As of Friday in Texas, you can go to a tanning salon. In Indiana, houses of worship are being allowed to open with no cap on attendance. Places like Pennsylvania are taking a more cautious approach, only starting to ease restrictions in some counties based on the number of COVID-19 cases. By Monday, at least 31 states will have partially reopened after seven weeks of restrictions. The moves come as President Trump pushes for the country to get back to work despite public health experts warning that it's too soon. "The early lesson that was learned, really, we learned from the island of Hokkaido in Japan, where they did a really good job of controlling the initial phase of the outbreak," said Bob Bednarczyk, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. Because of that success, many of the restrictions on the island were lifted. But cases and deaths surged in a second wave of infections. Twenty-six days later

Dr. Grace Farris is chief of hospital medicine at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan. She also writes a monthly comics column in the Annals of Internal Medicine called "Dr Mom." You can find her on Instagram @coupdegracefarris . Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Updated at 2:24 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday in Tullahoma, Tenn. He was 87 years old. Bill Sobel, a lawyer for Little Richard, tells NPR that the cause of death was bone cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on Little Richard's death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9 years old when he first saw Little

Airlines and airport operators in the United Kingdom are not waiting for the British government to publicly confirm their fears. Already, the groups representing major players in the U.K.'s air travel industry are pushing back on a proposal that would require travelers to quarantine after arriving from outside the country. A spokesperson for Airlines UK — a trade body with British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair as members — says the group understands from government officials that plans for a quarantine are in the works, but that details remain scarce at the moment. "We need to see the detail of what they are proposing. Public health must of course be the priority and we will continue to be guided by Sage advice," the group said in a statement emailed to NPR, noting that support measures will be necessary to ensure "that we still have a UK aviation sector once the quarantine period is lifted." "We will be asking for assurances that this decision has been led by the science and that

This is Sample Size, our weekly new music feature with KOSU's Ryan LaCroix and LOOKatOKC music critic Matt Carney. Today, Matt plays new music from Frank Ocean , Carly Rae Jepsen , and Chromatics . Follow Matt & Ryan on Twitter at @mdotcarney and @KOSUryan .

This is Sample Size, our weekly new music feature with KOSU's Ryan LaCroix and LOOKatOKC music critic Matt Carney. Today, Matt plays new music from Aaron 'Ab' Abernathy , Drive-By Truckers , and Moses Sumney . Follow Matt & Ryan on Twitter at @mdotcarney & @KOSUryan .

This is Sample Size, our weekly new music feature with KOSU's Ryan LaCroix and LOOKatOKC music critic Matt Carney. Today, Matt plays his favorite songs of 2016 from Car Seat Headrest , Mitski , and Solange . Follow Matt & Ryan on Twitter at @mdotcarney & @KOSUryan .

This is Sample Size, our weekly new music feature with KOSU's Ryan LaCroix and LOOKatOKC music critic Matt Carney. Today, Matt plays new music from Japandroids , Spoon , and Thundercat . Follow Matt & Ryan on Twitter at @mdotcarney & @KOSUryan .

Educators, parents and students are all struggling to find their way through distance learning, but the challenges can be even greater for special education students.

The Iowa high school class of 2020 is experiencing a very different senior year than any class that has come before it. In many cases, prom has already been canceled. Year books will go unsigned. There will be no final performances or competitions. Commencement ceremonies are canceled, postponed or will go virtual. During a time when so many people are sick or have died of COVID-19, it may seem trivial to focus on this loss, but for seniors who have spent 13 years of schooling building up to this moment, the loss is real and sad.

While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages. Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history. The animals we’ll learn about on this edition of Talk of Iowa excel at swimming, holding their breaths and have coats that humans envy. Wildlife biologist Jim Pease will introduce listeners to some of the hairy critters that make their homes in Iowa’s wetlands. We’ll learn about muskrats and beavers, two members of the rodent family that may look a little clumsy on land, but move with precision and ease in the water. Beavers are known as nature’s engineers for their incredible lodges and dams, but muskrats are also good builders. Minks and river otters belong to the mustelid family. The two species resemble each other with their glossy coats and long bodies, but river otters are much larger than minks. Unlike the primarily vegetarian muskrat and beaver

A special episode from Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller.

Nancy Niemi, Director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives at Yale questions the conventional wisdom that college is a path to gender equality.

Daniela Petruzalek has made it her mission to make the white cisgender male dominated tech industry truly inclusive.

For the past decade 96-year-old Betty Reid Soskin has served as the nation’s oldest Park Ranger

"A lot of young girls are often taught to sort of stay quiet or to put other people's needs before ourselves... And if we are to speak up or to stand up for ourselves it could be taken as being bossy or the other b word." - Emily Abad, Director of Programs at The Mosaic Project, an experiential education program addressing issues of diversity, empathy, and conflict resolution. On this episode of “Inflection Point” host Lauren Schiller talks with Emily Abad about how to find that mix of empathy and assertiveness for all genders.

Can you find compassion in your heart for the haters in your life?

What's so monumental about turning 40 that women need their own Facebook group? Turns out--pretty much everything. Nina Collins has created an "environment that's a little like Vegas...our special place to talk about what's really going on in our lives..." But why don't real life friends fill that need? Collins turned what she learned from the group--and her own experience with hitting 40--into a book "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?" Hear it all this week on Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller.

At age 35, Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake became the youngest female founder and CEO to take a company public in 2017.

Despite our differences, we can find connections that bring us together.

Organizational psychologist Dr. Barbara Adams says there is transformational power for everyone in diversity and inclusivity.

What does it actually take for women to win elections?

Corgi Con is a semi-annual celebration of short, sausage-shaped dogs called Corgis. Hundreds of dogs and their families descend on Ocean Beach for a day of events and festivities.

Buried deep in Stanford Hospital is a network that’s a little more Jules Verne than Silicon Valley.

Today on Crosscurrents: How one Bay Area school district is offering families extra support so kids get to school on time every day. Inside Real Guitars, the oldest vintage guitar shop in the city.

Alemany Farmers Market started during WWII to support rural farms near San Francisco. Throughout the market’s evolution, its maintained modest prices, diverse customers, and a “local first” attitude towards selling produce. You’ll find an assortment of Latin and Southeast Asian ingredients unlike anywhere else, and it’s open every Saturday, all year long.

On a fall evening at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto — better known as “The Farm” — college-football rivals UC Berkeley and Stanford meet for their annual showdown at the 120th “Big Game.” The stadium is divided in half, with Cal fans in blue and gold on one side, and Stanford in Cardinal red on the other. Chants and cheers can be heard throughout the crowd. The band always wins Even with all the action taking place on the field, it is hard not to notice the full concert going on by the end-zone stands. There are over 100 people playing instruments like tubas, flutes and marching drums. It’s none other than the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band. “We have a fun saying in the band, that the band always wins. So even when the football team doesn’t win, or the volleyball team doesn’t win or whatever athletic event we are at ... the band always wins,” says public relations director and Stanford senior Mireille Bejjani , better know by her band name “Fan.” Today, the band has

A slickly produced 26-minute video called Plandemic has exploded on social media in recent days, claiming to present a view of COVID-19 that differs from the "official" narrative. The video has been viewed millions of times on YouTube via links that are replaced as quickly as the video-sharing service can remove them for violating its policy against "COVID-19 misinformation." In it, filmmaker Mikki Willis conducts an uncritical interview with Judy Mikovits, who he says has been called "one of the most accomplished scientists of her generation." Never heard of her? You're not alone. Two prominent scientists with backgrounds in AIDS research and infectious diseases, who asked not to be identified over concerns of facing a backlash on social media, told NPR that they did not know who she was. If you were aware of Mikovits before this week, it is probably for two books she published with co-author Kent Heckenlively, one in 2017 and another last month. Heckenlively has also written a book

The Census Bureau says it is continuing the gradual relaunch of limited field operations for the 2020 census next week in nine states where the coronavirus pandemic forced the hand-delivery of paper forms in rural areas to be suspended in mid-March. On May 13, some local census offices in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington are scheduled to restart that fieldwork, according to an updated schedule the bureau published on its website Friday. All workers are expected to be trained in CDC guidance in preventing the spread of COVID-19, and besides a new reusable face mask for every 10 days worked and a pair of gloves for each work day, the bureau has ordered 2 ounces of hand sanitizer for each census worker conducting field operations, the bureau tells NPR in an email. The announcement means more households that receive their mail at post office boxes or drop points are expected to find paper questionnaires left outside their

This is part of a series looking at pressing coronavirus questions of the week. We'd like to hear what you're curious about. Email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." More than 76,000 people in the U.S. have died because of COVID-19, and there have been 1.27 million confirmed cases across the country — and nearly 4 million worldwide. Though the virus continues to spread and sicken people, some states and countries are starting to reopen businesses and lift stay-at-home requirements. This week, we look at some of your questions as summer nears and restrictions are eased. Is it safe to swim in pools or lakes? Does the virus spread through the water? People are asking whether they should be concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus while swimming. Experts say water needn't be a cause for concern. The CDC says there is no evidence the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas or water

A lack of pedestrians and reduced vehicle traffic is allowing construction projects in several downtown areas around the state to move more quickly. In Iowa City, Public Works Director Ron Knoche said his crews are able to tackle a maintenance project on one of the few river bridges in the district. “We were able to move forward with that project a little sooner and it was a full closure of Burlington Street, so it was something that we were dreading but because of campus being cancelled and the local school districts being closed, it really opened that window up for us to be able to do that project,” said Knoche. Knoche admitted his job these days is quote “100 percent” easier. He said the street will open to limited traffic next Friday. In Cedar Falls, workers are using the lack of pedestrians to make substantial progress on a project to replace decades-old bricks in front of businesses in the area known as the Parkade. City Communications Specialist Amanda Huisman explained it’s

Magician and animal trainer Roy Horn, of the legendary Las Vegas duo Siegfied and Roy, died Friday from complications related to COVID-19. Horn tested positive last week. He was 75. "The world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend," Siegfried Fischbacher said of his partner in a statement. "Roy was a fighter his whole life including during these final days. I give my heartfelt appreciation to the team of doctors, nurses and staff at Mountain View Hospital who worked heroically against this insidious virus that ultimately took Roy's life." Roy Horn was born in Germany in 1944. He and Siegfried began their act in Las Vegas in 1967. In 1989 they began a 14-year run at the Mirage Resort performing illusions with exotic animals, making tigers, lions, even elephants vanish and reappear. In October of 2003, Roy Horn was performing with a 400-pound white tiger named Mantecore when the great cat grabbed him by the throat before a stunned audience and dragged him

Protests over stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19 have become more common around the country. In California, a surprising group is behind some of them: those who oppose mandatory vaccinations. On Thursday, a mash-up of people mingled on the sidewalk in front of California's state Capitol in Sacramento. There were Trump supporters wearing MAGA hats and waving American flags. There were Christians, singing along to religious rock songs and raising their hands in prayer. The event's MC. urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to tune into their event. "Everybody up at the Capitol, tell Gavin Newsom [to tune in to] 107.9 FM, if he wants to hear what we have to say," the MC told the crowd over loudspeakers. "It could be kind of good for him!" There were also mothers with their children at the rally. Many people were not wearing face masks or observing social distancing protocols. They'd all come out to protest California's stay-at-home order, put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. This week's

As of Friday in Texas, you can go to a tanning salon. In Indiana, houses of worship are being allowed to open with no cap on attendance. Places like Pennsylvania are taking a more cautious approach, only starting to ease restrictions in some counties based on the number of COVID-19 cases. By Monday, at least 31 states will have partially reopened after seven weeks of restrictions. The moves come as President Trump pushes for the country to get back to work despite public health experts warning that it's too soon. "The early lesson that was learned, really, we learned from the island of Hokkaido in Japan, where they did a really good job of controlling the initial phase of the outbreak," said Bob Bednarczyk, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. Because of that success, many of the restrictions on the island were lifted. But cases and deaths surged in a second wave of infections. Twenty-six days later

Dr. Grace Farris is chief of hospital medicine at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan. She also writes a monthly comics column in the Annals of Internal Medicine called "Dr Mom." You can find her on Instagram @coupdegracefarris . Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I've got this lovely four foot by eight food raised garden bed — brand new this year, because yes, I'm one of those people who are trying their hand at gardening. I've got tomatoes, I've got cucumbers, I've got radishes, I've got beets sprouting up, I've got what I think might be a zucchini and a spaghetti squash, but the markers washed away in a storm. And I had some watermelon seedlings, but they died in the last cold snap. So that's why I'm out here today — driving in stakes and draping plastic wrap for the next cold snap. I have to be extra careful now, because I couldn't actually replace my watermelon seedlings — garden centers and hardware stores have been picked clean. Jennifer Atkinson is a senior lecturer in environmental

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday. He was 87 years old. Wayne Chaney, his longtime bandleader and tour manager, tells NPR that Little Richard died at his brother's home in Tullahoma, Tenn., after a battle with cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on his death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9

Airlines and airport operators in the United Kingdom are not waiting for the British government to publicly confirm their fears. Already, the groups representing major players in the U.K.'s air travel industry are pushing back on a proposal that would require travelers to quarantine after arriving from outside the country. A spokesperson for Airlines UK — a trade body with British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair as members — says the group understands from government officials that plans for a quarantine are in the works, but that details remain scarce at the moment. "We need to see the detail of what they are proposing. Public health must of course be the priority and we will continue to be guided by Sage advice," the group said in a statement emailed to NPR, noting that support measures will be necessary to ensure "that we still have a UK aviation sector once the quarantine period is lifted." "We will be asking for assurances that this decision has been led by the science and that

Governors on the East and West Coasts say they’ll work together to reopen businesses. But President Trump says he’s the one calling the shots.

After two weeks of hospitalization, Larry Potter became the first Iowan diagnosed with COVID-19 to be released from Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids after spending time on a ventilator.

The pandemic has forced change on all types of professions, including those in radio journalism. On this edition of River to River , host Ben Kieffer spends the hour visiting with a number of his colleagues here at Iowa Public Radio. The conversation spans from adapting to working from our basements, kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms and even converting closets into sound booths. We also explore both the emotional and technical challenges of working from home. Guests: Charity Nebbe , Talk of Iowa host Lindsey Moon , digital producer Kate Payne , eastern Iowa reporter Jason Burns , broadcast operations manager Michael Leland , news director Rob Dillard , correspondent

Under normal circumstances, a cancer diagnosis can be life altering. But with cases of COVID-19 straining medical systems across the state and with new expectations for social distancing in place, the way in which cancer treatment is received and supported is creating new challenges for some Iowans.

On this episode of River to River , guest host Katelyn Harrop speaks with several guests about some of the latest and ongoing coronavirus stories in Iowa, including Gvernor Kim Reynolds' decision to partially reopen businesses in 77 of Iowa's 99 counties, and how survivors of domestic violence can access resources during this national crisis.

Many childcare centers across the state have been forced to shut their doors because of COVID-19. For those who are still open, declining enrollment numbers, staff layoffs and difficulties in acquiring and affording necessary supplies has left providers facing tough decisions about the future of their childcare businesses, just as some Iowans begin returning to work.

In this edition of River to River, host Ben Kieffer talks with political analysts Chris Larimer of University of Northern Iowa and Sara Mitchell of University of Iowa about Gov. Kim Reynolds' trip to meet with White House officials about Iowa's response to COVID-19. They also discuss Vice President Mike Pence's upcoming trip to meet with Iowa religious leaders, and get a snapshot of Iowa congressional and senate races heading into the June 2 primary. Guests: Chis Larimer, professor of political science at University of Northern Iowa Sara Mitchell, F. Wendell Miller professor of political science at University of Iowa

We all know TV viewing is up these days, but data from Hub Entertainment and Wurl show just how much, and which services are seeing the biggest upticks.

As business professionals, educators, and others around the globe rely on web conferencing solutions like Zoom to communicate under current conditions, post houses, broadcasters, and video rights holders are either acquainting themselves with cloud video editing solutions like the popular Blackbird platform, or moving once-peripheral distributed production workflows to the center of their operations.

Today, video streaming solutions provider LiveU unveiled a new "State of Live" report, documenting increased "demand for live streaming, mobile apps, and live IP video sharing solutions" during the last five weeks of pandemic mitigation measures.

StreamingPix offers $6,499 capture-to-delivery integrated solution for worship, education, meetings, events, and more.