Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
Ayesha Rascoe is a White House correspondent for NPR. She is currently covering her third presidential administration. Rascoe's White House coverage has included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she's also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
Cartagena, Colombia, is set to ban its iconic horse-drawn carriages, replacing them with electric buggies — a move dividing the historic city over tradition, tourism, and animal welfare.
Flu cases are soaring in New York and picking up in other parts of the country. Experts worry it will be another bad season. COVID and RSV have been less of a problem, but they're also on the rise.
TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors led by Larry Ellison, the billionaire ally of Trump whose family media and entertainment empire just got bigger.
Despite the threat of war, U.S. oil giant Chevron continues to operate in Venezuela. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks energy security analyst Clayton Seigle about the company's role in the country.