Consider This from NPR

• Hackers are after your water. How this town defends against them.

  Chris Hugues has what he calls an interesting job.He’s an assistant operator at a wastewater treatment plant in Cavendish, Vermont.On a recent August afternoon he gave NPR’s Jenna McLaughlin a tour of the plant.Hughes loves his work, in all its technical, mathematical, chemical, and yes, dirty, glory.  But lately, Hughes has had to worry about a new hazard: cyberattacks.  The threat of someone cutting water off for Americans is real.Chinese hackers recently spent nearly a year inside a Massachusetts utility company that provides power and water. And last October, hackers targeted American Water, the largest wastewater utility company in the country.Water is an appealing target for hackers. People like Chris Hughes are working to make sure a cyber-attack doesn’t stop the flow. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse.It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Andrew Sussman.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• What happens when democracies use military force to occupy their own territory?

  Over the weekend, President Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a character from the war film “Apocalypse Now” and, in that same post, seemingly threatened “WAR” in Chicago; later, the president indicated that sending in troops would be to clean up cities, not to go to war. But weeks of talk of sending federal troops into Chicago has set the city on edge.NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Dr. Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who has studied political violence for 30 years, and who worries his city could be a powder keg.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] episode was produced by Henry Larson and Avery Keatley. It was edited by Sarah Handel. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• Trump wants to change education. What's that mean for kids?

  President Trump has vowed to abolish the Department of Education. He’s pressured schools to end DEI initiatives and protections for transgender students. He's rescinded guidelines that barred immigration enforcement at schools. So what could Trump’s policies mean for kids in public schools? We get answers from NPR education correspondent Cory Turner and NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected]. This episode features reporting by Frank Langfitt. It was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane and Hannah Gluvna. It was edited by William Troop, Nicole Cohen, and Kelsey Snell. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• A vaccine skeptic is leading public health in the US. Today, RFK Jr. faced questions

  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a scathing line of questioning from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the Senate on Thursday.Kennedy is a vaccine skeptic and is using his position as Secretary of Health and Human Services to radically change vaccine policy. In recent weeks, there have been a number of public health officials who have resigned or been fired, creating chaos at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies. Federal employees are also speaking out, including more than 1,000 former and current HHS employees who penned a letter urging Kennedy to resign. Now, some states are taking vaccine policy into their own handsFor sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] episode was produced by Kathryn Fink, Marc Rivers, and Manuela Lopez Restrepo, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane.It was edited by Jonaki Mehta, Diane Webber, and Scott Hensley.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• Your covid vaccine questions answered

  The one thing certain about the COVID vaccine right now is that everything about it is changing.The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the next round of COVID-19 vaccines for the fall season, but it’s significantly changed just WHO can get it.That move comes amidst a broader effort by the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to change policy and guidance around many vaccines. At this point — we’re guessing you have lots of questions about vaccination in general, but especially around COVID shots.That’s why we asked our NPR listeners to submit their questions about the FDA’s new COVID vaccine guidance.UCSF infectious disease doctor Dr. Peter Chin-Hong answers your questions. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected] episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Courtney Dorning.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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