Avery Jessa Chapnick

Sep 23, 2024 | wwno.org | Avery Jessa Chapnick

When architect Vishaan Chakrabartithinksaboutgood design, he imagines kidsplaying together outside on a playground. Not just any playground – but the one at the re-designed Domino SugarFactory,on Brooklyn’s waterfront in New York City.It re-opened in the fall of 2023.The transformation of the 19thcentury refinery into a 15-story office building cost $2.5 billion. That playground isleft out of most of the articles that marvel at the project’s innovative, sustainable engineering.

Sep 15, 2024 | wusf.org | Avery Jessa Chapnick

Andrew Leland’s book, “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight,” made it on many 2023 year-end best literary lists, including The New Yorker’s. Leland documents how his diminishing vision changes his relationship with technology, making it both more challenging to access and increasingly important to his independence. Innovations like AI-powered apps that allow people to learn what’s photographed through their cameras’ lenses are helping the blind. But how useful are they?

Sep 15, 2024 | wusf.org | Avery Jessa Chapnick

This November, voters in 41stateswill consider 159 ballot measures.That’s no more than usual. From 2010 to 2022, the average number in election years was 161. What is unusual is the number of abortion-related measures: 11, the most on record for a single year. Other consequential issues are up for consideration, too. Voters in multiple states will decide on non-citizen voting bans, electoral processes, and the minimum wage.

Sep 10, 2024 | wlrn.org | Avery Jessa Chapnick

It’s NPR Climate Solutions Week.Across the network, we’re talking about how to slow the effects of climate change. Here’s an idea: offshore wind. It’s a powerful source of clean, renewable energy. But it’s deployment along U.S. shores has been slowed by supply chain challenges and significant local opposition.Just last week, the Biden Administration approved the nation’s tenth offshore wind project.

Sep 4, 2024 | wlrn.org | Avery Jessa Chapnick

Book festivals are special eventswhere authors are celebrities and audiences arebookwormsready to nerd out amongtheirourown. Every year, more than 100of these festivalstake place nationwide. And one of the largest is in the nation’s capital, hosted by the world’s biggest library: The Library of Congress. We take you to the National Book Festival, which happened on Aug. 24in Washington D.C., and bring you moments from authors such as Erik Larson, Tamron Hall, and Rebecca Yarros.