Raising the Debt CeilingFinding Your PlaceThis Is UncomfortableI've Always Wondered ...

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What happened to the Postal Service?
Aug 17, 2020

What happened to the Postal Service?

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U.S. Postal service mail handler Eric Smith sorts packages at the U.S. Postal service's Royal Palm Processing and Distribution Center on December 4, 2017 in Opa Locka, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Plus: remote learning for disabled students, rolling blackouts in California and why you really should take a vacation.

Segments From this episode

Elections 2020

Post office's financial woes partly Congress' doing

by Nancy Marshall-Genzer
Aug 17, 2020
Congress passed a law in 2006 that requires the Postal Service to prepay health benefits for retirees. It's had trouble doing that.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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California blackouts reflect a complicated supply-and-demand problem

by Andy Uhler
Aug 17, 2020
The load can overwhelm the electric grid during heat waves, but this summer's outages have raised new questions.
A sign in Calistoga, California, calls on PG&E to turn the electricity back on during a statewide blackout in October 2019.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
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The student debt crisis hits Black Americans the hardest

by Kai Ryssdal and Daisy Palacios
Aug 17, 2020
How systemic racism fueled the student debt crisis for Black borrowers.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Image
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COVID-19

Workers are putting off vacation as pandemic increases stress

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Aug 17, 2020
Americans have never been great about time off. But now it's more difficult — and more crucial — than ever.
Workers are taking less time off during the pandemic. Even in normal times, Americans leave up to half their vacation days unused.
Rawpixel/Getty Images
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Music from the episode

Lose My Mind The Wild Reeds
Power - Instrumental Nicholas Britell
Motivation Kelly Rowland, Lil Wayne
Which Way To Paradise Poolside
Still Think Chrome Sparks
Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (feat. Miley Cyrus) Mark Ronson, Miley Cyrus

The team

Nancy Farghalli Executive Producer
Daisy Palacios Senior Producer
Maria Hollenhorst Producer
Sean McHenry Associate Producer

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