On March 13 the Biden administration approved a new oil venture in Alaska called the Willow Project. More than 4.6 million people petitioned against its approval.It will allow the energy company ConocoPhillips to drill for oil in the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's Northern slope. The company says it will produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day.But will the Willow Project turn into a "carbon-bomb?"Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

The burden of finding the right birth control method typically falls to the person who can get pregnant. Some 90 percent of females have taken a contraceptive at some point in their lives, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.Currently, there are just two birth control options for people who produce sperm: a vasectomy or condoms. That could change soon. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College discovered that a drug used to treat eye disease temporarily stopped sperm production in mice – hours later, fertility was restored. The researchers think they've taken a step toward developing a potential non-hormonal birth control drug that can be taken in the hours before sex to stop sperm from swimming. We discuss why it's taken so long to develop a birth control pill for sperm and how birth control for men could change reproductive politics.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Hollywood's biggest night has come and gone. And it was a memorable one, even in the run-up.Excluding Michelle Yeoh of "Everything Everywhere All At Once", this year's slate of best actor nominees were entirely white. That's three years after the academy announced new diversity guidelines in response to 2015's Oscars-so-white campaign. We discuss where the Oscars go from here and what they tell us about the state of movie-going. Later, we revisit our conversation with Best Actor winner Ke Huy Quan, and Best Director Winners Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert from 2022. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed this week, sending shockwaves through the financial world. A judge in Texas heard arguments in a lawsuit against a widely-used abortion medication. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the suit to overturn the FDA's approval of pills that account for more than half of abortions in the U.S.The Biden administration approved a drilling project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve that would supposedly produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day. Environmental activists said this approval would violate the president's climate goals.Also this week, the Biden administration is demanding that the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok be sold. Otherwise, it risks a nationwide ban.And Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said this week that his country is safer than the U.S. This was his response to critics after four Americans were attacked by cartel gunmen, leaving two dead.We cover all this and more during the News Roundup. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

The NCAA College Basketball tournament kicks off Tuesday. Millions of Americans are expected to watch and bet on the NCAA College Basketball tournament that kicked off this week. According to a new survey from the American Gaming Association, 68 million Americans are expected to place over $15 billion in bets on the tournament this year. As sports gambling becomes increasingly popular on mobile platforms, colleges and universities are getting in on the action through multi-million dollar partnerships that allow companies to advertise on campuses.Investigations from The New York Times and the PBS Newshour found at least five major colleges (Michigan State, LSU, Maryland, University of Denver, and the University of Colorado) have partnered with companies like Caesar's Sports Book and PointsBet.We discuss what responsible gambling practices look like and what reporters found in their investigations.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Madera Community Hospital closed in December and has now filed for bankruptcy. The emergency room now sits empty, and labor and delivery services have stopped. The hospital's three rural clinics are also closed. Some 136 rural hospitals closed between 2010 and 2021, according to the American Hospital Association. According to a January report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, about 600 hospitals are currently at risk of closing in the U.S.We traveled to Fresno as part of our Remaking America collaboration with six partner stations across the country, including KVPR in California's Central Valley. Earlier this month, we brought the community together to talk about the hospital closure, which has left more than 150,000 residents without an emergency room within 30 miles and has put a strain on emergency room departments in Fresno and Merced. This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations, including KVPR in Fresno, California. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This month, the USDA is implementing stronger oversight of organic products in order to reduce fraud. For a growing number of Americans buying organic, that's good news. The industry reached $63 billion in sales between 2020 and 2021.We discuss what the organic label actually means and the kind of benefits you can expect. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Some Americans are turning to a group of diabetes medications for something other than relief from the disease. Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are making headlines for their ability to stimulate weight loss. This is a problem for diabetes patients who need the medication and can't get it. A rise in demand for these medications has led to shortages. But should potentially life-saving medication be available to those whose lives aren't at risk? We speak to two doctors getting at the heart of these questions and a woman who's been using these medications to improve her health.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Dozens of Democratic senators voted alongside their Republican counterparts last week on the issue of crime and safety in our nation's capital. The Senate voted 81-14 to block a criminal code rewrite that was unanimously approved by the D.C. City Council.The criminal code overhaul included major changes to criminal sentencing – including reducing maximum sentences for carjacking and eliminating mandatory minimums.We discuss the intersection of politics and criminal justice policy and what say Congress should have over D.C.'s affairs.This show was part of 1A's Remaking America collaboration with six partner stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

We partnered with our friends at WIRED to bring you a special episode of their podcast Gadget Lab. For this episode of Gadget Lab, the team takes a look at recommendation algorithms. The modern internet is powered by recommendation algorithms. But some of these algorithms can lead to some weird places, occasionally taking users down dark internet rabbit holes or showing harmful content. Lawmakers and researchers have criticized recommendation systems before, but these methods are under renewed scrutiny now that Google and Twitter are going before the US Supreme Court to defend their algorithmic practices.We hear how recommendation algorithms work, how they're studied, and how they can be both abused and restrained.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.