Megan Tan never felt close to her father. For years they’ve been distant.

Ira talks to author Etgar Keret about his mom, and the stories she used to tell him when she put him to sleep.  He explains why it's always been so hard to write about her.

In the months following the court’s decision, two women are stalled getting abortions. Reporter Caroline Kitchener follows Kae and Taylor in those early months, as they try to figure out what to do.

Writer Tamsyn Muir spent her childhood craving a world that she could not find on earth. So as an adult, she just created it.

Chaunte Vaughn’s mother recently died of Parkinsons. Even though Chaunte doesn't believe in ghosts, she is visited by her mom's ghost multiple times.

Nine months ago, these people wanted abortions. But then, the laws changed. They had to wait to get an appointment, figure out how to get out of state or order abortion pills.  In that waiting, other things happened. (5 minutes)Today’s show was inspired by the excellent reporting of Caroline Kitchener.

Ira talks with Shalom Auslander, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew and who made a pivotal break with his faith at a Rangers game.

We get a tip that an entire town is consumed by a huge, elementary-school-style crush on a local veterinarian.

The Michigan GOP’s newly elected leader, Kristina Karamo, faces her first big test: Can she organize and pull off the state party’s fabled, expensive Mackinac Island conference as a political outsider – with no fundraising experience or establishment connections? (9 minutes)

Producer Elna Baker meets Todd Sklar, a man who can’t quit rats. (22 minutes)

Dr. Amelia Huntsberger loves everything about her rural town in northern Idaho.

It’s been nine months since the first group of people who wanted abortions couldn’t get them in their states. How have their lives changed, or not.

At the announcement of New York City’s inaugural rat czar, we meet Darneice Foster, who despises the rats outside her apartment.

Doctors say one effect of the new bans is people seeking abortions much later into their second trimesters. Caroline got interested in a girl like that in Oklahoma.

At the start of the year, Warren Carpenter was a Kristina Karamo supporter; helped her get elected.

Reporter Brenna Smith tells the story of Renee, a mom who is determined to get back nearly $3000 worth of food stamps stolen from her. She soon finds herself caught in a bureaucratic runaround.

Producer Alix Spiegel talks to one of her closest friends, Sarah Blust, about the time Sarah met a stranger who, unbeknownst to her, had already spent years thinking about her. (29 minutes)

DeSantis has passed law after law about what can and can’t be taught in Florida classrooms. Reporter Emmanuel Dzotsi followed how things unfolded at Florida State.

We’ve witnessed a revolution in A.I. since the public rollout of ChatGPT.  Our Senior Editor David Kestenbaum thinks that even though there’s been a ton of coverage, there’s one thing people haven’t talked much about: have these machines gotten to the point that they’re starting to have something like human intelligence? Where they actually understand language and concepts, and can reason? He talks with scientists at Microsoft who’ve been trying to figure that out.

Sean Cole attempts to kick his 35 year-long smoking habit, using a book that’s said to have helped millions of people to quit. (33 minutes)