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
876
MLB to Georgia: You’re out!
Major League Baseball, Delta, and Coke are calling out Georgia for its new voting reforms, but some of these corporations were involved in crafting the legislation. WABE’s Emma Hurt explains.
25 min
877
“My friend” has a question about the vaccine
We asked if you still had vaccine questions, and you did. We found answers.
26 min
878
High crimes
New York is the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana, but President Joe Biden won’t budge. This means that it’s possible to become a billionaire or a convicted felon for selling weed in the US.
25 min
879
Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan
It’s infrastructure week in America. President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to spend trillions on bridges, roads, housing, and clean energy to prove it.
20 min
880
Making tennis a misdemeanor
More than half of US states are working to ban, or even criminalize, trans athletes playing sports. Vox contributor Katelyn Burns explains how conservative politicians came to care so much about women’s sports.
29 min
881
Ship happens
After six days, a very big boat is finally afloat. While stuck, it brought international trade through the Suez Canal to a halt and cost companies billions of dollars.
20 min
882
The original anti-vaxxer
When a Swedish American pastor refused to get a smallpox vaccine in 1902, he ended up in the United States Supreme Court. The Atlantic’s new podcast The Experiment tells the story of Pastor Henning Jacobson.
38 min
883
The end of minty cigarettes?
With Democrats in charge, there is a lot of talk about big ideas for the country, including … banning menthol cigarettes? Politico’s Sarah Owermohle explains why Black lawmakers are split over whether a ban would help or hurt Black communities.
26 min
884
Would NOT demanding gun control be more effective?
The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia explains why two gun reform bills the House recently passed are likely to fail in the Senate. Patrick Blanchfield from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research argues the American gun control debate is a big part of the problem.
23 min
885
WTF is an NFT?
On Monday, a tweet sold for $2.9 million. That followed a JPEG that went for $69 million. The Verge’s Liz Lopatto explains how internet ephemera turned to gold.
22 min
886
AnchoRage
The United States and China met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday to air grievances, and the cameras were rolling. Vox’s Alex Ward explains how the meeting set the stage for one of the world’s biggest rivalries.
22 min
887
Why America needs a national pandemic memorial
People want to move on from Covid-19, but that doesn’t mean forgetting its victims. Historian Paul Farber and Vox reporter Alissa Wilkinson explain why a memorial could help us all heal and find accountability.
20 min
888
Racism, misogyny, and the shootings in Georgia
Eight people were killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas. Most of the victims were women. Six were Asian American.
20 min
889
Why are more children crossing the border?
A growing number of unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border is highlighting President Biden’s struggle to fulfill his campaign promises on immigration — as well as the difficult path to comprehensive immigration reform.
19 min
890
Who gets to vote?
It’s a question the US has struggled with since its founding.
22 min
891
Vaccines4Kids
President Biden says all adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May 1. But for the world to truly return to normal, young people will need shots, too. ProPublica’s Caroline Chen explains how, and when, that might happen.
24 min
892
No one nose
Believe it or not, scientists still don’t know how the sense of smell works. But that isn’t stopping one guy at MIT from trying to reverse-engineer it. Sounds like a job for Vox’s new podcast, Unexplainable.
27 min
893
It’s been a year
The year in revue.
18 min
894
Biden’s Big F***ing Deal
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan has been approved by Congress. It’s a revolution in American welfare disguised as stimulus.
20 min
895
You’re vaccinated. Now what?
New guidelines from the CDC for fully vaccinated people suggest it’s finally time to hug your grandparents. Dr. Kavita Patel explains the do’s and don’ts as we inch back towards “normal” life.
24 min
896
Alabama shakes up Amazon
Darryl Richardson, a worker at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, explains why he helped initiate a unionization effort that now has President Biden’s support. Recode’s Jason Del Rey explains how the Bessemer vote could be a game changer for American labor.
27 min
897
The Bachelor meets reality
Beset by controversy, The Bachelor’s latest season is winding down with an identity crisis. It’s a rare case of reality TV reflecting our cultural reality.
30 min
898
The surge of anti-Asian violence
The United States is stumbling through two racial reckonings at once. Author Jeff Chang says it’s an inflection point centuries in the making.
25 min
899
Manchin in the middle
Joe Biden won the presidency, but it’s Joe Manchin from West Virginia who seems to be the decider. The Charleston Gazette-Mail’s Joe Severino shadowed Senator Joe in the spotlight. Mountain State Spotlight’s Greg Moore explains why this is West Virginia’s moment.
23 min
900
The $15 dream
Washington’s hottest policy fight is over raising the minimum wage to $15. Emily Stewart explains the Democrats’ effort to get it through Congress, and Dylan Matthews explains whether it will cost the country jobs.
22 min