The Excerpt
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The Excerpt
Get context, not just headlines. Every weekday The Excerpt brings USA TODAY's award-winning journalists from across the nation together to unpack the nation’s most pressing stories — from politics and culture to sports and entertainment — with host Dana Taylor.
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The government shutdown caused a lot of pain for Americans
Nobody seems to have gotten everything they wanted out of the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Not the Democrats. Not the Republicans. And definitely...
Golden parachutes for failed college football coaches become the norm
College football season this year is…. different. How so, you ask? It’s not just the breakout success of Indiana’s Hoosiers and the crushing disappoin...
Migrants are heading south now, not north
After record highs in 2024, border crossings have collapsed. ICE raids, deportations and new asylum limits are now driving a wave of reverse migration...
How an unlikely alliance saved the U.S. fishing industry
It wasn’t so long ago that America’s fisheries were in a state of collapse, with cratering fish stocks and well-meaning but impractical government reg...
Are Trump's tariffs legal? The Supreme Court hears arguments
By imposing sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, President Donald Trump has turned US trade policy on its head. The question now before the Supreme Co...
Democrats escape the political wilderness with Mamdani win
Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Nov. 4 election not only makes him the leader of the Big Apple; It also turns him, for better or worse, into one of th...
How SNAP became a political pawn in the government shutdown
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — feeds 42 million Americans. But during the ongoing government shutdown, it’s been caught in...
Thoughts on America's 250th birthday
On July 4th 2026, America will celebrate its 250th birthday. The United States is the world’s oldest and still-evolving experiment in democracy. From...
Love gore and horror, the dark and scary? There’s a scientific reason why.
True crime, horror movies, even haunted houses — psychologist Coltan Scrivner says they all tap into a survival instinct. He explains how morbid curio...
At 28, Malala Yousafzai is finally finding her way
At 28, Malala Yousafzai’s life so far has been anything but ordinary. When she was just 15, she was shot by the Taliban on her way to school, targeted...
Government shutdown enters week five with no end in sight
It has been 29 days since the federal government entered a shutdown, now just a week away from this becoming the longest government shutdown in US his...
Is the AI boom fueling the next stock market bubble?
The stock market is surging again, led by a handful of tech giants betting big on artificial intelligence. But is this genuine growth or déjà vu from...
The NBA is reeling from an explosive gambling scandal
What do you get when you mix the NBA with the Italian mafia and then add in some poker? Perhaps one of the most explosive gambling scandals the sports...
Adult sleepaway camp and the high cost of feeling like a kid again
Who doesn’t like a weekend getaway? A nice hotel room, spa treatments, room service, sure – but a cabin with strangers? Adult sleepaway camps are havi...
Will changes to the H-1B visa program preserve jobs for Americans?
The H-1B visa program — a key pipeline for skilled foreign workers in tech — has recently been upended by President Donald Trump. A recent executive o...
Why do US students continue to fall behind in reading and math?
America’s high school seniors are falling behind. The decline in math and reading scores is more than a statistic. It’s a warning sign about our futur...
WNBA hits a new peak, but money is still a sticking point
As the contract deadline of October 31st approaches, negotiations are at a standstill, and players and fans alike are contemplating the very real poss...
California Prop 50 voting underway. Will the decision neutralize Texas redistricting?
California voters are already casting ballots in what is likely the most important contest of 2025, one that will play a substantial role in deciding...
John Bolton indicted
USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Aysha Bagchi breaks down the indictment of Trump critic and ex-National Security Adviser John Bolton in a d...
SPECIAL | Is Trump's deployment of the National Guard about order or overreach?
Since June of 2025, thousands of National Guard troops have been deployed to four US cities – Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago and Memphis. And,...
Voting Rights Act threatened in Supreme Court redistricting case
USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe discusses what's at stake in a major redistricting case.
President Donald Trump says he's c...
SPECIAL | Why Americans are making homegrown GLP-1s
High costs. Limited supply. No insurance coverage. All of these are motivating some patients to cook up unregulated “gray GLP-1” drugs at home. Health...
Another Senate vote fails as the shutdown rolls on
The federal government’s partial shutdown has reached its 15th day.
President Donald Trump says Hamas will disarm or the U.S. will force them 'p...
A triumphant Trump basks in Mideast praise
USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page puts President Donald Trump's role in recent Israel-Hamas peace proceedings in context.
USA TODAY C...
All remaining living Israeli hostages released
All remaining living Israeli hostages have been released, while some 2,000 detained Palestinians are released. Plus, President Donald Trump speaks to...
MrBeast is hugely successful on YouTube, but with ECU, not so much
If you spend any time on YouTube, and most of us do, then you’ve probably watched or at least heard of MrBeast. Last check, he had 444 million subscri...
One family, seven hostages, and the end of a two-year nightmare
USA TODAY National Correspondent Michael Collins tells us about one family's fight to bring hostage loved ones home.
Gazans trek to their ruined...
New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted
New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial insti...
SPECIAL | Who should decide which books, if any, are banned?
This is banned books week. It’s a week that highlights how a few loud voices have shaped what kinds of books are pulled from school and library shelve...
Hamas and Israel set to sign deal on ceasefire and hostage releases
President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to implement the first phase of a White House peace plan aimed at ending Israel's onslaught i...
SPECIAL | The politics of shutdown
We’re nearly at the end of day eight of the government shutdown, the first time this has happened since 2018 when President Donald Trump was last in o...
Trump says some furloughed federal workers ‘don’t deserve’ back pay
USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison has some of the latest from the federal government shutdown, including the president's controversial...
National Guard troops in limbo as Trump battles courts over deployments
USA TODAY National Security & World Affairs Reporter Cybele Mayes-Osterman discusses the Trump administration's approach on deploying National Guard t...
Judge blocks National Guard deployment to Portland, Oregon
A federal judge temporarily blocks President Donald Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
USA TODAY Supreme...
Peace hangs in the balance as the second anniversary of 10-7 nears
It’s been two years since the October 7th attacks on Israel. On that day in 2023, Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage. In res...
Trump tells Israel to stop bombing Gaza after Hamas accepts portion of his peace plan
President Donald Trump is calling on Israel to stop its Gaza bombing campaign to secure the safe extraction of remaining hostages, after Hamas agreed...
SPECIAL | Peanuts turns 75 and still speaks to the child in all of us
For 75 years, Charles Schultz’s Peanuts gang has reflected our humor and hope, as well as our struggle to navigate some of life’s everyday curveballs....
Trump approval ratings historically low compared to other presidents
President Donald Trump's approval ratings are historically low compared to other presidents, but have mostly plateaued in recent months.
USA TOD...
SPECIAL | Charlamagne tha God emerges as a political force
Once known simply as a gossip guru, Charlamagne tha God – who reaches over 7 million monthly “Club” listeners – still gets "the tea.” USA TODAY Politi...
Lawmakers point fingers as the reality of a shutdown sinks in
USA TODAY White House Correspondent Francesca Chambers takes a look at how the federal government shutdown is playing out politically, and gives us so...