| Biden will keep Trump's China tariffs, and add new ones on electric vehicles
- The Biden administration is finally wrapping up its review of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports. It will keep those tariffs, and add more on things like electric vehicles.
Fri, 10 May 2024 19:44:34 -0400
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Critics hated 'The Phantom Menace.' It might be time to reconsider
- When Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit screens across the country in 1999, Return of the Jedi felt like ancient history to Star Wars fans. But after 16 long years, the movie let down fans and critics alike. Twenty-five years have changed how a lot of people feel. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Fri, 10 May 2024 18:37:32 -0400
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Zombie 2nd mortgages are coming back to life
- Karen MacDonough of Quincy, Mass., was enjoying her tea one morning in the dining room when she sees something odd outside of her window: A group of people gathering on her lawn. A man with a clipboard tells her that her home no longer belongs to her. It didn't matter that she'd been paying her mortgage for 17 years, and was current on it. She was a nurse with a good job and had raised her kids here. But this was a foreclosure sale, and she was going to lose her house.
Karen had fallen victim to what's called a zombie second mortgage. Homeowners think these loans are long dead. But then the loans come back to life because they get bought up, sometimes for pennies on the dollar, by debt collectors who then move to collect and foreclose on people's homes.
On today's episode: An NPR investigation reveals the practice to be widespread. Also, what are zombie mortgages? Is all this legal? And is there any way for homeowners to fight the zombies?
This episode was hosted by Chris Arnold and Robert Smith. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang with help from Bob Little. And it was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Robert Rodriguez with an assist from Patrick Murray. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Fri, 10 May 2024 18:25:06 -0400
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| From pandemic to protests, the Class of 2024 has been through a lot
- Pomp and circumstance again fall victim to circumstance for some students in the graduating class of 2024, as protests over the war in Gaza threaten to disrupt commencement ceremonies.
Fri, 10 May 2024 17:47:24 -0400
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Election in Indonesia Presents a Challenge for the U.S.
- Prabowo Subianto will become the president of Indonesia in the Fall. Critics worry that the former general under a previous authoritarian government will roll back democracy. That presents a challenge for the U.S., which once trained and supported Prabowo, then subsequently banned him from entering the U.S. for twenty years.
And a TV song contest in Venezuela in which every song is about the authoritarian president.
Fri, 10 May 2024 17:10:46 -0400
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| U.S. medical volunteers in Rafah hospital say they've never seen a worse health crisis
- Because of the Israeli operation, hospitals lack basic supplies. And doctors must face the heartbreaking decision whether to let one patient die so they can use available resources to save another.
Fri, 10 May 2024 17:06:39 -0400
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| A Virginia county board votes to restore Confederates' names to schools
- The school board meeting stretched into early Friday. During the debate, a Black student athlete told the board, "I would have to represent a man that fought for my ancestors to be slaves."
Fri, 10 May 2024 16:41:09 -0400
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| 5 takeaways from NPR's reporting on the purported Matamoros flyer
- Here's a summary of NPR's reporting about a purported flyer that was found in a portable toilet at a migrant encampment in Matamoros, Mexico that urged migrants to vote illegally for President Biden.
Fri, 10 May 2024 16:15:38 -0400
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| Tax revenue jumps 22% in April, but U.S. deficit still looms large
- The U.S. Treasury ran a surplus last month, thanks in part to the April 15th tax deadline. But the federal government is still expected to end the year more than $1.5 trillion in the red.
Fri, 10 May 2024 15:33:10 -0400
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| The U.N. General Assembly backs the Palestinians' membership bid
- The assembly voted by a wide margin to grant new "rights and privileges" to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider the Palestinians' request to become a U.N. member.
Fri, 10 May 2024 15:21:23 -0400
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