Consider This from NPR Folgen

There are 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in the United States. Very few of them get a chance to earn a bachelor degree. That's due to a decades-old ban on the use of federal money to help people in prison pay for college classes. But that's about to change. Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will be eligible to receive Pell grants in the amount of nearly $7,000 per year. Experts say this change will mean a chance at higher education for hundreds of thousands who are academically eligible. NPR's Elissa Nadworny reports on what the change means, and tells the story of a man who earned the type of degree that will soon be available to many more people. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Congress and the Supreme Court took big steps in opposite directions last week, in the country's long standing debate on whether and how to regulate guns.Congress passed the first major federal gun legislation in decades, with bipartisan support. President Biden signed it into law on Saturday.Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion striking down a major gun control law in New York. The sweeping ruling puts many other gun regulations in states across the country, on shaky ground.Daniel Webster, whose research focuses on policies intended to reduce gun violence, explains the real world impact he anticipates after these changes. Webster is Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.This episode features reporting from NPR's Nina Totenberg.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Omar Little, Jimmy McNulty, Stringer Bell, Snot Boogie. If you recognize these names, you are probably a fan of the HBO series The Wire. This month marks 20 years since the series premiere. It ran for five seasons, following the lives of the cops, criminals, political players, and everyday folks caught up in Baltimore's often futile war on drugs. Many argue that The Wire is the best television show ever created and has earned praise for its realistic, humanizing, multi-dimensional portrayal of Black characters. But 20 years on, the conversation about policing in Black communities has changed. The deaths of Freddie Gray, George Floyd, and many others after encounters with police and the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement have brought about more public scrutiny, debate, and criticism of the police. As social commentary, is The Wire still relevant? We speak with NPR TV critic Eric Deggans and Ronda Racha Penrice, editor of the essay collection, Cracking The Wire During Black Lives Matter.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy