1A

A quarter century after 9/11, the health of those who responded to the attacks continues to be affected.

Some 3,000 people died across three locations that day. An estimated 400,000 people were exposed to toxic contaminants and risked physical injury in the hours and days that followed. That’s according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the dust and debris have settled, more than 96,000 have been diagnosed with physical and mental health conditions related to 9/11.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, establishing the World Trade Center Health Program and reopening the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Today, more than 150,000 people are enrolled in the program.

But that program wouldn’t exist without the advocacy of survivors and first responders who put their bodies and lives on the line following the attacks. How did that fight for care unfold?

For more information about the Rutgers WTC Health Program, click here. And to learn more about applying, click here.

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How did you celebrate July 4 this year? What did the country’s landmark 250th anniversary, in honor of the founding of the United States, mean to you?

The next 50 years likely hold a lot of change for our country where democracy, economic uncertainty, technology, and our social fabric are concerned.

What do we want that change to look like? In this previously-aired episode, we opened the phones so that you, our listeners, could tell us.

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Following months of a tenuous ceasefire and several rounds of failed negotiations, the U.S. and Iran traded military strikes this week threatening to once again plunge the surrounding region into conflict.

A whistleblower inside the United States Postal Service is warning that the agency is rushing to implement a system to deal with mail-in ballots that, due to its untested nature, could disenfranchise millions of voters in the U.S.

Months after the beginning of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in U.S. cities, and after several fatal shootings, ICE now says it has enough body cameras for its agents.

And, in global news, following renewed violence between Washington and Tehran, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged support for Iran this week in its conflict with the U.S. and encouraged other world leaders to do the same.

The U.S. is working with interim President Delcy Rodriguez on a plan to take control of roughly one fifth of Venezuela’s oil supply.

And voters in Iceland struck down a referendum on restarting talks to join the European Union.

We cover the most important stories from around the world in the News Roundup.

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If you’ve driven on any road in the U.S. lately, chances are your license plate has been captured by a Flock camera.

Flock lets police around the country track your car. The company’s cameras can even help determine whether you’ve committed a crime. Now, it’s is facing big time backlash for what critics call excessive surveillance.

What does widespread deployment of license plate readers on U.S. roads means for our privacy?

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Imagine a small town in rural Tennessee — a town square, a yellow brick courthouse, a family-owned restaurant, a café, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets across the Appalachian foothills.

Now, imagine a group of far-right real estate developers — backed by Silicon Valley venture capital and with powerful ties to Washington — move into town. They have a vision to build a new kind of community and turn it into a haven for like-minded white Christians.

That’s what’s happening in Gainesboro, Tennessee. And it’s part of a growing movement by some far-right Christian nationalists to relocate to red states and turn small towns into white enclaves. 

Locals in Gainesboro are alarmed. They call it a “takeover.” And they are pushing back. That’s the story of “Our Town,” a new Bloomberg investigative podcast series. We sit down with its hosts to talk about this takeover in Tennessee.

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