[see story's podcast player] This scene on the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, where the sound of idling diesel engines and the sour odor of sulfur fill the air, seems an unlikely front line for the battle against climate change. Yet it is as important as any wind farm or electric-vehicle plant. Because, while everyone from the International Monetary Fund to Elon Musk is warning that shortages of metals like copper could hinder the energy transition, production here is actually booming: the region supplies two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, and it accounted for more than 80% of global copper output growth over the past three years.

[See podcast player] After years of accumulating wealth, America’s middle class is stressed out about money. Listen to the first episode of The Big Take podcast.

[Taped interview with Jamie Raskin] Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, serves on Congress’s Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol, and he’s running out of patience with the Department of Justice.

The Purple Principle celebrates Independence Day with its first of two episodes in a mini-series on America’s great independent voices. Amy Chua, perhaps best known by her bestselling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, launches our exploration of figures who cut through the cacophony of partisan bickering.

Is this any way to understand California politics? It is when speaking with LA Times columnist, author and frequent tortilla contest judge, Gustavo Arellano. TPP host Robert Pease and guest co-host Barbara Bogaev sit down with Gustavo in this second series episode on the Golden State.

It seems like all political roads lead to Georgia these days. The Peach State was so pivotal in the 2020 election of Joe Biden and soon after in the 2021 runoff election of two Democratic senators from a state in the Deep South.

We kick off Episode 8 of Season 3, “Like Family, Like Nation,” with Guzmán’s retelling of that conversation stopper also featured in her new book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How To Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. She joins Rob this week for Episode 8 of Season 3 to talk about open political dialogue, letting curiosity lead you, and why her Mexican immigrant parents voted for Donald Trump.

The series began with the operative question: is our nation’s red vs blue infighting eroding what was once a more distinctive and cohesive Texas identity?

Based on a great new book, American Reboot (just out from Simon & Schuster), and our TPP conversation, it’s clear former three-term, centrist Texas Congressman Will B. Hurd, now a Cybersecurity executive, should be a part of that “U.S. 2.0” development team.

Wright, a New Yorker staff writer, wastes no time in spinning around our hypothesis that polarized national politics might erode that rather famous, not shyly-held Texas state identity. “Texas is taking over the country,” states Wright emphatically. “The politics have been spilling out of Texas for a long time. So whatever happens in Texas is the future of America.”

Is the Tejano identity weakening or changing amidst nationwide polarization and the increasing attention being paid to Hispanics as swing voters? Two respected commentators weigh in on this and related issues. Former four-term San Antonio mayor, Henry Cisneros, provides an insightful critique of his own Democratic Party’s failings in Texas of late, as well the growing appeal of the GOP to specific groups of Hispanics, such as small business owners.

The Purple Principle kicks off its extended Season Three series on state level polarization with a mini-series on the great state of Texas. And who better to discuss Texas politics than the co-hosts of the artfully named podcast, Y’all-itics: Jason Wheeler (Senior News Reporter) and Jason Whitely (News Anchor) of the ABC Dallas affiliate, WFAA. Both Jasons concur that polarization has been eating away at that powerful Texas identity in recent times. Jason Whitely hearkens back to the 2000 Georg

“If we believe democracy has failed us,” writes author and scholar Tom Nichols in his latest book, Our Own Worst Enemy, “we should first ask ourselves whether we have failed the test of democracy.” In this Purple Principle episode entitled “The United States of Narcissism,“ co-hosts Rob Pease and Jillian Youngblood ask Nichols why many Americans seem to be enthusiastically failing that test recently.

Although sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest contributor to global emissions, it will likely be hit hardest by the impacts of climate change—from rising temperatures to extreme and destructive weather events.

[Producer for weekly show] This week on Arts and Ideas: 7pm: Tales of clandestine cooking, kitchen rituals and underground traditions. It’s Hidden Kitchens, from the Kitchen Sisters. The outdoor ovens of Western sheep-herders, barbeque meets Lebanese food in the Mississippi Delta, and more. 8pm: Winding down the Chicago, Green, and Ganges rivers. Stories about how rivers feed us and shape our lives. 9pm: Whether cancel culture is a good thing. A debate from Intelligence Squared US about the value of calling out and public

[Producer for weekly show] This Sunday on Arts & Ideas: a musical journey with jazz pianist Myra Melford, suits and the impressions they make, and the possibility of geoengineering our way out of climate change.

One year ago this week, Americans’ anxiety and uncertainty about the 2020 election was already inching upward when Donald Trump propagated the lie that mail-ballot fraud could cost him his victory and as far-right media began a movement called Stop the Steal. Also one year ago, a group of 15 reporters around the country got a crash course in a new kind of journalism and started jobs with a pop-up newsroom called Votebeat.

Few sectors have carried as much promise and frustration as the agriculture sector in Africa. Since the independence era, the potential of agriculture in Africa has been evident, yet the sector continues to underperform.

The 2020 election was contested at the polls and in the courts. Georgia’s secretary of state was the focus of intense criticism and White House pressure. North Carolina’s elections authority also had its share of political controversy, and it wasn’t the first time.

[Podcast two-way] Charlotte is known for its abundance of trees. Where can you find the biggest, oldest ones in the city?

The Prothonotary Warbler is an endangered species that can be found throughout the Southeastern U.S., including in South Carolina’s Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve.

Something historic happened when the North Carolina State Board of Elections certified the state’s election results in late November: Board member Tommy Tucker voted against certification. It was the first time in recent history a member has dissented from a unanimous vote.

The 2020 election in North Carolina is nearly over. Election boards are finalizing vote counts, and more than 5.5 million North Carolinians voted this year. One of them was a man in Union County who says he voted twice. The county board of elections is now challenging one of his votes in a rare case of double voting.

Charlotte has been losing trees for years, leaving some neighborhoods with less shade than others. New data shows a different way of looking at which neighborhoods lack trees.

A crowd of up to 250 people protested outside a CMPD office in north Charlotte on Friday evening, eventually breaking windows until police fired tear gas to disperse those who had gathered. The protest was one of many across the country following the death of George Floyd this past week by a police officer in Minneapolis.

Charlotte's rapid development in the past 20 years has threatened the city’s tree canopy, with at least 400 total acres lost since 2012. Among those lost are some of Charlotte’s biggest trees, and now there's an effort to track down a number of the city’s historic "treasure trees."

More than 60,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from a pipeline in Huntersville a few weeks ago. Town officials there are holding a public meeting Thursday to answer questions about the leak. The incident has left residents frustrated with the pipeline company and the town.

Most high schools in the region have delayed football practice because of the coronavirus pandemic. One exception is Lake Norman High School in Iredell County, where coaches and players are practicing football differently this year.