The Daily

The superstar comedian and his best friend and collaborator discuss the journey that deepened their friendship.

The Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action last summer was expected to drastically change the demographics of college campuses around the country.David Leonhardt, who has written about affirmative action for The Times, explains the extent and nature of that change as the new academic year gets underway.Guest: David Leonhardt, a senior writer who runs The Morning, The Times’s flagship daily newsletter.Background reading: Two elite colleges have seen shifts in racial makeup after the affirmative action ban.The Supreme Court decision last year rejected affirmative action programs at Harvard and North Carolina.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As Vice President Kamala Harris moves into the final stretch of her campaign, one of the biggest issues both for voters and for Republicans attacking her is the surge of migrants crossing the southern border over the past four years.Zolan Kanno-Youngs, who covers the White House for The Times, discusses Ms. Harris’s record on border policy.Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: As Republicans attack Ms. Harris on immigration, here’s what her record shows.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The American company Nvidia has created one of the world’s most sought-after inventions: a computer chip that powers artificial intelligence.Amid concerns that the technology could help China modernize its military, however, the United States has tried to control the export of the chips.Ana Swanson, who covers trade and international economics for The New York Times, discusses her investigation into the escalating war over the technology.Guest: Ana Swanson, who covers trade and international economics for The New York Times.Background reading: With smugglers and front companies, China is skirting American A.I. restrictions.Read takeaways from our investigation into the trade in the chips.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As students around the United States head back to school, many are encountering a new reality: bans on their use of cellphones.Natasha Singer, a technology reporter for The New York Times, discusses the restrictions and the contentious debate they have prompted.Guest: Natasha Singer, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: So far this year, at least eight states have passed laws, issued orders or adopted rules to curb phone use among students during school hours.This Florida school district banned cellphones. Here’s what happened.How has tech changed your school experience? We want to hear about it.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Phil Donahue, the game-changing daytime television host, died last week at 88. Mr. Donahue turned “The Phil Donahue Show” into a participation event, soliciting questions and comments on topics as varied as human rights and orgies.Michael Barbaro explains what Phil Donahue meant to him.Background reading: An obituary for Mr. Donahue, who died last week at 88.Here are 3 episodes that explain Mr. Donahue’s daytime dominance.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Tipping, once contained to certain corners of the economy, has exploded, creating confusion and angst. Now, it is even becoming an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.Ben Casselman, who covers the U.S. economy for The New York Times, cracks open the mystery of this new era of tipping.Guest: Ben Casselman, a reporter covering the U.S. economy for The New York Times.Background reading: How to deal with the many requests for tips.Former President Donald J. Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris a “copycat” over her “no tax on tips” plan.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

It’s been nearly a year since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, explains why the war is still going, and what it would take to end it.Guest: Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Here’s a look at the twists and turns over months of talks and what the main sticking points have been recently.Cease-fire talks will continue in Cairo, officials said.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The U.S. authorities have repeatedly warned that foreign governments would seek to meddle in the upcoming presidential election. It now appears they were right.David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, tells the story of the first major cyberattack of the 2024 campaign.Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The hacking of presidential campaigns has started, with the usual fog of motives.The finding that Iran had breached the campaign of former President Donald J. Trump was widely expected.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As the 2024 presidential race enters the homestretch, former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are putting economic policy at the center of their pitches to voters.Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The New York Times, evaluates both of their plans.Guest: Jim Tankersley, an economic policy reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Analysis: Both candidates embrace expansions of government power to steer economic outcomes — but in vastly different areas.Analysis: Harris’s price-gouging ban plan does not appear to amount to government price controls. It also might not bring down grocery bills anytime soon.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the very first episode of The Wirecutter Show, which launched on Aug. 21, the team goes deep on laundry—what you’re probably doing wrong, how to actually pretreat stains, and the tips and tricks to make it all easier.Find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And follow The Wirecutter Show to get new episodes right away.

The actress talks to Lulu Garcia-Navarro about learning to protect herself and the hard lessons of early fame.

Last night, at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination, becoming the first woman of color in U.S. history to do so.Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein, who cover politics for The Times, discuss the story this convention told about Ms. Harris — and whether that story could be enough to win the presidential election.Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up” for The New York Times.Reid J. Epstein, who covers politics for The New York Times.Background reading: Kamala Harris promised to chart a “new way forward” as she accepted the nomination.“The Run-Up”: It’s her party now. What’s different?For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the Democratic National Convention, party officials are celebrating polls showing that Kamala Harris is now competitive with Donald Trump in every major swing state across the country.But in one of those swing states, Republicans have laid the groundwork to challenge a potential Harris victory this fall, by taking over an obscure, unelected board.Nick Corasaniti, a Times reporter who focuses on voting and elections, explains.Guest: Nick Corasaniti, a reporter covering national politics for The New York Times.Background reading: The unelected body that shapes voting rules in Georgia has a new conservative majority, whose members question the state’s 2020 results. They now have new power to influence the results in 2024.Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in close races across Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, crucial swing states that Mr. Trump had seemed poised to run away with.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of war.When Ukrainian troops crossed over into Russia two weeks ago, it appeared at first to be a largely symbolic gesture. But in the time since, it has emerged as a potentially pivotal moment in the war.Andrew Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, explains what’s behind the audacious Ukrainian operation, and Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief, explains how Russia’s response could reshape the conflict.Guest: Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times.Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Planned in secrecy, the incursion was a bold move to upend the war’s dynamics and put Moscow on the defensive — a gambit that could also leave Ukraine exposed.President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to hold Russian territory as leverage in future talks. In Moscow, many doubt the strategy.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On the first night of the Democratic National Convention, the stage belonged to the man who chose to give it up.Katie Rogers and Peter Baker, White House correspondents for The Times, discuss President Biden’s private pain since stepping aside, and his public message in Chicago.Guest: Katie Rogers, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Biden defended his record and endorsed Kamala Harris: “America, I gave my best to you.”Analysis: The speech Biden never wanted to give.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the next few days at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination and reintroduce herself to American voters.Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up,” talks through key periods in Ms. Harris’s life that explain what she believes and the kind of president she might become.Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up” for The New York Times.Background reading: A vice-presidential learning curve: How Ms. Harris picked her shots.Nearly 14 years ago, Ms. Harris’s opponent in the California attorney general’s race gave an answer at a debate that was frank — and fateful for the future Democratic presidential nominee.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Benjamin B. Bolger has been to Harvard and Stanford and Yale. He has been to Columbia and Dartmouth and Oxford, and Cambridge, Brandeis and Brown. Over all, Bolger has 14 advanced degrees, plus an associate’s and a bachelor’s.Against a backdrop of pervasive cynicism about the nature of higher education, it is tempting to dismiss a figure like Bolger as the wacky byproduct of an empty system. Then again, Bolger has run himself through that system, over and over and over again; it continues to take him in, and he continues to return to it for more.

From jail and addiction to music stardom — the singer tells David Marchese he’s living a “modern American fairy tale.”

Air-conditioning has become both our answer to a warming planet and a major obstacle to actually confronting it.Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Times, explains the increasingly dangerous paradox of trying to control the temperature.Guest: Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The New York Times.Background reading: From 2017: How air-conditioning conquered America.Air-conditioning use will surge in a warming world, the U.N. has warned.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.