In the U.S., flavored cigarettes have been banned since 2009, with one glaring exception: menthols. That exception was supposed to go away in 2023, but the Biden administration quietly delayed the ban on menthols. Why? Well, an estimated 85 percent of Black smokers smoke menthols — and some (potentially suspect) polls have indicated that a ban on menthols would chill Biden's support among Black people. Of course, it's more complicated than that. The story of menthol cigarettes is tied up in policing, advertising, influencer-culture, and the weaponization of race and gender studies. Oh, and a real-life Black superhero named Mandrake the Magician.
A young poet and writer who lost his father to opioid addiction says there's nothing cool about what the drugs did to his dad. So why are peers trying to look like emaciated people with addiction?
Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has recently been directing attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris as she highlights concerns about President Biden's age.
Recently, conversation about the age of the 2024 presidential candidates has risen to a fever pitch. That's the sign of a deeper problem with how our culture views aging.
To celebrate the history of Black romance, Gene and Parker are joined by reporter Nichole Hill to explore the 1937 equivalent of dating apps — the personals section of one of D.C.'s Black newspapers. Parker attempts to match with a Depression-era bachelor, and along the way we learn about what love meant two generations removed from slavery.
Captain Alicia White's move to the Public Integrity Bureau went into effect on Feb. 11, officials say. She is one of the six officers involved in Freddie Gray's death, none of whom were convicted.
Former President Donald Trump has pretty sharp rhetoric around immigration. At the same time, he is trying to reach a potentially powerful voting bloc in pivotal swing states: Latinos.
The rappers say that Walmart and Post Consumer Foods neglected their cereal brand and intentionally hid it in stockrooms to prevent it from being sold to customers.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech is well known, but there are several other key speeches that also resonate as historical signposts of the Civil Rights Movement.
"Three springs ago, I lost the better part of my mind," Naomi Jackson wrote in an essay for Harper's Magazine. On this episode, Jackson shares her experience with biopolar disorder. She talks about how she's had to decipher what fears stem from her illness and which are backed by the history of racism.
The FDA will soon move to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products. It's more than a decade after research raised alarms about health risks and other worrying chemicals remain in the products.