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The Washington Post

Post Reports is the daily podcast from The Washington Post. Unparalleled reporting. Expert insight. Clear analysis. Everything you’ve come to expect from the newsroom of The Post, for your ears. Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi are your hosts, asking the questions you didn’t know you wanted answered. Published weekdays around 5 p.m. Eastern time.

Post Reports

A crop of Silicon Valley startups offers the hope of eradicating disease by testing embryos for genetic abnormalities and the potential for future illness. But those tests come with a high price tag and ethical questions about the use of predictive technology to decide who gets born – or not.

Host Elahe Ezadi speaks with Silicon Valley correspondent Elizabeth Dwoskin about the cutting-edge science driving fertility startups, what families who use them say, and how this trend fits into Silicon Valley’s obsession with hacking our health.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Arjun Singh. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Inside Silicon Valley’s push to breed super-babies

On Monday, Israelis celebrated the return of all 20 living hostages still held by Hamas. Palestinians welcomed back hundreds of prisoners and detainees held in Israel. For the first time in months, humanitarian aid began to surge into war-torn Gaza.

The swap was part of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that President Donald Trump brokered between Israel and Hamas – a step he touted as the beginning of a new era of peace across the region. 

But many unanswered questions remain about how the fragile peace negotiations will continue to develop.

Colby Itkowitz speaks with Middle East reporter Abbie Cheeseman about how this deal came to be – and what questions remain for the future of Gaza.

Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu with assistance from Rennie Svirnovskiy and Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Will peace in Gaza hold?

The municipal animal shelter in Huntington, West Virginia, was euthanizing 50 to 75 percent of the animals that came in because they didn’t have the funding or space to care for them. Enter Courtney Proctor Cross. She was named director of the shelter in August 2018, and through hard work and fundraising she transformed the shelter into a place of hope. 

This episode was produced by Ted Muldoon. The Optimist’s editor is Allison Klein.

If you want more stories from The Optimist, check out our newsletter. And let us know what you think of these stories on “Post Reports.” You can email me at maggie.penman@washpost.com or reach the whole team at podcasts@washpost.com.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And check out the YouTube video of this episode here.

How to save an animal shelter: “If you care about something just do it”

The Senate remains far apart on resolving the ongoing government shutdown. But the battle for public opinion on who’s to blame has shifted. Republicans appear split on whether to negotiate on health-care costs, as Democrats are demanding. And polling shows voters blame the GOP just as much as Democrats, if not more, for failing to fund the government.

Plus, what Attorney General Pam Bondi’s combative hearing before the Senate Oversight Committee this week signals about her place in the Trump administration, the text messages blowing up a statewide race in Virginia and the peace deal for Gaza that President Donald Trump helped broker. 

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with national politics reporter Liz Goodwin and Dan Merica, the co-anchor of The Post’s flagship politics newsletter, The Early Brief.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Josh Carroll. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. You can find this episode on YouTube here.

Shutdown cracks, Jay Jones’s texts, Trump’s Gaza deal

Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny is having a phenomenal year. His seventh album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” came out in January and spent weeks at the top of the charts. He sold out a musical residency in Puerto Rico. And now, he’s set to headline one of the biggest stages for a musical artist: the Super Bowl halftime show. But that performance has ignited a political firestorm on the right. MAGA influencers are criticizing the choice because Bad Bunny, born Benito Ocasio Martinez Ocasio, sings in Spanish, and because he expressed fears this year that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could pursue fans at his shows. 

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with national politics reporter Sabrina Rodriguez about this right-wing backlash and how it fits into ongoing culture war battles.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Bad Bunny, the Super Bowl and a MAGA meltdown

Tensions have been escalating in Chicago since the Trump administration began a widespread immigration enforcement operation across the city in early September. Officers have ransacked homes and detained children during raids. Local and state officials have loudly denounced the move and are pushing back against the effort, while residents have banded together to keep neighbors safe. But over the weekend a woman was shot by a Border Patrol agent, and after protests flared the president authorized National Guard troops to go into Illinois.

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with reporter and Chicago resident Kim Bellware about what it’s felt like to be there and how the city has been responding.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson with help from Rennie Svirnovsky. It was edited by Peter Bresnan and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The National Guard arrives in Chicago

It is now Day 2 of peace talks in the region, with delegations from Israel and Hamas meeting in Egypt in an attempt to end the conflict. The peace deal – which was originally proposed by President Trump – would look to end fighting, secure the release of all remaining hostages and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

After two years of deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave, the two sides will also look to negotiate Gaza’s security and political future. 

Today on “Post Reports,” host Colby Itkowitz is joined by Washington Post foreign policy reporter Michael Birnbaum. He discusses who will be at the table for both sides, what the future of Gaza could look like and why these talks look to be developing differently than ones in the past.

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy with help from Lucas Trevor and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Negotiating over Trump's peace plan for Gaza

A single Q&A session with a large language model can consume more than a half-liter of fresh water to cool servers. Asking ChatGPT one question reportedly consumes 10 times as much electricity as a conventional Google search. And generating an image is equivalent to charging a smartphone.

Should we be worried about that?

Climate advice columnist Michael J. Coren doesn’t think so – or, at least, we shouldn’t lose sleep over it. 

Today on “Post Reports,” he joins host Colby Itkowitz to dispel myths around AI’s energy consumption, explain how to use AI chatbots responsibly, and break down our other energy-intensive digital habits. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and Reena Flores, and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Marisa Bellack. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Talking to ChatGPT drains energy. These other things are worse.

After a two-month trial this summer, Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution – but acquitted on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. 

Combs’s defense attorneys argued he should either get a new trial or be released in under two years, while the prosecution pushed for him to serve over a decade in prison. On Friday, the judge decided that he would spend 50 months in prison. 

Host Elahe Izadi speaks with style reporter Anne Branigin about Combs’s appeal to the judge and how he is already starting his rebrand.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson and Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Follow our coverage of the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on Spotify here.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The Diddy Trial: Sean Combs’s 4-year sentence

In a cold muddy pond in Cape Cod, a group of self-proclaimed “old ladies” dives for garbage — and unexpectedly finds joy.

This is a story from The Optimist, The Washington Post’s section about the best of humanity. If you want more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter. If you love hearing these stories on “Post Reports,” please send us an email at podcasts@washpost.com. You can reach Maggie Penman directly at maggie.penman@washpost.com.

Today’s show was produced by Maggie Penman. It was edited and mixed by Ted Muldoon. Thank you to Allison Klein. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The group diving for beer cans and baby doll heads

Carter, a peanut farmer, Navy veteran and Georgia governor, served just four years in the White House. But his time in office was only part of his legacy. Later in life, he would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pursuit of peace and human rights.

Elahe Izadi speaks with national political correspondent Dan Balz about the life and legacy of the former president.

Today’s show was produced by Ted Muldoon and Arjun Singh. It was edited by Maggie Penman, with help from Reena Flores. It was mixed by Ted Muldoon. 

﻿Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

How Jimmy Carter redefined his legacy

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