Consider This from NPR Folgen

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai made an assault allegation in November, then disappeared from the public eye. She has since re-emerged, but in protest of her treatment, the Women's Tennis Association's has now suspended all tournaments in China. That decision by the WTA could cost the organization and its players hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe more, in revenue. And it's the threat of losing that kind of money that usually keeps most professional sports organizations — like the NBA — treading lightly in response to China. NPR correspondent Tom Goldman has been following the story and looks at how the WTA's unflinching support for Peng may inspire a wider outcry over China's actions.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will 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

Banning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate. How should parents react to this news, and to the books their children are reading? In this episode of NPR's It's Been A Minute senior editor Barrie Hardymon and Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast, joined guest host Ayesha Rascoe to talk about banned book lists.The three talk about why it's important for kids to discover books freely, even if that means starting a hard conversation with them. They also discuss their favorite — and least favorite — books that often show up on banned book lists.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It was only a matter of time before cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant started popping up in the U.S., and now, it's here. Although it's too early to tell how this virus strain will spread, the threat it poses has already lit a fire under public health messaging. President Biden announced a new strategy to avoid a winter surge of cases that involves free at-home testing, a vaccine booster messaging campaign and heightened international travel safeguards. Meanwhile, the race is on to detect how omicron is already spreading in this country. NPR reporter Will Stone gives us a look into what's happening in labs right now across the country. And Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, discusses what we know about how effective travel bans are scenarios like this. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will 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