting trip to Chernihiv that also became a rescue mission for one of our colleagues. Read more: As the battle for the east of Ukraine intensifies, we take you to a city north of Kyiv that survived weeks of Russian siege. It also happens to be the hometown of Kostiantyn Khudov, a Ukrainian journalist who has been working for The Post since before Russia’s full-scale invasion in Fe...
How do you punish a mass shooter?
July 05, 2022 21:47Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about the chaos and terror at July Fourth celebrations over the holiday weekend. Then, we break down a big decision point for the Justice Department on whether to seek the death penalty in another recent mass shooting. Read more: In Highland Park, Ill., a holiday parade became a scene of horror as a gunman opened fire on the crowd. At other celebrations in cities nationwide, the booming sounds of fireworks were apparently mistaken for gunshots, sending s...
Freaking out about the economy? Let's talk.
July 04, 2022 16:00Gas prices are high, unemployment is low and the tools the federal government has to fight inflation could cause a recession. So how should we think about the economy right now? We asked our econ reporters and a personal finance columnist for advice. Read more: Businesses and consumers are increasingly worried the U.S. economy will tip into a recession. There are already growing signs that Americans are starting to spend less on dining out, vacation plans and even such routine services as...
Miscarriage, abortion and the legal gray area for doctors
July 01, 2022 21:06Doctors are worried gray areas in new abortion bans force a choice between breaking their oath and breaking the law. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to an OB/GYN about what those decisions are like. Plus, how to cover your digital trail if you seek an abortion. Read more: Health and science reporter Ariana Eunjung Cha recently wrote about the fear and confusion many doctors are facing since Roe was overturned.. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) joined numerous...
A SCOTUS term like no other
June 30, 2022 22:40Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court — just after the court delivered a blow to President Biden’s climate plan. Today, we talk about the divided court and what it means for the future of our democracy. Read more: On Thursday, the Supreme Court sharply cut back the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to reduce the carbon output of existing power plants, a major setback for the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change. ...
Congress passed gun control. Will it last?
June 29, 2022 20:47Congress notched a major legislative win last week by passing gun control legislation. But will a recent Supreme Court ruling on a concealed-carry law blunt the victory? Read more: One day before Congress sent a landmark piece of gun legislation to President Biden’s desk, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on New York’s concealed-carry licenses that could weaken the law. Then, the morning of the bill’s passage, the Supreme Court announced another landmark decision, overturning of Roe v. Wad...
The most damning Jan. 6 testimony yet
June 28, 2022 22:26On Tuesday in a surprise hearing, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Read more: It didn’t take long to find out why the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol chose to hold a surprise hearing on Tuesday: Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided what quickly became clear was the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Ja...
She wanted an abortion. Now, she has twins.
June 27, 2022 22:05After Brooke Alexander learned she was pregnant last August, she and then-boyfriend Billy High initially wanted an abortion. Just 18 and 17, the pair had been dating only a month. But Brooke and Billy live in Texas, where a state-wide abortion ban prohibited the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy. Brooke was too far along, and this past spring, she gave birth to twins. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, it set off...
The day Roe v. Wade fell
June 24, 2022 23:37On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. Today, we take you from a clinic in Houston to protests and celebrations outside the court, and explain what this decision means. Read more: The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the most anticipated of the term. But while this was a stunning reversal — it wasn’t surprising. A draft of the decision was leaked in May, indicating...
The Amazon uprising
June 23, 2022 21:19Today on Post Reports, we follow two union fights at Amazon warehouses with very different outcomes, and what they can tell us about what it takes to go up against a trillion-dollar company. Read more: In early April, the labor movement saw a huge victory: Workers voted to unionize an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island. Our reporter Greg Jaffe went up to New York to meet Chris Smalls, the charismatic leader of a new kind of worker-led movement. Greg had one big question: Could this movement...
Latin America’s new left
June 22, 2022 21:46Colombia has elected its first leftist president. Unthinkable a decade ago, his victory signals a dramatic shift in the pandemic-wracked region. Plus, the powerful testimony from election workers whose lives were upended by Donald Trump’s false claims. Read more: For the first time in its 200-year history, Colombia will have a leftist president: More than 50 percent of voters chose Gustavo Petro, a former guerilla fighter and mayor of Bogatá, to lead the country. Petro is one of several...
The Google engineer who thinks its AI has come alive
June 21, 2022 21:23Today on Post Reports, the rogue Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life – and the dangers of artificial intelligence that impersonates humans. Read more: Nitasha Tiku covers tech culture for The Post. Recently, she broke the story about the Google engineer who concluded his company’s chatbot generator “LaMDA” was sentient. But even as Google and outside experts disagree, this case raises questions about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence that closely mi...
‘Pro-life’ in a post-Roe world
June 20, 2022 20:02As the Supreme Court seems poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, we explore some of the fissures in the antiabortion movement. Read more: What does it mean to identify as “pro-life” in 2022? When Karen Swallow Prior, a longtime antiabortion activist, first heard about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion suggesting that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, she was thrilled. But she quickly realized her feelings on the “pro-life” movement had become a lot more complicated over the decades. R...
The untold story of ‘All the President’s Men’
June 17, 2022 20:00Fifty years ago today, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, located in the posh Watergate building in D.C. Nobody knew it at the time, but the break-in was the first in a series of events that spiraled into the Watergate scandal, and eventually, the downfall of President Richard M. Nixon. For many people, their memories of this event have become encapsulated in a movie: the iconic 1976 film “All the President’s Men.” Based on the book by Washington Pos...
Finally, vaccines for young kids
June 16, 2022 20:34On Wednesday, independent advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended the agency authorize coronavirus vaccines for children under 5. What this move means for families and how it will affect where we are in the pandemic. Read more: It’s finally happening: The Food and Drug Administration seems poised to sign off on coronavirus vaccines for children younger than 5 years old. Parents are celebrating the news after waiting for approval for almost a year and a half. But why did i...
A last-chance deal on gun control?
June 15, 2022 22:21Ten Republicans. Ten Democrats. One bipartisan gun-control deal. Could this be the last chance for any meaningful action on federal gun reform? Read More: Over the weekend, Republicans and Democrats announced a monumental agreement on addressing gun violence. They had a nine-point plan that included provisions that would prevent gun sales to a broader group of domestic violence offenders (closing what is called the “boyfriend loophole”), and criminal background checks for gun buyers under...
The ‘big lie’ candidates
June 14, 2022 21:54Today on Post Reports, the GOP candidates spreading the so-called “big lie,” and how the Jan. 6 committee hopes to educate Americans about what really happened. Plus, the United States has sent weapons to Ukraine — but now the troops need tech support. Read more: J.R. Majewski marched to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and tweeted a photo with the caption: “It’s going down on 1/6.” Last month, he won the Republican nomination in an Ohio congressional district along Lake Erie. A Washing...
A recession? In this economy?!
June 13, 2022 22:18Is the U.S. economy hurtling toward a recession? Dean Baker, an economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in D.C., thinks it all boils down to just how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates again later this week. On today’s “Post Reports,” we examine the factors that could lead to a recession — and we ask what Americans can do to prepare if it happens.
'Broken Doors,' Episode 6
June 11, 2022 19:00Today on “Post Reports,” the sixth and final episode of “Broken Doors,” about the risks of no-knock raids for people on both sides of the door. How did we get here – and what does the future look like? Read more: “Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. In the sixth and final episode o...
How the abortion ruling could impact Black women
June 10, 2022 20:41Today on “Post Reports,” what the fight for abortion rights means for Black women, and how both sides of the fight are intertwined with the legacy of slavery and racism. Read more: With a Supreme Court ruling on abortion access looming, Black women in particular are struggling with the fight for reproductive rights. A long history of medical mistreatment and neglect follows Black women, and it makes the debate between abortion rights and antiabortion advocates all the more complicated. Whi...
The banned book club
June 09, 2022 22:20How high school students across the country are fighting for their right to read. Plus, what the Golden State Warriors represent off the basketball court. Read more: A few months ago, education reporter Hannah Natanson sat in on the meeting of an unusual book club at Vandegrift High School in Austin, Tex. – one in which students read exclusively books banned by their school district, and think deeply about the aspects of the world that’ll remain hidden to them if grown-ups keep banning boo...
A preview of the Jan. 6 hearings
June 08, 2022 21:14Starting Thursday, the House committee probing the attack on the Capitol is holding televised hearings. What will be revealed after nearly a year of investigation? Plus, an update on California’s Tuesday elections. Read more: After conducting hundreds of interviews and uncovering more than 100,000 records, the House committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is making the investigation public, holding six televised hearings, the first starting tomorrow in prime time. The hearings w...
The housing crisis hits mobile homes
June 07, 2022 21:25Today on Post Reports, how rising prices at mobile home parks may destabilize the entire housing market. Plus, climate change is forcing schools to close early for “heat days.” Read more: America’s housing crisis is trickling down to mobile home parks. Mobile homes have traditionally been the country’s biggest source of affordable housing: 20 million Americans live in manufactured homes. Most mobile home park residents own their houses and rent the land underneath. But now, mobile home pa...
Too liberal for California?
June 06, 2022 21:13Today on “Post Reports,” we take a hard look at California’s strange election season to see how Democrats across the country are testing the viability of their beliefs – and whether some may be losing patience with leftward ideas. Read more: Tomorrow is primary day in the Golden State. And in California’s two largest cities, things are looking pretty…odd. In San Francisco, there’s a campaign to remove a district attorney and “progressive prosecutor,” who was voted in a couple of years ago...
"Broken Doors," Episode 5
June 04, 2022 19:00Today on “Post Reports,” the fifth episode of “Broken Doors,” about a multi-house no-knock raid,and the drugs police say they seized. Read more: “Broken Doors” is an investigative podcast series hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the U.S. justice system — and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. In the fifth episode of this series, we head to Missouri. Police upended the lives of an entire block...
“Dirty Dancing” to “Knocked Up”: Abortion in the movies
June 03, 2022 22:05How aborition in the movies changed the way Americans think about reproductive rights. And a dispatch from Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee celebrations in London. Read more: As we wait to hear how the Supreme Court rules on abortion access in America, we’ve been reflecting on what has and hasn’t change since Roe. v Wade was decided almost 50 years ago. Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post’s film critic, looked at how the film industry has portrayed abortion since the landmark ruling in 1973. Aft...
99 days of war in Ukraine
June 02, 2022 21:34Today on Post Reports, we bring you to the frontline of the war in Ukraine, as Russian forces encircle Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Plus, a teenager coming of age in the war finds purpose in helping fellow displaced Ukrainians. Read more: Nearly 100 days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have suffered significant setbacks: President Volodomyr Zelensky says Russia has now taken 20 percent of his country. Foreign correspondent Siobhan O’Grady brings us into the tr...
What went wrong in Uvalde
June 01, 2022 22:29More than a week later, what we know and don’t know about how a gunman carried out a massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. — and why the timeline from authorities keeps changing. Read more: In the days since a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, new and horrifying details about the timeline of events keep emerging. We now know that the gunman was able to walk into the school unimpeded. We know that children called 911 from within classrooms p...
Out to dry after a hurricane
May 31, 2022 20:00As hurricane season hits, we examine what happens when Black communities seem to be last in line for disaster planning in Texas. Read more: Communities more likely to be hit by hurricanes are bracing themselves for a rough summer, as hurricane season begins June 1. But in Kashmere Gardens, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Houston, residents are still trying to repair the damage to homes from a hurricane that hit five years ago. As Tracy Jan tells producer Bishop Sand, that’s because...