Morning Edition

Elementary school teacher Katy Wright in Montana decided to ask her students how they feel about having to wear masks in school.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada about her meeting with President Biden along with other moderate Democrats to reach a deal on the Build Back Better plan.

Congress is back and trying to tackle a number of pressing issues before the end of the month, including negotiations over President Biden's infrastructure and social spending packages.

The late drug lord Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippos into his private zoo. In the 27 years since his death, the hippos have multiplied to at least 80.

Diana Kinard and Dawn Frazier started a climbing group with other Black women called Shades of Favor. In August they became the first Black American women to ascend the almost 20,000 foot peak.

Four years after the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis was rocked by protests over a sculpture that inflamed the indigenous community, a new structure by artist Angela Two Stars helps to make amends.

Pianist Lara Downes' latest mini-album traces the story of the Great Migration of Black Americans from the south in the early to mid-20th century, with music by Florence Price and Harry T. Burleigh.

Israeli settlers are pressing ahead with a new outpost on occupied West Bank land — closing it off to Palestinians and posing a test for Israeli leaders who will have to rule on it.

An Indiana steel plant closed in 2017 and hundreds of jobs went to Mexico. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Farah Stockman about her book: American Made — What Happens to People when Work Disappears.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Jack Nicas of The New York Times about a panel in Brazil expected to recommend that the country's president be charged with homicide for his handling of the pandemic.

Paying bills during the pandemic can be difficult. A survey by NPR, Harvard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found of the four largest U.S. cities, Houston feels the crunch the worst.

In a study published earlier this month, a newly discovered climate event some 30 million years ago wiped out more than 60% of the species of mammals in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.