James Doubek

Far-Flung Postcards

"The rescuers and I watched as these dolphins swam alongside the ship. Their leaps and games in the frothy water made our hearts soar. It reminded me that even in this sometimes cruel world, life and beauty persist." www.npr.org/series/g-s1-...

Today is NPR's first day ever without the support of public funding. Thanks to everyone who has donated to your local stations. It means the world.

Today, the NPR shop also re-launched with a bunch of swag to help support us, too. I've always been partial to the 70s logo, myself.

shopnpr.org

"The mission of NPR is to work in partnership with Member Stations to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures."

Change is brewing in the coffee industry. What lies ahead? Coffee growers are facing climate change, labor shortages and incomes below the poverty line. On International Coffee Day, we take stock of the industry behind the beverage.

For International Coffee Day, I wrote about stuff going on in the coffee world: www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

In Maine, prisoners are thriving in remote jobs and other states are taking notice Forty-five Maine prisoners are currently working remote jobs for outside companies. A few are working full-time, earning more than corrections officers. One is making well into the six figures. Here's...

Prisoners can now do remote work in Maine: www.mainepublic.org/2025-08-29/i...

ICE officer said his injuries were 'nothing major' after deadly shooting near Chicago, video shows The immigration agent’s partner said he suffered a “knee injury" and "some lacerations to his hands,” according to police body camera footage obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. But the feds reported h...

The ICE agent's partner "said he suffered a 'knee injury' and 'some lacerations to his hands,' according to police body camera footage obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. But the feds reported he was 'seriously injured' before he fatally shot Silverio Villegas González." www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Opinion | I hiked the Appalachian Trail. It fixed my brain. Nature can save us from a world gone mad.

“I hiked the Appalachian Trail. It fixed my brain.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Legal experts say pulling Jimmy Kimmel from air may amount to illegal 'jawboning' Free speech scholars say ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely represents "jawboning," when government officials pressure private companies to suppress speech.

Took a look at Kimmel's ouster in light of the longstanding Republican attacks on social media over jawboning, which, the Supreme Court has found, requires a direct causal line.

The Kimmel case "is as direct a line as you could dream up," @alexabdo.bsky.social told me

www.npr.org/2025/09/18/n...

The Washington Commanders are returning to DC as council approves $3.7B deal for stadium at RFK site - WTOP News The D.C. Council took its final vote Wednesday on the deal to bring the Washington Commanders a new stadium at the old RFK Stadium site.

"The Commanders have committed $2.7 billion, while D.C. is investing about $1 billion. Bowser has called it the largest private investment in D.C.’s history." wtop.com/dc/2025/09/t...

What to know about zarfs, the fanciest way to drink coffee For NPR's Word of the Week, we're getting hot: During the Ottoman Empire, people used devices called "zarfs" to hold their coffee cups. Here's what to know about this word's history.

I was on your radio dials today, talking about coffee and zarfs: www.npr.org/2025/09/17/n...

What to know about zarfs, the fanciest way to drink coffee For NPR's Word of the Week, we're getting hot: During the Ottoman Empire, people used devices called "zarfs" to hold their coffee cups. Here's what to know about this word's history.

For NPR's Word of the Week, we're getting hot: During the Ottoman Empire, people used devices called "zarfs" to hold their coffee cups. Here's what to know about this word's history.

‘Someday All the Adults Will Die!’ chronicles the birth of Texas punk In a new oral history, photographer Pat Blashill traces the music, art and culture that shook Austin in the late 1970s through the mid-80s.

A cool interview about Austin punk: www.kut.org/texasstandar...

"At a hearing last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said Riley appeared to have been singled out by the police because he was a Black man carrying a satchel that looked heavy.

'It is without a doubt the most illegal search I've even seen in my life,' Faruqui said from the bench."

Fox bosses privately called U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro 'reckless maniac' and more Her colleagues made those remarks after the 2020 presidential election, when Pirro used her platform to amplify baseless claims of election fraud. She is now the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.

"A Fox News executive has called a prominent Trump appointee a 'reckless maniac.' ... A third condemned her for the 'tendency to find random conspiracy theories on weird internet sites.' And a Fox corporate board member called a public statement of hers 'insane.'" www.npr.org/2025/09/04/n...

Everyone’s going to be using the Club soon

Trump's D.C. 'crisis' enters 2nd week with more soldiers — and no exit strategy Leaders in Washington, D.C., say they're striving to maintain calm as growing numbers of National Guard soldiers deploy to the city. President Trump hasn't said how he wants this "crisis" to end.

"'Give Trump a third term, give him a Peace Prize, and let him run D.C. as long as he wants,' Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, wrote Friday on social media." www.npr.org/2025/08/18/n...

ICE boasts about ripping Mount Pleasant sign with anti-border patrol message "We're taking America back, baby," one of the masked men says in the video posted to ICE's official X account.

"Friday, hours after the original sign had been torn down, neighbors in the community put up another anti-ICE message written onto bedsheet." www.wusa9.com/article/news...

Immigration arrests dip in July, and activists hope they're partly responsible Immigration arrests falter in July after a big push for mass deportations in June. Activists in sanctuary jurisdictions hope their resistance plays a role.

"One strategy, when they get word of an arrest, is to file a habeas corpus petition asking a court to review the legality of the detention, before ICE can transport someone to the nearest overnight detention center, across the state line in Tacoma, Wash." www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...

Federal agents violently detained a food delivery driver as he emerged from a D.C. coffee shop Saturday morning.

The incident captured on video showed the officers throwing him to the ground and beating him before sweeping him away in an unmarked vehicle. wapo.st/45Egtkc

As if this week were not bizarre enough: Mount Pleasant residents tell me a group of federal agents gathered for a photo-op near a pro-immigrant banner, pictured below, then tore it down.

In its place, they left a dildo. A neighbor's Ring camera captured the whole thing...

New details emerge about Japan's notorious WWII germ warfare program The release of WWII-era military documents this year has given a boost to researchers digging into Japan's germ warfare program. Japan's government has never apologized for the atrocities.

The unit was "accused of dissecting live prisoners, some without anesthesia, infecting them with diseases or conducting germ warfare against Chinese soldiers and civilians." www.npr.org/2025/08/14/n...

Rare aerial imagery shows displacement and destruction in Gaza Airdrop flights offered a vantage over the closed-off Gaza Strip.

Photos from above Gaza: www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

Greetings from Khartoum, Sudan, where those with the least offer their guests the most Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

A reporter kept being offered more coffee and tea, a "gently relentless ritual of kindness — offered by people fortunate to survive the war with enough to sustain themselves, and by others left with virtually nothing." www.npr.org/2025/07/30/g...

U.S. coffee drinkers and businesses will pay the price for Trump's Brazil tariffs President Trump plans to levy a 50% tariff on all goods from Brazil — the source of about 30% of U.S. coffee imports. This looming tariff threat has sent shock waves through the U.S. coffee industry.

"Tariffs don't help the coffee producer. They don't help the small- and medium-sized businesses across the country, and they don't help the consumer. Why are we doing it?" www.npr.org/2025/07/21/n...

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

A tool lets you pick which public radio stations most need donations: adoptastation.org

"People in the three counties Allegheny Mountain Radio covers voted for President Trump by a margin of nearly three to one last year. Cardwell says in an attempt to punish NPR, Trump is only hurting some of those who have supported him." www.npr.org/2025/07/20/n...

Louisville Public Media has now raised:

$444,000.

In a little more than one day. Dunno, I’m pretty speechless. And I guess I’ll still be employed here for awhile. Can’t thank everybody enough who donated!

Here are some of the newest UNESCO World Heritage sites Bavarian palaces, imperial tombs in China and memorials to Khmer Rouge victims are among the sites being recognized by the United Nations agency.

I wrote about something (mostly) fun, history and nature! www.npr.org/2025/07/18/n...

Congress has decided to claw back previously approved funding for public media.

This decision hurts people in communities across the country, but it has only strengthened our resolve to keep Americans informed and connected. (1/2)

We at Louisville Public Media just lost $376,000 due to Congress passing the rescission bill last night to claw back funds from public media across America. Today we’re asking those who value our work to help make up those funds in an emergency drive so we can maintain the staff/services we provide: