The Takeaway
1,674 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 months ago - ★★★★ - 708 ratingsA fresh alternative in daily news featuring critical conversations, live reports from the field, and listener participation. The Takeaway provides a breadth and depth of world, national, and regional news coverage that is unprecedented in public media.
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Episodes
New FDA Rules on Medication Abortion Are Still Full of Red Tape
January 14, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBIt’s been more than six months since The Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Since then, anti-abortion activists have continued to try and restrict access to abortion care, even in states where abortion is legal. And The Food and Drug Administration and its oversight of the abortion medication, Mifepristone, has been one of their targets. Medication abortions account for half of abortions in the United States, and Mifepristone is the first of two pills used in ...
The New 9-8-8 Hotline Has Seen a Surge of Callers
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 8 minutes - 8.06 MBThe new federally mandated mental health assistance and suicide prevention hotline, 9-8-8, launched in July. Since July, according to data from SAMHSA, calls and texts to the lifeline have risen significantly before the adoption of 9-8-8. But questions still remain whether state and local authorities have the infrastructure to provide services for this great demand. We hear from Dan Gorenstein, executive producer and host of the podcast Tradeoffs, who provides updates on how things are g...
The Art of Hammer Throwing
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBLast summer, Janeé Kassanavoid made history as the first Native American woman to medal at the World Athletics Track & Field Championship in Oregon. Kassanavoid is a professional track & field athlete, member of Comanche Nation, and a Women’s hammer throwing for Team USA and we spoke to her about what this feat meant to her, her identity as an indigenous woman in sports, and about her side passion: the culinary arts.
When Women’s Survival is Criminalized
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBMany women who encounter domestic abuse and are caught up in our criminal legal system are punished — both for when they fight back and when they don't. "Criminalized survival" refers to this highly gendered and racialized phenomenon, and we see it in stories of self-defense, like Tracy McCarter and Pieper Lewis. Criminalized survival is also, in many states, essentially codified into law with "failure to protect" laws that punish parents who allegedly did not protect their children from ab...
Malcolm-Jamal Warner's No Longer Hiding
January 12, 2023 21:33 - 8 minutes - 7.55 MBEmmy nominated actor and Grammy award winning poet and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner has spent over 40 years sharing parts of himself with the public. His latest album Hiding in Plain View is also nominated for a Grammy and it’s some of his most vulnerable work to date. In it, he shares reflections on his journey to radical self-acceptance and explores his hopes and dreams surrounding Black masculinity and Black futures.
Look Back At It: The House of Representatives
January 12, 2023 18:39 - 8 minutes - 7.55 MBThe Takeaway checks back in with stories we’ve covered before. We look at updates on The House of Representatives.
Afghan Girls Refuse to Give Up on Education
January 12, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBIt’s been more than 3 weeks since the Taliban government in Afghanistan announced that women were banned from attending colleges and universities. It’s yet another gut-wrenching — but not unexpected — reversal of the regime’s initial promises to respect women’s rights. The college ban effectively means that the highest level of education most Afghan girls will now be able to receive is 6th grade. We speak with Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afgha...
Communities Grapple with Legacy of Water Contamination
January 11, 2023 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBWhen Derek Lowen was 14, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and underwent surgery to remove a tumor the size of a baseball from his brain. He soon discovered that he was one of many Tartan High School students in Oakdale, Minnesota, to be suffering from cancer. In the 18 years since, Derek and the rest of the Twin Cities East Metro community have been left to wonder how much a local manufacturing plant has to do with it. Manufacturing giant 3M dumped industrial waste in the area s...
Margaret Cho is Livid!
January 10, 2023 23:03 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBMargaret Cho began her comedy career 40 years ago. Now, after groundbreaking TV shows, Off-Broadway debuts, sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall, Grammy nominations, Films, and Reality TV shows– just to name a few– the outspoken Comedian is celebrating 40 years with a comedy tour: Margaret Cho is Live & Livid. To read the full transcript, see above.
Brazil's Democracy Under Siege
January 10, 2023 20:10 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBOn Sunday, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro attacked the nation’s highest seats of power in the capital Brasília, just a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated on Jan. 1. They were protesting what they falsely claim was a stolen election. Pro-Bolsonaro protesters stormed Brazil’s Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace in striking similarities to the U.S.'s Jan 6. Insurrection. We speak to Mac Margolis, contri...
Wrongful Convictions
January 09, 2023 22:15 - 9 minutes - 8.33 MB"Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng" is a podcast that features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others continue to languish in prison with some even facing execution on death row. MHP talks with Maggie about wrongful convictions.
Reparations for Black America Is Becoming More than A Possibility
January 09, 2023 22:13 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBLast week, marked the 100-year anniversary of the race riots of 1923 in Rosewood, FL. After a white woman accused a Black man of assaulting her, a white mob destroyed the town and displaced hundreds of Black middle- and working-class families. This rural town was one of several Black communities in the US that suffered racial violence and destruction, and the violence resulted in the loss of economic opportunity and inequality for generations of people of color. The massacre was dramatiz...
What's Going On in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives?
January 08, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBEarlier this week, Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives backed Democratic State Representative Mark Rozzi as their candidate of choice for Pennsylvania House Speaker. The move shocked many analysts across the state, given that Pennsylvania Republicans had a slight numeric advantage going into this deliberation. Gillian McGoldrick, Harrisburg Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, joins us to discuss this surprising bi-partisan collaboration.
Off to the Race in Kentucky
January 08, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBThe race for Kentucky governor is one of the most closely watched contests in the nation. The popular incumbent, Democrat Andy Beshear, hopes to repeat his upset victory of 2019 against a crowded primary field of twelve Republican hopefuls. Running to secure the Republican nomination is Kentucky State Attorney General Daniel Cameron whose platform includes his support of the state’s near-total abortion ban. If Governor Beshear is reelected, his strategy could provide insights to other D...
Is Facebook Responsible in Ethiopia?
January 07, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBTwo Ethiopians recently filed a lawsuit against Meta, Facebook's parent company, alleging that the company not only allowed hate speech to spread online during the country's recent civil war — it prioritized hate speech. Facebook’s content moderation practices have been under scrutiny for years, particularly after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal documents that showed Facebook was well aware that its practices for finding and removing hate speech in a number of countries — incl...
Taking Care of the Caregivers
January 07, 2023 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11 MBThe CDC reports “25-percent of U-S adults” serve as caregivers to those who need support and assistance. Caregivers need support, too. Without a network of support, they face burnout and high levels of stress. We talk with Karen Warner Schueler, author of The Sudden Caregiver about what it means to be a caregiver, and how those who support others can find the support they need for themselves.
What if the January 6th Insurrectionists Succeeded?
January 06, 2023 23:27 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBAs the two-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection approaches, the new graphic novel 1/6 explores a dystopian alternate history: What if the insurrectionists had been successful and violently overturned the election? We speak with co-author Alan Jenkins, professor of practice at Harvard Law School and co-author of the graphic novel 1/6, about the premise, inspiration, and characters in this alternative historical fiction graphic novel.
Convictions and Consequences for Jan. 6 Foot-Soldiers
January 06, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBIt’s been two years since the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Trump who were attempting to stop the election certification process of Joe Biden’s presidency. Since then, over 900 participants in the mob have been charged with various crimes for their actions that day. The majority have received months of jail time or probation, though a number have caught more severe charges and sentences for offenses such as attacking police officers, obstructi...
The House Still Has No Speaker
January 05, 2023 22:09 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBAs of Thursday morning, there is still no speaker of the House. This is the third day of the House of Representatives’ new two-year session, and so far, it is in a state of limbo. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California failed to secure his bid for House speaker on six separate ballots, which prevents House members from being sworn in or working on any legislative business. In the 2022 midterms, Republicans’ won such a slim majority in the House, that choosing a speaker require...
Healing Trauma Through Nature in Wildcat
January 05, 2023 22:07 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBThe documentary Wildcat follows a pair of conservationists attempting to teach an orphaned ocelot how to adapt to the wild and live on its own. We speak with one of the film's stars, Harry Turner, an ex-British solider who originally went to the Amazon to rehabilitate from combat. We talk about the documentary and Harry’s experience in the Amazon.
Capitalism, Violence, and Sports as Spectacle
January 04, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBEarlier this week, Damar Hamlin, safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed following what appeared to be a routine tackle during a high-stakes football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He received medical treatment on the field for nearly 10 minutes before being rushed to the local hospital. It took the NFL over an hour to suspend the game as coaches and members of both teams refused to play on. We speak with Nathan Kalman-Lamb, assistant professor of sociology at the University of New B...
2023's Most Anticipated Pop Culture Moments
January 04, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBThe year just started, but there are already so many “most-anticipated” releases across all of popular culture. If you're feeling overwhelmed about what to watch and listen to, don't worry. The Takeaway has you covered. We sit down with two pop culture experts to parse through the movies, music, and tv shows that have to be on your radar this year. Hunter Harris, writer of the Hung Up newsletter, and Larisha Paul, staff writer at Rolling Stone, join us to walk you through 2023's most excit...
Congress (In)Action
January 03, 2023 17:02 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBThe 118th U.S. Congress convenes today as one of the most diverse and the youngest in recent congressional history. House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries follows in the footsteps of Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Kevin McCarthy battles for votes to become House Majority leader. We discuss legislative opportunities for the new Congress and take a closer look at incoming freshmen members with national political reporter Eugene Scott of the Washington Post.
The Health of the Economy
January 02, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBThe health of the economy is important, or so we’ve been told. The economy is measured by GDP, Gross Domestic Product, which only measures the value of goods and services produced. And surprisingly, there is no scope for the positive or negative effects on real people's lives. To talk more about this we speak with Dirk Philipsen, Associate Research Professor of economic history at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethic...
Assessing the Health of Democracy
January 02, 2023 17:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBThis week is the two-year anniversary of the January 6th 20-21 assault on the United States congress. We take a moment to look at the state of Democracy here in the United States and abroad, along with steps that can be taken to shore up the democratic system. We’re joined by Susan Stokes, Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor at The University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy and writer, filmmaker and Black studies scholar Charlene Carruthe...
Replay: Deaf Concert-Goers Can Feel the Beat
December 30, 2022 07:10 - 25 minutes - 23 MBProducers Ryan Wilde and Katerina Barton report on what makes a show or concert accessible to the deaf community and they look at, and try on, some technology from Music: Not Impossible that could help make attending concerts and experiencing music more accessible. Music Not Impossible created what they call “Haptic Suits,” specifically designed for the deaf and hard of hearing. The suits are used to translate music into vibrations that people can then feel throughout their entire body, whic...
Replay: All Hail 'The Woman King'
December 30, 2022 01:02 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBOne of the Fall’s highly anticipated films is The Woman King starring Viola Davis. It’s the story of the Dahomey empire and their elite fighting force, the Agojie, made up entirely of women. We talk with director Gina Prince-Bythewood and producer Cathy Schulman about what it took to get this movie made, the inclusion of difficult subjects, and what it means to have a film that centers Black women.
Replay: Mason, Tennessee is Fighting for its Future
December 29, 2022 17:00 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBMason, Tennessee is a small, predominantly Black town of approximately 1,300 residents situated about 40 miles northeast of Memphis in West Tennessee. The city has struggled with financial mismanagement in the past, but is expected to benefit from a major new economic investment, an electric vehicle plant being built by Ford Motor Company just a few miles away. Recently the Tennessee Comptroller, Jason Mumpower, tried to forcibly take control over the town's finances. We explore the fight M...
Replay: Myth-Busting the Vagina
December 28, 2022 18:30 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBWe talk about the historical and scientific knowledge gap of women’s bodies and people with vaginas, including trans men, intersex people, and nonbinary people, with Rachel E. Gross, a science journalist and author of the book “Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage.”
Replay: The Painful Echoes of Racist Violence in the 20th Century
December 27, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBThis past weekend, a gunman who appears to have been motivated by white supremacy shot and killed ten people in Buffalo, New York, where he traveled to target the city’s Black community. The tragic shooting is one of several disturbing massacres motivated by hate that have occurred in recent years. But the history of race based violence dates back to the beginning of what is now the United States, and some of the recent racially motivated attacks call to mind the racist violence that targe...
Replay: How to Reimagine Judging
December 27, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBJudges have been historically resistant to most kinds of reforms, according to a new report from the Square One Project at Columbia University. The author of the report, Judge Nancy Gertner, argues that judges must be actively involved in revolutionizing the justice system. She also offers up six key recommendations for reimagining judging, including improvements to judicial selection and community engagement.
Replay: Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins
December 26, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBIn 2017, Andrea Jenkins became the first black openly transgender woman elected to office in the United States. This year, she became the first openly transgender city council president in Minneapolis. We spoke to her for our Black History Month series, Black.Queer.Rising.
Replay: Lizz Winstead on Operation Save Abortion
December 26, 2022 15:03 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBThis past Sunday, Operation Save Abortion tackled the question: what can one person do after the Dobbs vs. Jackson decision took away the constitutional right to abortion? The Takeaway attended the day of learning, action and fundraising. We hear from five of the panelists and Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show and founder and Chief Creative Officer of Abortion Access Front, to discuss Operation Save Abortion, the movement for abortion access, and securing reproductive justice fo...
Takeaway Bookclub: All This Could Be Different
December 23, 2022 17:00 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBIn this last installment of The Takeaway Holiday Book Club we speak with Sarah Thankam (Thun-gum) Matthews about her debut novel, All This Could Be Different.
'Tis the Season... of Sickness
December 23, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBThe "tripledemic" is surging, there’s a medicine shortage, China has ended its “zero COVID” policy, and public health institutions are under attack from activists and policy makers. We speak with Gregg Gonsalves, The Nation’s public health correspondent, co-director of the Global Health Justice Partnership, and associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health about what it all means for our ability to act now, and in future public health crises.
Take Me Out's Jesse Williams Talks Broadway, Baseball and Being Brave
December 23, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBYou may know Jesse Williams from his years starring as the self-proclaimed pretty-boy otolaryngologist Jackson Avery on Shonda Rhimes' hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Or maybe you know him from his extensive catalog of television roles, like on Little Fires Everywhere or Power. You might also know him as a fierce advocate against police brutality. But you've never seen him like this. Williams has taken the stage as Darren Lemming in the Broadway revival of TAKE ME OUT, a play by Richard ...
How Trains Left Indelible Tracks on American Culture
December 23, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBAll aboard the Takeaway Train! It’s time for the final installment of our mini-series on how trains built America. We'll explore just a few of the many ways that just a few of the many ways that trains have impacted pretty much every aspect of modern life — films, music, food, religious practices, even our sense of time and space. We'll hear from some familiar voices, some new ones, and from Takeaway listeners themselves as we try to answer the enduring question: why do we love trains so muc...
Hope on the Horizon: Combating Rising Suicide Rates in Black and Latino Communities
December 22, 2022 17:00 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBThe death of beloved dancer and host Stephen “Twitch” Boss took many by surprise. It once again thrusts the always present yet rarely covered reality of suicide by Black and Brown people back into the mainstream. We discuss suicidality within Black and Brown communities, the disparities that exist and the help that’s available. Michael Lindsey, Dean and Paulette Goddard Professor of Social Work, NYU School of Social Work and Kiara Alvarez, Bloomberg Assistant professor of American Health a...
How Trains Became Engines of Freedom
December 21, 2022 17:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBAmericans love trains, and so does The Takeaway! So we’re telling the stories of how trains built America. Today, we go inside the trains and explore the experiences of passengers riding the rails in the 20th and 21st centuries. We hear how trains were sites of civil rights struggles long before the 1960s, with Miriam Thaggert, associate professor of English at the University at Buffalo and author of "Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Railroad." And we speak with Jar...
Takeaway Book Club: Fight Like Hell
December 20, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBBy some measures, 2022 was the year in labor organizing. Workers at Starbucks and Amazon secured historic victories. Our Takeaway Book Club selection for Tuesday is "Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor." We talk with the author, Kim Kelly, labor columnist for Teen Vogue. We also take a look at the 2022 words of the year. Merriam Webster’s word of the year for 2022 is “gaslighting.” Oxford’s is “goblin mode.” We take a look at these words of the year and hear from Team T...
The Clear Takeaway from the January 6th Committee
December 20, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBOn Monday, the January 6th committee referred former president Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution on four charges including: inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States and the obstruction of an act of Congress. We speak with Hunter Walker, investigative reporter with Talking Points Memo and co-author of "The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th," about the referrals and the likelihood of actual charges.
Texas Jury Convicted Ex-Police Officer Who Killed Atatiana Jefferson
December 20, 2022 03:08 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MBAfter a recent series of convictions against police officers who killed unarmed Black Americans, including the officer who killed Atatiana Jefferson, questions still linger about what police accountability actually looks like. While convictions can bring a sense of resolution, they don’t transform the cultures of police forces. We’re joined by Andrea Ritchie, a co-founder of Interrupting Criminalization and co-author of No More Police: A Case for Abolition with Mariame Kaba, to better un...
How Trains Built America's Labor Movement
December 16, 2022 17:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBAmericans love trains, and so does The Takeaway! So we’re telling the story of the people who work on the rails and make sure all our precious cargo gets to us on time. As crucial as these workers are to every facet of the American economy, they’re currently facing grueling working conditions and paltry benefits. After negotiations broke down between rail worker unions and companies this past month over paid sick leave benefits, Congress moved to prevent rail workers from striking. But that ...
Iran's Protesters Face Escalating Oppression
December 15, 2022 18:08 - 13 minutes - 12 MBOn Monday, a young man named Majidreza Rahnavard was executed by the Iranian government. He is the second protester officially convicted and executed since the anti-regime protests began in September, over the death of Masah Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police. Nearly 500 other protesters have also been killed by police and security forces during the protests. We hear from Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director for the Center for Human Rights in Iran, about the escalating situatio...
Truth Telling with The Big Fib Podcast
December 15, 2022 17:00 - 8 minutes - 7.66 MBDo you think your child has what it takes to figure out the biggest fib? Deborah Goldstein, executive producer, head writer and host of The Big Fib Podcast joins us to talk about the show and give us some tips on how to win.
LAME DUCK: Power Is Shifting
December 14, 2022 17:00 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBEven in her first term, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been unusually influential over the Democratic party's agenda — often by simply saying "no." But with her recent announcement that she is changing her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, the balance of power within the Democratic party is shifting. What effects will her departure from the party have on the 118th Congress and President Biden’s agenda next year? We also check back in on what progress can be made before the ...
Fighting Food Insecurity with Michaels Desserts
December 14, 2022 17:00 - 9 minutes - 8.71 MBBaking phenom Michael Platt joins us to talk about his new book Michaels Desserts: Sweets for a Cause, and how he merges his love for baking with his desire to help combat food insecurity. Michael also shares with us some of the baking tips he’s learned along the way.
Congress Faces a Looming Government Shutdown
December 13, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBAs the 117th Congress comes to an end in the next couple of weeks, we are once again facing a looming government shutdown. Congress has until midnight on Friday to reach a deal to avoid a partial government closure. This comes as Democrats and Republicans debate over a $1.5 trillion dollar omnibus bill that would fund the government through the end of September 2023. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked for members to be prepared to pass a short-term continuing resolution...
Prestige Won't Pay The Bills
December 13, 2022 01:22 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBLast Thursday, more than 1,100 New York Times journalists and other staff members walked off the job in a historic 24 hour strike, punctuating nearly two years of contract negotiations over better compensation, pensions and healthcare benefits. Despite the image of prestige that working at a legacy news outlet conjures, workers describe being unable to make ends meet on the pay the Times provides. The situation is similar for part-time faculty at The New School, a private university with a...
Dragphobia is on the Rise
December 12, 2022 17:00 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBMoore County, N.C.-- On Saturday, December 3rd, a shooting attack was carried out on two power substations located in Moore County, NC. Residents were without power for nearly 5 days. This attack happened about 3 weeks after a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs and killed 5 people, injuring over 20 others, and it comes during a time when white supremacist protests of drag events have popped up in places like Boston and Ohio. According to CNN, the power outage caused by the attack ha...