Here and Now

There’s just over a week left in Major League Baseball’s regular season. But only one team — the Chicago Cubs — has clinched a playoff berth.

That means the race for the postseason, both division winners and wild card hopefuls, is reaching a crescendo.

Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti speaks with Here & Now sports analyst Mike Pesca about how the end of the season is shaping up.

As presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump get ready for their first debate Monday night, Here & Now looks at some of the highlights in the history of presidential debates.

The first Clinton-Trump debate falls on the anniversary of the first-ever televised presidential debate, between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John F. Kennedy, on Sept. 26, 1960.

Bassam Al Abbas does not like to think about the civil war raging in his home country of Syria.

The conflict, which produced nearly 5 million refugees and internally displaced millions more, also drove him and his family from their homes in 2012. For years they navigated foreign languages and vetting systems before eventually settling in Austin, Texas, in May.

“I cannot describe how much they welcomed me,” Al Abbas told Here & Now. “They made us love this country.”

A sculpture with a secret message at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, has stumped amateur code breakers for a quarter-century.

Elonka Dunin, a software developer from Nashville, Tennessee, has spent the better part of two decades trying to unravel the mystery of Kryptos.

Tony Youngblood from Here & Now contributor Nashville Public Radio has her story.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Donald Trump spent more than $250,000 from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits involving his businesses.

When the new National Museum of African American History and Culture opens this weekend in Washington, D.C., one of the exhibits will be a collection of photographs from the late 1930s to the 1940s, taken by a young African-American woman named Laura Fitzpatrick.

As NPR’s Elizabeth Blair reports, Fitzpatrick chose to capture images of life at its best.

A law enforcement official says the Afghan immigrant wanted in connection with explosions in New York City and New Jersey has been taken into custody following a shootout with police officers.

The official says two officers were shot in the encounter in Linden, New Jersey.

Authorities were looking for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti gets the latest from NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang.

Guest

Historically, the working poor in America had very little leisure time while the upper class had plenty. Now, the opposite is true, at least for working class men.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Derek Thompson of The Atlantic about the surprising statistics, what working class men do with their leisure time and what might be the reasons behind their behavior.

• Read more on this story via The Atlantic

In the past few days, authorities in New York, Minnesota and New Jersey have been seeking answers in a series of incidents that are raising questions about homegrown extremism.

Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti takes a closer look at each event with security expert Seth Jones of RAND Corporation.

Health experts have warned about the growing risks people face as bacteria increasingly become resistant to antibiotics.

A team led by Professor Roy Kishony of Harvard Medical School and Technion Israel Institute of Technology found a way to show just how quickly bacteria can evolve to be resistant, and their video has gone viral.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with postdoctoral fellow Michael Baym about how he made the video, and what the team hopes to accomplish with its research.

The Chinese and Russian navies are conducting military exercises in the South China Sea, which has been the subject of territorial disputes between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Stephen Nagy of the International Christian University of Tokyo about whether they are risking a provocation.

Interview Highlights: Stephen Nagy

On what the exercises are about

Award-winning shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” will be well represented at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, but some new names may collect statuettes.

“The Americans’” Keri Russell is looking for her first Emmy, as is veteran actor Courtney B. Vance, who gave a strong performance as Johnny Cochran in “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” ABC’s “Black-ish” may also finally get recognized as a top comedy this year, though in an election year, Emmy voters may continue to award another solid season of “Veep.”

The top four Paralympic runners competing in the 1,500-meter final on Sunday beat the final time posted by Olympic gold medalist Matt Centrowitz Jr. at the Rio Games less than a month ago. The visually impaired runners did not use assisted technologies or guides.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Erin Strout of Runner’s World magazine about the record-breaking runners, and other standout Paralympic performances.

Managers have many reasons to say “no” to employees, but it can be difficult to work for someone who always says “no” to new ideas.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with author and employee engagement expert David Sturt about why saying “yes” more often might be better for business.

Don’t trust the polls. Trust the average. That’s the general advice from most pollsters or politicos when reading presidential predictions.

But even so, not all polls are created equal.

Results differ based on who is being selected for a poll, whether it is a national or state poll, the number of candidates on the ballot and how close the poll is to the election.

The world’s wilderness areas have experienced catastrophic losses in the past two decades, according to a new study published Friday in the journal “Current Biology.”

Comparing current maps with those from the 1990s, researchers concluded that more than 3.3 million square kilometers, or about one-tenth of the world’s total wilderness, has been lost, raising deep concerns about what effect that has on local economies and global climate change.

Stock markets in the U.S. were steady this morning, after closing at their lowest level since July on Friday.

The drop came after comments from Eric Rosengren, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston president, raising the expectations for a rate hike from the Federal Reserve later this year.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Jill Schlesinger about what is rattling investors.

Voters go to the polls on Nov. 8. But the 538 members of the Electoral College vote on Dec. 19.

They’re supposed to follow the popular vote, but there’s always a chance a few might not. And what happens if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are tied?

Political scientist Kyle Dell joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young for a refresher on the Electoral College, and how members of Congress might break a potential tie.

Interview Highlights: Kyle Dell

On the Electoral College’s function

Jury selection began this week in the federal trial of two former top aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who are said to have orchestrated the traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 known as “Bridgegate.”

Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are charged with fraud and conspiracy for allegedly planning the lane closures as an act of retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, for not endorsing Christie’s bid for re-election.

Last night’s prime-time presidential forum was the first time Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were set to speak on the same stage. But talk afterward focused more on the shortcomings of the forum’s host, the “Today” show’s Matt Lauer.

NPR’s David Folkenflik examines what Lauer did and didn’t do last night, and how the moderators of the upcoming debates can take tips from his performance.

Apple’s iPhone is getting an updated home button and will come with water and dust protection.

Apple says the iPhone 7 is now force sensitive, so responses can differ based on how hard you press it. It’s similar to what Apple has done with a trackpad in a slimmer MacBook model last year.

Camera improvements include a new flash with four rather than two shades of color to match ambient light.

It’s one of several new features Apple is introducing at an event in San Francisco.

The ITT Technical Institute, the nation’s fifth largest for-profit college, announced today that it is closing all its campuses, and laying off nearly 8,000 employees. ITT’s parent company blamed sanctions from the federal government for the closure.

Last month, the Department of Education banned the school from enrolling students who receive federal financial aid, which comprises a large portion of the school’s revenue.

The Range 12 wildfire in Washington State began July 30 and burned for days, blackening 176,600 acres of valuable habitat on the Hanford Reach National Monument. The land was set aside in 2000 by President Bill Clinton, and it’s home to desert species including the Greater Sage-Grouse, sagebrush sparrows and tiny burrowing owls.

Anna King of Here & Now contributor Northwest News Network took a look at what was lost — and what remains.

Thousands of protesters have descended on a quiet part of North Dakota, occasionally clashing with security personnel over plans to build an oil pipeline under the Missouri River.

Lawsuits are pitting Native American tribes and environmental activists against the Energy Transfer Partners pipeline company.

Amy Sisk, a reporter with Inside Energy, discusses the latest with Here & Now‘s Robin Young.

The iconic black and white panda, long a symbol of efforts to help endangered species, has been removed from the endangered species list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The move has drawn criticism from the Chinese government, which believes the panda should remain on the list. Host Jeremy Hobson hears more from Here & Now’s animal expert Vicki Croke.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are preparing for what’s being billed as the marquee moment of the long campaign season: the first presidential debate, which will take place on September 26 in New York.

Trump spent Saturday visiting a black church in Detroit. The move was aimed less at trying to win over the black vote, but instead at cooling claims that he’s insensitive to minorities.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young discusses the latest news from the campaign trail with NPR’s Ron Elving.

Former Stanford student Brock Turner was released from jail Friday.

Turner served three months of a six month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in January 2015. The case set off a national outcry, with many arguing that the six month sentence was too lenient.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young gets an update from KQED’s Beth Willon.

Hurricane Hermine made landfall in Florida overnight, before it was downgraded to tropical storm status.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Hermine may be responsible for claiming the life of a man who died after he was hit by a tree. Forecasters say the storm most likely will cause flooding in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.