POLITICO Tech

The POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and microchips, we explore how today’s technology is shaping our world — and driving the policy decisions, global rivalries and industries that will matter tomorrow.

Tech News
Politics
Daily News
401
Airlines face their next challenge: 5G
5G, more like 5 o-m-g! Amid concerns that AT&T's and Verizon's 5G rollout could cause thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions, the wireless companies agreed to heed the warnings of the aviation industry and scale back their rollout. How'd this get to be such a mess in the first place? Oriana Pawlyk reports.
12 min
402
Voting rights legislation: deterred or dead?
Last week, voting rights legislation hit a brick wall when Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) announced they would not support changing Senate rules to get around a potential filibuster. Today, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still plans to allow debate on voting rights — despite its almost certain failure. Playbook’s Eugene Daniels looks at what's next for the Biden administration.
13 min
403
Oregon's black market for cannabis
There’s a saying that Southern Oregon has more trees than people, but recently, the area has been overrun by international cartels and gun-toting outlaw farmers. What’s happening there represents one of the paradoxes of the legalized marijuana movement: states with large legal markets are also dealing with rampant illegal production. Natalie Fertig reports.
16 min
404
The CDC's messaging problem that won't go away
As we round into the third year of Covid-19 and a surging wave of cases, Democrats and Republicans alike raised sharp questions and complaints on the state of the pandemic response in the most recent oversight hearing in Congress. Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.
11 min
405
What happened in Chicago schools
On Monday night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Teachers Union reached a deal to bring students back to the classroom after a five-day standoff. But even after coming to an agreement, the relationship between the union and Mayor remains strained. Illinois Playbook author Shia Kapos explains how it unfolded and what this says about the future of schools in the Covid-19 era.
12 min
406
What happens when your doctor has Covid?
Hospitals and long-term care facilities are so short-staffed, many are relying on new CDC guidance to bring asymptomatic doctors and nurses back to work — even as the U.S. is poised to break a record 142,000 covid-19 hospitalizations. Reporter Rachael Levy on the no-win situation that hospitals now face.
13 min
407
New year, same problems
The Senate is back in session this week — covid numbers are rising and Joe Manchin has voiced his opposition to President Biden's social spending plan. So where do Senate Democrats go from here? Marianne LeVine on where things stand in Congress right now.
10 min
408
Can solar power the future of manufacturing?
The best example of the Biden administration's industrial policy goals might be at Hanwha Q Cells, a solar panel factory in Georgia which employs 700 people and manufactures more than 10,000 solar panels a day. Trade reporter Gavin Bade reports with a dispatch from Hanwha.
13 min
409
The CDC’s rough week
This week, the CDC doubled down on its Dec. 29 guidance that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients can leave isolation after five days without a negative test. Erin Banco reports on the policy and politics behind that decision.
12 min
410
Schools ride (another) Covid-19 wave
The message from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is that schools should do what they can to remain open for in-person learning. But with Omicron cases surging among students and school staff, plus a possible teacher shortage, how will schools adjust? Juan Perez reports.
11 min
411
Amazon and Google face off against Congress
The latest product launch from Google and Amazon? Being the underdog against Congress. Emily Birnbaum on the surprising ways Amazon and Google are mobilizing to counter regulatory efforts.
13 min
412
New Jan. 6 polls show partisan rift
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. As that date approaches, a slew of new polls out highlight the splintering effect the attack has with voters — and on Donald Trump's influence on the Republican party. David Siders reports.
11 min
413
Presenting Weedcast: The Mormon playbook for me...
On an episode of Weedcast from June 17, POLITICO's Natalie Fertig breaks down how the Mormon church was able to help get medical marijuana green lit in deeply red Utah.
6 min
414
Rebroadcast: Lessons from Las Vegas’ reopening
Las Vegas tried to reopen without widespread vaccination, but those plans crashed into reality. Will things be different this time? POLITICO’s Megan Cassella reports.
10 min
415
Presenting POLITICO Energy: What’s the Civilian...
In the middle of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt founded the Civilian Conservation Corps, a group responsible for hiring hundreds of thousands of white men to develop trails and build infrastructure that is still standing today. Now, Democrats want to create a similar, but more divers, group to build a new Corps to help the economy recover from the pandemic and fight climate change at once. POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna has the details on the plan for a Civilian Climate Corps.
7 min
416
Presenting Playbook Deep Dive: “Meet DC’s “Lobb...
“Somebody’s gotta do it. It might as well be me.” So says Ivan Adler, the “lobbyist hunter” who plucks D.C.’s most idealistic Hill staffers and turns them into K Street top dogs. POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza pry open the revolving door between the Hill and K Street — one of the most controversial but everlasting features of Washington’s underbelly.
27 min
417
Rebroadcast: Your ulti-mutt guide to pets in th...
On today's special episode of Dogs-patch — er, Dispatch: a brief history of presidential pets at 1600 Pennsylvania, featuring the Kennedy's dog Pushinka (who might have helped avert nuclear war), Teddy Roosevelt's badger (really more questions than answers here) and Nixon's dog Checkers (who sadly passed before he could rescue his owner from Watergate). Andrew Hager, the historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, provides biting commentary on the furry residents of the White House.
15 min
418
What grade would you give the year in education?
"It's been brutal." POLITICO's Juan Perez on the biggest issues schools have faced in 2021 and the fights that are yet to come.
12 min
419
And the award goes to…
Consider this your politics-year-in-review, high school superlatives style. Ryan Lizza breaks it down.
12 min
420
Italy's succession dilemma
At least 65% of Italians agree on one thing: Prime Minister Mario Draghi is doing a good job. So good a job he's a good candidate for president — in addition to Prime Minister. The problem? Those jobs are mutually exclusive. Hannah Roberts reports.
12 min
421
Getting to know Biden FDA pick Robert Califf
Robert Califf sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, despite some opposition from Democrats ranging from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin. A confirmation vote in January would give the agency a permanent political leader for the first time during the Biden presidency. Adam Cancryn reports.
12 min
422
The 36 Governor elections happening next year
In the land of beignets and Jazz, the Democratic Governors Association had its winter meeting to discuss reversing nationwide trends at the polls after losses last month in Virginia and New Jersey. If next year’s races are going to be any different, Democratic governors say the party needs to do a better job of hearing voters’ concerns about a frustratingly persistent pandemic. Zach Montellaro reports.
8 min
423
Georgia on the (political) mind
After a wave of blue wins in 2020 in Georgia, the GOP-led state legislature is taking steps toward dismantling the Atlanta-area engine that turned Georgia blue. Maya King reports.
12 min
424
The tea leaves on Friday's SCOTUS ruling
The Supreme Court’s S.B. 8 ruling on Friday was mixed. It allows for some cases brought by opponents of the restrictive law to proceed — but closed major avenues for legal challenges, including one that has been sought by the Biden administration. Josh Gerstein reports.
12 min
425
What the diplomatic boycott says about US-China...
While athletes prepare to travel to Beijing this February for the Winter Olympics, Canada, Australia and the U.K. joined the United States this week in announcing diplomatic boycotts of the Chinese Olympic games. Phelim Kine reports.
13 min