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The Washington Post

Post 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.

Post Reports

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can interfere with the complex system that produces and interacts with our hormones. Research suggests they can affect the reproductive system, our kidneys, and even increase our risk of cancer. There are over 1,000 types of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, according to some estimates, and we are exposed to them daily through things like kitchen utensils and makeup. So how worried should we be about inevitable exposure?

Host Elahe Izadi speaks with oncologist Dr. Mikkael Sekeres about the connection between endocrine disruptors and cancer. Dr. Sekeres also shares his advice on steps he takes to avoid these chemicals–and how he puts the risks into perspective.

Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy, who also mixed the episode. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

What an oncologist wants us to know about everyday chemicals

President Donald Trump is asking for five more Republicans in the House of Representatives, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to give them to him. Last week, Republicans in the state’s legislature demanded they redraw Texas’ 38 congressional districts in a way that would effectively create five more safely red seats. If passed, the new map could give Republicans a major advantage in maintaining control of the House of Representatives in 2026.

But in a stunning move, Democrats in the state legislature fled Texas and temporarily foiled the Republican plot. Now, Democrats across the country are openly asking whether they should emulate Texas Republicans and politically alter their own congressional districts to boost Democratic strength in Congress. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Colby Itkowitz sits down with Patrick Marley, who covers voting issues for The Post, to discuss why the standoff in Texas could mark a fierce new era in American politics.

Democrats are ready to fight dirty over Texas

This spring, the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service drastically reduced the federal workforce, all in the name of cost-cutting. This included making a “deferred resignation” offer to government workers, offering to pay them through at least the end of September if they resigned their positions. 

Post reporter Meryl Kornfield and colleagues have been trying for months to find out exactly how many federal employees took these buyouts. Last week, they reported for the first time that the government is now paying more than 154,000 people not to work. 

Colby Itkowitz speaks with Meryl about how she and her colleagues uncovered this number, how the Trump administration defends its claims of cost-cutting, and how former federal workers are feeling as they continue to earn a paycheck for work they are not doing. 

Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The government is paying 154,000 people not to work

The Vitals had settled in Springfield from Haiti during President Donald Trump’s first term and saved money through the Biden administration. Business leaders in their reliably red county praised immigrants for reviving the local economy. Americans struggled to pass drug tests, one factory boss told a TV news crew. Not Haitians.

Fernande Vital earned $21 an hour at a Japanese automotive plant, monitoring robots forging car parts, while her husband, Rocher, led a strip-mall church. Even as the GOP and some of their neighbors called for mass deportations, the Vitals were sure nobody meant them, immigrants here legally.

So inJuly of last year, they made a down payment of $8,000, their entire nest egg. In August, they moved in, installed lace curtains and hung a family portrait in the dining room. One month later came the cracks.

This story follows the Vitals after they dealt with the structural woes in their home and their feeling of belonging in this country.

Danielle Paquette reported, wrote and narrated the piece. Bishop Sand composed music and produced audio.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Deep Reads: Cracks in the dream

After months of threats, the Trump administration announced this week a slew of heavy tariffs, taxes on imported goods, for major trading partners such as India and Canada. The news came on the heels of the recent announcement of a new trade agreement with the European Union that was widely seen as a lopsided deal in favor of the United States. 

Despite angst over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and aggressive approach to trade policy, major trading partners do appear to be ceding some ground to Trump. But how will these policies risk damaging alliances that are already frayed? And how could Trump’s latest trade moves affect U.S. consumers?

Today on “Post Reports’s” weekly politics roundtable, host Colby Itkowitz is joined by Washington Post White House reporter Cat Zakrewski and global economics correspondent David Lynch to discuss the consequences of Trump’s tariffs.

What Trump wants: More tariffs, less Epstein

Last week, clothing brand American Eagle released a series of short clips and images featuring “Euphoria” and “White Lotus” star Sydney Sweeney. They’re part of a new jeans marketing campaign – where proceeds from the sale of “The Sydney Jeans” are donated to a domestic abuse crisis hotline. 

But the provocative nature of the campaign and the messaging of the ads have come under scrutiny. Some critics call Sweeney’s collaboration with clothing retailer American Eagle an anti-feminist, pro-eugenics campaign, while others celebrate a seeming shift from DEI-focused marketing. 

Colby Itkowitz speaks with The Washington Post’s fashion critic, Rachel Tashjian, and Style Memo newsletter writer Shane O’Neill about the controversy, the long history of selling fashion through provocative imagery, and why we can’t stop talking about Sydney Sweeney’s jeans.

Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Sydney Sweeney's jeans and an American (Eagle) controversy

ICE is expanding a controversial surveillance program. Today, our reporter shares how he learned about it, and what The Post uncovered about the company that stands to profit.

Read more:

﻿Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed personnel to sharply increase the number of immigrants they shackle with GPS-enabled ankle monitors. ICE is targeting about 183,000 people with the expansion of the policy, all enrolled in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention program. 

The move marks a significant expansion of a 20-year-old surveillance practice steeped in controversy. While tracking devices are cheaper and arguably more humane than detention, immigrants and their advocates have long criticized the government’s use of the bulky black ankle bands, which they say are physically uncomfortable and impose a social stigma for the people wearing them, many of whom have no criminal record or history of missed court appointments.

Today on “Post Reports,” corporate accountability reporter Douglas MacMillan joins Elahe Izadi to discuss why the agency is expanding this program and who stands to benefit.

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Silvia Foster-Frau, Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval, Sabby Robinson and Christine Armario.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Why more immigrants are being tracked with ankle monitors – and who profits

The Federal Aviation Administration has been trying to solve the air traffic controller shortage for years, and recently, they’ve made a variety of changes to get more people trained and employed.

But hundreds of trainees are dropping out before they get certified. While some say the program weeds out people who can’t “hack it,” others say a culture of hazing and disrespect is pushing promising controllers out of the FAA.

Post Reports producer Emma Talkoff speaks with transportation reporters Lori Aratani and Ian Duncan about why so many air traffic controllers are “washing out” of FAA training. 

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Christopher Rowland.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Inside the system burning out air traffic control trainees

As hunger reaches new levels in Gaza, society is on the brink of collapse. Even doctors are struggling to find the energy to treat patients without enough food themselves. At least 147 people have died of malnutrition, including 88 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Medics have said that is probably an undercount. In recent months, more than 1,000 Palestinians have also been killed while waiting for aid distributed in Israeli-controlled combat zones.

Israel has tightened its control of humanitarian aid going into Gaza in recent months to pressure Hamas. Israel has blamed Hamas for the crisis and its refusal to release the remaining hostages. The latest round of ceasefire talks involving the United States broke down last week. 

International pressure is mounting on Israel to lift its near total blockade on Gaza. President Donald Trump recently voiced concerns about the situation. 

Israel has started allowing more aid trucks in, and it resumed power to a critical water treatment plant. Critics worry about whether enough is being done. 

Today, host Colby Itkowitz speaks with Louisa Loveluck, a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post who has been reporting for months about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and what the future holds. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy with help from Elana Gordon. It was edited by Maggie Penman and Erin Cunningham. It was mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post.

Gazans are starving. Will aid get in?

In October 2023, Junior turned 49. That’s the same age his dad was in 2001, when, before the last turn on the last lap of the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s car bumped into Sterling Marlin’s, sending the iconic No. 3 careening into the wall at 160 mph.

Reporter Kent Babb was studying journalism in college in 2002 when his grandmother called. “They think he’s gone,” she said, referring to Babb’s father. His father’s heart had become enlarged, and while he was painting a house one day, it just stopped. His dad was 51. 

Babb is 43 now, and since the day his dad died, there has been something unsettling to him about the idea of turning 51. This is common among people who’ve lost a parent young, or what is called an “off-time” death. Psychologists suggest these feelings of anxiety and fear, alongside a gradually intensifying urge to learn about your bloodline, are like a final stage of grief. And it’s one that most people, and in particular men, rarely talk about or explore.

Babb wanted to talk about it, preferably with someone who understood. And though he never took to NASCAR, Babb knew he and Junior belonged to the same unfortunate club. Babb wondered if he thought about it, if he dreaded turning 49, how he was coping as he approached the age his daddy was.

So, before his birthday in 2023, Babb asked if Earnhardt Jr. would be open to talking. He said yes.

This story traces Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s relationship with his father and who he has become after his father’s death.

Kent Babb reported, wrote and narrated the piece. Bishop Sand composed music and produced audio for the piece.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Deep Reads: Chasing ghosts with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake breaks down the speech with senior White House correspondent Naftali Bendavid and Democracy reporter Colby Itkowitz. They fact-check Trump’s DOGE claims and explain the political consequences Trump could face for his tariffs. 

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins with help from Rachel Van Dongen and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

This episode has been updated to clarify that the Trump administration has said Elon Musk is not the head of DOGE. An earlier version of the episode included a misstatement where the names "Musk" and "Trump" were swapped.

Trump’s defiant speech to Congress

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