The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is home to some of the oldest trees in the country. For decades, they were felled indiscriminately for lumber. Will the remaining trees be protected?Read more:Old-growth trees are at the heart of a political debate on logging and climate change. That’s because they hold a disproportionate amount of carbon in their trunks. If they’re cut down, most of that carbon escapes into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. But they’re also worth thousands of dollars as lumber.Post climate editor Juliet Eilperin traveled to Alaska to learn about the forests firsthand, and to speak with some of the people who have built their lives around logging.

Post Reports

What is a tree worth?

A farewell to 2021 from us here at Post Reports and the photojournalists who witnessed the year’s biggest stories.Read more:The Washington Post photography editors combed through thousands of images to find the most memorable from 2021. Accompanying the photos this year are interviews with the photojournalists who took them. The team at Post Reports felt inspired by the interviews and images to look back on the past year.The images of 2021 tell a complex yet dramatic story. It was a year of the angry and the rebellious scaling walls, tearing down barriers, rising up to reverse reality. But it was also a year of carefully considered verdicts and hurriedly ended war, of mass migration and candlelight vigils, a year when millions of people decided to take a shot, venture forth and return to life, together.There was, perhaps above all, the terror of lethal disease, a second year of a pandemic that unraveled the fabric of daily life and managed to set people against each other in ways that defied reason. The usual questions born of insecurity — Will we be okay? How can we help each other? — were joined by new uncertainties: Is this real? What should I believe? Why don’t people around me believe what I see is true?If you valued the journalism on this podcast and in this newspaper this year, subscribe to The Washington Post. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

One last look at 2021

Today on Post Reports, we talk to Hasan Minhaj about how he uses comedy to “make people’s world bigger.” Read more:Hasan Minhaj has worked as a comedian for 17 years. You might know him from “The Daily Show,” the 2017 White House correspondents’ dinner, or his Netflix show, “Patriot Act.” On today’s episode of Post Reports, producer Linah Mohammad talks to Minhaj about representation in film and television, their relationship to Islam and what it means to be a diasporic voice in the comedy world.

Hasan Minhaj’s diasporic comedy

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to one of the people who brought us joy during a dark year: the actor J. Smith-Cameron. We cover her role as Gerri on “Succession” and how it feels to become a sex symbol in her 60s. Read more:J. Smith-Cameron is having a moment. “Succession” Season 3 wrapped up recently – and one of the highlights for us was her character, Gerri Kellman, the calculating interim CEO of Waystar Royco. We talked to the actor about the show and what makes her character so fun to watch. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe.

J. Smith-Cameron on ‘Succession’

Amazon's use of Alexa as a wake word for its voice assistant turned the name into a command, impacting daily interactions for people with the name – including The Washington Post’s own Alexa Juliana Ard.Read more:Nearly 130,000 people in the United States have the name Alexa. It gained popularity after singer Billy Joel and model Christie Brinkley named their daughter Alexa in 1985. In 2015, more than 6,000 baby girls in the United States were named Alexa, according to a Washington Post analysis of Social Security Administration data.After Amazon chose Alexa as the wake word of its voice service, the name’s popularity plummeted. In 2020, only about 1,300 babies were given the name. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)Post video editor Alexa Juliana Ard reports on the impact of Amazon’s choice on Alexas - including her. Watch Alexa’s video about Alexa Jade Morales. She was named after her father, Alexis Morales Jr., who was murdered on Oct. 1, 1992, just three and a half months before she was born. When Amazon made the name Alexa a wake word for its voice service, she experienced people treating her like the bot.﻿Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

Amazon, can I have my name back?

The holidays are weird — this year especially. Today, Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax joins Martine Powers to answer your questions about navigating this tricky time of year.Read more:The holiday season can be complicated; throw in the spike in omicron cases, and this already stressful time of year just got even trickier. Enter: Carolyn Hax, The Post’s brilliant advice columnist. Today on Post Reports, she’s here to help our listeners and readers navigate the holidays. You can listen to our episode with Hax from earlier in the year about how to gather with family and friends safely here. Right now you can get the best deal we’ve ever offered on a subscription to The Washington Post – a year for just $9.99. Go to washingtonpost.com/subscribe. 

The holidays are weird. Carolyn Hax is here to help.

Omicron is now the most prevalent variant of the coronavirus in the country. But public health expert and emergency physician Leana Wen says that with a three-pronged approach — testing, vaccines and masks — we can still celebrate the holidays.Read more:Once again, America is looking down the barrel of a winter surge of the coronavirus, thanks to the highly transmissible omicron variant. Houston Methodist Hospital, which has been sequencing genomes since the beginning of the pandemic, says that in a week, omicron spread as rapidly as the delta variant did in three months.But emergency physician Leana Wen says this isn’t a time for despair: “Despite these staggering numbers, I don’t think vaccinated people should have to cancel their plans for Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other holidays.” Wen joined James Hohmann on his opinion podcast “Please, Go On” to talk about how we can use the tools we’ve developed to keep omicron at bay this holiday season.

Dr. Wen’s advice for the holidays

How the approval of anti-covid pills from drug companies Pfizer and Merck could impact the course of the pandemic. And the life and legacy of feminist author bell hooks.Read more:On Tuesday, President Biden urged calm as coronavirus cases rise, and the omicron variant becomes dominant in the United States. He touted a plan for more readily available testing and more resources for strained hospitals nationwide. But on the horizon is another treatment against covid-19: antiviral pills. The pills are said to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in vulnerable populations, and could be approved for use as early as this week. Health reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson explains what we know about the pills and what role they could play against the omicron variant.Plus, a remembrance of bell hooks. Hooks died last week at the age of 69. She was a Black feminist author and critic who had a wary eye even on Beyoncé. “Hood Feminist” author Mikki Kendall reads her remembrance of hooks.

The promise of anti-covid pills

Seemingly overnight, the pandemic has changed — again. On today’s Post Reports, everything you need to know about the omicron variant — and whether you should still plan to travel for the holidays.Read more:Over the weekend, health reporter Dan Diamond wrote a Facebook post that changed the way we’re thinking about the omicron variant. “Every expert I’ve interviewed, including some of the nation’s top health officials, has adjusted his or her mindset and now is mentally bracing to test positive after spending two years dodging this virus,” Dan wrote. Today on Post Reports, we tell you everything we can about the omicron surge – and we talk to health reporter Fenit Nirappil about whether and how to travel and gather safely for the holidays.

Omicron is everywhere. Here’s what to do.

A record number of Americans quit their jobs this year. Today for our special series “Quitters,” economist Darrick Hamilton examines why that is — and why he thinks it might be a good thing.Read more:Many Americans have reconsidered their relationship with work this year.There’s lots of reasons for that — an ongoing pandemic, stagnant wages and a severe labor shortage all made work harder.But Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and urban policy at the New School, says that workers also had more flexibility than ever before, thanks to government stimulus and expanded unemployment. And he wants us to reframe this not as a “Great Resignation” but as a moment of worker empowerment.Today on Post Reports, we’re bringing you the third installment in “Quitters,” a three-part podcast series about a few of the millions of Americans who quit their jobs this year. Listen to part one and part two here.

Quitters, part 3

What happens when an entire fast-food restaurant staff quits? Today for our special series on “Quitters,” the story of a McDonald’s walkout, and what it can tell us about the labor market right now.Read more: In September, the entire staff of a McDonald’s in Bradford, Pa., walked out and quit their jobs. One of the staff members left a parting note for the customers, written in blue highlighter because he couldn’t find a pen: “Due to lack of pay, we all quit.”“The signs are…kind of like primal screams,” says reporter Greg Jaffe. “It’s [the worker’s] chance to convey a message: We’re being mistreated. We’re tired of it. This corporation treats us badly, and doesn’t care about us.”Today on Post Reports, we’re bringing you the second installment in “Quitters,” a three-part podcast series about a few of the millions of Americans who quit their jobs this year. Jaffe takes us inside the fast-food workers’ season of rebellion.You can listen to the first part of the series here.

Quitters, part 2

2021 was a big year for quitting. Millions of Americans resigned. For the first episode in our series on “quitters,” we go to a restaurant in Arkansas where nearly every employee – and the owners – found themselves reassessing their work, and their lives.Read more:This year, millions of Americans quit their jobs in the “Great Resignation.” Over the next three days on “Post Reports,” we’re talking to some of the “quitters” and exploring why so many people are reassessing the role of work in their lives right now. On today’s show, economics correspondent Heather Long and “Post Reports” Executive Producer Maggie Penman head to Arkansas to tell the story of a family-run restaurant. And they report on how the stressors of covid, the pressures of running a small business and the hope for better, more-balanced lives led to a great resignation of sorts. 

Quitters, part 1

How the fight in Chicago over a proposed scrap metal facility became a test case for the Biden administration’s approach to environmental justice. Read more:General Iron Industries is a Chicago-based scrap metal recycling company with a bad track record of pollution. When the company announced its intention to move from a wealthy, White neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side to a working-class, Latino neighborhood on the city’s Southeast Side last year, the plan set off alarm bells. This proposal — and its apparent approval from city officials and state environmental regulators — sparked a massive backlash from Southeast Side residents. They claimed discrimination and argued that their neighborhood was already overburdened by pollution. After a series of protests, a federal civil rights complaint and even a month-long hunger strike, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intervened in May. The opening of the facility has been temporarily paused, but more than seven months later, the conflict over whether the company will operate in that neighborhood is still unresolved.Environmental justice reporter Darryl Fears and senior producer Robin Amer delve into the high-stakes fight between residents and the company, and what the outcome might reveal about the lengths the Biden administration is willing to go to to protect communities of color that disproportionately bear the cost of pollution — something it has explicitly promised to do.

In Chicago, a test case for Biden’s EPA

On the ground in Mayfield, Ky., after a string of tornadoes devastated the town, flattening buildings and leaving streets unrecognizable. The tornadoes tore through a 200-mile swath of land, and may be the sign of a lengthening tornado season. Read more: Late last week, a string of tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest regions of the United States. Dozens have died, and thousands of structures have been destroyed. National breaking news reporter Kim Bellware takes us on the ground to the hard-hit town of Mayfield, Ky., where survivors are in shock.  Plus, Capital Weather Gang contributor Jeffrey Halverson explains how unusual it is to see a tornado event this powerful during the winter months, and why it may be a sign of a changing weather patterns. Follow The Washington Post’s live coverage of the tornado recovery efforts here. 

The new ‘tornado alley’

How the tight-knit community of Oxford, Mich., is healing after a mass shooting. Plus, remembering Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt.Read more:A 15-year-old opened fire at his Michigan high school on Nov. 30, killing four students and wounding seven others, police say. This is the deadliest episode of on-campus violence in almost three years. Reporter Kim Bellware and producer Rennie Svirnovskiy examine what it looks like for a town to start healing. The Post remembers Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt, who died this week after a sudden cardiac arrest. A beloved colleague and friend, Hiatt worked for The Post’s editorial pages for 21 years. He is survived by his wife of 37 years and his three children. You can also listen to the tributes for Hiatt on the Post’s Opinions podcast “Please, Go On.” 

After a school shooting

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 is your host, asking the questions you didn’t know you wanted answered. Published weekdays by 5 p.m. Eastern time.

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