Here and Now

Circus sideshow displays of “freaks” were very popular in the United States up until the 20th century. In 1899, George and Willie Muse, the African-American children of sharecroppers, were lured from their home to become part of one such sideshow.

The Wimbledon Tennis Championships gets underway Monday. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the first radio commentary of the historic competition, which was broadcast by the BBC.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Robert Seatter, head of BBC History, about the championship and its impact on sports broadcasting over the years.

In the 1960s, the American bald eagle was nearly extinct due to the pesticide DDT and habitat destruction. DDT was banned in 1972, and the eagle population eventually came back. But now, there’s another threat to the American bald eagle: lead ammunition.

Angelica Morrison (@amorrisonWBFO) of Here & Now contributor Great Lakes Today reports.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Thursday for the New York City subway system, which is in serious need of repairs. The announcement comes days after a train derailment in Manhattan that injured dozens.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Michael Regan (@Reganonymous), senior editor for Bloomberg News, about the improvements needed.

The Anchorage Petroleum Wives Club has been around longer than Alaska has been a state. The club was founded in 1957 after the first big oil discovery in Alaska.

The United Nations declared 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism — just in time for the Adventure Junky travel app. Part environmental guide, part social planner, the app offers sustainability-minded adventurers the tools to find off-the-beaten-path travel experiences, or to revel in those experienced by others.

During a White House press briefing Tuesday, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders used a familiar tactic when she criticized the news media for producing a “constant barrage of fake news.” The criticism prompted Brian Karem, executive editor of the Montgomery County Sentinel, to interrupt Huckabee Sanders and accuse her of continually trying to undermine the media.

Summer is here and with the heat comes the threat of mosquitoes and the diseases they can spread, like the Zika virus. There are currently 80 infants in the mainland U.S. with birth defects caused by Zika, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. health system is at the very beginning of learning how to care for those babies.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will delay a vote on the Senate’s health care bill until after the July 4 recess.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act would lead to 22 million more uninsured people by 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The scoring has led some Senate Republicans to say they won’t vote for it.

Tennis legend John McEnroe made news this week when he told NPR that if Serena Williams “played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.” McEnroe’s fans won’t be surprised by his strong opinions.

But in his new book, “But Seriously,” a more nuanced McEnroe emerges: a calmer, more introspective and at times sentimental version of his still-opinionated self. The book is full of tennis lore, but also a look at his other interests and passions — from art to music to family.

This week, President Trump will combine his three roles — president, businessman and politician — into one event at the Trump Hotel in Washington. At an expensive fundraiser for his 2020 re-election, he not only will rake in cash for his campaign, but also run up a huge pile of revenues for his business. His latest financial disclosure suggests that it is lucrative for him to spend time at his own properties.

Former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli goes on trial starting Monday for federal securities fraud. Shkreli, who became known as “pharma bro,” came under widespread criticism for upping the price of the lifesaving drug Daraprim 5,000 percent. He is going on trial for something unrelated — prosecutors say that he operated a Ponzi-like scheme at two companies he ran.

The U.S. took in more than 96,000 refugees last year, and many were children. Some of those children are finishing their first year in American schools.

Diane Orson from Here & Now contributor WNPR reports on an after-school arts program that’s partnered with a local resettlement agency to create a special violin class for some of the 270 young refugees living in New Haven, Connecticut.

The shipping containers that come through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year would wrap around the Earth two times if you laid them out end-to-end. Those containers are filled with electronics and clothing that are manufactured in places like Asia and then shipped to U.S. retailers.

Senate Republicans have spent weeks crafting their latest health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act in secret

But according to historians Nathan Connolly (@ndbconnolly) and Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755), it’s hardly the first time American politics have been shaped behind closed doors.

Saudi Arabia’s stock market closed up more than 5 percent on Wednesday after King Salman announced the person next in line to the throne: his 31-year-old son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Middle East analyst F. Gregory Gause of the Bush School at Texas A&M University about the significance of the announcement.

World leaders have called President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord “regrettable” and “disappointing.” But for Honduran farmers, climate change is personal.

President Trump met Monday with leaders from the top U.S. technology companies, including Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The meeting was the first of the newly created American Technology Council, which is charged with transforming the federal government’s technology.

When two ambulances, sirens blaring, get to an intersection at the same time, which one gets to go first? It’s a scenario that can result in accidents and add precious seconds to response time.