Tom Sietsema has been The Post’s food critic for 25 years. Over a quarter of a century, Sietsema has eaten at and reviewed thousands of restaurants. Even after all these years, he’s not sick of it. In fact, Sietsema loves the theater of dining out, and he takes great pride in guiding readers toward truly delicious food.

Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here, or give someone a gift subscription.

“Sesame Street” is an American institution. It began airing in 1969 as an educational program intended to help toddlers prepare for kindergarten. It has grown into a cultural staple and become one of the longest-running shows in TV history. 

Back in 2022, Laura Meckler learned that Season 55 of “Sesame Street,” which will start airing next year, will focus heavily on the emotional well-being of young kids. She spent almost two years following the cast and creatives behind the show as they researched, wrote, and filmed their upcoming season.  

But as she was reporting, Laura learned that “Sesame Street” is in a fight for its own survival. Warner Bros. Discovery, which currently distributes “Sesame Street,” has announced that it will not renew the show’s contract for another term. Now, the iconic show is on the hunt for a new streaming partner and is preparing a major reimagining as it tries to adapt both to the needs of today's kids and to the increasingly competitive world of children’s TV. 

Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

This weekend, the 2024 College Football Playoff kicks off, featuring more teams, more storylines and a lot more money than ever before. Today on the show, how we got to this moment in college sports, and what could be next.

Read more:

In 2021, amateur athletes won the right to profit off sponsorships using their name, image and likeness or NIL). Now, some college football players are able to ink million-dollar endorsement deals with shoe brands and insurance companies. This has led to sweeping changes in college athletics, from how players are recruited to whom teams play against. 

Guest host Ava Wallace talks to sports columnist Jerry Brewer and Jesse Dougherty, a reporter covering the business of college sports. They talk about the development of NIL, how conference realignment shaped the 2024 season and what the future could hold for amateur athletics.

Today’s show was produced by Lucas Trevor and edited by Maggie Penman. It was mixed by Ted Muldoon.

Today on “Post Reports,” Washington scrambles to avoid a government shutdown. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk have fanned the flames. 

Read more:

On Wednesday, Republicans scrapped House Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial bipartisan plan to avoid a government shutdown. That’s after President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk condemned the bill online. Musk called it “terrible,” “criminal,” “outrageous,” “horrible,” “unconscionable,” “crazy” and, ultimately, “an insane crime.”

Today on “Post Reports,” host Elahe Izadi and congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor discuss what Trump and Musk found so objectionable about that first plan, and why some are seeing it as a preview of the kind of power Musk – who’s not even a government official – could soon have over Washington. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy and Laura Benshoff, with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores, with help from Lucy Perkins, and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks also to Emily Rauhala. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

When Francesca Ebel, a Russia correspondent for The Post, returned to one of Moscow’s most popular nightclubs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, she noticed differences. The physical structure was there, but there were fewer young artists. Something had changed.

What Ebel noticed that night was just one example of a bigger shift. Her reporting has since found that young Russians are increasingly embracing a culture of ultranationalist patriotism and Orthodox Christian values. Online influencers and Kremlin-sanctioned artists are changing the narratives on war and identity. An independent poll this year found a majority of Russians ages 18 to 24 support Russia’s war in Ukraine. Conforming can bring rewards and career advancement. Defiance can mean jail – or worse. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Ebel speaks with host Elahe Izadi about her reporting inside Russia on how Putin’s propaganda strategies toward Russian youth are working – and creating a new generation to carry forward the Kremlin’s anti-Western ideology. 

Read more from The Post’s “Russia, Remastered” series:

• We reported for months on changes sweeping Russia. Here’s what we found.
• A wartime generation of youth molded by Putin’s propaganda 
• Artists say Putin’s push for patriotism is killing Russian culture
• To please Putin, universities purge liberals and embrace patriots
• Have babies for Russia: Putin presses women to embrace patriotism over feminism
• Washington and the West struggle for a way forward with Putin’s Russia

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon, with help from Emma Talkoff. It was mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy, who also helped with translation. It was edited by Monica Campbell, with help from Maggie Penman. Thanks to David Herszenhorn, Paul Schemm and Jenn Amur. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Since he last held office, President-elect Donald Trump’s business interests have evolved. The real estate mogul launched the social media company Truth Social, and — in the height of this year’s presidential campaign — he announced a cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. 

Both of these industries could be targeted with efforts at regulation during Trump’s second term. So what could it mean for Trump to oversee an administration that also plays a role in these regulations? This dynamic sets up what ethics experts have described as unprecedented potential conflicts of interest for his second term.

“Post Reports” host Elahe Izadi speaks with investigative reporter Jonathan O’Connell about how Trump became involved in these new businesses, what potential conflicts of interest they present, and what we might learn from how Trump approached potential conflicts in his first term.  

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff with help from Ariel Plotnick. It was edited by Alison MacAdam and Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Hundreds of thousands of protestors celebrated in Seoul over the weekend as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by the National Parliament. 

Yoon, who was elected by a narrow margin in 2022, oversaw deepening political divisions and a population increasingly frustrated by income inequality. His tenure was marked by scandals and unpopular choices. But his administration reached a breaking point when Yoon declared martial law in early December, outraging many Koreans who saw the move as an unwelcome return to the authoritarian rule of decades past.

Washington Post Tokyo bureau chief Michelle Ye Hee Lee was among the crowd celebrating outside the National Assembly, talking to protestors about why they were so excited to see the president impeached. She joins “Post Reports” to explain how Yoon fell from power, who will lead the country next and what lessons other countries can take from a tense 11 days in South Korea. 

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff with help from Elana Gordon and Sabby Robinson.

It was edited by Maggie Penman with help from Lucy Perkins, and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Dean DeSoto has been teaching his driving class for aggressive drivers over the past 26 years. During that time, he has come to believe several things. One is that what goes on in the country will play out on its roadways. Another is that anger on the roads is getting worse. Across the country, the number of people injured or killed in road rage incidents involving a gun has doubled since 2018, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group. There is no uniform definition of aggressive driving across law enforcement agencies and no national database to track it, but DeSoto has been keeping his own tally, including cases in Texas involving guns, knives, ice picks, 2-by-4s, tire tools, PVC pipe, plumbing pipe, bats, hammers, shovels, hatchets, ball bearings, marbles, frozen water bottles, bricks, stones and, in at least one instance, a spear.

This story follows attendees of DeSoto’s class as well as a police officer who encounters rage from motorists in Texas. The piece was reported, written and read by Ruby Cramer. Audio production and original music by Bishop Sand.

Aaron Blake, senior political reporter and author of The Campaign Moment newsletter, sits down with senior congressional correspondent Paul Kane and White House reporter Matt Viser to talk about what Biden is trying to do with his last few weeks in office. They also talk about Time magazine’s person of the year interview with Trump and what two GOP Senate appointments could mean for Trump’s ability to get his agenda through Congress.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Justin Gerrish. 

Subscribe to Aaron’s newsletter, The Campaign Moment, here. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Americans are being conned every day by increasingly sophisticated scams. Today, we hear the story of one woman who lost her life's savings to a government impersonation scam.

Read more:

According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans were scammed out of more than $10 billion in 2023. And that’s just what’s been reported.

Most scam victims never report the crime because they feel shame and embarrassment.

In “Scammed,” a seven-part series, personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary explains how con artists exploit human nature and technology to manipulate their victims. She joins “Post Reports” to tell the story of how Judith Boivin lost her life’s savings to a government impersonation scam. 

Today’s show was produced by Charla Freeland. It was edited by Maggie Penman and Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. Thank you to Joshua Carroll and Amber Ferguson. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. 

Two years ago, President Biden and congressional Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at stimulating clean energy production and reducing carbon emissions. Since then, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created and Americans have claimed over $8 billion in tax credits to spend on climate-friendly technologies for their homes. The biggest winners have been more conservative areas, where more investments have been made because of lower tax barriers and more incentives for companies to build there. But despite this, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to stop efforts to boost clean energy, calling it the “green new scam.” 

“Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi speaks with reporter Maxine Joselow about how he could do this and what the lasting effects of the Inflation Reduction Act might be.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson with help from Elana Gordon. It was mixed by Justin Gerrish and edited by Lucy Perkins with help from Maggie Penman. Thank you also to Roger Hodge.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.