Madera Community Hospital closed in December and has now filed for bankruptcy. The emergency room now sits empty, and labor and delivery services have stopped. The hospital's three rural clinics are also closed. Some 136 rural hospitals closed between 2010 and 2021, according to the American Hospital Association. According to a January report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, about 600 hospitals are currently at risk of closing in the U.S.We traveled to Fresno as part of our Remaking America collaboration with six partner stations across the country, including KVPR in California's Central Valley. Earlier this month, we brought the community together to talk about the hospital closure, which has left more than 150,000 residents without an emergency room within 30 miles and has put a strain on emergency room departments in Fresno and Merced. This conversation is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations, including KVPR in Fresno, California. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This month, the USDA is implementing stronger oversight of organic products in order to reduce fraud. For a growing number of Americans buying organic, that's good news. The industry reached $63 billion in sales between 2020 and 2021.We discuss what the organic label actually means and the kind of benefits you can expect. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Some Americans are turning to a group of diabetes medications for something other than relief from the disease. Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are making headlines for their ability to stimulate weight loss. This is a problem for diabetes patients who need the medication and can't get it. A rise in demand for these medications has led to shortages. But should potentially life-saving medication be available to those whose lives aren't at risk? We speak to two doctors getting at the heart of these questions and a woman who's been using these medications to improve her health.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Dozens of Democratic senators voted alongside their Republican counterparts last week on the issue of crime and safety in our nation's capital. The Senate voted 81-14 to block a criminal code rewrite that was unanimously approved by the D.C. City Council.The criminal code overhaul included major changes to criminal sentencing – including reducing maximum sentences for carjacking and eliminating mandatory minimums.We discuss the intersection of politics and criminal justice policy and what say Congress should have over D.C.'s affairs.This show was part of 1A's Remaking America collaboration with six partner stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

We partnered with our friends at WIRED to bring you a special episode of their podcast Gadget Lab. For this episode of Gadget Lab, the team takes a look at recommendation algorithms. The modern internet is powered by recommendation algorithms. But some of these algorithms can lead to some weird places, occasionally taking users down dark internet rabbit holes or showing harmful content. Lawmakers and researchers have criticized recommendation systems before, but these methods are under renewed scrutiny now that Google and Twitter are going before the US Supreme Court to defend their algorithmic practices.We hear how recommendation algorithms work, how they're studied, and how they can be both abused and restrained.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.