Shows / 1A

1A
Listening to the news can feel like a journey. But 1A guides you beyond the headlines – and cuts through the noise. Let's get to the heart of the story, together – on 1A.
Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening for 1A.
Episodes
1AHow Mayors Across The Globe Are Making A Difference
Mayors are uniquely aware of what’s needed to make their cities run more efficiently. And when it comes to improving city life — from housing, to public…
1AWhat Tele-ICUs Mean For Health Care In Critical Moments
In August 2024, 26-year-old Conor Hylton checked into Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut. Overnight, he was transferred to critical care, where he died. It was…
1AJournalist Jodi Kantor On Finding Your Life’s Work
Last year, when Columbia University found itself embroiled by anti-war protests and fighting with the Trump administration, journalist Jodi Kantor was invited…
1A'If You Can Keep It': The Realities Of Supreme Court Reform
Public trust in the Supreme Court is at a 30-year low, according to Pew Research Center. For some, this month marked a turning point in perceptions of its…
1AThe News Roundup for May 8, 2026
President Donald Trump told PBS News this week that his offensive in the Middle East has a “very good chance of ending.” Just days later though, the U.S…
1APatients In States With Abortion Bans Might Lose Remote Access To Mifepristone
One drug is at the center of the current legal battle over abortion: mifepristone. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, mifepristone has…
1AWhat The Practice Of State Preemption Means For Our Democracy
Last November, Calvin Duncan won an election to serve as the chief records keeper for the criminal courts of the parish that covers New Orleans. He received 68…
1AThe Plan For The US Power Grid
Power is at the center of Americans’ lives. It lets us cool our homes, keeps them lit, and charges our electronics. But the more things we plug into our aging…
1A'If You Can Keep It': The Supreme Court And The Voting Rights Act
Last week, in a six-to-three ruling along ideological lines, the Supreme Court dealt a major blow to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That’s the landmark Civil…
1AThe News Roundup For May 1, 2026
The Supreme Court this week struck down a voting map in Louisiana that created a second majority-Black district, ruling it an unconstitutional racial…
1AThe Fate Of The Farm Bill
American farmers are being squeezed. Tariffs are raising the cost of equipment and services. And now the war in Iran is driving up the cost of fertilizer and…
1AHas RFK Delivered On MAHA Promises?
In 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a presidential hopeful running under the banner of “making America healthy again.” Among his most fervent supporters…
1AHow AI Is Transforming Our Cities
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how we run cities. It has the potential to make life more affordable, efficient, and safe. But with little oversight…
1A'If You Can Keep It': What The Wealth Gap Means For Democracy
A growing number of states are looking at implementing a wealth tax to fund social services. California is among them, with a billionaire tax set to be…
1AThe News Roundup For April 24, 2026
President Donald Trump is giving Iran a short window to unify behind an offer for peace in the Middle East after negotiations between Tehran and Washington…
1AThousands Of Americans Are Set To Lose Access To HIV Medication And Care
Just a few decades ago, human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV, was a death sentence for those who contracted it. However, over the past 35 years…
1ABreaking The Silence Surrounding Sex And Disability
More than 70 million Americans live with a disability. That’s roughly one in four adults. And any of us can join that number at any point in our lives. Through…
1AWhat It Means To Have An ICE Detention Center In Your Backyard
Towns across the U.S. are now grappling with what it means to have ICE detention centers in their backyard — even communities that overwhelmingly voted for…
1A'If You Can Keep It': The Future Of The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Most of us would agree that access to foreign intelligence is important to national security. But whose private data gets swept up in the process? The Foreign…
1AThe News Roundup For April 17, 2026
We start with the U.S.-Israel war with Iran — a war that President Donald Trump said would end in two to three weeks. Now, in its seventh week, the Pentagon is…
1AThe Uncertain Future Surrounding NATO
For over 75 years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has bolstered American power and shaped the world order as we know it. But under President Donald…
1AWhat AI-authored Books Mean For The Publishing Industry
Imagine you’re in a bookstore and you wander over to the fiction section. There, you find two shelves: one for human-written novels… and one for novels written…
1AHow The IRS Is Navigating Tax Season In 2026
It’s that time of the year again. Have you finished filing your return? Doing taxes this season has been particularly fraught – for both taxpayers and the…
1A'If You Can Keep It': What The Democrats’ Recent Wins Mean For The Midterms
The Democrats are having a moment. They’ve enjoyed massive turnout for recent primaries, special elections, and local races. And voter data shows they’re also…
1AThe News Roundup For April 10, 2026
The U.S. and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire after President Donald Trump threatened that “a whole civilization will die” in a social media post this…
1AUnpacking The Supreme Court’s Conversion Therapy Decision
In 2019, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay governor elected in the U.S., signed a bill banning conversion therapy in the state. Last week, the…
1ACeasefire In Iran And The State Of The US Job Market
After threatening massive attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure, Donald Trump is agreeing to a ceasefire to end the war in Iran. On Tuesday morning…
1AWhat Medicaid Cuts Mean For American Hospitals
More than 80 million people rely on Medicaid. It’s the single largest source of funding for health coverage for low-income Americans. But President Donald…
1A'If You Can Keep It': The US, Iran, And War Crimes
Both Iran and the U.S. have been accused of committing or planning war crimes since “Operation Epic Fury” began in late February. Targeting…
1AThe News Roundup For April 3, 2026
President Donald Trump told the nation during a presidential address that he expected the war in Iran to come to a close soon, saying that it was “nearly…
1AThe State Of Abortion Access In 2026
It’s been nearly four years since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Since then, abortion access across the U.S. has been in flux – and the fight around that care…
1AWhere Do Voters Stand On Donald Trump’s Immigration Enforcement?
In 2024, many voters were frustrated with the state of the southern U.S. border. A growing share of the electorate thought the Biden administration was being…
1ADonald Trump, The Supreme Court, And Birthright Citizenship
If you’re born in the United States – with a few exceptions – you’re a U.S. citizen. That principle is called birthright citizenship and it’s existed since the…
1A'If You Can Keep It': Privacy Protections Under The Trump Administration
Is the Trump administration creating a centralized database that tracks the activities Americans? Americans who are not suspected of committing a crime? That’s…
1AThe News Roundup For March 27, 2026
The Pentagon is planning on putting boots back on the ground in the Middle East. Some 2,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have received orders to…
1AThe Environmental Cost Of War
The morning after major airstrikes by Israel on Iran’s oil facilities, black rain fell in Tehran. The city of nearly 10 million people was engulfed in thick…
1AThe Plight Of The U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service has delivered mail for 250 years, from the busiest cities to the most remote parts of the country. But decades of money…
1AThe Evolution Of The American Housing Crisis
Owning a house appears further and further out of reach for many people in the U.S. The problem is a national one. The median price for an American home is now…
1A'If You Can Keep It': How Trump Deals With Foreign Adversaries
The U.S. has a long history of getting rid of foreign leaders it doesn’t like. But a new pattern has emerged in the Trump administration’s dealings with its…
1AThe News Roundup For March 20, 2026
As Israel and the U.S. continue to fire missiles at targets within Iran, the American military and President Donald Trump are weighing the costs and benefits…
1A'In Good Health': Why Is Colorectal Cancer Affecting Generations Differently?
Cases of colorectal cancer in young people have risen nearly 60 percent since the early 2000s. That’s according to data from the Centers for Disease Control…
1AWhat The Future Holds For FEMA In North Carolina
Big changes are coming to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. With Kristi Noem out at the Department of Homeland Security, all eyes are on FEMA to roll…
1AThe Role Of Diplomacy In The War With Iran
Wars are fought by militaries — but they’re usually ended by diplomats. So, what happens when diplomacy is sidelined? Officials from Washington and Tehran…
1A'If You Can Keep It': What Trump Owes Congress
President Donald Trump and his administration and allies have sent mixed messages about the war with Iran in the first two weeks of the operation. The…
1AThe News Roundup For March 13, 2026
Two weeks into the war with Iran, the United States has spent more than $10 billion dollars. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Iranians and…
1AUnpacking The Cost Of The War On Iran
Waging war is not cheap. Experts estimate that the U.S. has already spent more than $10 billion launching missiles at Iran in the past few weeks. Meanwhile…
1AReligion In The War On Iran
Religion keeps coming up when Trump administration officials discuss their joint military operation with Israel against Iran. This kind of rhetoric comes as…
1ADonald Trump And The Future Of Foreign Intervention
Donald Trump made a clear promise on the campaign trail. “I will tell you you’re not going to have a war with me and you’re not going to have a third world war…
1A'If You Can Keep It': How ready are American security agencies for Iran?
Days before the United States dropped its first bombs on Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired members of a team that monitored threats from the Islamic…
1AThe News Roundup For March 6, 2026
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Kristi Noem, his pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was leaving the agency amidst serious…
1A'If You Can Keep It': What Should Accountability Look Like In The Epstein Case?
It’s been a month since the Justice Department released more than 3 million documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In that time, dozens of people…
1APresident Trump's 'Third Country Deportations,' Explained
Over the past year, the United States government has deported hundreds of people using a rare method of removal: putting them on a plane and sending them to a…
1AThe Fight Over Funding The DHS
For months, the Department of Homeland Security has been plagued by allegations of chaos. Meanwhile, the funding fight over DHS and a partial government…
1AWhat operation ‘Epic Fury’ means for the US, Iran, and beyond
The United States is once again at war in the Middle East. The Trump administration, with support from Israel, made targeted air strikes against high-profile…
1AThe News Roundup For February 27, 2026
President Donald Trump delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term in office, lauding the strength of American economy. But even though…
1AThe Future Of Fertility In 2026
Millions of people struggle to become pregnant in the U.S. And in 2024, fertility rates reached a new low, according to CDC data. Women are also waiting longer…
1AUnpacking The State Of The Union
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term. It comes at a pivotal moment in Trump’s presidency…
1AICE And The State Of Minnesota
Despite a supposed personnel drawdown, the Department of Homeland Security is calling its ICE rollout in Minnesota the largest immigration operation ever. Now…
1A'If You Can Keep It': The Private Companies Profiting Off ICE
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has real human costs. Some 13 people have been shot by ICE and federal agents since September, two of which were…
1AThe News Roundup For February 20, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security issued a memo this week advising federal agents they should detain refugees and migrants who have not yet obtained a green…