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Obamas sign podcast production deal with Spotify

Photo: Jim Young/AFP/Getty Images

Barack and Michelle Obama have signed an exclusive deal with Spotify to produce a series of podcasts, Variety reports.

Why it matters: Politicians are increasingly turning to streaming media, like Netflix, as a way to reach the younger audience that uses those platforms, according to Axios' Sara Fischer. The Obamas signed a similar multi-year production deal with Netflix last year.

Details: It is not yet clear what topics the Obamas will tackle with their podcasts. Barack Obama wrote in a statement that Spotify would "offer an extraordinary opportunity to foster productive dialogue, make people smile and make people think, and, hopefully, bring us all a little closer together."

Go deeper: Old politicians flock to new film media

Go deeper

Stef W. Kight
7 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Biden confronts mounting humanitarian crisis at the border

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios. Photo: Pool/Getty Images     

Just over a month into his presidency, President Biden is staring down a mounting crisis at the border that could be just as bad as the ones faced by Barack Obama and Donald Trump, if not worse.

  • Why it matters: Immigration is an issue that can consume a presidency. It's intensely and poisonously partisan. It's complicated. And the lives and welfare of vulnerable children hang in the balance.

The backstory: Biden came into office sounding a warmer, more welcoming policy that would treat migrants humanely. Desperate people have taken notice.

  • And Biden reversed Trump’s COVID-era policy of turning away unaccompanied children — the very group that is now surging and being held for days in border stations unfit for children.

What's happening: Shelters are overflowing. Border crossings are rising. Border Patrol facilities are overwhelmed. And the new administration is taking fire from both the left and right as it grapples with the issue's harsh realities.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Erica Pandey, author of @Work
36 mins ago - Economy & Business

The rise of vaccine passports

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Vaccine passports were touted early in the pandemic as an important piece of the plan to get people back to normal life. Now they’re becoming a reality.

Driving the news: CLEAR, the secure digital identity app that you see in airports around the world, and CommonPass, a health app that lets users securely access vaccination records and COVID test results, have joined forces.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Marisa Fernandez
37 mins ago - Health

"Vaccine tourism" stretches states' supplies

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Americans who are highly motivated to get vaccinated are traveling across state lines after hearing about larger vaccine supplies or loopholes in sign-up systems.

Why it matters: "Vaccine tourism" raises ethical and legal questions, and could worsen the racial socioeconomic and racial inequalities of the pandemic.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow