1A

Last week, the government announced plans to completely overhaul the organ transplant system in America. This includes breaking up The United Network for Sharing Organs (UNOS)'s multi-decade monopoly. For those who need an organ transplant, the process is far from easy. On average, 17 people die each day awaiting transplants. More than 100,000 people are currently on the transplant waiting list according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. UNOS has been criticized for...

More than 40 million Americans receive federal SNAP benefits. Congress boosted these benefits during the pandemic. But the public health emergency is ending on May 11, along with the SNAP boosts. Just as these cuts end, Congress is debating the future of SNAP. Republican lawmakers are calling for stricter work requirements, while Democrats say current funding levels are nowhere near adequate. We discuss how food-insecure Americans, and the food banks that help them, are making do. This...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced Wednesday that the Fed would be increasing interest rates for a ninth time in a row. And he was blunt about the reason why he was raising the rate by a quarter of one percent Despite reports that Donald Trump would be indicted this week – well he hasn't been. At least not yet. The grand jury in Manhattan has been hearing evidence of a hush money payment former President Donald Trump made during the 2016 presidential campaign. Meanwhile,...

Andrew Hozier-Byrne has a lot to celebrate. Later this year, he'll celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his debut single and biggest hit "Take Me To Church." It's been four years since he release his last album, "Wasteland, Baby!" His newest project is called "Eat Your Young." It's a three-song EP inspired by "Dante's Inferno." He talks to us about his latest work, his upcoming third album, and what he's learned from nearly a decade of stardom. Want to support 1A? Give to your local...

The fourth season of "Buried Truths" investigates the death of a Black man in a town known for its violent, racist treatment of people of color. In 1958, James Brazier died of brain damage days after police beat him on his front lawn. A local police officer, Weyman B. Cherry, was notoriously violent with Black residents. His Georgia County earned the moniker "Terrible Terrell." We talk to Klibanoff about investigating the cold case and "Terrible Terrell." Want to support 1A? Give to your...

On March 13 the Biden administration approved a new oil venture in Alaska called the Willow Project. More than 4.6 million people petitioned against its approval. It will allow the energy company ConocoPhillips to drill for oil in the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's Northern slope. The company says it will produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day. But will the Willow Project turn into a "carbon-bomb?" Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this...

The burden of finding the right birth control method typically falls to the person who can get pregnant. Some 90 percent of females have taken a contraceptive at some point in their lives, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Currently, there are just two birth control options for people who produce sperm: a vasectomy or condoms. That could change soon. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College discovered that a drug used to treat eye disease temporarily stopped sperm production in...

Hollywood's biggest night has come and gone. And it was a memorable one, even in the run-up. Excluding Michelle Yeoh of "Everything Everywhere All At Once", this year's slate of best actor nominees were entirely white. That's three years after the academy announced new diversity guidelines in response to 2015's Oscars-so-white campaign. We discuss where the Oscars go from here and what they tell us about the state of movie-going. Later, we revisit our conversation with Best Actor winner...

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed this week, sending shockwaves through the financial world. A judge in Texas heard arguments in a lawsuit against a widely-used abortion medication. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the suit to overturn the FDA's approval of pills that account for more than half of abortions in the U.S. The Biden administration approved a drilling project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve that would supposedly produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day. Environmental...

The NCAA College Basketball tournament kicks off Tuesday. Millions of Americans are expected to watch and bet on the NCAA College Basketball tournament that kicked off this week. According to a new survey from the American Gaming Association, 68 million Americans are expected to place over $15 billion in bets on the tournament this year. As sports gambling becomes increasingly popular on mobile platforms, colleges and universities are getting in on the action through multi-million dollar...

Madera Community Hospital closed in December and has now filed for bankruptcy. The emergency room now sits empty, and labor and delivery services have stopped. The hospital's three rural clinics are also closed. Some 136 rural hospitals closed between 2010 and 2021, according to the American Hospital Association. According to a January report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, about 600 hospitals are currently at risk of closing in the U.S. We traveled to Fresno as...

This month, the USDA is implementing stronger oversight of organic products in order to reduce fraud. For a growing number of Americans buying organic, that's good news. The industry reached $63 billion in sales between 2020 and 2021. We discuss what the organic label actually means and the kind of benefits you can expect. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Some Americans are turning to a group of diabetes medications for something other than relief from the disease. Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are making headlines for their ability to stimulate weight loss. This is a problem for diabetes patients who need the medication and can't get it. A rise in demand for these medications has led to shortages. But should potentially life-saving medication be available to those whose lives aren't at risk? We speak to two doctors getting at the heart of...

Dozens of Democratic senators voted alongside their Republican counterparts last week on the issue of crime and safety in our nation's capital. The Senate voted 81-14 to block a criminal code rewrite that was unanimously approved by the D.C. City Council. The criminal code overhaul included major changes to criminal sentencing – including reducing maximum sentences for carjacking and eliminating mandatory minimums. We discuss the intersection of politics and criminal justice policy and...

We partnered with our friends at WIRED to bring you a special episode of their podcast Gadget Lab. For this episode of Gadget Lab, the team takes a look at recommendation algorithms. The modern internet is powered by recommendation algorithms. But some of these algorithms can lead to some weird places, occasionally taking users down dark internet rabbit holes or showing harmful content. Lawmakers and researchers have criticized recommendation systems before, but these methods are under...

In domestic headlines, the Biden administration is considering reviving a policy that would detain families of migrants who enter the country outside conventional channels. In Texas, five women are filing a lawsuit against the state claiming the abortion ban put their lives, and well-being, at risk by denying them necessary medical procedures. Meanwhile overseas, reports from U.S. intelligence officials suggest that a pro-Ukraine group was responsible for blowing up the Russian-controlled...

It's been over a year since Russia's launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Cyber weapons have continued to play a major role in the war. Both countries have leveraged 21st-century technologies like smartphones, artificial intelligence, and drones to aid their war efforts. Now, experts are saying Russia plans to scale up its cyber threats, into attacks capable of crippling Ukraine's digital infrastructure and impacting NATO allies. We discuss how we can better understand the cyber...

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced on March 1 that it would cut the cost of its insulin at retail pharmacies by 70 percent. That's for patients with or without insurance. Eli Lilly is one of three pharmaceutical companies that supply insulin in the U.S. For years, people in the U.S. who are insulin-dependent have had to ration their insulin or drive to Canada or Mexico to afford it. The patent to insulin was initially sold for $1. We discuss insulin prices in the U.S. have...

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has become a leading voice in the American left during his 30 years in Congress. He's been staunchly opposed to increases in military defense spending, has been a strong advocate for gay marriage, and has called on Congress to invest trillions more to combat climate change. But the signature issue that drove two presidential campaigns and garnered millions of followers on social media is his fight against economic inequality and the power of America's billionaire...

Children are working some of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. according to a new investigation by The New York Times. Child labor violations have nearly quadrupled since 2015, according to data from the Labor Department. This includes some migrant children who are working throughout the manufacturing industry. Interviews with 60 caseworkers found that two-thirds of unaccompanied migrant children end up working full-time. Even with those statistics, some states are still looking to...