Did the Texas Floods Have to Be This Deadly?

A little over a week after the devastating floods in Central Texas, the death toll has reached more than 130 people — and the search for the missing continues.In the aftermath of the disaster, there have been mounting questions about how local officials handled the critical hours before and after the storm. Today, we look at the missed opportunities that may have contributed to the growing tragedy — and whether anything more could have been done to save lives.Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a Times reporter covering how President Trump is transforming the local government..Background reading: Kerr County, where most of the deaths occurred, failed to secure a warning system, even as local officials remained aware of the risks and as billions of dollars were available for similar projects.Years before the floods, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had approved the removal of many Camp Mystic buildings from flood zones, records show.Eight-year-olds at camp, families in their R.V.s: These were some of the lives lost to the Texas floods.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Carter Johnston for The New York Times Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

When Republicans passed their big domestic policy bill just over a week ago, they kept making the same argument about sweeping changes to Medicaid: that the measures, including new work requirements, would encourage able-bodied adults to earn their health care, ultimately creating a fairer system for everyone. Critics said the opposite: they have predicted that millions of working people who need health care will lose it.The truth will emerge in rural and often Republican-voting areas where cuts to Medicaid funding will be felt most deeply. Natalie Kitroeff spoke to a family doctor in one of those places, western North Carolina, about what she thinks will happen to her patients.Guest: Shannon Dowler, a family physician and health advocate in western North Carolina.Background reading: In North Carolina, President Trump’s domestic policy law jeopardizes plans to reopen one rural county’s hospital — and health coverage for hundreds of thousands of state residents.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that the Senate’s version of Trump’s bill would mean that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Kaoly Gutierrez for The New York Times Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The best-selling author and motivational podcast host Mel Robbins is known for her blunt advice and viral wisdom, from The 5-Second Rule to countless proverbs on relationships, confidence and everyday stuck-ness. Her most recent book, “The Let Them Theory,” has given her readers a fresh perspective for navigating disappointment, rejection and uncertainty in life.On this week’s “Modern Love,” Robbins shares fives tips for letting go of control, and explains how these transformed her marriage and her relationship with her kids. She also reads a Modern Love essay, "You Have to Let Go to Move On,” about a woman who finally learns that real love doesn’t come from holding on tighter.For more Modern Love, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The couple, successful artists married for 45 years, reflect on their newfound TikTok fame.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

From the moment President Trump and Republicans took control of Washington this year, they set out to turn their longtime threats against public media, which they see as biased, into action.Now, a piece of Republican legislation would cut more than a billion dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances PBS and NPR.As the bill makes its way through Congress, those who work in public media are warning that radio stations in red, rural and Republican America will feel the deepest impact.Guests: Jessica Cheung, a senior audio producer at The New York TimesTom Abbott, the general manager of KFSK-FM in Petersburg, Alaska Background reading: Some Republican senators voiced concern over the House-passed bill that would rescind money for NPR and PBS stations in their states.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo Credit: Ash Adams for The New York Times.Caption: The town of Petersburg, Alaska, voted for Donald Trump by an almost 2-to-1 margin in the last election. Now Republicans in Congress are trying to pass cuts that would defund the community’s radio station. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

After months of delaying his most extreme tariffs, President Trump is now threatening to revive the most aggressive version of his global trade war.America’s trading partners, investors and consumers are bracing for impact.The Times journalists Natalie Kitroeff, Ana Swanson, Maggie Haberman and Ben Casselman sit down to discuss what we can expect and what Mr. Trump’s endgame might be.Guest:Ana Swanson, who covers trade and international economics for The New York Times.Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.Ben Casselman, the chief economics correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Mr. Trump revived his trade war, threatening steep tariffs on allies unless they reach deals with the U.S.What is a trade deal? He takes an expansive view.The threatened tariffs aim to settle scores with countries, no matter their size.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

For months, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that they would expose the hidden, potentially sinister truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019.But over the past few days, the Trump administrationWhite House decided to shut down has poured cold water on the conspiracy theories surrounding the financier.Glenn Thrush, who covers the Justice Department for The Times, explains what happened.Guest: Glenn Thrush, who reports on the Justice Department for The New York Times.Background reading: The Trump administration acknowledged a lack of evidence from Epstein documents.Confronted over the Epstein files, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi tell their supporters to move on.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Pete Marovich for The New York Times Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

On Monday evening, the death toll from the flooding in Central Texas rose past 100. A single place accounted for 27 of those deaths: Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian summer camp for girls.Erin Paisan, who attended Camp Mystic, explains what the place meant to generations of girls.Guest: Erin Paisan, who attended Camp MysticBackground reading: Camp Mystic has been operated by generations of the same family since the 1930s.See how close the cabins were to the river at the camp.The mother of two rescued campers relayed their story.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Last week, when Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, announced a $16 million settlement with President Trump over editing of a segment of “60 Minutes,” many of the network’s journalists were furious.The deal also raised questions about the independence of CBS’s journalism, and how much news organizations could be cowed by threats from the president going forward.David Enrich, an investigations editor at The Times, takes us inside the settlement, and Lowell Bergman, a former CBS producer and investigative journalist at The Times, reminds us that the network has been in a similar situation before and discusses why this time may be different.First, Edgar Sandoval, who is on the ground in Texas, explains what is happening in the wake of the flooding.Guest:Edgar Sandoval, a reporter for The New York Times covering Texas.David Enrich, a deputy investigations editor for The New York Times.Lowell Bergman, a journalist and former producer for CBS’s “60 Minutes.”Background reading: Paramount to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit.For ‘60 Minutes,’ a humbling moment at an uneasy time for press freedom.More than 50 have been found dead in Texas floods as the search for missing grows dire.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

When the Modern Love podcast asked listeners how location sharing is affecting their relationships, the responses they got were all over the map. Some people love this technology. Some hate it. But either way, it has changed something fundamental about how we demonstrate our love and how we set boundaries around relationships. In this episode, the Modern Love team shares a few of their favorite listener responses. Then, host Anna Martin talks with Arlon Jay Staggs, a Modern Love essayist who has wrestled deeply with whether to share his location.At first, location sharing wasn’t a big deal for Staggs and his mother. He took a lot of long drives, and it made sense for her to keep tabs on him. But when he realized his mother was watching his little blue dot too closely, and it was causing her stress when she needed peace of mind, Staggs decided the sharing had to stop. He just couldn’t figure out how to tell her. And when tragedy struck his family, the stakes of his decision to share or not share became a lot higher.Today’s episode was inspired by the essay “Every Move I Make, She’ll Be Watching Me.”For more Modern Love, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.