Opioid Victims Have a Settlement. Will the Supreme Court Undo It?
6 December 2023 - 23 minsThe opioid epidemic has been one of the biggest public health disasters in generations. The drug company at the heart of the crisis, Purdue Pharma, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal to settle thousands of claims against it — but that agreement would also grant the family behind the company, the Sacklers, immunity from additional civil lawsuits.
Justices are now set to rule whether that settlement was legal. Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains what a decision either way could mean for the victims and for the people responsible.
Guest: Abbie VanSickle, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.
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Series Episodes
An American Pope
The world’s 1.4 billion Catholics have a new pope, and for the first time, he is from America. Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief of The New York Times, introduces us to Pope Leo XIV.
27 mins
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A Frightening Moment to Fly
A 90-second failure of Newark Airport’s air-traffic safety systems, which blacked out communication to planes carrying thousands of passengers, has exposed a new level of crisis in air travel. Kate Kelly, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, explains what the problems at one of the country’s biggest airports tell us about air-travel safety in the United States.
31 mins
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What Warren Buffett Understood About Capitalism
A few days ago, Warren Buffett, the most successful investor in history, said he would retire as C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that he built into a trillion-dollar colossus. Andrew Ross Sorkin, who has covered Mr. Buffett for many years, discusses the career of the man who both personified and critiqued American capitalism.
27 mins
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A Climate Warning From the Fertile Crescent
As the Middle East braces for another year of extreme heat, climate change is turning the soil to dust in the landscape that has long been known as the fertile crescent — and water has become a new source of conflict. Alissa J. Rubin, who covers the Middle East, tells the story of Iraq’s water crisis and what it means for the world.
28 mins
6 May Finished
You Have Questions About the Economy. We Have Answers.
At a time of enormous economic upheaval and uncertainty prompted by President Trump’s trade war, we asked our listeners what they wanted to understand about this financial moment. Ben Casselman, the chief economics correspondent for The New York Times, tries to answer some of those questions.
32 mins
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The Sunday Read: ‘This Is the Holocaust Story I Said I Wouldn’t Write’
When Taffy Brodesser-Akner became a writer, Mr. Lindenblatt, the father of one of her oldest friends, began asking to tell his story of survival during the Holocaust in one of the magazines or newspapers she wrote for. He took pride in telling his story, in making sure he fulfilled what he felt was the obligation of all Holocaust survivors, which was to remind the world what had happened to the Jews. His daughter Ilana knew it was a long shot but felt obligated to pass on the request — it was her father, after all. Taffy declined because after a life hearing about the Holocaust, she said, she was “all Holocausted out.” But, years later, when she learned of Mr. Lindenblatt’s imminent passing, Taffy asked herself what would become of stories like his if the generation of hers that was supposed to inherit them had taken the privilege that came with another generation’s survival and decided not to listen? So here it is, an old Jewish story about the Holocaust and a man who somehow survived the pernicious, organized and intentional genocide of the Jews. But right behind it, just two generations later, is another story, one about the children and grandchildren who have been so malformed by the stories that are their lineage that some of them made just as eager work of running from it, only to find themselves, same as anything you run from, having to deal with it anyway.
1 hour 6 mins
4 May Finished
