Skip to content
Midterm Mail-In Voting Starts, IRS Targets DEI In Schools, ICE Officer Charged

Midterm Mail-In Voting Starts, IRS Targets DEI In Schools, ICE Officer Charged

Up First from NPR
Sep 4, 2026 13 min
Open in Hinto

About this episode

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow new Postal Service requirements for mail ballots just as midterm voting begins, despite warnings from election officials that the plan could disrupt voting.<br>The I.R.S. is proposing to revoke the tax-exempt status of private schools and universities with programs designed to benefit students based on race, potentially affecting thousands of institutions.<br>An ICE officer is facing federal charges for allegedly lying about a shooting in Minneapolis after video evidence contradicted his account, in a rare prosecution of a federal immigration officer under the Trump administration.<br/><br/><em>Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? </em><a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/news"target="_blank" >Subscribe</a><em> to the Up First newsletter.</em><br/><br/>Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>.<br/><br/>Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratz, Jennifer Portman, Anna Yukhananov, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.<br/><br/>It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas. <br/><br/>Our director is Christopher Thomas.<br/><br/>We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and Patrick Murray. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.<br/><br/>And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.<br/><br/>(0:00) Introduction<br>(01:59) Midterm Mail-In Voting Starts<br>(06:16) IRS Targets DEI In Schools<br>(10:07) ICE Officer Charged<br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. Midterm Mail-In Voting Starts, IRS Targets DEI In Schools, ICE Officer Charged from Up First from NPR gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Hinto app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English