With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore, NPR's Scott Simon updates "A Visit from St. Nicholas" for 2020.

NPR's Scott Simon notes how the pandemic has impacted the arts, including seasonal performances of "The Nutcracker." Without ticket sales from that ballet, many organizations are struggling.

The history of presidential pardons is often surprising — and revealing.

The world needs convincing that the U.S. can lead again, and it may not let it, according to foreign policy experts Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on what a 100 year-old poem by William Butler Yeats means today.

NPR's Scott Simon remembers historian and travel writer Jan Morris, who died Friday at age 94.

With COVID-19 cases surging and more than 250,000 dead, the CDC is recommending people not travel for Thanksgiving. And doctors worry the holiday could be a superspreader event.

NPR's Scott Simon notes that as coronavirus cases in the U.S. rise rapidly, it can be hard to hear that we don't know when this will all be over.

Doctors who helped stop Ebola call on Joe Biden's transition team to address COVID-19's racial and economic inequities. The evidence shows a safety net under the most vulnerable protects us all.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the record amount of money spent this campaign season, a goodly amount spent by candidates who did not win.

A five-way kidney swap was a chain of selfless kindness that allowed several people to help their loved ones and others.

NPR's Scott Simon tells the story of young football players just 8 and 9 years old who decided to take a knee along with their coaches and what happened next.

Risks of a wider conflict are too high. The U.S. should use diplomacy to stop the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, writes Gen. Philip Breedlove, former NATO supreme commander in Europe.

This past week The Caretaker, an artist who has long leaned into challenging sounds, began emerging as an increasingly popular "challenge" on the youth-led platform.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the effect of a lack of actual human interaction as social distancing and work-from-home wears on.