Sarah Handel

Last year, cooped up at home, the band Low Cut Connie began to stream performances. Before long, they turned into a musical support group for fans coping with the pandemic.

Dick and Shirley Meek celebrated their 70 years of marriage in December of 2020. The following month, both died of COVID-19 within minutes of each other.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Jay Fortenbery, a retired police chief and criminology professor at Elizabeth City State University, about the latest findings in the death of Andrew Brown Jr.

The Tokyo Summer Olympics are 10 weeks away. NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with The New York Times' Motoko Rich in Tokyo about the games' unpopularity in Japan, where the pandemic is still out of control.

The CDC's relaxed mask guidance is a major pandemic milestone. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Dr. Barbara Ducatman of Michigan's Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak about how the pandemic looks there.

Tennessee could owe a historically Black university over $500 million. Andre Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, believes the problem cuts much deeper: "We're throttling the economy."

A program called Ascend West Virginia hopes to draw remote workers to the Mountain State, even to the point of paying $12,000 to selected applicants.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, about his decision to move towards ending federal COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

Last June, NPR's Ari Shapiro spoke with three police officers about being Black in law enforcement. We revisit those officers to talk about the Chauvin verdict and what's next for police reform.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Marilyn Agrelo, director of the new documentary Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street, and actor Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on Sesame Street.

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with former NPR social media guru Andy Carvin about the way his realm came to affect the news business.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Andrew Brown, Jr. He talks about the family's request to deliver special remarks and reflections.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Nick Robinson, of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, about the dozens of anti-protest bills introduced by Republican lawmakers this year.

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with comedy writers Michael Schur and Sierra Teller Ornelas about coming to terms with America's messy history, and turning discomfort into the sitcom "Rutherford Falls."

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Elizabeth City, N.C. Mayor Bettie Parker, who declared a state of emergency in her city ahead of the release of bodycam video to the family of Andrew Brown Jr.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter about seeing the bodycam footage of Andrew Brown Jr. being shot, as well as the independent autopsy.

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with journalist Emmanuelle Chaze about the rescue ship Ocean Viking's response to a shipwreck off the coast of Libya last week, in which about 130 migrants drowned.

Coronavirus cases are surging in Michigan. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan's chief medical executive, about the state's decision not to implement new restrictions.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador To Russia. The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russia Thursday, which are just the latest attempts to thwart the Kremlin.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with World Relief's Jenny Yang about the Biden administration's delays in accepting more refugees into the United States, despite campaign promises to increase numbers.