Millions of Americans are applying for student loan forgiveness this week as the online applications site goes live.

And coming to a quarter near you, the actress Anna Mae Wong makes history. The celebrated Hollywood icon will become the first Asian American featured on US currency.

Meanwhile, overseas, Britain's newest prime minister prepares for life as an old one. Liz Truss moves on from her role as Prime Minister of the UK after just 45 days in office.

In Ukraine, drone attacks leave millions in the dark. Russia's new military commander warns of 'difficult decisions' ahead as thousands leave a key city in the south.

And the United Nations warns that Haiti is on the verge of collapse.

We cover all this and more during this week's News Roundup.

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Rising food and energy costs are hurting Americans' pockets, especially for those earning lower wages.

Wages haven't kept up with inflation. But low-income workers have seen some of the largest percent increases in pay since the pandemic.

But how long will those reported gains last? How do we fix a system that asks millions to work hard, but doesn't earn them enough to live on?

We partnered with WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky and talk to small business owners, consumers and workers impacted by inflation.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Nearly five million American seniors across the U.S. are living below or at the poverty line.

The Social Security administration recently announced that benefits for the 2023 calendar year will increase by 8.7% to adjust for the surging cost of inflation. Medicaid premiums are set to decrease by a similar amount as well.

How much will that help?

We explore the challenges facing many older Americans.

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Child poverty has dramatically decreased in the U.S. over the past 25 years. The now-defunct Child Tax Credit helped bring those numbers down even further by roughly 30 percent.

We discuss child poverty across the United States and what lessons can be learned from the decrease.

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In 2020, more than 37 million Americans lived in poverty according to new data from the U.S Census Bureau.

That number doesn't include those who are above the poverty line and struggling to make a living.

We discuss what it means to be poor and how people fall below the poverty line, and the difficulties associated with it. This is the first part of our discussion of poverty in America for our series "The Price of Poverty."

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The Jan. 6 hearings resumed on Thursday, a week after members of the U.S. House Select Committee interviewed Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She's a proponent of the disproven theory that the 2020 election was fraudulent and was in contact with several Trump surrogates after the former president lost the race.

Russia has arrested eight individuals it claims are connected to the bombing of a key bridge connecting Ukraine's Donbas region and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces are now responding by targeting civilian locales, including a major park in Kyiv.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed to his office for another term when the country's major party congress meets this weekend.

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Protests in Iran have been growing for four weeks. The movement has attracted widespread support.

Protests against Iran's supreme leader were prompted by the death of a young Kurdish woman while in police custody.

Over the past dozen or so years, Iranians have pushed back against their government, only for demonstrations to fizzle out, suppressed by a well-practiced system.

We discuss the situation in Iran, get a look at life inside the country, and talk about how this uprising is different from previous ones.

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President Biden surprised the nation when he announced he would pardon all simple marijuana convictions at the federal level.

It's a decision that echoes policy at the state level. Thirty-one states and D.C. no longer prosecute or criminalize a person for possessing small amounts of cannabis.

Experts say the bigger move was his request for the government to review marijuana's classification as a Schedule 1 drug ? a category reserved for dangerous narcotics like heroin.

We discuss what it would mean if marijuana is rescheduled and national drug policy.

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Kansas voters surprised the country when they overwhelmingly voted against a constitutional amendment that would have banned abortion in the state.

But several more states are now set to vote on the issue next month.

According to a recent NPR and PBS poll, abortion is the second most important issue for voters after inflation. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has altered the political landscape in the run-up to the midterms.

We talk about how and take a look at what we can expect when Kentuckians head to the polls.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The midterms are less than thirty days away and a new poll from AARP has found that women over 50 may be a deciding factor in this year's elections. More than half of the 800 women surveyed across the US are still unclear on which Congressional candidate they will vote for in the next five week.

Women over the age of 50 are among one of the most reliable voting blocs in midterm elections.

"We see this group of voters as incredibly diverse," says Christine Matthews, president of Bellwether Research and Consulting, who worked with AARP to conduct the nationwide survey. "The one thing they all have in common is they will show up to vote."

We discuss the study's findings and what to expect from these voters bloc during the midterms.

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Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker found himself in hot water this week after it was reported the former football star paid for a partner of his to have an abortion.

This week, President Joe Biden visited Puerto Rico and Florida after Hurricane Ian left both areas devastated.

A new term for the Supreme Court has begun. The court is set to hear new cases at a time in its history when many are questioning its legitimacy in light of its right-wing turn.

Meanwhile, the White House is accusing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) of siding with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. But experts say the Biden administration probably won't take any action against Saudi Arabia.

We get into all this and more during the News Roundup.

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This week we discussed protests in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini's death after she was detained by morality police in the country.

Iran's Supreme Leader broke his silence after more than 2 weeks of massive protests across the country.

Dozens of demonstrators have died. Hundreds more have been arrested over the past two weeks, and the protests show no end in sight.

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According to the CDC, the teenage birth rate has dropped dramatically over the last two decades.

Advocates say comprehensive sex education and access to contraception are two reasons for that decline.

But, in a post-Roe world, some states are rethinking their sex ed requirements. Parents are getting involved too, voicing their concerns about what sex ed classes now cover.

Curricula vary wildly across the country. In some states, like Indiana, educators are reporting online threats and harassment over these classes.

We hear from teachers, parents and students from around the country on changes they want to see.

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President Putin's military mobilization effort ? a forced conscription of between 300-thousand and a million Russian men to join the war in Ukraine has prompted an exodus of Russians.

"There are 190 different ethnic minorities in Russia," says President of the Free Russia Foundation Natalia Arno, "These groups are the ones being targeted by the Russian military for conscription."

Our guests take us inside Russia, and discuss with us what kind of toll the conflict is taking on everyday life.

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The Supreme Court's new term gets underway, but the country is still dealing with the fallout from the last one. Particularly the decision that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The docket includes cases surrounding election integrity, gerrymandering, climate change, and affirmative action. According to a Gallup poll, the Supreme Court's approval is at a historic low.

We discuss some of the big cases and talk about what we can expect from the Supreme Court over the next few months.

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Hurricane Ian made landfall in the contiguous United States this week, devastating southwest Florida after it blew its way through Puerto Rico, knocking out the island's power grid.

Meanwhile, protests in Iran continue. The death of a woman being held in custody over laws about wearing the hijab in public inspired these demonstrations. The government has responded with force and the death toll has now risen to 76 as protests enter their second week.

And Italy is set to welcome its first-ever female prime minister to office. Giorgia Meloni is a far-right, neo-fascist politician whose party supports anti-immigrant policies and focuses on "traditional" families.

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Salimata, her husband Moussa, and their baby son, Ibrahim, fled violence in their home country of Ivory Coast. They arrived in Texas this year, seeking asylum in the United States. After a day at a shelter, they were put on a bus and dropped off in Washington, D.C.

In D.C. they found a home with Sue Kenney-Pfalzer, an immigration attorney looking for a way to help.

1A producer Avery J.C. Kleinman talked to Salimata and Sue as part of a conversation on 1A about what's happening to migrants being bussed north.

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Hurricane Ian reached Florida on Wednesday.

This week, about 2.5 million Floridians were asked to leave their homes and move inland or to higher ground to avoid the winds and flooding. Many people didn't leave, braving the storm at home even as local emergency services were temporarily suspended.

We discuss the damage caused by Ian and what happens next. We also check in on how Puerto Rico is dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Fiona.

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The American Library Association has reported 681 challenges to more than 1,600 titles this year. That puts 2022 on track to see the highest number of book challenges in decades.

This summer, a library in Lafayette, Louisiana, was forced to remove a Pride Month display.

In Iowa, a proposed bill would give city councils the power to overturn librarians' decisions about what books to buy and where they're displayed.

And these are just a couple of examples.

We discuss the future of public libraries and library workers in this climate of unprecedented censorship.

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California's two initiatives concerning online gambling regulations are set to be the most expensive ballot campaign in U.S. history. The measures would make sports betting in the state legal both in person and online.

Currently, the U.S. is a patchwork of regulations on betting. One gray area that's grown in the past several years is the popular online streaming platform Twitch. Gambling content on the platform has received a lot of attention recently, to which Twitch responded with a partial gambling ban.

We talk about California's gambling initiatives, Twitch's new gambling policy, and the future of betting online.

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Thousands of migrants have been bussed to northern cities from Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Republican governors say blue states should share in the responsibility of taking care of the record number of migrants coming over the border.

Sue Kenney-Pfalzer, is an immigration attorney who was looking for a way to help migrants in Washington, D.C. She provided a room in her home for a family before her move to San Diego.

We hear from Sue and the family she housed and talk to immigration experts experts about the situation at large.

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Actor Danny Trejo has over 380 acting credits to his name, from playing an action star in the Machete series a drug cartel boss in Breaking Bad.

Trejo has become one of Hollywood's go-to badasses and bad guys. It could be because his life experiences aren't too far away from those of many of his characters.

Growing up, Danny was in and out of the most notorious prisons in California, enmeshed in crime and struggling with substance use.

He's written about it in his memoir, Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood, which is out in both English and Spanish.

This conversation was recorded in 2021.

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The lights went out in Puerto Rico this week after Hurricane Fiona devastated the island. The already fragile electric infrastructure crumbled, invoking memories of the 11-month blackout the island suffered after Hurricane Maria.

A Texas sheriff opened a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he arranged for 50 Venezuelan migrants to be flown to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in a political stunt.

Russia's defense minister announced this week that 300,000 men will be drafted in the next phase of its invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities are also planning to hold referendums on separation in Russian-controlled portions of Ukraine in a potential effort to dissuade counter-offensives by Ukrainian troops.

Protests continue in Iran over the killing of a woman who was in custody for breaking laws pertaining to wearing the hijab in public. Authorities have cracked down, leading to the deaths of at least 9 people involved in the demonstrations.

We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.

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The pandemic changed the 2020 election. Voters turned out in record numbers. Many Americans took advantage of mail-in and early voting.

Since 2020, pro-democracy groups say states have enacted 50 laws that make voting harder or undermine the election process.

We discuss a case that could drastically change how federal elections are run. We also ask law experts what legal standing this theory has and what it could mean for your vote.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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During an appearance on 60 Minutes, President Joe Biden declared that the pandemic is over.

But the pandemic isn't a thing of the past yet?something Biden should know well. His comments come as his administration asks Congress for an additional $22 billion to fight the pandemic. Some 400 to 500 Americans die each day from COVID-19.

We discuss what the data tells us about this stage of the pandemic, and who gets to decide if the pandemic is over.

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The British Commonwealth is a political organization of 56 countries across the globe. It accounts for 2.5 billion people, with India making up more than half of that number.

But its future following the queen's death remains uncertain. Barbados left the organization last year and both Jamaica and Belize are considering departures.

The history of British colonial rule in the Caribbean and the possibility of reparations are hot topics of discussion among regional advocates and leaders.

We discuss the Commonwealth's history, why countries join, and why they leave.

The Senate recently confirmed TSA administrator David Pekoske for a second term. His reappointment comes as the Transportation Security Administration marks its 21st year in existence, having been created just two months after 9/11.

Its two decades in operation haven't always been smooth sailing. The TSA has one of the highest turnover rates of any federal agency with one in five new hires quitting in their first six months. Public complaints about the agency are also high. Long lines, liquid limits, and random pat-downs plague many travelers.

We sit down to assess our nation's aviation security and discuss whether the TSA is accomplishing what it was created to do.

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Cristela Alonzo is one of only a few Latinos with a Netflix comedy special. When her first premiered in 2017, she didn't hold back on her dislike for former President Donald Trump or her identity as a Mexican-American in South Texas.

Now, she's back for her second special, "Middle Classy." And she's bringing her activism with her, opening up the special with cameos from civil rights leader Dolores Huerta and Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.

She shares with us what it's like being able to finally afford to take care of herself and the importance of therapy despite the stigma among her Latino family.

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Just as the Biden administration was set to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, stocks plummeted in their greatest daily drop since 2020 due to a searing inflation report.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have gained significant ground in the country. Russian forces are pulling back. Moscow is claiming its forces are regrouping.

The United Kingdom prepares for the late queen's funeral. Mourners line up for miles and world leaders fly in to pay their respects. President Joe Biden is planning his visit. Russia's Vladimir Putin is not invited.

Putin instead sat down with China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi at a meeting between the leaders of major eastern governments.

We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.

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In November, voters will pick their elected officials in the midterm elections. But some of those voters have also been hand-picked by political parties.

This year judges in four states ? Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, and Alabama ruled that congressional maps were illegally drawn around partisan or racial lines to favor Republicans.With four months to go before Alabama's primary, the Supreme Court said it was too close to an election to order new maps.

That set a precedent allowing all four states to use illegally gerrymandered maps this fall.We discuss what this means for future elections and voting rights if states can use illegally drawn maps.

We also get into how close is too close to an election to change things.

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Lamenting the death of R&B has become a meme by now ? something said by those in the industry and fans alike. But despite pop and hip-hop dominating the charts, R&B is kept alive by artists like Jasmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, and Brent Faiyaz.

One of the genre's biggest stars is Ari Lennox, a 31-year-old D.C. native signed to rapper J. Cole's Dreamville record label. Her latest album is called "age/sex/location." She's been compared to R&B divas like Erykah Badu and Mariah Carey.

We talk about Ari Lennox and the future of R&B.

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The National Education Association estimates there's a shortage of roughly 300,000 teachers and staff across the U.S.

The teacher shortage is particularly pronounced in rural school districts, where the need for special education teachers and STEM teachers is high.

We hear from current and former teachers about the challenges of the profession.

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Primary season is wrapping up and we're two months away from the November midterm elections that will decide which party will take control of the House and Senate.

This year's primaries have featured both the surprising and the expected.

In Kansas, voters voted against an amendment that would make abortion illegal in the state. Wyoming, Rep. Liz Cheney ? a Republican and member of the Jan. 6 committee ? lost her race without much fanfare.

And so far, according to a recent tally from NPR, 91 percent of Trump-backed candidates have won their open primaries.

We discuss what this means for the fate of the parties in November. We also look at what this political moment can tell us about the future of the country.

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Best estimates suggest there are around 140,000 African-American Jewish people living in the United States. James Beard award-winning writer and historian Michael Twitty uses the term "border-crossers" to describe the community, which includes himself.

"We are people who have always existed but have never really had a voice," he writes in his new book, "Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew."

We sit down with Twitty to talk about food, tradition, and identity.

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Temperatures remain high out west as the record-breaking heat wave ravaging the region shows no signs of letting up. So far, California has avoided rolling blackouts, but the heat has led to more wildfires throughout the state.

Senate Democrats are preparing to vote on protecting same-sex marriage, capping insulin costs, and antitrust legislation before the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, the U.K.'s new prime minister, Liz Truss, has her hands full at the beginning of her time at 10 Downing. The queen died Thursday, surrounded by her family.

We cover all this and more during this week's News Roundup.

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Throughout this episode, we discuss suicide which may be distressing to some listeners and may not be suitable for young listeners. If you or anyone you know needs to talk to someone, you can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Millions of people enter jail in the U.S. every year. Carceral centers have become a revolving door for those with mental health issues or substance-abuse disorders.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that inmates are entitled to life-saving medical care, but that isn't quite guaranteed.

Jail deaths rose 11 percent since 2000 when the U.S. Department of Justice began tallying these deaths. Suicides are the leading cause of jail deaths. Fatal drug overdoses are the fastest growing cause of death.

We look at why jail can be so harmful. And we talk about what mental health and substance abuse resources are available to inmates.

This show is part of 1A's "Remaking America" project. We begin the program by looking at a string of recent jail deaths in Louisville, Kentucky, with help from our partner station WFPL.

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When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, he allocated $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS says the money will help close the yearly deficit of $600 billion between the taxes the IRS collects and the taxes owed.

The agency plans to spend the money on hiring new enforcement agents, modernizing technology, auditing the wealthiest Americans, and improving the taxpayer experience. But the plan has attracted partisan pushback.

We discuss the obstacles the IRS has historically faced. We also talk about how far the new money will go to help the agency.

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California's state senate passed a bill last week that could revolutionize the west coast and U.S. fast-food industry. The bill aims to create a council that would set wages and working conditions for the industry.

According to a study by UCLA and UC-Berkley, nearly two-thirds of fast-food workers in Los Angeles said they'd experienced wage theft. Nearly half experienced injuries or faced health and safety hazards on the job.

This legislation would be the first of its kind in the country.

We discuss the bill and what impacts it could have on the fast-food industry and across the U.S.

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More than a century ago, physicist Albert Einstein predicted the existence of black holes?points in space where gravity is so powerful nothing, not even light, can escape their pull.

Since then, black holes have become fixtures in science fiction. They're potent symbols of mystery in part because we know so little about them.

But a lot has changed in the past decade. We now understand more about these cosmic phenomena than ever before, including what they sound like.

We speak to the scientist who led the project to capture the sound and two astrophysicists to better understand black holes?points where the laws of physics don't apply.

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The fallout from the FBI investigation into what classified documents former President Donald Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago continues to unfold. A Department of Justice court filing says classified documents were likely "moved and hidden." That filing also noted that FBI agents found twice as many documents as had been initially turned over by Trump.

The FDA authorized additional Pfizer and Moderna booster shots. The approvals have many Americans wondering how many booster shots citizens will need to be safe, and what the next wave of COVID vaccines will look like.

Meanwhile, Asian countries are feeling the effects of climate change. Flooding in south Pakistan has claimed the lives of at least 1,191 people. China is trying to stay cool amid its longest heat wave on record.

In Russia-related news, the European Union suspended a visa program with Russia, but hasn't banned Russian visas altogether. Former USSR politician Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 91.

We cover all this and more during this week's News Roundup.

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Elections officials across the country are reporting an increase in poll watchers and poll observers in the lead up to the midterms. But what happens when those keeping an eye on the democratic process are trained by groups promoting election disinformation?

A survey of elections directors in North Carolina found violations in 15 counties. Officials there observed poll watchers harassing voters and attempting to enter restricted areas to view confidential voting records, according to the Associated Press.

We speak with elections officials about the role of observers at voting sites, and who's watching the poll watchers as they show up at polling places.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Bruce Springsteen built his reputation on being a man of the people. That's part of why some of his fans were especially aghast at the ticket prices for his upcoming tour. Some cost upwards of thousands of dollars each.

Many popular artists take advantage of a pricing system used by live events company Ticketmaster that sets prices based on demand. The more people waiting in line for tickets, the higher the prices go. But many fans aren't happy with the ballooning costs.

Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, owns concert venues, promotes tours, and sells tickets. Some say that leaves little room for competition, hurting fans, artists, and the industry at large.

We discuss Live Nation as a monopoly, who it hurts, and what's being done to address the lack of competition.

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The Department of Education estimates that 45 million Americans have borrowed $1.6 trillion dollars in debt.

Tens of millions of those borrowers are getting a break. President Joe Biden announced a plan last week to forgive some student loans.

The plan will do more for some than it will for others. A breakdown of who holds the most student debt shows a clear disparity in how much of the financial burden has fallen on women and people of color.

As higher education has become essential for upward social mobility, student loan debt has slowed that trajectory for many people of color.

We discuss which parts of Biden's plan will benefit those who have taken on the most financial burden. We also discuss how less student debt can increase economic opportunities for people of color.

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This year's midterm election spending is set to break records.

Super PACs and other groups have dropped over $53 million in Democratic House primaries so far, according to OpenSecrets. In the 2018 and 2020 elections, that number was closer to $30 million.

We talk about these megadonors and how much influence they have on policy decisions. We also look at a report from The New York Times about a little-known conservative nonprofit and the $1.6 billion donation they received to distribute to campaigns and causes.

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President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to forgive some student debt and change the repayment structure for some loans this week. Americans making under $125,000 can receive $10,000 in forgiveness, while Pell grants recipients can receive $20,000. The plan also caps interest at 5 percent and sets a 20-year maximum repayment schedule.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is stepping down from his post as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases this December. He will also leave his role as chief medical advisor to President Biden.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden announced an additional $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine as it continues to fight back against Russian invaders. The conflict has raged for six months.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin was the subject of a sexist "scandal" after footage of her partying with friends at a private residence began circulating on social media.

We cover the stories that made headlines around the world on the international portion of the News Roundup.

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New abortion restrictions are going into effect this week in Idaho, Texas, and Tennessee. More than 20 million women have lost access to abortion in their home state, according to reporting from The Washington Post.

So how will this affect women?

Reporting shows many states that have enacted abortion bans are less likely to offer expanded Medicaid coverage and guaranteed paid family leave. Just a few Republican lawmakers are pushing for more support at the federal level.

We discuss America's social safety net for parents in the post-Roe era.

This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. The series explores Americans' trust in institutions and the health of our democracy. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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The first polio case in the U.S. in nearly a decade was recorded in Rockland County, New York, this spring. Now, authorities believe there could be hundreds of unreported cases in the area.

Polio was one of the most feared diseases in the U.S. in the early 1950s, causing more than 15,000 cases of paralysis a year.

The U.S has been considered polio-free since 1979. But this latest outbreak could threaten that status.

We discuss how we can prevent polio from returning to the U.S. and how you can protect yourself and loved ones.

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Heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the U.S.

Over the last 10 years, it's killed an average of 135 people per year. That's more than floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.

Today, more than 13 million Americans are under an extreme heat warning, according to Heat.gov. On Aug. 3, it was 124 million. That's more than a third of the people in the U.S.

We discuss how we can adapt to a hotter future and what we can expect in the years to come.

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Florida students are going to return to schools facing a firehose of challenges; from a massive teacher shortage to new limits on how topics like race and sexual orientation can be taught.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has been heavily involved in races that aren't his own. He's spending his own campaign money to support his preferred candidates for school boards across the state.

And Florida Democrats have their own roster of candidates, too.

We discuss why school board races are getting so much attention. We also talk about the candidates' stances on issues that will come up this school year.

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A new book by author T.J. English, who's made a career writing about organized crime, examines the close relationship between jazz and the mob.

Featuring characters like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Al Capone, "Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld" traces the popularity of the genre through the 20th century and how gangsters helped the genre flourish.

We sit down with English to talk about jazz music and the mob's shared sordid and spectacular history.

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