Today, Explained

Today, Explained is Vox's daily news explainer podcast. Hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King will guide you through the most important stories of the day.


Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

News
Daily News
Politics
276
The Republicans breaking up with Tucker Carlson
The Fox News host aired a splashy exclusive this month about the January 6th insurrection. Some Republican senators saw his coverage — and publicly called “b******t.”
23 min
277
The kids defying family court
Two siblings in Utah are defying a court order to reunite with their father, who they allege abused them. ProPublica’s Hannah Dreyfus explains a controversial concept known as “parental alienation.”
23 min
278
Silicon Valley Bank goes bust
SVB’s collapse is the biggest bank failure since 2008. Insider’s Ben Bergman explains why the bank collapsed, why the Biden administration intervened, and what this means for the economy writ large.
23 min
279
Top Fun: Oscars vs. blockbusters
Huge hits like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water got nominated alongside Tár. In this episode of Into It, which is now available twice a week, Vulture’s Joe Reid explains the on-again, off-again relationship between the Oscars and the box office.
30 min
280
The war on drag
Melissa Brown, a state politics reporter for The Tennessean, spills the tea on Tennessee’s new drag restrictions. And drag performer Bella DuBalle promises the state’s queens have no plans to sashay away.
23 min
281
Congress is daddy
DC is baby.
23 min
282
Auditing Ukraine
Congress wants more oversight of how the billions in US aid to Ukraine are being used. But our own military can’t even seem to pass an audit.
23 min
283
How to save a murderer
Should past trauma prevent a convicted killer from being executed? The Marshall Project’s Maurice Chammah reports on “mitigation specialists” who try to save the lives of death row inmates by investigating their histories.
23 min
284
The fight for affordable insulin
Insulin was the poster child of overpriced life saving drugs, but a manufacturer finally capped the cost at $35. Vox’s Dylan Scott explains how pharmaceutical companies for decades managed to overprice drugs Americans desperately needed.
23 min
285
The rockstar maestro
Gustavo Dudamel brought classical music to the masses in Los Angeles. Now he’s announced that he’s taking his talents to New York, which could revive classical music on one of its biggest stages.
23 min
286
Why newspapers fired Dilbert
Newspapers across the country pulled the long-running comic “Dilbert” after its creator uploaded a racist tirade about Rasmussen poll results. Journalist Chris Cillizza explains how providing the fodder for controversy is Rasmussen’s whole deal.
23 min
287
Block the sun, save the earth?
Solar geoengineering — the idea of cooling the planet by deflecting the sun’s rays — is so risky that scientists and policy experts can’t even agree on whether to research it.
23 min
288
Biden’s border orders
President Biden promised a more humane approach to immigration when he entered office.  After two years and a flurry of activity on asylum policies, the Washington Post’s Nick Miroff explains whether Biden has delivered.
23 min
289
The shadow war on Russian yachts
Bloomberg's Stephanie Baker and the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos explain the fight to seize (and maintain) billionaire boats.
23 min
290
Another phone call from Ukraine
On the morning Russia invaded Ukraine, we called Yulya and Kurii. A year later, we’re calling them back.
23 min
291
Pharrell Vuitton
Pharrell Williams was happy to be named the new head of Louis Vuitton’s menswear, but his appointment had fashion industry hopefuls feeling like they never get lucky. Nick Kostov and Jacob Gallagher from the Wall Street Journal explain their scoop.
23 min
292
Just how dangerous is the Ohio train crash?
The derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals has residents of East Palestine, Ohio fearing for their health and safety. Two weeks after the incident, many feel like they have more questions than answers.
23 min
293
Ban TikTok?
Politicians across the United States are calling for an outright ban on the popular social media platform. Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge, explains how TikTok hopes to pre-empt one from ever passing.
23 min
294
Honey, they stole the bees
Humanity can’t survive without bees, which is why bees are big business for thieves. Today, Explained’s Haleema Shah heads to the capital of sting operations — California’s Central Valley — to find out who’s beehind these thefts and why they're happening.
32 min
295
Turkey's man-made catastrophe
Thousands of buildings collapsed after Turkey’s massive earthquakes. Now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing a backlash for an amnesty program that gave developers retroactive approval for shoddy construction.
23 min
296
Nikki Haley kicks off a Republican mutiny
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, is running for president. Vox’s Andrew Prokop says she’s likely the first of many prominent Republicans to challenge Trump.
23 min
297
Democratizing spying
“Zero-click spyware” is making it easier for governments to get their hands on individuals’ personal data. New York Times investigative reporter Mark Mazzetti says that when it comes to spyware, the United States is both an arsonist and a firefighter.
23 min
298
Pow pow power grid
Attacks on vulnerable electrical infrastructure are surging. The tactic — embraced by everyone from copper-seeking vandals to chaos-minded white nationalists — exposes a major vulnerability in the US power grid.
23 min
299
The great American cattle swindle
Cody Easterday was ranching royalty in Washington state until he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for swindling two companies out of $244 million. KUOW’s Anna King — host of the Ghost Herd podcast — explains.
23 min
300
Decisions after Dobbs
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade is reshaping the way a lot of Americans think about pregnancy and abortion. Vox’s Marin Cogan talks to patients and doctors about how reproductive health care has changed in the months since Dobbs.
23 min