The Daily

In the very first episode of The Wirecutter Show, which launched on Aug. 21, the team goes deep on laundry—what you’re probably doing wrong, how to actually pretreat stains, and the tips and tricks to make it all easier.

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Last night, at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination, becoming the first woman of color in U.S. history to do so.

Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein, who cover politics for The Times, discuss the story this convention told about Ms. Harris — and whether that story could be enough to win the presidential election.

Guest: 

• Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up” for The New York Times.
• Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Kamala Harris promised to chart a “new way forward” as she accepted the nomination.
• “The Run-Up”: It’s her party now. What’s different?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the Democratic National Convention, party officials are celebrating polls showing that Kamala Harris is now competitive with Donald Trump in every major swing state across the country.

But in one of those swing states, Republicans have laid the groundwork to challenge a potential Harris victory this fall, by taking over an obscure, unelected board.

Nick Corasaniti, a Times reporter who focuses on voting and elections, explains.

Guest: Nick Corasaniti, a reporter covering national politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The unelected body that shapes voting rules in Georgia has a new conservative majority, whose members question the state’s 2020 results. They now have new power to influence the results in 2024.
• Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in close races across Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, crucial swing states that Mr. Trump had seemed poised to run away with.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of war.

When Ukrainian troops crossed over into Russia two weeks ago, it appeared at first to be a largely symbolic gesture. But in the time since, it has emerged as a potentially pivotal moment in the war.

Andrew Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, explains what’s behind the audacious Ukrainian operation, and Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief, explains how Russia’s response could reshape the conflict.

Guest: 

• Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times.
• Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Planned in secrecy, the incursion was a bold move to upend the war’s dynamics and put Moscow on the defensive — a gambit that could also leave Ukraine exposed.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to hold Russian territory as leverage in future talks. In Moscow, many doubt the strategy.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On the first night of the Democratic National Convention, the stage belonged to the man who chose to give it up.

Katie Rogers and Peter Baker, White House correspondents for The Times, discuss President Biden’s private pain since stepping aside, and his public message in Chicago.

Guest: 

• Katie Rogers, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.
• Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Biden defended his record and endorsed Kamala Harris: “America, I gave my best to you.”
• Analysis: The speech Biden never wanted to give.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the next few days at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination and reintroduce herself to American voters.

Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up,” talks through key periods in Ms. Harris’s life that explain what she believes and the kind of president she might become.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up” for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A vice-presidential learning curve: How Ms. Harris picked her shots.
• Nearly 14 years ago, Ms. Harris’s opponent in the California attorney general’s race gave an answer at a debate that was frank — and fateful for the future Democratic presidential nominee.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Benjamin B. Bolger has been to Harvard and Stanford and Yale. He has been to Columbia and Dartmouth and Oxford, and Cambridge, Brandeis and Brown. Over all, Bolger has 14 advanced degrees, plus an associate’s and a bachelor’s.

Against a backdrop of pervasive cynicism about the nature of higher education, it is tempting to dismiss a figure like Bolger as the wacky byproduct of an empty system. Then again, Bolger has run himself through that system, over and over and over again; it continues to take him in, and he continues to return to it for more.

Air-conditioning has become both our answer to a warming planet and a major obstacle to actually confronting it.

Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Times, explains the increasingly dangerous paradox of trying to control the temperature.

Guest: Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• From 2017: How air-conditioning conquered America.
• Air-conditioning use will surge in a warming world, the U.N. has warned.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In the weeks since a landmark Supreme Court ruling opened the door for cities and states to crack down on homeless encampments, California — the state with the largest homeless population — has taken some of the nation’s most sweeping actions against them.

Shawn Hubler, who covers California for The Times, discusses the race to clean up what has become one of the Democratic Party’s biggest vulnerabilities before Election Day.

Guest: Shawn Hubler, a reporter covering California for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Gov. Gavin Newsom cleared homeless camps in L.A. county, where he wants more “urgency.”
• Mr. Newsom ordered California officials to remove homeless encampments.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In a landmark antitrust ruling against Google last week, another case was at the heart of the story — one from the 1990s.

Steve Lohr, who covers technology and the economy for The Times, explains the influence of United States v. Microsoft and what lessons that case might hold for the future of Big Tech today.

Guest: Steve Lohr, who covers technology, the economy and work for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How the Google antitrust ruling may influence tech competition.
• The ruling on Google’s search dominance was the first antitrust decision of the modern internet era in a case against a technology giant.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

New polls by The New York Times and Siena College find that Vice President Kamala Harris has transformed the 2024 presidential race and is now leading former President Donald J. Trump in three crucial battleground states.

Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The Times, explains why Ms. Harris is benefiting so much.

Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times. 

Background reading: 

• Ms. Harris leads Mr. Trump in three key states, according to new surveys by The Times and Siena College
• The polls show that the vice president has fundamentally changed the race.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For much of the past year, Donald J. Trump and those around him were convinced that victory in the presidential race was all but certain. Now, everything has changed, after the decision by President Biden not to seek a second term.

Jonathan Swan, who covers the Trump campaign for The New York Times, discusses the former president’s struggle to adjust to his new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Guest: Jonathan Swan, who covers politics and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• People around the former and would-be president see a candidate disoriented by his new opponent.
• At a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump tried to wrestle back the public’s attention.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Les Milne was a consultant anesthesiologist, and his wife, Joy, typically found that he came home smelling of anesthetics, antiseptics and blood. But he returned one August evening in 1982, shortly after his 32nd birthday, smelling of something new and distinctly unsavory, of some thick must. From then on, the odor never ceased, though neither Les nor almost anyone but his wife could detect it. For Joy, even a small shift in her husband’s aroma might have been cause for distress, but his scent now seemed to have changed fundamentally, as if replaced by that of someone else.

Les began to change in other ways, however, and soon the smell came to seem almost trivial. It was as if his personality had shifted. Les had rather suddenly become detached, ill-tempered, apathetic. It was not until much later that he would be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The scent Joy had noticed would become a possible solution for earlier diagnosis.

More than 50 years after its inception, “breaking” — not “break dancing,” a term coined by the media and disdained by practitioners — will debut as an Olympic sport.

Jonathan Abrams, who writes about the intersection of sports and culture, explains how breaking’s big moment came about.

Guest: Jonathan Abrams, a Times reporter covering national culture news.

Background reading: 

• The Olympic battles in breaking will be a watershed moment for a dance form conceived and cultivated by Black and Hispanic youth in the Bronx during the 1970s.
• Breakers are grappling with hip-hop’s Olympic moment. Will their art translate into sport?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket has transformed the U.S. presidential race. But the real test awaits: Will the party be able to translate that energy into a winning coalition of voters in November?

Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, discusses a group of skeptical voters in swing states who may post the biggest challenge to the vice president. Our audio producers — Jessica Cheung and Stella Tan — traveled to Wisconsin to speak to some of them.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a reporter covering politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How Ms. Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, transformed from a little-known governor of a blue state to one of his party’s most prominent and powerful messengers.
• Democrats are buzzing but sustaining the impetus is the next challenge.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Earlier this summer, few Democrats could have identified Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

But, in a matter of weeks, Mr. Walz has garnered an enthusiastic following in his party, particularly among the liberals who cheer on his progressive policies. On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris named him as her running mate.

Ernesto Londoño, who reports for The Times from Minnesota, walks us through Mr. Walz’s career, politics and sudden stardom.

Guest: Ernesto Londoño, a reporter for The Times based in Minnesota, covering news in the Midwest. 

Background reading: 

• Who is Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate?
• Mr. Walz has faced criticism for his response to the George Floyd protests. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Every major U.S. stock market plunged on Monday, wiping out billions of dollars in value.

Jeanna Smialek, who covers the U.S. economy for The Times, discusses what was behind the dizzying sell-off — and what it can tell us about whether America is headed for a recession.

Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a reporter covering the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Global stock markets fell sharply — the latest example of how distinct economic forces can ricochet across markets.
• What should you do when the stock market drops? Here’s the advice from our columnist.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, and Sofia Nelson, his transgender classmate at Yale Law School, forged a bond that lasted a decade. In 2021, Mr. Vance’s support for an Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors led to their falling out.

Sofia Nelson, now a public defender in Detroit, discussed Mr. Vance’s pivot, politically and personally, with The Times.  

Background reading: 

• JD Vance, an unlikely friendship, and how it ended.
• Nelson shared with The Times about 90 emails and text messages with Mr. Vance. Here are some of the most revealing moments in their correspondence.
• How Yale propelled Mr. Vance’s career. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When Maggie Jones’s marriage collapsed after 23 years, she was devastated and overwhelmed. She was in her 50s, with two jobs, two teenage daughters and one dog. She didn’t consider dating. She had no time, no emotional energy. But then a year passed. One daughter was off at college, the other increasingly independent. After several more months went by, she started to feel a sliver of curiosity about what kind of men were out there and how it would feel to date again. The last time she dated was 25 years ago, and even then, she fell into relationships mostly with guys from high school, college, parties, work. Now every man she knew was either married, too young, too old or otherwise not a good fit.

That meant online dating — the default mode not just for the young but also for people Ms. Jones’s age. Her only exposure had been watching her oldest daughter, home from college one summer, as she sat on her bed rapidly swiping through guy after guy — spending no more than a second or two on each.

Ms. Jones tells her story of online dating in later adulthood, and what she learned.

For years, Rupert Murdoch seemed content to let his children battle it out for control of his conservative media empire once he’s gone.

Jim Rutenberg, who writes about media and politics for The Times, discusses how a secret change to that plan by Mr. Murdoch touched off an ugly family squabble that could influence how much of the world sees the news.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Murdoch has moved to preserve his media businesses as a conservative force. Several of his children are fighting back.
• The 93-year-old media tycoon spent the past 70 years building a global media empire that gave him influence in journalism, politics and pop culture. Here’s how.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains strong language and audio of war.

When the long legal saga of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, came to an end this summer, it marked the first time that the U.S. government had convicted anyone for publishing classified material.

Charlie Savage, who covers national security and legal policy for The Times, discusses what the conviction means for journalism and government accountability in a world where publishing state secrets can now be treated as a crime.

Guest: Charlie Savage, a national security and legal policy correspondent for The New York Times. Guest host: Natalie Kitroeff, Mexico City Bureau Chief for The New York Times. 

Background reading: 

• Mr. Assange’s plea deal sets a chilling precedent on the ability of journalists to report on military, intelligence or diplomatic information that officials deem secret.
• To some, Mr. Assange was a heroic crusader for truth. To others, he was a reckless leaker endangering lives.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: This episode contains audio of war.

Over the past few days, the simmering feud between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, has reached a critical moment.

Ben Hubbard, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times, explains why the latest tit-for-tat attacks are different and why getting them to stop could be so tough.

Guest: Ben Hubbard, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Israel says it killed a Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in an airstrike near Beirut.
• The Israeli military blamed Mr. Shukr for an assault on Saturday that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: This episode contains strong language.

Although Vice President Kamala Harris has officially been a presidential candidate for only about a week, the race to become her running mate is well underway.

Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times, takes us inside the selection process.

Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• What’s more exciting than a veepstakes? A surprise veepstakes.
• Take a look at the leading contenders to be Ms. Harris’s running mate.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Nuclear power, once the great hope for a clean way to meet the world’s energy needs, fell out of favor decades ago.

Brad Plumer, who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming for The New York Times, explains how one company with a radical idea is now working to bring it back.

Guest: Brad Plumer, who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Work is starting in Wyoming coal country on a new type of reactor. Its main backer, Bill Gates, says he’s in it for the emissions-free electricity.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Nov. 12, 1974, Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s father’s childhood friend Jack Teich was kidnapped out of his driveway in the nicest part of the nicest part of Long Island. He was arriving home from work when two men forced him into their car at gunpoint and took him to a house where they chained and interrogated him.

On the second day of his kidnapping, Jack’s wife, Janet, received a call from someone demanding a ransom of $750,000, and a few days later, Janet and Jack’s brother Buddy dropped the money off at Penn Station under F.B.I. surveillance. The F.B.I. did not catch the kidnapper, but afterward, he decided to let Jack go.

Jack was home safe. He had survived his kidnapping. But the actual kidnapping is not what this story is about, if you can believe it. It’s about surviving what you survived, which is also known as the rest of your life.

For years, Venezuelans have been living through one of the most severe economic collapses in modern history — one that has caused millions to flee the country. But this weekend, an election is offering many a real hope for change.

Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The Times, explains why, after years under a repressive government, Venezuelans think this time might be different.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The “Iron Lady” of Venezuela threatens to unseat its autocrat.
• As many as one-third of Venezuelans would consider migrating if the country’s authoritarian leader is given another six years in power, one poll showed.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past 48 hours, as the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris went from theoretical to inevitable, she has delivered the first glimpses of how her campaign will run.

Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, discusses what we’ve learned from her debut.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ms. Harris gave her first speech as the de facto Democratic nominee to a deafening crowd.
• Her presidential bid is getting a pop music rollout online.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the week since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the security mistakes that led to the shooting have come into sharp focus, prompting Kimberly Cheatle, the head of the Secret Service, to resign.

Glenn Thrush, who reports on the Justice Department for The Times, discusses what we now know about the service’s lapses that day.

Guest: Glenn Thrush, a reporter on the Justice Department for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• See a visual timeline of the shooting at the Trump rally.
• In resigning, Ms. Cheatle said that one of the Secret Service’s foremost duties was to protect the nation’s leaders, adding that it “fell short of that mission” on July 13.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As Democrat after Democrat races to anoint Vice President Kamala Harris as their party’s presidential candidate, it has become clear that she will face no real challenge for the nomination.

Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for The Times, and Reid J. Epstein, a Times reporter covering politics, discuss what that smooth path for Ms. Harris could mean for her broader campaign.

Guest: 

• Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.
• Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• On her first full day in the race, Ms. Harris drew endorsements from her final possible rivals, hauled in record sums of cash and attacked Donald J. Trump.
• Here are the latest polls on the Harris-Trump matchup.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

President Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, as his replacement.

Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, discusses how the race for the White House has suddenly been turned upside down.

Guest: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden dropped out of the presidential race, scrambling the campaign for the White House.
• Inside the weekend when he decided to withdraw.
• How will Democrats replace Mr. Biden at the top of the presidential ticket?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Earlier this month, the New York Times Book Review rolled out the results of an ambitious survey it conducted to determine the best books of the 21st century so far. On this special episode of the Book Review Podcast, host Gilbert Cruz chats with some fellow Book Review editors about the results of that survey and about the project itself.

To read the full list, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html

For more episodes, search “Book Review podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show.

Donald J. Trump’s acceptance of his party’s nomination put an exclamation point on a triumphant week for a Republican Party that emerged from its convention confident and unified. At the same time, the Democratic Party is moving closer and closer to replacing President Biden on the ticket.

Jonathan Swan, who covers Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Republican National Convention, and Reid J. Epstein, who covers Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign, discusses where it stands as expectations are rising among Democrats that the president will reconsider his decision to stay in the race.

Guest: 

• Reid J. Epstein, a reporter covering politics for The New York Times.
• Jonathan Swan, a reporter covering politics and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here are six takeaways from the Republican National Convention.
• Mr. Trump ended the convention with a lengthy speech that started solemn and turned rambling. Read the transcript.
• As Republicans rally around the former president, Democrats are circling Mr. Biden like sharks.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In a special series leading up to Election Day, “The Daily” will explore what a second Trump presidency would look like, and what it could mean for American democracy.

Since he began his latest campaign, former President Donald J. Trump’s message has changed, becoming darker, angrier and more focused on those out to get him than it ever was before.

Charles Homans, who covers national politics for The Times, has been studying the evolution of Mr. Trump’s message, and what exactly it means to his supporters and for the country.

Guest: Charles Homans, who covers national politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• No major American presidential candidate has talked as Mr. Trump now does at his rallies — not Richard Nixon, not George Wallace, not even Mr. Trump himself.
• The first night of the Republican National Convention sought to strike a new note. But some of the lyrics were familiar.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As the Republican National Convention entered its second day, former President Donald J. Trump and his allies absorbed the stunning new reality that the most formidable legal case against him had been thrown out by a federal judge, who ruled that the appointment of the special counsel who brought the case, Jack Smith, had violated the Constitution. 

Alan Feuer, who has been covering the classified documents case for The Times, explains what it means that the case could now be dead.

Guest: Alan Feuer, a reporter covering extremism and political violence for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Mr. Trump.
• The effort to hold Mr. Trump to account has already yielded a Supreme Court decision giving former presidents broad immunity. Now another case could make prosecuting political figures more complicated.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On the first day of the Republican National Convention, Donald J. Trump chose his running mate: Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.

We watched the process unfold in real time in Milwaukee.

Michael C. Bender, who covers Mr. Trump and his movement for The Times, takes us through the day.

Guest: Michael C. Bender, a political correspondent covering Donald J. Trump and his Make America Great Again movement for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• What to know about J.D. Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate.
• Mr. Trump’s decision to pick Mr. Vance signals concern for the future of his MAGA movement.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Today’s episode sets out what we know about the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening.

Doug Mills, a photographer for The Times, recounts what it was like to witness the shooting, and Glenn Thrush, who covers gun violence for The Times, discusses the state of the investigation into the man who did it.

Guest: 

• Doug Mills, a photographer in the Washington bureau of The New York Times.
• Glenn Thrush, who reports on the Justice Department for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• What we know about the assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump.
• A Times photographer who was feet away from Mr. Trump describes the shooting.
• The gunman appears to have acted alone, but his motives remain unclear.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Cindy Elgan glanced into the lobby of her office and saw a sheriff’s deputy waiting at the front counter. “Let’s start a video recording, just in case this goes sideways,” Elgan, 65, told one of her employees in the Esmeralda County clerk’s office. She had come to expect skepticism, conspiracy theories and even threats related to her job as an election administrator. She grabbed her annotated booklet of Nevada state laws, said a prayer for patience and walked into the lobby to confront the latest challenge to America’s electoral process.

The deputy was standing alongside a woman that Elgan recognized as Mary Jane Zakas, 77, a longtime elementary schoolteacher and a leader in the local Republican Party. She often asked for a sheriff’s deputy to accompany her to the election’s office, in case her meetings became contentious.

“I hope you’re having a blessed morning,” Zakas said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people are still very concerned about the security of their votes. They’ve lost all trust in the system.”

After the 2020 election, former President Donald J. Trump’s denials and accusations of voter fraud spread outward from the White House to even the country’s most remote places, like Esmeralda County. Elgan knew most of the 620 voters in the town. Still, they accused her of being paid off and skimming votes away from Trump. And even though their allegations came with no evidence, they wanted her recalled from office before the next presidential election in November.

Over the past decade, the cost of veterinary care in the U.S. has skyrocketed, as health care for pets has come to look more like health care for people.

Katie Thomas, an investigative health care reporter for The Times, discusses how pet care became a multi-billion-dollar industry, and the fraught emotional and financial landscape that has created for pet owners.

Guest: Katie Thomas, an investigative health care reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why you’re paying your veterinarian so much.
• From 2021: A pandemic-era pet boom spurred veterinary companies to open new, upscale clinics.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For the past three days, President Biden has fought to save his re-election campaign, as panicked congressional Democrats returned to Washington and openly debated whether to call on him to step aside.

In this episode, Times reporters in Washington go inside the 72 hours that could make or break Mr. Biden’s nomination.

Guest: 

• Representative Adam Smith, of the 9th Congressional District in Washington

Background reading: 

• President Biden has faced fresh calls to withdraw as Democrats fear electoral rout.
• Veteran Democrats telegraphed not panic but respect, in hopes of appealing to the Joe Biden who has taken a breath and stepped aside in the past.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more than a decade, Britain has been governed by the Conservative Party, which pushed its politics to the right, embracing smaller government and Brexit. Last week, that era officially came to an end.

Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The Times, explains why British voters rejected the Conservatives and what their defeat means in a world where populism is on the rise.

Guest: Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Five takeaways from the British general election.
• The Conservatives have run Britain for 14 years. How have things changed in that time?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Outmanned and outgunned in what has become a war of attrition against Russia, Ukraine has looked for any way to overcome its vulnerabilities on the battlefield. That search has led to the emergence of killer robots.

Paul Mozur, the global technology correspondent for The Times, explains how Ukraine has become a Silicon Valley for autonomous weapons and how artificial intelligence is reshaping warfare.

Guest: Paul Mozur, the global technology correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• In the Ukraine war, A.I. has begun ushering in an age of killer robots.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When the Supreme Court wrapped up its term last week, much of the focus was one the ruling that gave former President Donald J. Trump sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution. But another set of rulings that generated less attention could have just as big an impact on American government and society.

Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, looks back at the Supreme Court term.

Guest: Adam Liptak, , who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments.

Background reading: 

• In a volatile term, a fractured Supreme Court remade America.
• Here’s a guide to the major Supreme Court decisions in 2024.
• In video: How a fractured Supreme Court ruled this term.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On the final episode of “Animal,” Sam Anderson travels to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula to meet with a creature he's long been afraid of: bats.

For photos and videos of Sam's journey to the Yucatán, and to listen to the full series, visit nytimes.com/animal. You can search for “Animal” wherever you get your podcasts. 

Midway through one of the booziest holiday weekends of the year, we re-examine our love-hate relationship with alcohol.

Susan Dominus, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, gets to the bottom of the conflicting guidance on the benefits and risks of drinking.

Guest: Susan Dominus, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• Research has piled up debunking the idea that moderate drinking has any health benefits.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday

A major Times poll has found that voters’ doubts about President Biden deepened after his poor performance in the first debate, with Donald J. Trump taking by far his biggest lead of the campaign.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains what those results could mean for Mr. Biden’s future.

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump now leads Mr. Biden 49 percent to 43 percent among likely voters nationally.
• Mr. Biden has been left fighting for his political future after his faltering debate performance. Read the latest.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was detained in Russia more than a year ago. He has been locked up in a high-security prison and accused of spying for the U.S. government.

His trial, held in secret, is now underway.

Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses the complicated geopolitics behind Mr. Gershkovich’s detention and the efforts to get him home.

Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Russia opened its secret trial of Mr. Gershkovich, who is accused of espionage.
• A United Nations panel said he was being punished for his reporting on the war in Ukraine.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald J. Trump is entitled to broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions that he took while in office.

Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times, explains how that ruling will weaken the federal case against Mr. Trump for trying to overturn the last U.S. presidential election, and will drastically expand the power of the presidency itself.

Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Supreme Court says Mr. Trump has some immunity in the election case.
• The decision is an extraordinary expansion of executive power that will reverberate long after he is gone.
• What the immunity ruling means for Mr. Trump.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

President Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week set off a furious discussion among Democratic officials, donors and strategists about whether and how to replace him as the party’s nominee.

Peter Baker, who is the chief White House correspondent for The Times, takes us inside those discussions and Biden’s effort to shut them down.

Guest: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• President Biden’s allies can no longer wave away concerns about his capacity after his unsteady performance at Thursday’s debate.
• Mr. Biden’s family is urging him to keep fighting.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? "Animal" is a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer. In Episode 5, the writer Sam Anderson travels to an obscure memorial in rural Japan: the statue of the last Japanese wolf.

For photos and videos of Sam's journey to Japan, visit nytimes.com/animal. 

In the first debate of the 2024 race, President Biden hoped to make the case that Donald J. Trump was unfit to return to the White House. Instead, Mr. Biden’s weak performance deepened doubts about his own fitness for the job.

Astead W. Herndon, who covers politics for The Times, explains what happened.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter for The New York Times and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.”

Background reading: 

• President Biden’s shaky, halting debate performance has Democrats talking about replacing him on the ticket.
• Here are six takeaways from 2024’s first presidential debate.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A new doping scandal is rocking the world of competitive swimming, as the Paris Olympics approach. These allegations are raising questions about fairness in the sport and whether the results at the summer games can be trusted.

Michael S. Schmidt, one of the reporters who broke the story, explains the controversy and what it reveals about the struggle to police doping in sports.

Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Chinese swimmers twice tested positive for drugs. They kept on swimming.
• U.S. swimming stars assailed the World Anti-Doping Agency ahead of the Olympics.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The far right in France had a big win this month, crushing the party of President Emmanuel Macron in elections for the European Parliament. But the results did not affect France’s government at home — until Mr. Macron changed that.

Roger Cohen, the Paris bureau chief for The Times, discusses the huge political gamble Mr. Macron has taken, which has brought the far right closer than ever to gaining real power in France.

Guest: Roger Cohen, the Paris bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Battered by the far right in voting for the European Parliament, Emmanuel Macron called for new elections in France.
• The president has challenged voters to test the sincerity of their support for the far right. Were the French letting off steam in the European elections, or did they really mean it?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A powerful group supporting Israel is trying to defeat sitting members of Congress who have criticized the country’s deadly war against Hamas.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics for The Times, explains why it appears that strategy may work in today’s Democratic primary in New York.

Guest: Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The American Israel Public Affairs Committee unleashed a record $14.5 million bid to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman, a critic of Israel.
• What to know about Mr. Bowman’s bitter Democratic primary race.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of injuries.

Myanmar is home to one of the deadliest, most intractable civil wars on the planet. But something new is happening. Unusual numbers of young people from the cities, including students, poets and baristas, have joined the country’s rebel militias. And this coalition is making startling gains against the country’s military dictatorship.

Hannah Beech, who covers stories across Asia for The Times, discusses this surprising resistance movement.

Guest: Hannah Beech, a Bangkok-based reporter for The New York Times, focusing on investigative and in-depth stories in Asia.

Background reading: 

• Rebel fighters have handed Myanmar’s army defeat after defeat, for the first time raising the possibility that the military junta could be at risk of collapse.
• What’s happening in Myanmar’s civil war?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? "Animal" is a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer. In Episode 4, the writer Sam Anderson soothes his anxiety by visiting a convention center in Ohio.

For photos and videos of Sam's adventure trip to Ohio, visit nytimes.com/animal.

Warning: This episode contains mentions of bullying and suicide.

A rising tide of mental health problems among teenagers has sent parents, teachers and doctors searching for answers. This week, the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, offered one: social media.

Today, Dr. Murthy discusses his proposal to require platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to include warning labels, like those that appear on tobacco and alcohol products.

Guest: Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general.

Background reading: 

• Dr. Murthy cannot unilaterally impose warnings on social media; the action requires approval by Congress. Dr. Murthy said he would urge Congress to require a warning that social media use can harm teenagers’ mental health.
• Read a guest essay by Dr. Murthy: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the battle to dismantle gun restrictions, raging in America’s courts even as mass shootings become commonplace, a Times’ investigation has found that one study has been deployed by gun rights activists to notch legal victories with far-reaching consequences.

Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The Times, discusses the study and the person behind it.

Guest: Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Case after case challenging gun restrictions cites the same Georgetown professor. His seemingly independent work has undisclosed ties to pro-gun interests.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As mass shootings plague the United States, victims’ families continue to search for accountability. To that end, a pair of lawsuits by the families of victims of the Uvalde school shooting will try a new tactic.

J. David Goodman, the Houston bureau chief for The Times, discusses the unusual targets of the lawsuits and profiles the lawyers behind them.

Guest: J. David Goodman, the Houston bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Uvalde lawsuits are among the most far-reaching to be filed in response to the escalating number of mass shootings in the United States.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denomination of Protestant Christians in the United States, voted at an annual gathering last week to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization.

Ruth Graham, who covers religion, faith and values for The New York Times, discusses the story behind the vote, the Republican scramble it prompted and what it could eventually mean for the rest of the country.

Guest: Ruth Graham, who covers religion, faith and values for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How baptists and the Republican Party took different paths on I.V.F.
• Here’s what to know about the vote.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? "Animal" is a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer. In Episode 3, the writer Sam Anderson travels to Florida to fulfill a lifelong dream: to swim with manatees.

For photos and videos of Sam's adventure with manatees, visit nytimes.com/animal.

Many Americans work their entire lives and end up retiring with nothing. But a group of frugal obsessives is challenging that.

They call their approach FIRE: “financial independence, retire early.”

Amy X. Wang, the assistant managing editor of The New York Times Magazine, looks at the people behind this growing movement and their bid to rethink how long we work.

Guest: Amy X. Wang, the assistant managing editor of The New York Times Magazine. 

Background reading: 

• Allen Wong is one of the FIRE adherents who always knew how he wanted to live life. After decades of tolerating workaholic culture as the norm, employees are tired and unafraid to show it.
• FIRE started in the early 2000s with a mantra of extreme saving, but the pandemic forged new followers.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The makeup of the 2024 presidential race has felt inevitable from the start — with one notable exception: Donald J. Trump’s choice of a running mate.

Michael Bender, a political correspondent for The Times, explains why Mr. Trump’s requirements in a No. 2 are very different this time round than they were eight years ago.

Guest: Michael Bender, a political correspondent for The New York Times. 

Background reading: 

• Here is a comprehensive look at who is in the mix to be Mr. Trump’s running mate.
• Ben Carson is a wild card in the vice-presidential sweepstakes, but don’t count him out just yet.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A jury on Tuesday found Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, guilty of three felonies related to the purchase of a gun at one of the low points of his troubled life.

Katie Rogers, a White House correspondent for The Times, explains what the verdict could mean for the 2024 presidential race.

Guest: Katie Rogers, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden was found guilty on charges related to a gun purchase in 2018.
• Here are some takeaways from the conviction.
• The president has grown more resigned and afraid about his son’s future, according to people close to the Bidens.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Last week, President Biden announced one of the most restrictive immigration policies by a Democratic incumbent in decades, effectively barring migrants crossing the southern border from seeking asylum in the United States.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The Times, explains the thinking behind the move.

Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Biden’s executive order is an eye-catching election-year move intended to ease pressure on the immigration system and address a major concern among voters.
• Watch a short video detailing the key facts behind the immigration order.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced that she was indefinitely halting a project that had been decades in the making: congestion pricing in Manhattan’s core business district.

Ana Ley, who covers mass transit in New York City, and Grace Ashford, who covers politics in New York, discuss why New York hit the brakes on congestion pricing.

Guest: 

• Ana Ley, who covers mass transit in New York City for The New York Times.
• Grace Ashford, a reporter covering New York government and politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How Ms. Hochul decided to kill congestion pricing in New York.
• Is New York’s Economy too fragile for congestion pricing? Many say no.
• How would congestion pricing have worked in New York City?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? "Animal" is a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer. In Episode 2, the writer Sam Anderson travels to Iceland to rescue baby puffins — which are called, adorably, pufflings.

For more on "Animal," visit nytimes.com/animal. 

Warning: this episode contains strong language, descriptions of explicit content and sexual harassment

A disturbing new problem is sweeping American schools: Students are using artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit images of their classmates and then share them without the person depicted even knowing.

Natasha Singer, who covers technology, business and society for The Times, discusses the rise of deepfake nudes and one girl's fight to stop them.

Guest: Natasha Singer, a reporter covering technology, business and society for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Using artificial intelligence, middle and high school students have fabricated explicit images of female classmates and shared the doctored pictures.
• Spurred by teenage girls, states have moved to ban deepfake nudes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the height of the Covid pandemic, nearly 200 countries started negotiating a plan to ensure they would do better when the next pandemic inevitably arrived. Their deadline for that plan was last week.

Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The Times, explains why, so far, the negotiations have failed.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Countries failed to agree on a treaty to prepare the world for the next pandemic before a major international meeting.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In an unexpected speech last week, President Biden revealed the details of a secret proposal intended to end the war in Gaza. Perhaps the most surprising thing was where that proposal had come from.

Isabel Kershner, a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, explains Mr. Biden’s gambit and the difficult choice it presents for Israel’s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Guest: Isabel Kershner, who covers Israeli and Palestinian affairs for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden called for an end to the war in Gaza, endorsing an Israeli cease-fire proposal.
• Mr. Netanyahu answered the call for a truce by insisting on the “destruction” of Hamas.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Five years ago, a TV personality and comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, won the presidency in Ukraine in a landslide victory. When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country three years later, he faced the biggest challenge of his presidency and of his life. Despite initial success beating back one of the world’s largest armies, the tide has turned against him.

Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, sat down with Mr. Zelensky to discuss the war, and how it might end.

Guest: Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Read The New York Times’s interview with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
• Explaining the debate over Ukraine’s use of Western weapons.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, Donald J. Trump became the first U.S. former president to be convicted of a crime when a jury found that he had falsified business records to conceal a sex scandal.

Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, and Reid J. Epstein, who also covers politics, discuss how the conviction might shape the remaining months of the presidential race.

Guest: 

• Nate Cohn, who is the chief political analyst for The New York Times.
• Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The political fallout is far from certain, but the verdict will test America’s traditions and legal institutions.
• Watch a video analysis of whether this newfound moment sticks politically.
• Democrats are pushing President Biden to make Mr. Trump’s felonies a top 2024 issue.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? "Animal" is a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer. Join the writer Sam Anderson on Episode 1.

For more on "Animal," visit nytimes.com/animal.

Former President Donald J. Trump has become the first American president to be declared a felon. A Manhattan jury found that he had falsified business records to conceal a sex scandal that could have hindered his 2016 campaign for the White House.

Jonah Bromwich, who has been covering the hush-money trial for The Times, was in the room.

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here’s the verdict, count by count.
• This is what happens next.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Over recent years, few companies have provoked more anger among music fans than Ticketmaster. Last week, the Department of Justice announced it was taking the business to court.

David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, explains how the case could reshape America’s multibillion-dollar live music industry.

Guest: David McCabe, a technology policy correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The government is accusing Ticketmaster’s corporate parent, Live Nation Entertainment, of violating antitrust laws.
• Here’s a guide to the emails at the heart of the government’s case.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On Tuesday, lawyers for the prosecution and the defense delivered their final arguments to the jury in the criminal case of The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump.

Jonah Bromwich, one of the lead reporters covering the trial for The Times, was there.

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A fine blade and a sledgehammer: Read more about the style and content of the closing arguments.
• Watch Jonah Bromwich recap the day outside the courthouse.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The discovery that an upside-down American flag — a symbol adopted by the campaign to overturn the 2020 election result — had flown at the home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. elicited concerns from politicians, legal scholars and others. And then came news of a second flag.

Jodi Kantor, the Times reporter who broke the stories, discusses the saga.

Guest: Jodi Kantor, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• An upside-down American flag, a symbol adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case.
• The justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a design carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.
• The displays renew questions about the Supreme Court’s impartiality.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher the lyrics.

But sperm whales don’t produce the eerie melodies sung by humpback whales, sounds that became a sensation in the 1960s. Instead, sperm whales rattle off clicks that sound like a cross between Morse code and a creaking door.

Carl Zimmer, a science reporter, explains the possibility why it’s possible that the whales are communicating in a complex language.

Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science reporter for The New York Times who also writes the Origins column.

Background reading

• Scientists find an “alphabet” in whale songs.
• These whales still use their vocal cords. But how?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This week, Karim Khan, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

Patrick Kingsley, the Times’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, explains why this may set up a possible showdown between the court and Israel with its biggest ally, the United States.

Guest: Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why did a prosecutor go public with the arrest warrant requests?
• The warrant request appeared to shore up domestic support for Mr. Netanyahu.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Biden administration is trying to crack down on sneaky fees charged by hotels, rental cars, internet providers and more.

Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent, explains why the effort is doubling as a war against something else that Biden is finding much harder to defeat.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times

.

Background reading: 

• This month, a judge temporarily blocked a new rule limiting credit-card late fees.
• Hotels and airlines struggling to recoup their losses from the pandemic have been including more hidden charges. Don’t fall for them.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This month, customers of FTX — Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, which collapsed in 2022 — were told that they would get their money back, with interest.

David Yaffe-Bellany, our technology reporter, explains what was behind this change in fortune and what it says about the improbable resurgence of crypto. 

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The New York Times, covering the crypto industry from San Francisco. 

Background reading: 

• Is crypto back? Here’s a guide.
• And here’s a guide to the risks of Bitcoin E.T.F.s.
• This is how The Times covered Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

 The first generation to be fully reliant on 401(k) plans is now starting to retire. As that happens, it is becoming clear just how broken the system is.

Michael Steinberger, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains.

Guest: Michael Steinberger, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who writes periodically about the economy and the markets.

Background reading: 

• How an obscure, 45-year-old tax change transformed retirement.
• What to do when your 401(k) leaves something to be desired.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Have you heard the song “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes”?

Probably not. On Spotify, “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes” has not yet accumulated enough streams to even register a tally. Even Brett Martin, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the titular Nice Man, didn’t hear the 1 minute 14 second song until last summer, a full 11 years after it was uploaded by an artist credited as Papa Razzi and the Photogs.

When Martin stumbled on “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes,” he naturally assumed it was about a different, more famous Brett Martin: perhaps Brett Martin, the left-handed reliever who until recently played for the Texas Rangers; or Brett Martin, the legendary Australian squash player; or even Clara Brett Martin, the Canadian who in 1897 became the British Empire’s first female lawyer. Only when the singer began referencing details of stories that he made for public radio’s “This American Life” almost 20 years ago did he realize the song was actually about him. The song ended, “I really like you/Will you be my friend?/Will you call me on the phone?” Then it gave a phone number, with a New Hampshire area code.

So, he called.

This episode contains explicit language.
Over recent months, protests over the war in Gaza have rocked college campuses across the United States.

As students graduate and go home for the summer, three joined “The Daily” to discuss why they got involved, what they wanted to say and how they ended up facing off against each other.

Guests: 

• Mustafa Yowell, a student at the University of Texas at Austin
• Elisha Baker, a student at Columbia University
• Jasmine Jolly, a student at Cal Poly Humboldt

Background reading: 

• Pro-Palestinian student activists say their movement is anti-Zionist but not antisemitic. It is not a distinction that everyone accepts.
• The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University passed a resolution of no confidence in the university’s president, Nemat Shafik.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains explicit language.

Michael Cohen, Donald J. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, took the stand in the former president’s hush-money trial. 

Jonah E. Bromwich, a criminal justice reporter, discusses how Mr. Cohen could cause problems for Mr. Trump himself. 

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, one of the lead reporters covering the Manhattan criminal trial of Donald J. Trump for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Michael Cohen is the central witness in the first criminal trial of an American president.
• Mr. Cohen’s account of an arrangement struck in the White House was the only personal testimony tying Donald J. Trump to falsified documents.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Across the United States, more frequent extreme weather is starting to cause the home insurance market to buckle, even for those who have paid their premiums dutifully year after year.

Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter, discusses a Times investigation into one of the most consequential effects of the changes.

Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a climate change reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• As American insurers bleed cash from climate shocks, homeowners lose.
• See how the home insurance crunch affects the market in each state.
• Here are four takeaways from The Times’s investigation.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The latest Times polling shows the extent of the challenge that President Biden faces and the strengths that Donald J. Trump retains. A yearning for change — as well as discontent over the economy and the war in Gaza among young, Black and Hispanic voters — may lie behind both.

Nate Cohn, our chief political analyst, explains the surveys: New York Times/Siena College polls of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, and the inaugural Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll in Pennsylvania.

Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Surveys by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer reveal an erosion of support for the president among young and nonwhite voters upset about the economy and Gaza.
• With polls showing that Trump is set to make a demographic breakthrough, ticket splitting is also back.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Donald Trump upended decades of American policy when he started a trade war with China. Many thought that President Biden would reverse those policies. Instead, he’s stepping them up.

Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House, explains.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden, competing with Mr. Trump to be tough on China, called for steel tariffs last month.
• The Biden administration may raise tariffs on electric vehicles from China to 100 percent.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Earlier this year, we shared the story of one family’s dispute over a loved one with dementia. That story, originally reported in The New York Times Magazine by Katie Engelhart, won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing this past week. Today, we're revisiting Katie’s story – and the question at the heart of it: When cognitive decline changes people, should we respect their new desires?

Guest: Katie Engelhart, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• The Mother Who Changed: A Story of Dementia
• Katie Englehart has reported on dementia for years, and one image of a prisoner haunts her.

This episode contains descriptions of an alleged sexual liaison.

What happened when Stormy Daniels took the stand for eight hours in the first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump?

Jonah Bromwich, one of the lead reporters covering the trial for The Times, was in the room.

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In a second day of cross-examination, Stormy Daniels resisted the implication she had tried to shake down Donald J. Trump by selling her story of a sexual liaison.
• Here are six takeaways from Ms. Daniels’s earlier testimony.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

India is in the midst of a national election and its prime minister, Narendra Modi, is running to extend his 10 years in power.

Mr. Modi has become one of the most consequential leaders in India’s history, while also drawing criticism for anti-democratic practices and charges of religious persecution.

Mujib Mashal, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses what we might see from Mr. Modi in a third term.

Guest: Mujib Mashal, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Narendra Modi’s power keeps growing, and India looks sure to give him more.
• The brazenness of Mr. Modi’s vilification of India’s Muslims has made it clear that he sees few checks on his power, at home or abroad.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

If and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a cease-fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East.

Michael Crowley, who covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times, explains why those involved in this plan believe they have so little time left to get it done.

Guest: Michael Crowley, a reporter covering the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza war are once again at an uncertain stage.
• Here’s how the push for a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia looked before Oct. 7.
• From early in the war, President Biden has said that a lasting resolution requires a “real” Palestinian state.
• Here’s what Israeli officials are discussing about postwar Gaza.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

While many of the effects of climate change, including heat waves, droughts and wildfires, are already with us, some of the most alarming consequences are hiding beneath the surface of the ocean.

David Gelles and Raymond Zhong, who both cover climate for The New York Times, explain just how close we might be to a tipping point.

Guests: 

• David Gelles, who reports for the New York Times Climate team and leads The Times’s Climate Forward newsletter.
• Raymond Zhong, a reporter focusing on climate and environmental issues for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Scientists are freaking out about ocean temperatures.
• Have we crossed a dangerous warming threshold? Here’s what to know.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tries to get on the presidential ballot in all 50 states, he’s confronting fierce resistance from his opponents.

Rebecca Davis O’Brien, who covers campaign finance and money in U.S. elections for The New York Times, discusses the high-stakes battle playing out behind the scenes.

Guest: Rebecca Davis O’Brien, a reporter covering campaign finance and money in U.S. elections for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Surprise tactics and legal threats: inside R.F.K. Jr.’s ballot access fight.
• Here’s where third-party and independent candidates are on the ballot.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the last two decades, Esther Perel has become a world-famous couples therapist by persistently advocating frank conversations about infidelity, sex and intimacy. Today, Perel reads one of the most provocative Modern Love essays ever published: “What Sleeping With Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity,” by Karin Jones.

In her 2018 essay, Jones wrote about her experience seeking out no-strings-attached flings with married men after her divorce. What she found, to her surprise, was how much the men missed having sex with their own wives, and how afraid they were to tell them.

Jones faced a heavy backlash after the essay was published. Perel reflects on why conversations around infidelity are still so difficult and why she thinks Jones deserves more credit.

Esther Perel is on tour in the U.S. Her show is called “An Evening With Esther Perel: The Future of Relationships, Love & Desire.” 

Check her website for more details

The comedian talks to David Marchese on becoming a different person after unimaginable loss. For more on 'The Interview,' please visit nytimes.com/theinterview.

Warning: this episode contains strong language.

Over the past week, students at dozens of universities held demonstrations, set up encampments and, at times, seized academic buildings. In response, administrators at many of those colleges decided to crack down and called in the local police to detain and arrest demonstrators.

As of Thursday, the police had arrested 2,000 people across more than 40 campuses, a situation so startling that President Biden could no longer ignore it.

Jonathan Wolfe, who has been covering the student protests for The Times, and Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent, discuss the history-making week.

Guest: 

• Jonathan Wolfe, a senior staff editor on the newsletters team at The New York Times.
• Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times covering President Biden and his administration.

Background reading: 

• As crews cleared the remnants of an encampment at U.C.L.A., students and faculty members wondered how the university could have handled protests over the war in Gaza so badly.
• Biden denounced violence on campus, breaking his silence after a rash of arrests.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For half a century, the federal government has treated marijuana as one of the more dangerous drugs in the United States. On Tuesday, the Biden administration signaled a significant shift in approach.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The Times, explains how big an impact the proposed changes could have.

Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Biden administration’s effort to liberalize marijuana policy comes as increasingly more Americans favor legalizing the drug.
• After the recommendation to ease restrictions, Democrats in the Senate reintroduced legislation to legalize marijuana.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As the presidential race moves into high gear, abortion is at the center of it. Republican-controlled states continue to impose new bans, including just this week in Florida.

But in Washington, the Biden administration is challenging one of those bans in a case that is now before the Supreme Court, arguing that Idaho’s strict rules violate a federal law on emergency medical treatment.

Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter at The Times, and Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court, explain how the federal law, known as EMTALA, relates to abortion, and how the case could reverberate beyond Idaho. 

Guests: 

• Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter for The New York Times.
• Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here’s a guide to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the federal law at the heart of the case.
• And here are five takeaways from the Supreme Court arguments on Idaho’s abortion ban.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

American lawmakers have tried for years to ban TikTok, concerned that the video app’s links to China pose a national security risk.

Sapna Maheshwari, a technology reporter for The Times, explains the behind-the-scenes push to rein in TikTok and discusses what a ban could mean for the app’s 170 million users in the United States.

Guest: Sapna Maheshwari, who covers TikTok, technology and emerging media companies for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A tiny group of lawmakers huddled in private about a year ago, aiming to bulletproof a bill that could ban TikTok.
• The TikTok law faces court challenges, a shortage of qualified buyers and Beijing’s hostility.
• Love, hate or fear it, TikTok has changed America.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a special series leading up to Election Day, “The Daily” will explore what a second Trump presidency would look like, and what it could mean for American democracy.

In the first part, we will look at Tump’s plan for a second term. On the campaign trail, Trump has outlined a vision that is far more radical, vindictive and unchecked than his first one.

Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, political correspondents for The Times, and Charlie Savage, who covers national security, have found that behind Trump’s rhetoric is a highly coordinated plan, to make his vision a reality.

Guest:

• Jonathan Swan, who covers politics and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for The New York Times.
• Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Charlie Savage, who covers national security and legal policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why a second Trump presidency may be more radical than his first.
• No major American presidential candidate has talked like Trump now does at his rallies — not Richard Nixon, not George Wallace, not even Donald Trump himself.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Frustrated at the growing protest movement, the opposition leader defends his country’s “existential” war. For more on the show, please visit nytimes.com/theinterview.

On the debut of ’The Interview,' the actress talks to David Marchese about learning to let go of other people’s opinions. For more on the show, please visit nytimes.com/theinterview.

When the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes four years ago, it was celebrated as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement. Yesterday, New York’s highest court of appeals overturned that conviction.

Jodi Kantor, one of the reporters who broke the story of the abuse allegations against Mr. Weinstein in 2017, explains what this ruling means for him and for #MeToo.

Guest: Jodi Kantor, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The verdict against Harvey Weinstein was overturned by the New York Court of Appeals.
• Here’s why the conviction was fragile from the start.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Columbia University has become the epicenter of a growing showdown between student protesters, college administrators and Congress over the war in Gaza and the limits of free speech.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, walks us through the intense week at the university. And Isabella Ramírez, the editor in chief of Columbia’s undergraduate newspaper, explains what it has all looked like to a student on campus.

Guest: 

• Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The New York Times
• Isabella Ramírez, editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator

Background reading: 

• Inside the week that shook Columbia University.
• The protests at the university continued after more than 100 arrests.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Lawmakers approved a giant new tranche of support for Ukraine late last night after a tortured passage through the U.S. Congress, where it was nearly derailed by right-wing resistance in the House.

Marc Santora, a Times reporter in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, explains what effect the money could have, given Ukraine’s increasing desperation on the battlefield.

Guest: Marc Santora, who covers Ukraine for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The aid package drew overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting broad consensus.
• The vote to resume U.S. military support was met with relief in Ukraine.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The prosecution and the defense both opened their cases on Monday in the first criminal trial of Donald Trump.

Jonah Bromwich, who watched from inside the courtroom, walks us through the arguments.

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, a reporter for The New York Times covering criminal justice in New York.

Background reading: 

• An unprecedented trial opened with two visions of Mr. Trump.
• Read five takeaways from the fifth day of Trump’s criminal trial.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The outbreak of bird flu currently tearing through the nation’s poultry is the worst in U.S. history. Scientists say it is now spreading beyond farms into places and species it has never been before.

Emily Anthes, a science reporter for The Times, explains.

Guest: Emily Anthes, a science reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Scientists have faulted the federal response to bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms.
• Here’s what to know about the outbreak.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Debates over homeless encampments in the United States have intensified as their number has surged. To tackle the problem, some cities have enforced bans on public camping.

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments about whether such actions are legal, Abbie VanSickle, who covers the court for The Times, discusses the case and its far-reaching implications.

Guest: Abbie VanSickle, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A ruling in the case could help determine how states, particularly those in the West, grapple with a rising homelessness crisis.
• In a rare alliance, Democrats and Republicans are seeking legal power to clear homeless camps.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Political and legal history are being made in a Lower Manhattan courtroom as Donald J. Trump becomes the first former U.S. president to undergo a criminal trial.

Jonah Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York, explains what happened during the opening days of the trial, which is tied to Mr. Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star.

Guest: Jonah E. Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here’s a recap of the courtroom proceedings so far.
• Mr. Trump’s trial enters its third day with seven jurors chosen.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun for the first time to regulate a class of synthetic chemicals known as “forever chemicals” in America’s drinking water.

Kim Tingley, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how these chemicals, which have been linked to liver disease and other serious health problems, came to be in the water supply — and in many more places.

Guest: Kim Tingley, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• “Forever chemicals” are everywhere. What are they doing to us?
• The E.P.A. issued its rule about “forever chemicals” last week.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A Times investigation shows how the country’s biggest technology companies, as they raced to build powerful new artificial intelligence systems, bent and broke the rules from the start.

Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The Times, explains what he uncovered.

Guest: Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for A.I.
• What to know about tech companies using A.I. to teach their own A.I.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Overnight on Saturday, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israeli soil, shooting hundreds of missiles and drones at multiple targets.

Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The Times, explains what happened and considers whether a broader war is brewing in the Middle East.

Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here is what we know about Iran’s attack on Israel.
• The barrage made the Middle East’s new reality undeniable: Clashes are becoming harder and harder to contain.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the center of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan is the accusation that Trump took part in a scheme to turn The National Enquirer and its sister publications into an arm of his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents detailed three “hush money” payments made to a series of individuals to guarantee their silence about potentially damaging stories in the months before the election. Because this was done with the goal of helping his election chances, the case implied, these payments amounted to a form of illegal, undisclosed campaign spending. And because Trump created paperwork to make the payments seem like regular legal expenses, that amounted to a criminal effort at a coverup, argued Alvin Bragg, the district attorney of Manhattan. Trump has denied the charges against him.

For Lachlan Cartwright, reading the indictment was like stepping through the looking glass, because it described a three-year period in his own professional life, one that he has come to deeply regret. Now, as a former president faces a criminal trial for the first time in American history, Cartwright is forced to grapple with what really happened at The Enquirer in those years — and whether and how he can ever set things right.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

A massive scam targeting older Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico.

Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The Times, tells the story of a victim who lost everything, and of the criminal group making the scam calls — Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico’s most violent cartels.

Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The New York Times based in Mexico City.

Background reading: 

• How a brutal Mexican drug cartel came to target seniors and their timeshares.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For former President Donald J. Trump, 2024 was supposed to be dominated by criminal trials. Instead, he’s found ways to delay almost all of them.

Alan Feuer, who covers the criminal cases against Mr. Trump for The Times, explains how he did it.

Guest: Alan Feuer, who covers extremism and political violence for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• On Wednesday, Donald J. Trump lost his third try in a week to delay his upcoming Manhattan trial.
• But stalling has worked for Mr. Trump in the past.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

By the time his first term was over, Donald J. Trump had cemented his place as the most anti-abortion president in U.S. history. Now, facing political blowback, he’s trying to change that reputation.

Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The Times, discusses whether Mr. Trump’s election-year pivot can work.

Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• After months of mixed signals, former President Donald J. Trump said abortion restrictions should be left to the states.
• On abortion, Mr. Trump chose politics over principles. Will it matter?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Elon Musk set up Tesla’s factory in China, he made a bet that brought him cheap parts and capable workers — a bet that made him ultrarich and saved his company.

Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why, now, that lifeline may have given China the tools to beat Tesla at its own game. 

Guest: Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also bound him to Beijing.
• Mr. Musk helped create the Chinese electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on China.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today, millions of Americans will have the opportunity to see a rare total solar eclipse.

Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist known as Mr. Eclipse, was so blown away by an eclipse he saw as a teenager that he dedicated his life to traveling the world and seeing as many as he could.

Mr. Espenak discusses the eclipses that have punctuated and defined the most important moments in his life, and explains why these celestial phenomena are such a wonder to experience.

Guest: Fred Espenak, a.k.a. “Mr. Eclipse,” a former NASA astrophysicist and lifelong eclipse chaser.

Background reading: 

• A total solar eclipse is coming. Here’s what you need to know.
• Millions of people making plans to be in the path of the solar eclipse on Monday know it will be awe-inspiring. What is that feeling?
• The eclipse that ended a war and shook the gods forever.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said something about getting ready to catch the plane to their cabin in the woods. “I knew intuitively, I knew wherever he was, must be a good place because we were going fishing,” Kerr told me.

Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. His mind was taking him to a time and place where he and his son could be together, in the wilds of northern Canada.

Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

Decades of efforts to cut carbon emissions have failed to significantly slow the rate of global warming, so scientists are now turning to bolder approaches.

Christopher Flavelle, who writes about climate change for The Times, discusses efforts to engineer our way out of the climate crisis.

Guest: Christopher Flavelle, who covers how the United States tries to adapt to the effects of climate change for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Warming is getting worse. So they just tested a way to deflect the sun.
• Can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off global outrage and condemnation.

Kim Severson, who covers food culture for The Times, discusses the World Central Kitchen, the aid group at the center of the story; and Adam Rasgon, who reports from Israel, explains what we know about the tragedy so far.

Guest: Kim Severson, a food correspondent for The New York Times.

Adam Rasgon, an Israel correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The relief convoy was hit just after workers had delivered tons of food.
• José Andrés, the Spanish chef who founded World Central Kitchen, and his corps of cooks have become leaders in disaster aid.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In his campaign for re-election, President Biden has said that raising taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations is at the heart of his agenda. But under his watch, overall net taxes have decreased.

Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• An analysis prepared for The New York Times estimates that the tax changes President Biden has ushered into law will amount to a net cut of about $600 billion over four years.
• “Does anybody here think the tax code’s fair?” For Mr. Biden, tax policy has been at the center of his efforts to make the economy more equitable.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Long after schools have fully reopened after the pandemic, one concerning metric suggests that children and their parents have changed the way they think about being in class.

Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The Times, discusses the apparent shift to a culture in which school feels optional.

Guest: Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• ​School absences have “exploded” across the United States.
• Data shows that the more time students spent in remote instruction during the pandemic, the further they fell behind.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars.

Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ms. McDaniel’s appointment had been immediately criticized by reporters at the network and by viewers on social media.
• The former Republican Party leader tried to downplay her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A review of the record shows she was involved in some key episodes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Maybe you have an idea in your head about what it was like to work at Guantánamo, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Think again.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

It’s been nearly six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, when militants took more than 200 hostages into Gaza.

In a village called Nir Oz, near the border, one quarter of residents were either killed or taken hostage. Yocheved Lifshitz and her husband, Oded Lifshitz, were among those taken.

Today, Yocheved and her daughter Sharone tell their story.

Guest: 

• Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage.
• Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz.

Background reading: 

• Yocheved Lifshitz was beaten and held in tunnels built by Hamas for 17 days.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past few years, Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has been dismissed as a money-losing boondoggle.

This week, that all changed. Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter, explains how its parent venture, Truth Media, became a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars.

Guest: Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter.

Background reading: 

• What to know about Trump Media’s high-flying stock debut.
• Ethics experts say the publicly traded company could present a new way for foreign actors or others to influence Mr. Trump, if he is elected president.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Against all odds and expectations, Speaker Mike Johnson keeps managing to fund the government, inflame the far right of his party — and hold on to his job.

Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains why it might be Democrats who come to his rescue.

Guest: Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ultraconservatives immediately turned on Mr. Johnson after Congress passed spending legislation.
• Enraged over the spending bill, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began the process of calling for a vote to oust the speaker.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones.

David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley.

Guest: David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s suite of devices and services.
• Read about five major U.S. cases targeting Big Tech.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades.

Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats?

Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In Russia, fingers point anywhere but at ISIS for the concert hall attack.
• The attack shatters Mr. Putin’s security promise to Russians.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.”

Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey.

In a pointed speech from the Senate floor this month, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called for Israel to hold a new election and for voters to oust the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soon after, Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for the Times, sat down with Mr. Schumer to understand why he did it.

Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Schumer, America’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, said he felt obligated to call for new leadership in Israel.
• His speech was the latest reflection of the growing dissatisfaction among Democrats with Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This year, the star of college basketball is Caitlin Clark, a woman who is changing everything about the game — from the way it’s played, to its economics, to who is watching.

Matt Flegenheimer, a profile writer for The Times, discusses Clark’s extraordinary impact.

Guest: Matt Flegenheimer, who writes in-depth profiles for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Her fiery competitiveness, no-look passes and 3-point bombs have made for must-see basketball in Iowa. What happens when she leaves?
• For women’s basketball, Caitlin Clark’s lasting impact may be economic.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For decades, an invisible hand has been guiding and controlling the American real estate industry, dictating how much buyers and sellers pay to their agents and how homes are sold. A few days ago, after a stunning legal settlement, that control — wielded by the National Association of Realtors — collapsed.

Debra Kamin, who reports about real estate desk for The Times, explains how the far-reaching change could drive down housing costs.

Guest: Debra Kamin, a reporter on real estate for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The National Association of Realtors agreed to a landmark deal that will eliminate a bedrock of the industry, the standard 6 percent sales commission.
• Read about five ways buying and selling a house could change.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Over the past week, Donald J. Trump has burned down and rebuilt the Republican National Committee, gutting the leadership and much of the staff.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the former president is trying to reinvent such a crucial piece of campaign apparatus so close to an election.

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Days after allies took over the Republican National Committee, Mr. Trump’s advisers were imposing mass layoffs on the party.
• The former president is facing converging financial crunches as he and the Republican Party confront a shortfall against President Biden and the Democrats.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains a discussion about domestic abuse.

As cars become ever more sophisticated pieces of technology, they’ve begun sharing information about their drivers, sometimes with unnerving consequences.

Kashmir Hill, a features writer for The Times, explains what information cars can log and what that can mean for their owners.

Guest: Kashmir Hill, a features writer on the business desk at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Automakers are sharing consumers’ driving behavior with insurance companies.
• If your car is tracking you, abusive partners may be, too.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In October 2022, amid a flurry of media appearances promoting their film “Tàr,” the director Todd Field and the star Cate Blanchett made time to visit a cramped closet in Manhattan. This closet, which has become a sacred space for movie buffs, was once a disused bathroom at the headquarters of the Criterion Collection, a 40-year-old company dedicated to “gathering the greatest films from around the world” and making high-quality editions available to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and, more recently, through its streaming service, the Criterion Channel. Today Criterion uses the closet as its stockroom, housing films by some 600 directors from more than 50 countries — a catalog so synonymous with cinematic achievement that it has come to function as a kind of film Hall of Fame. Through a combination of luck, obsession and good taste, this 55-person company has become the arbiter of what makes a great movie, more so than any Hollywood studio or awards ceremony.

Russians go to the polls today in the first presidential election since their country invaded Ukraine two years ago.

The war was expected to carry a steep cost for President Vladimir V. Putin. Valerie Hopkins, who covers Russia for The Times, explains why the opposite has happened.

Guest: Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Putin, in pre-election messaging, was less strident on nuclear war.
• What to know about Russia’s 2024 presidential vote.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Jeanna Smialek, who covers the U.S. economy for The Times, will be 33 in a few weeks; she is part of a cohort born in 1990 and 1991 that makes up the peak of America’s population.

At every life stage, that microgeneration has stretched a system that was often too small to accommodate it, leaving its members — so-called peak millennials — with outsize economic power but also a fight to get ahead.

Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a U.S. economy correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• When millennials gripe that they get blamed for everything, the accusers might actually be onto something.
• Millennials have the children, but boomers have the houses.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence and self harm.

Last fall, an Army reservist killed 18 people at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, before turning the gun on himself.

Dave Philipps, who covers military affairs for The Times, had already been investigating the idea that soldiers could be injured just by firing their own weapons. Analyzing the case of the gunman in Lewiston, Dave explains, could change our understanding of the effects of modern warfare on the human brain.

Guest: Dave Philipps, who covers war, the military and veterans for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Profound damage was found in the Lewiston gunman’s brain, possibly from explosions.
• The finding has broad implications for treatment strategies in veterans and for criminal justice.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In 2020, motivated to try a different way to combat drug use, Oregon voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine.

Things didn’t turn out as planned.

Mike Baker, a national reporter for The Times, explains what went wrong.

Guest: Mike Baker, a national reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Amid soaring overdose deaths, Oregon lawmakers have voted to bring back some restrictions.
• State leaders declared a 90-day state of emergency in central Portland in an effort to tackle fentanyl abuse.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For years, a mysterious company has been buying farmland on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, eventually putting together a plot twice the size of San Francisco.

At every step, those behind the company kept their plans for the land shrouded in secrecy. Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter at The Times, figured out what they were up to.

Guest: Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Tech industry investors spent roughly $900 million buying land to build a dream city in a rural part of the Bay Area.
• In Solano County, Calif., a who’s who of tech money is trying to build a city from the ground up. But some of the locals whose families have been there for generations don’t want to sell the land.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

That people will travel to Mars, and soon, is a widely accepted conviction within NASA. Rachel McCauley, until recently the acting deputy director of NASA’s Mars campaign, had, as of July, a punch list of 800 problems that must be solved before the first human mission launches. Many of these concern the mechanical difficulties of transporting people to a planet that is never closer than 33.9 million miles away; keeping them alive on poisonous soil in unbreathable air, bombarded by solar radiation and galactic cosmic rays, without access to immediate communication; and returning them safely to Earth, more than a year and half later. But McCauley does not doubt that NASA will overcome these challenges. What NASA does not yet know — what nobody can know — is whether humanity can overcome the psychological torment of Martian life.

A mission known as CHAPEA, an experiment in which four ordinary people would enact, as closely as possible, the lives of Martian colonists for 378 days, sets out to answer that question.

President Biden used his State of the Union address last night to push for re-election and to go on the attack against Donald J. Trump, his likely adversary in November.

Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The Times, discusses the speech’s big moments.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Biden made it clear that he saw the election as an existential struggle between democracy and extremism.
• Read five takeaways from the address.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Google released Gemini, a new chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, it quickly faced a backlash — and unleashed a fierce debate about whether A.I. should be guided by social values, and if so, whose values they should be.

Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The Times and co-host of the podcast “Hard Fork,” explains.

Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times and co-host of the podcast “Hard Fork.”

Background reading: 

• Hard Fork: Gemini’s culture wars, and more.
• From Opinion: Should we fear the woke A.I.?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Millions of voters in states across the country cast their ballots in the presidential primary on Super Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the November election will be a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.

But in a race that is increasingly inevitable, a New York Times/Siena College poll found a critical group of voters who are making the outcome of that race anything but certain.

Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, explains who these voters are and why they present a particular threat to Mr. Biden.

Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The big change between the 2020 and 2024 races: Biden is unpopular.
• The latest NYT/Siena College poll includes those who started the survey but didn’t finish it. Here’s why.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Late last week, an effort to get food into northern Gaza turned deadly, as thousands of desperate Gazans descended on aid trucks, and Israeli troops tasked with guarding those trucks opened fire.

Exactly how people died, and who was responsible, remains contested. Hiba Yazbek, a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The Times, explains what we know about what happened and what it tells us about hunger in Gaza.

Guest: Hiba Yazbek, a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Palestinian and Israeli officials offered differing accounts of a deadly scene in northern Gaza, in which local health officials said more than 100 people were killed.
• Delivering supplies into Gaza, especially the north, has taken on increased urgency as the United Nations has warned that many Gazans are on the edge of famine.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A single piece of unverified intelligence became the centerpiece of a Republican attempt to impeach President Biden.

Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains how that intelligence was harnessed for political ends, and what happened once it was discredited.

Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, covering Washington.

Background reading: 

• Ignoring warnings, Republicans trumpeted a now-discredited allegation against President Biden.
• Analysis: An informant’s indictment undercuts Republicans’ impeachment drive.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

At the end of a quiet, leafy street in the Valley in Los Angeles, the reality TV star Tom Sandoval has outfitted his home with landscaping lights that rotate in a spectrum of colors, mimicking the dance floor of a nightclub. The property is both his private residence and an occasional TV set for the Bravo reality show “Vanderpump Rules.” After a series of events that came to be known as “Scandoval,” paparazzi had been camped outside, but by the new year it was just one or two guys, and now they have mostly gone, too.

“Scandoval” is the nickname for Sandoval’s affair with another cast member, which he had behind the backs of the show’s producers and his girlfriend of nine years. This wouldn’t be interesting or noteworthy except that in 2023, after being on the air for 10 seasons, “Vanderpump” was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding unstructured reality program, an honor that has never been bestowed on any of the network’s “Housewives” shows. It also became, by a key metric, the most-watched cable series in the advertiser-beloved demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds and brought in over 12.2 million viewers. This happened last spring, when Hollywood’s TV writers went on strike and cable TV was declared dead and our culture had already become so fractured that it was rare for anything — let alone an episode of television — to become a national event. And yet you probably heard about “Scandoval” even if you couldn’t care less about who these people are, exactly.

As “Vanderpump” airs its 11th season, Tom Sandoval reflects on his new public persona.

President Biden and Donald J. Trump both made appearances at the southern border on Thursday as they addressed an issue that is shaping up to be one of the most important in the 2024 election: immigration.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The Times, discusses Mr. Biden’s risky bid to take perhaps Trump’s biggest rallying point and use it against him.

Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In appearances some 300 miles apart, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump tried to leverage a volatile policy dispute of the 2024 campaign.
• How visiting the border has become a potent form of political theater.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A Times investigation has revealed how applesauce laced with high levels of lead sailed through a food safety system meant to protect American consumers, and poisoned hundreds of children across the U.S.

Christina Jewett, who covers the Food and Drug Administration for The Times, talks about what she found.

Guest: Christina Jewett, who covers the Food and Drug Administration for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Lead-tainted applesauce sailed through gaps in the food-safety system.
• What to know about lead exposure in children.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

U.S. officials have acknowledged a growing fear that Russia may be trying to put a nuclear weapon into orbit.

Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains that their real worry is that America could lose the battle for military supremacy in space.

Guest: Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The U.S. warned its allies that Russia could put a nuclear weapon into orbit this year.
• The Pentagon is in the early stages of a program to put constellations of smaller and cheaper satellites into orbit to counter space-based threats of the sort being developed by Russia and China.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the past few weeks, activists in Michigan have begun calling voters in the state, asking them to protest President Biden’s support for the Israeli military campaign in Gaza by not voting for him in the Democratic primary.

The activists are attempting to turn their anger over Gaza into a political force, one that could be decisive in a critical swing state where winning in November is likely to be a matter of the slimmest of margins.

Jennifer Medina, a political reporter for The Times, explains how the war in Gaza is changing politics in Michigan.

Guest: Jennifer Medina, a political reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Will Biden’s Gaza stance hurt him in 2024? Michigan is the first test.
• The war in Gaza turned this longtime Michigan Democrat against Biden.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

 A surprise ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court has halted fertility treatments across the state and sent a shock wave through the world of reproductive health.

Azeen Ghorayshi, who covers sex, gender, and science for The Times, explains what the court case means for reproductive health and a patient in Alabama explains what it is like navigating the fallout.

Guests: Azeen Ghorayshi, who covers sex, gender and science for The New York Times; and Meghan S. Cole, who is in the final stages of IVF treatment in Alabama.

Background reading: 

• Alabama ruled frozen embryos are children, raising questions about fertility care.
• Fertility clinics are routinely sued by patients for errors that destroy embryos, as happened in Alabama. An effort to define them legally as “unborn children” has raised the stakes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The closest thing to a bat signal for stoners is the blue lettering of the Cookies logo. When a new storefront comes to a strip mall or a downtown shopping district, fans flock to grand-opening parties, drawn by a love of the brand — one based on more than its reputation for selling extremely potent weed.

People often compare Cookies to the streetwear brand Supreme. That’s accurate in one very literal sense — they each sell a lot of hats — and in other, more subjective ones. They share a penchant for collaboration-based marketing; their appeal to mainstream audiences is tied up with their implied connections to illicit subcultures; and they’ve each been expanding rapidly in recent years.

All of it is inextricable from Berner, the stage name of Gilbert Milam, 40, Cookies’ co-founder and chief executive, who spent two decades as a rapper with a sideline as a dealer — or as a dealer with a sideline as a rapper. With the company’s success, he is estimated to be one of the wealthiest rappers in the world, without having ever released a hit record.

Last week, when a civil court judge in New York ruled against Donald J. Trump, he imposed a set of penalties so severe that they could temporarily sever the former president from his real-estate empire and wipe out all of his cash.

Jonah Bromwich, who covers criminal justice in New York, and Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, explain what that will mean for Mr. Trump as a businessman and as a candidate.

Guests: Jonah E. Bromwich, a criminal justice correspondent for The New York Times; and Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump was met with a $450 million blow to his finances and his identity.
• Here’s a guide to the New York law that made the fierce punishment possible.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, the Russian authorities announced that Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and an unflinching critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, had died in a remote Arctic prison at the age of 47.

Yevgenia Albats, his friend, discusses how Mr. Navalny became a political force and what it means for his country that he is gone.

Guest: Yevgenia Albats, a Russian investigative journalist and a friend of Mr. Navalny.

Background reading: 

• Who was Aleksei Navalny?
• The sudden death of Mr. Navalny left a vacuum in Russia’s opposition. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, signaled that she would try to fill the void.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past few weeks, a growing sense of alarm across Europe over the future of the continent’s security has turned into outright panic.

As Russia advances on the battlefield in Ukraine, the U.S. Congress has refused to pass billions of dollars in new funding for Ukraine’s war effort and Donald Trump has warned European leaders that if they do not pay what he considers their fair share toward NATO, he would not protect them from Russian aggression.

Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for The Times, discusses Europe’s plans to defend itself against Russia without the help of the United States.

Guest: Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In Europe, there is a dawning recognition that the continent urgently needs to step up its own defense, especially as the U.S. wavers, but the commitments still are not coming.
• Europe wants to stand on its own militarily. Is it too little, too late?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language and descriptions of war.

After months of telling residents in the Gaza Strip to move south for safety, Israel now says it plans to invade Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city. More than a million people are effectively trapped there without any clear idea of where to go.

Two Gazans describe what it is like to live in Rafah right now.

Guest: Ghada al-Kurd and Hussein Owda, who are among more than a million people sheltering in Rafah.

Background reading: 

• Israel’s allies and others have warned against an offensive, saying that the safety of the civilians who have sought shelter in the far south of Gaza is paramount.
• Palestinians in Rafah described a “night full of horror” as Israeli strikes pummeled the area during an Israeli hostage rescue operation.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A Times investigation has found that dentists and lactation consultants around the country are pushing “tongue-tie releases” on new mothers struggling to breastfeed, generating huge profits while often harming patients.

Katie Thomas, an investigative health care reporter at The Times, discusses the forces driving this emerging trend in American health care and the story of one family in the middle of it.

Guest: Katie Thomas, an investigative health care reporter at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Inside the booming business of cutting babies’ tongues.
• What parents should know about tongue-tie releases.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today we’re sharing the latest episode of Modern Love, a podcast about the complicated love lives of real people, from The New York Times.

Anna Martin, host of the show, spoke to David Finch, who wrote three Modern Love essays about how hard he had worked to be a good husband to his wife, Kristen. As a man with autism who married a neurotypical woman, Dave found it challenging to navigate being a partner and a father. Eventually, he started keeping a list of “best practices” to cover every situation that might come up in daily life – a method that worked so well he wrote a best-selling book on it.

But almost 11 years into his marriage, Kristen said she wanted to be “unmarried.” Dave was totally thrown off. He didn’t know what that meant, or if he could do it. But he wasn’t going to lose Kristen, so he had to give it a try.

For more episodes of Modern Love, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop Wednesdays. 

In tense proceedings in Georgia, a judge will decide whether Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and her office should be disqualified from their prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump.

Richard Fausset, a national reporter for The Times, talks through the dramatic opening day of testimony, in which a trip to Belize, a tattoo parlor and Grey Goose vodka all featured.

Guest: Richard Fausset, a national reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• With everything on the line, Ms. Willis delivered raw testimony.
• What happens if Fani Willis is disqualified from the Trump case?
• Read takeaways from the hearing.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A crisis of confidence is brewing inside China, where the government is turning believers in the Chinese dream into skeptics willing to flee the country.

Li Yuan, who writes about technology, business and politics across Asia for The Times, explains why that crisis is now showing up at the United States’ southern border.

Guest: Li Yuan, who writes the New New World column for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why more Chinese are risking danger in southern border crossings to the United States.
• More than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended making the crossing from Mexico in the past year. That is more than in the preceding 10 years combined.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Questions about President Biden’s age sharpened again recently after a special counsel report about his handling of classified information described him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The Times, explains why Mr. Biden’s condition can no longer be ignored.

Guest: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How Old Is Too Old to Be President? An Uncomfortable Question Arises Again.
• ‘My Memory Is Fine,’ a Defiant Biden Declares After Special Counsel Report

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Voters in New York are choosing the successor to George Santos, the disgraced Republican who was expelled from Congress in December.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, explains how the results of the race will hold important clues for both parties in November.

Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a reporter covering New York politics and government for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• What to Know About the Race to Replace George Santos
• Days before a special House election in New York, Tom Suozzi and Mazi Pilip traded blows in the race’s lone debate.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When a piece of an Alaska Airlines flight blew out into the sky in January, concern and scrutiny focused once more on the plane’s manufacturer, Boeing.

Sydney Ember, a business reporter for The Times, explains what has been learned about the incident and what the implications might be for Boeing.

Guest: Sydney Ember, a business reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Alaska Airlines plane may have left the Boeing factory missing bolts, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
• Facing another Boeing crisis, the F.A.A. takes a harder line.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The first death happened before the academic year began. In July 2021, an undergraduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute was reported dead. The administration sent a notice out over email, with the familiar, thoroughly vetted phrasing and appended resources. Katherine Foo, an assistant professor in the department of integrative and global studies, felt especially crushed by the news. She taught this student. He was Chinese, and she felt connected to the particular set of pressures he faced. She read through old, anonymous course evaluations, looking for any sign she might have missed. But she was unsure where to put her personal feelings about a loss suffered in this professional context.

The week before the academic year began, a second student died. A rising senior in the computer-science department who loved horticulture took his own life. This brought an intimation of disaster. One student suicide is a tragedy; two might be the beginning of a cluster. Some faculty members began to feel a tinge of dread when they stepped onto campus.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts is a tidy New England college campus with the high-saturation landscaping typical of well-funded institutions. The hedges are beautifully trimmed, the pathways are swept clean. Red-brick buildings from the 19th century fraternize with high glass facades and renovated interiors. But over a six-month period, the school was turned upside down by a spate of suicides.

In December, the Colorado Supreme Court issued a bombshell ruling that said Donald Trump was ineligible to be on the state’s ballot for the Republican presidential primary, saying he was disqualified under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution because he had engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6.

The Supreme Court has taken on the case and on Thursday, the justices heard arguments for and against keeping Trump on the ballot.

Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, analyzes the arguments, the justices’ responses, and what they can tell us about the likely ruling in a case that could alter the course of this year’s race for president.

Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments.

Background reading: 

• What Happens Next in Trump’s Supreme Court Case on His Eligibility
• A Ruling for Trump on Eligibility Could Doom His Bid for Immunity

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence.

A few days ago, for the first time, an American jury convicted a parent for a mass shooting carried out by their child.

Lisa Miller, who has been following the case since its beginning, explains what the historic verdict really means.

Guest: Lisa Miller, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times

Background reading: 

• From New York Magazine: Will James and Jennifer Crumbley be Found Guilty for Their Son’s Mass Shooting?
• Mother of Michigan Gunman Found Guilty of Manslaughter
• A Mom’s Conviction Offers Prosecutors a New Tactic in Mass Shooting Cases

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

El Salvador has experienced a remarkable transformation. What had once been one of the most violent countries in the world has become incredibly safe.

Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, discusses the cost of that transformation to the people of El Salvador, and the man at the center of it, the newly re-elected President Nayib Bukele.

Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Background reading: 

• El Salvador Decimated Its Ruthless Gangs. But at What Cost?
• He Cracked Down on Gangs and Rights. Now He’s Set to Win a Landslide.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Late last month, an explosive allegation that workers from a crucial U.N. relief agency in Gaza had taken part in the Oct. 7 attacks stunned the world and prompted major donors, including the United States, to suspend funding.
Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, explains what this could mean for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how it might complicate Israel’s strategy in the war.

Guest: Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• U.N. Agency for Palestinians Imperiled by Terrorism Charges
• The 8 Days That Roiled the U.N.’s Top Agency in Gaza
• UNRWA Set to Lose $65 Million, Documents Show

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

President Biden has struggled to sell Americans on the positive signs in the economy under his watch, despite figures that look good on paper. That could have important ramifications for his re-election hopes.

Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The Times, explains why, to understand the situation, it may help to look back at another election, 76 years ago.

Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Want to Understand 2024? Look at 1948.
• The Economy Looks Sunny, a Potential Gain for Biden.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Of all the dozens of suspected thieves questioned by the detectives of the Train Burglary Task Force at the Los Angeles Police Department during the months they spent investigating the rise in theft from the city’s freight trains, one man stood out. What made him memorable wasn’t his criminality so much as his giddy enthusiasm for trespassing. That man, Victor Llamas, was a self-taught expert of the supply chain, a connoisseur of shipping containers. Even in custody, as the detectives interrogated him numerous times, after multiple arrests, in a windowless room in a police station in spring 2022, a kind of nostalgia would sweep over the man. “He said that was the best feeling he’d ever had, jumping on the train while it was moving,” Joe Chavez, who supervised the task force’s detectives, said. “It was euphoric for him.”

Some 20 million containers move through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year, including about 35 percent of all the imports into the United States from Asia. Once these steel boxes leave the relative security of a ship at port, they are loaded onto trains and trucks — and then things start disappearing. The Los Angeles basin is the country’s undisputed capital of cargo theft, the region with the most reported incidents of stuff stolen from trains and trucks and those interstitial spaces in the supply chain, like rail yards, warehouses, truck stops and parking lots.

In the era of e-commerce, freight train robberies are going through a strange revival.

The Democratic presidential nomination process begins tomorrow in South Carolina, and President Biden is running largely uncontested. But his campaign is expending significant resources in the race to try to reach a crucial part of his base: Black voters.

Maya King, a politics reporter at The Times, explains.

Guest: Maya King, a politics reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In South Carolina, Mr. Biden is trying to persuade Black voters to reject Trump.
• South Carolina was the home of Mr. Biden’s political resurrection in the primaries four years ago, and it is reaping the rewards.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For the past few weeks, Democrats and Republicans were closing in on a game-changing deal to secure the U.S.-Mexico border: a bipartisan compromise that’s unheard-of in contemporary Washington.

Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, explains why that deal is now falling apart.

Guest: Karoun Demirjian, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Divided Republicans coalesced behind a bit of legislative extortion: No Ukraine aid without a border crackdown. Then they split over how large a price to demand, imperiling both initiatives.
• Republicans and Democrats have agreed to try to reduce the number of migrants granted parole to stay in the United States, but cementing the compromise will take money and persuasion on both sides.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a major advance in science, DNA from Bronze Age skeletons is providing clues to modern medical mysteries.

Carl Zimmer, who covers life sciences for The Times, explains how a new field of study is changing the way we think about treatments for devastating diseases.

Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science correspondent who writes the Origins column for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ancient Skeletons Give Clues to Modern Medical Mysteries
• Morning Person? You Might Have Neanderthal Genes to Thank.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Inside the Republican Party, a class war is playing out between the pro-Trump base, which is ready for the nomination fight to be over, and the anti-Trump donor class, which thinks it’s just getting started.

Astead Herndon, a political correspondent for The Times and the host of “The Run-Up,” explains the clash.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a political correspondent and host of The Run-Up for The New York Times.

Background: 

• Listen to “The Run-Up” on tensions between big Republican donors and the party base.
• Former President Donald J. Trump said donors to Nikki Haley, his remaining Republican rival, would be “barred from the MAGA camp.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language and audio excerpts of violence.

About a decade ago, police departments across the United States began equipping their officers with body cameras. The technology was meant to serve as a window into potential police misconduct, but that transparency has often remained elusive.

Eric Umansky, an editor at large at ProPublica, explains why body cameras haven’t been the fix that many hoped they would be.

Guest: Eric Umansky, an editor at large at ProPublica.

Background reading: 

• The Failed Promise of Police Body Cameras
• From ProPublica: 21 Bodycam Videos Caught the NYPD Wrongly Arresting Black Kids on Halloween. Why Can’t the Public See the Footage?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On April 26, 2019, a beluga whale appeared near Tufjord, a village in northern Norway, immediately alarming fishermen in the area. Belugas in that part of the world typically inhabit the remote Arctic and are rarely spotted as far south as the Norwegian mainland. Although they occasionally travel solo, they tend to live and move in groups. This particular whale was entirely alone and unusually comfortable around humans, trailing boats and opening his mouth as though expecting to be fed.

News of the friendly white whale spread quickly. In early May, a video of the beluga went viral, eventually earning a spot on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” By midsummer, he had become an international celebrity, drawing large groups of tourists. All the while, marine experts had been speculating about the whale’s origin. Clearly this animal had spent time in captivity — but where?

In the years since the whale, publicly named Hvaldimir, first entered the global spotlight, the very qualities that make him so endearing — his intelligence, curiosity and charisma — have put him in perpetual danger. Hvaldimir is now at the center of a dispute over his welfare. Even as he swims freely through the ocean, he is caught in a tangle of conflicting human ambitions, some noble, others misguided, nearly all distorted by inadequate understanding. Whether to intervene, and how to do so, remain contentious subjects among scientists, activists and government officials.

Across the United States, millions of families are confronting a seemingly impossible question: When dementia changes a relative, how much should they accommodate their new personality and desires?

Katie Engelhart, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, tells the story of one family’s experience.

Guest: Katie Engelhart, a writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• The Mother Who Changed: A Story of Dementia
• Katie Englehart has reported on dementia for years, and one image of a prisoner haunts her.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The era of hybrid work has spawned a new kind of office culture — one that has left many workers less connected and less happy than they have ever been.

Emma Goldberg, a business reporter covering workplace culture for The Times, explains how mixing remote and office work has created a malaise, as workers confront new challenges and navigate uncertainty, and employers engage in a wave of experiments.

Guest: Emma Goldberg, a business reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Emma Goldberg reflects on her evolving beat as tens of thousands of employees return to the office.
• From March: Office Mandates. Pickleball. Beer. What will make hybrid work stick?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On Tuesday, Donald J. Trump beat Nikki Haley in New Hampshire. His win accelerated a push for the party to coalesce behind him and deepened questions about the path forward for Ms. Haley, his lone remaining rival.

Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, discusses the real meaning of the former president's victory.

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Donald Trump’s win in New Hampshire added to an air of inevitability, even as Nikki Haley sharpened the edge of her rhetoric.
• Here are five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Nominations for the Oscars are announced on Tuesday and “Oppenheimer,” a film about the father of the atomic bomb, is expected to be among the front-runners. 

Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains how the film sent her on a quest to find the secret story of how Congress paid for the bomb, and what it reveals about the inner workings of Washington.  

Guest: Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Watching “Oppenheimer,” a journalist wondered: How did the president get the $2 billion secret project past Congress?
• What to expect from the Oscar nominations.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

 In the International Court of Justice, South Africa is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Amanda Taub, a human rights lawyer-turned-journalist at The Times, walks through the arguments of the case, and the power that the rules of war have beyond any verdict in court.

Guest: Amanda Taub, writer of The Interpreter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• What might happen next in the genocide case against Israel.
• With its accusations against Israel, South Africa is challenging the Western-led order.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Liz Flatt drove to Austin, Texas, mostly out of desperation. She had tried talking with the police. She had tried working with a former F.B.I. profiler who ran a nonprofit dedicated to solving unsolved murders. She had been interviewed by journalists and at least one podcaster. She had been featured on a Netflix documentary series about a man who falsely confessed to hundreds of killings.

Although she didn’t know it at the time, Flatt was at a crossroads in what she had taken to calling her journey, a path embarked on after a prayer-born decision five years earlier to try to find who killed her sister, Deborah Sue Williamson, or Debbie, in 1975. It was now 2021.

She had come to Austin for a conference, CrimeCon, which formed around the same time that Flatt began her quest, at a moment now seen as an inflection point in the long history of true crime, a genre as old as storytelling but one that adapts quickly to new technologies, from the printing press to social media. Flatt met a woman who would later put her in touch with two investigators who presented at the conference that year: George Jared and Jennifer Bucholtz. They were podcasters, but Jared was also a journalist and Bucholtz an adjunct professor of forensics and criminal justice at the for-profit American Military University. Their presentation was on another cold case, the murder of Rebekah Gould in 2004, whose killer they claimed to have helped find using a technique that has quickly become a signature of the changing landscape of true crime: crowdsourcing.

On its surface, the case before the Supreme Court — a dispute brought by fishing crews objecting to a government fee — appears to be routine.

But, as Adam Liptak, who covers the court for The Times explains, the decision could transform how every industry in the United States is regulated.

Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How a fight over a fishing regulation could help tear down the administrative state.
• The case is part of a long-game effort to sap regulation of business.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Attacks by Houthi militants on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, once seemed like a dangerous sideshow to the war in Gaza. But as the attacks have continued, the sideshow has turned into a full-blown crisis.

Vivian Nereim, the Gulf bureau chief for The Times, explains what cause is served by the Houthis’ campaign.

Guest: Vivian Nereim, the Gulf bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Undeterred by strikes by American and British forces, the Houthis targeted more ships in the Red Sea.
• Washington is grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Concerned about the effect on diversity, many colleges have stopped requiring standardized tests. New research suggests that might be a mistake.

David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The Times, discusses the future of SATs and why colleges remain reluctant to bring them back.

Guest: David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The misguided war on the SAT
• From Opinion: Can the meritocracy survive without the SAT?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday night, Donald J. Trump secured a runaway victory. The only real drama was the fight for second place.

Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, takes us inside one of the caucuses, and Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter, walks us through the final results.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics correspondent for The New York Times, and

Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A letdown for Ron DeSantis: His campaign is running low on cash and faces tough tests ahead.
• Why coming in second can be a win in early-state contests.
• Here are five takeaways from Trump’s crushing victory.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the N.F.L.’s defending champions, is a very loud place. During a 2014 game, a sound meter captured a decibel reading equivalent to a jet’s taking off, earning a Guinness World Record for “Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium.”

Around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, Brian Melillo, an audio engineer for NBC Sports’ flagship N.F.L. telecast, “Sunday Night Football,” arrived at Arrowhead to prepare for that evening’s game against the Detroit Lions. It was a big occasion: the annual season opener, the N.F.L. Kickoff game, traditionally hosted by the winner of last season’s Super Bowl. There would be speeches, fireworks, a military flyover, the unfurling of a championship banner. A crowd of more than 73,000 was expected. “Arrowhead is a pretty rowdy setting,” Melillo said. “It can present some problems.”

Broadcasting a football game on live television is one of the most complex technical and logistical challenges in entertainment. Jody Rosen went behind the scenes of the mammoth broadcast production.

On Monday, Iowa holds the first contest in the Republican presidential nominating process and nobody will have more on the line than Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor staked his candidacy on a victory in Iowa, a victory that now seems increasingly remote.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, and the Daily producers Rob Szypko and Carlos Prieto explain what Mr. DeSantis’s challenge has looked like on the ground in Iowa.

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A weak night for Donald Trump? A Ron DeSantis flop? Gaming out Iowa.
• From December: Mr. Trump was gaining in Iowa polling, and Mr. DeSantis was holding off Nikki Haley for a distant second.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A recent string of attacks across the Middle East has raised concerns that the war between Hamas and Israel is spreading, and might put pressure on other countries like Iran and the United States to get more involved.

Eric Schmitt, who covers national security for The Times, discusses the risk that the conflict is becoming an even wider war, and explains the efforts underway to prevent that.

Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Attacks have heightened fears of a wider war for the Middle East and U.S.
• After a Red Sea barrage by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen, the U.S. and its allies are considering how to retaliate.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Donald Trump has consistently argued that as a former president, he is immune from being charged with a crime for things he did while he was in office.

Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains what happened when Trump’s lawyers made that case in federal court, whether the claim has any chance of being accepted — and why Trump may win something valuable either way.

Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Trump’s immunity claim in court.
• Analysis: Trump says his acquittal by the Senate in his second impeachment trial makes him immune from prosecution.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Across the United States, hundreds of towns and cities are trying to get guns off the streets by turning them over to businesses that offer to destroy them.

But a New York Times investigation found that something very different is happening.

Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter at The Times, explains the unintended consequences of efforts by local officials to rid their communities of guns.

Guest: Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The guns were said to be destroyed. Instead, they were reborn.
• Gun control, explained.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Tonight, millions of Americans are expected to tune in to watch one of the biggest sports events of the year, college football’s national championship game. On the field, the game will be determined by the skill of the players and coaches, but behind the scenes, secretive groups of donors are wielding enormous influence over what fans will see.

David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The Times, discusses the shadowy industry upending college football, and how it has brought amateur athletics even closer to the world of professional sports.

Guest: David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The best teams that money could buy.
• A shift that allows booster groups to employ student athletes has upended the economics of college football and other sports while giving many donors a tax break.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Fifty years ago, eight Americans set off for South America to climb Aconcagua, one of the world’s mightiest mountains. Things quickly went wrong. Two climbers died. Their bodies were left behind.

Here is what was certain: A woman from Denver, maybe the most accomplished climber in the group, had last been seen alive on the glacier. A man from Texas, part of the recent Apollo missions to the moon, lay frozen nearby.

There were contradictory statements from survivors and a hasty departure. There was a judge who demanded an investigation into possible foul play. There were three years of summit-scratching searches to find and retrieve the bodies.

Now, decades later, a camera belonging to one of the deceased climbers has emerged from a receding glacier near the summit and one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

In a landmark ruling last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

The decision eliminated the most powerful tool for ensuring diversity on America’s college campuses and forced college admission officers and high school seniors to figure out what the college admissions process should look like when race cannot be taken into account.

Jessica Cheung, a producer on “The Daily,” explains how, over the past year, both students and college officials have tried to navigate the new rules.

Guest: Jessica Cheung, a producer on “The Daily” for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The first high-school seniors to apply to college since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision have had to sort through a morass of conflicting guidance.
• From June: The Supreme Court rejected affirmative action programs at Harvard and U.N.C.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

A puzzling new pattern has taken hold on American roads: pedestrian traffic deaths, which had been on the decline for years, have skyrocketed.

Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times, discusses her investigation into what lies behind the phenomenon.

Guest: Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why are so many U.S. pedestrians dying at night?
• The exceptionally American problem of rising roadway deaths.
• More theories on the rising pedestrian deaths at night.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Yesterday, we went inside Donald Trump’s campaign for president, to understand how he’s trying to turn a mountain of legal trouble into a political advantage. Today, we turn to the re-election campaign of President Biden.

Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, explains why what looks like a record of accomplishment on paper, is turning out to be so difficult to campaign on.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In South Carolina, Democrats see a test of Biden’s appeal to Black voters.
• Political Memo: Should Biden really run again? He prolongs an awkward conversation.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As former President Donald J. Trump enters an election year leading his Republican rivals by wide margins in the polls, multiple court cases are taking up an increasing amount of his campaign schedule. They have been integrated into his messaging and fund-raising efforts, and his campaign staff has been developing a strategy to lock up his nomination, regardless of what happens in court. Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, discusses what Mr. Trump’s campaign will look and feel like amid the many court dates for his cases.

Guest: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Inside Trump’s Backroom Effort to Lock Up the Nomination
• Trump’s Team Prepares to File Challenges on Ballot Decisions Soon
• Indicted or Barred From the Ballot: For Trump, Bad News Cements Support

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

Major League Baseball is putting in effect some of the biggest changes in the sport’s history in an effort to speed up the game and inject more activity.

As the 2023 season opens, Michael Schmidt, a Times reporter, explains the extraordinary plan to save baseball from the tyranny of the home run.

Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Listen to the original version of the episode here.
• With three major rule changes this season, Major League Baseball will try to reinvent itself while looking to the game’s past for inspiration.
• Here’s a look at the new rules.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

With mountains, intense mud, fast-running rivers and thick rainforest, the Darién Gap, a strip of terrain connecting South and Central America, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

Over the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of migrants passing through the perilous zone in the hopes of getting to the United States.

Today, we hear the story of one family that’s risking everything to make it across.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times

Background reading: 

• Listen to the original version of the episode here.
• The pandemic, climate change and growing conflict are forcing a seismic shift in global migration.
• Two crises are converging at the Darién Gap: an economic and humanitarian disaster underway in South America and the bitter fight over immigration policy in Washington.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin made it a crime to oppose the war in public. Since then, it has waged a relentless campaign of repression, putting Russian citizens in jail for offenses as small as holding a poster or sharing a news article on social media.

Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The Times, tells the story of Olesya Krivtsova, a 19-year-old student who faces up to 10 years in prison after posting on social media, and explains why the Russian government is so determined to silence those like her.

Guest: Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The New York Times, covering Russia and the war in Ukraine.

Background reading: 

• Listen to the original version of the episode here.
• Oleysa’s story has underlined the perils of using social media to criticize the war in Ukraine.
• The authorities are determining who will take custody of a 13-year-old girl whose single father has been sentenced for “discrediting” the Russian Army.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of death.

When fires swept West Maui, Hawaii, many residents fled for their lives — but soon discovered they had nowhere to go. Thousands of structures, mostly homes, had been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars lined the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby made their way painstakingly from house to house, looking for human remains.

Ydriss Nouara, a resident of Lahaina, recounts his experience fleeing the inferno, and Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The Times, explains how an extraordinary set of circumstances turned the city into a death trap.

Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Listen to the original version of the episode here.
• Nearly a week after the fires started, relatives received little information as search and identification efforts moved slowly.
• How the fires turned Lahaina into a death trap.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A New York Times/Siena College poll has found that voters disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, though voters are split on U.S. policy toward the conflict and whether or not Israel’s military campaign should continue. Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, breaks down the poll and what it means for U.S.-Israeli relations and Biden’s 2024 campaign.

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Poll Finds Wide Disapproval of Biden on Gaza, and Little Room to Shift Gears
• How Much Is Biden’s Support of Israel Hurting Him With Young Voters?
• Amid Dismal Polling and Some Voter Anger, Don’t Expect Biden to Shift His Strategy

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The accidental killing of three hostages by Israel’s military has shocked Israelis and is raising new questions about the way Israel is conducting its war against Hamas. Afterward, Israel’s defense minister appeared to announce a shift in strategy, giving the clearest indication to date that Israel may slow down its military operation in Gaza after weeks of pressure.

Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, and Hiba Yazbek, a reporter for The Times, discuss Israel’s military campaign and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.

Guests: Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, and Hiba Yazbek, a reporter for The Times.

Background reading: 

• Israel Says 3 Hostages Bore White Flag Before Being Killed by Troops
• Israel’s Allies Urge Restraint as Netanyahu Vows ‘Fight to the End’
• U.S. Urges Israel to Do More to Spare Civilians in Gaza and Pushes Hostage Talks
• What to Know About the Remaining Hostages Taken From Israel

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.