The songs that define America

All across the U.S., there are aging oil and natural gas wells no longer in use.A lot of them don't have anyone on the hook to seal them up. Some estimate over a million such "orphan wells" still exist.Because they haven't been plugged, they're still leaking greenhouse gases and other chemicals into the atmosphere and into the land around them.What would it take to plug them — or even just one of them?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel bans international journalists from independent access to Gaza. But NPR's Anas Baba is from Gaza, and in the 21 months he has been reporting on the war, he's also been living it. Over the course of the war, he has lost a third of his body weight, and until his food supplies ran out several weeks ago, he was getting by on just one small meal a day.Israel still tightly restricts the entry of food into Gaza. The food it does allow in is mostly distributed through new sites run by private American contractors with a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF operates under protection from the Israeli military, and the U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said this new system "is killing people."According to health officials and international medical teams in Gaza, hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli troops as they approach these food sites. U.S. officials have accused American media of spreading Hamas misinformation. In this episode, Anas Baba takes us on the perilous journey he made to one of these new GHF distribution sites, in an attempt to secure food.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's been nearly a week since devastating flooding tore through Kerr County, Texas killing more than a hundred people.Now, after unimaginable tragedy, residents are coming together to help each other move forward.NPR's Juana Summers and producers Erika Ryan and Tyler Bartlam visited the City West Church, which has transformed from a house of worship into a pop up food distribution site serving thousands of meals to the community and first responders.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The total fertility rate is a small number with big consequences.It measures how many babies, on average, each woman will have over her lifetime. And for a population to remain stable - flat, no growth, no decline - women, on average, have to have 2.1 kids.In the U.S., that number is 1.6, and dropping. It's driving a new political debate about what – if anything – can be done about it. The thing is, beneath that demographic data point are millions of families making intimate decisions about kids. NPR's Sarah McCammon and Brian Mann dug into the politics and personal stories behind America's shrinking birthrate.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Imagine standing in water shallow enough to just barely hit the soles of your feet. And then it rises so fast that in just about ten minutes, it's up to your neck. That's how fast the Guadalupe River in Texas rose last week, according to state officials. Twenty-six feet in less than an hour. That flooding left dozens dead, devastated homes and businesses. Officials, emergency crews and volunteers are hoping more survivors will be found. But in a press conference today, officials warned the death toll will continue to rise.In the Texas Hill Country, climate change and geography conspired to create one of the worst floods in generations. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

If you're a parent, decisions about vaccines have gotten a lot more confusing recently. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s health department is walking back longstanding recommendations. NPR's Pien Huang speaks with a pediatrician and a vaccine researcher to discuss how the changes may affect public health - and how frontline conversations are going between pediatricians and families.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.nprth.org.Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Independence Day means different things to each of us. On this 249th birthday for America, we spend some time looking at different definitions of America by revisiting NPR's 2018 series: American Anthem — which had the simple goal of telling 50 stories about 50 songs that have become galvanizing forces in American culture.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump put essentially his entire domestic agenda in one bill.It would significantly cut clean energy incentives, Medicaid and food assistance programs — and double down on tax cuts, immigration enforcement and national defense.Despite opposition from Democrats, and divides within the Republican Party, it passed through Congress.How did that happen? And what does it mean for American taxpayers? NPR correspondents explain.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.nprth.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This summer marks 80 years since the end of World War II when Allied forces liberated Nazi-occupied Europe, and also began to discover the horrific scale of the Holocaust. An estimated six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.With the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer survivors who can tell the stories of what they witnessed and endured. Once fringe ideas of Holocaust denial are spreading. Multiple members of President Donald Trump's administration have expressed support for Nazi sympathizers and people who promote antisemitism.The stories of those who lived through the Holocaust are in danger of being forgotten. And there's a race against time to record as many as possible.In this episode, the story of a Jewish man who survived Buchenwald and an American soldier, who helped liberate the concentration camp.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The massive tax and spending bill central to President Trump's agenda is one step closer to reality.After weeks of negotiations and 49 consecutive votes that started Monday morning, the senate approved President Trump's signature domestic policy bill around lunch time Tuesday. It now goes back to the House of Representatives where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will have to reconcile the senate changes with his members' competing priorities.Michael Ricci has had a long career in republican politics, including working as Speaker Paul Ryan's communications director and Speaker John Boehner's Chief Speech writer. We talked with him about the stakes, and the bill's prospects in the House.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy