Infamous America

Nina Gilden Seavey was twelve on May 5, 1970, the day an Air Force building in St. Louis burned to the ground. Her dad represented a young man accused of the crime: Howard Mechanic. Facing serious federal time, Howard went on the run and became one of the longest-running fugitives in U.S. history. As an adult, Nina picked up the trail. What ever happened to Howard Mechanic?This eight-part series is the tangled story of her search for answers. Hundreds of Freedom of Information requests. Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents. FBI surveillance and confidential informants. Cold War spies, conspiracy theories and the murder of a civil rights icon. And the sacrifices America makes in the name of national security. https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/my-fugitive-49438 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A woman named Becki is lounging by the pool at the Fontainebleau Hotel when she decides to proposition a strapping pool attendant. Go on a date with her...and her husband. What begins as an unconventional proposition will soon throw them all into the international spotlight. And that’s because the couple is none other than Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki, two of the most powerful figures in Evangelical America. Wondery presents In God We Lust, hosted by Brooke Siffrin and Aricia Skidmore-Williams of Even the Rich. A story of an alluring sex scandal, power, money and a very public fall from grace. When word of their affair fell into the wrong hands it led to political extortion and a public outing that brought Jerry Falwell Jr.’s empire crashing down. Listen at http://wondery.fm/IGWL_Infamous Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs set out to rid the world of smoking with an incredible new product. The device stands to disrupt the tobacco industry and make them rich, until it falls into the wrong hands and lives are ruined. From classrooms to hospitals, boardrooms to the Oval Office, what can be done to protect teenagers and is it too late? From Laura Beil, the reporter behind Dr Death and Bad Batch, comes The Vaping Fix, the inside story of the rise of Juul and the making of a crisis. Listen to THE VAPING FIX at: http://wondery.fm/VF_InfamousAmerica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

*WARNING: This episode contains a description of graphic violence* It’s a case that has haunted Jefferson Township, New Jersey, for more than 30 years. On a snowy January night, 14-year-old Tommy Sullivan did the unthinkable: he murdered his mother in cold blood, set fire to their house, and then took his own life. Out of the flames of this horrible tragedy, investigations revealed that Tommy was, himself, a part of a Satanic Cult, sparking a nationwide hysteria now known as the “Satanic Panic” This monumental moment in American culture led to communities nationwide enforcing draconian measures to protect their children from what they perceived to be the devil’s influence. Even the Catholic church was convinced this was a case of demonic possession. On the new podcast, THE DEVIL WITHIN, the truth of the grisly murder is finally revealed. Did Tommy act alone? Did he really commit suicide? Is his cult still in power? THE DEVIL WITHIN finally sheds light on questions left unanswered for decades... Listen here: http://wondery.fm/TDW_InfamousUSAPod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Presenting a special episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Revisionist History. Every year, the US News & World Report ranks the best colleges and universities using a top-secret algorithm that they refuse to disclose. In Part One of a two-part series, Malcolm finds a team of undergraduate statisticians-turned-ranking super-hackers to crack the algorithm. He and an anonymous “dean” pass judgment on schools they’ve never visited, and considers the elephant in the room: Whether it’s possible that America’s most influential college rankings are biased against historically Black colleges, and other institutions that educate underprivileged students. You can hear the second half of the series right now at: http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/infamousamerica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices