Month: May 2025

Ian had her first hit record as a teenager in the 1960s and went on to win two Grammys. A new documentary tells her life story through a combination of vintage footage and newly recorded interviews.

The reality star and business mogul appeared in a courtroom Tuesday to testify about the night in 2016 when masked men tied her up at gunpoint and stole more than $6 million in jewelry.

(Image credit: Aurelien Morissard)

Magic Farm.’/>

Amalia Ulman’s new film Magic Farm follows an American TV crew chasing a viral story that, through a series of misunderstandings, ends up in the wrong town in the wrong country.

(Image credit: Magic Farm)

It’s not easy being a teenager in love. The hormones are raging, the parents are parenting, and the pressure is on to figure out life after senior year. Judy Blume tackled this in her 1975 novel Forever. It’s now been reminaged as a Netflix series centering on a pair of Black high schoolers from showrunner Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends). And it thoughtfully captures the pangs and joys of young romance in a modern context.

To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.

The U.S. is known around the world for its problem with gun violence. The vast majority of murders in the U.S. are committed using guns. But what leads one person to shoot another? The “conventional wisdom” says gun violence is usually the act of calculated criminals or people acting out of desperate economic circumstances. But economist Jens Ludwig believes the conventional wisdom is wrong. Today on the show, he explains why he believes many of us fundamentally misunderstand the problem of gun violence and how behavioral economics reveals some potential solutions.

Jens’s new book detailing his research into gun violence is called “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence”.

Related episodes:
Can credit card codes help address gun violence?
The money going into and out of gun stocks
Guns and The Trump Slump

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Should AI give you a voice? Even when you’ve been murdered?

An AI avatar of a murder victim addressed his killer in court last week, and it may have been the first admittance of an AI-generated victim impact statement in a US court. Chris Pelkey, who was shot in a road rage incident in 2021, was recreated in a video made by his sister to offer forgiveness to his killer. This could mark the start of a new relationship between AI and the law, but will it change the relationship between us and the law? And what are the broader impacts we might see on our culture?

Brittany sits down with NPR digital news reporter Juliana Kim and Brandon Blankenship, assistant professor and director of the pre-law program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to find out.

Back in March, a group of comic luminaries — from John Mulaney to Nikki Glaser — gathered at the Kennedy Center to celebrate O’Brien for receiving the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Youssef was in fifth grade and living in New Jersey when the Twin Towers fell. His new show, #1 Happy Family USA, draws on the experiences of his own Egyptian American family during that tense time.

(Image credit: Chris Pizzello)

A lovelorn librarian experiences five not-so-hot dates in New York City.

A host of beloved authors have new books hitting shelves this week, including a memoir by humorist Barry, a Mark Twain bio by Chernow and essays by Richard Russo.