When the initial debt relief program for Black farmers was passed in 2021 it was a false start. It was challenged in court and stalled. But, in 2022, a new debt relief program, not based on race, was passed to replace it. How will the new progr

The Forever Fight

Oct 24th, 2023 40m 50s

Pigford v. Glickman (1999) was a class action lawsuit accusing the USDA of long-running racial discrimination against Black farmers in regard to the types of loans and assistance they received (if they received anything at all). This episode wi

Boley was a Rip-Roaring Place, Honey

Oct 17th, 2023 36m 44s

So far, we’ve been following Nate’s journey to becoming a full-time rancher…but Nate isn’t just concerned about his achievements, he also wants Boley to thrive. That mindset is essential because Boley and the ranches that surround it are interd

Dancing with the Devil

Oct 10th, 2023 39m 56s

Nate says his relationship with the USDA was rocky from the start and he went in knowing he was “dancing with the devil” because of his father’s experiences with the agency. In this episode, we’ll go through Nate’s experiences with the agency a

The Cowboy Way and The Color Line

Oct 3rd, 2023 31m 15s

Surviving as a rancher is hard for lots of reasons: land has gotten more expensive, corporate farms have gotten more powerful and put pressure on small ranches to expand their operations to stay in business, inflation has driven up the prices o

Trailer

Introducing season 3 of The Heist: Land of Broken Promises

Sep 19th, 2023 3m

Nate Bradford, Jr. and other Black farmers and ranchers are fighting to preserve a type of rural, Black agricultural life. But the past keeps blocking their future. From The Center for Public Integrity and Pushkin Industries, follow Bradford's

Carrying the load

Mar 22nd, 2022 22m 48s

ReShonda finds a potential home for her bank and a kindred spirit. And she faces new challenges.

The wealth-gap machine

Mar 15th, 2022 30m 30s

How did the wealth gap become so huge? And what will it take to really fix it? As ReShonda digs into an aspect of the country's discriminatory history that intersects with her life in a deeply personal way, a key wealth-gap researcher tackles t

Shifting goalposts

Mar 7th, 2022 25m 34s

It's a lot harder to find investors for a new bank than people willing to open accounts there. ReShonda discovers a group that might be interested in helping fund her Bank of Jabez.

Popcorn Heaven

Mar 1st, 2022 32m 8s

ReShonda builds a popcorn business with a too-small loan, learning something that leaves her reeling. She joins a lawsuit that will have national ripple effects.

How Do You Catch Up?

Feb 22nd, 2022 29m 34s

As ReShonda Young bought real estate and started a business in Waterloo, Iowa, she could see the impact of past and present discriminatory practices. But working at a small investment firm is what really opened her eyes to a big consequence: th

Trailer

Introducing season 2 of The Heist from The Center for Public Integrity

Feb 2nd, 2022 2m 20s

Season 2 of our award-winning podcast The Heist is the story of an enduring American injustice and one woman's effort to address it in her hometown.

The Virus

Oct 15th, 2020 31m 34s

Our final episode of the season. The coronavirus has hit, and America is experiencing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Congress and the Trump administration rush to roll out the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP was supp

Better Off?

Oct 8th, 2020 30m 54s

What did companies do with their huge tax break? The Trump administration made grand promises about the 2017 tax law — that corporations would invest the windfall in their workers, boosting the entire economy. So, are we better off? We look at

Buyer's Remorse

Oct 1st, 2020 42m 49s

Republicans say they hate debt. So why did they push for a tax bill that would add almost two trillion dollars to the country’s tab? Only one Republican senator broke ranks - until he didn’t. This episode tells the story of the flip-flops, back

Mnuchin’s World

1 Sep 24th, 2020 35m 38s

Who is Steven Mnuchin? He somehow manages to fly under the radar, but as Treasury Secretary he has tremendous power. How did a man with no record of public service and the nickname “the “Foreclosure King” become the guy in charge of America’s m

The Dallas Piggy Bank

1 1 Sep 17th, 2020 30m 49s

In 2017, rich Republican donors demanded a legislative victory, and this is how they got it. We meet one big donor from Dallas who goes on the record to explain how money and power work in Trump’s America. This is the behind-the-scenes story of

Trailer

Welcome to The Heist

Sep 1st, 2020 3m 45s

Welcome to the Heist: How did massive amounts of government money end up in the pockets of corporations and rich Americans during Trump’s presidency? We go inside the system to find out. Episodes drop weekly starting September 17, 2020.