Hey there, it's Tamra Keith, and it's that time of year again when we come to you and ask for a little bit of help.

Every day we are here in your podcast feed and there is so much that goes into gathering the facts and explaining what they mean

and also making us sound good.

And in order to keep this going, we need your support.

By donating to your local NPR station, you are not only helping your station bring you local news that matters in your community.

And that is really important, but you're also helping us cover the White House and Congress.

Your donation is crucial from your hometown, all the way to Washington and everywhere in between.

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Hi, my name is Annelie Sweedman, and I'm here with my family at Dollywood in Pigeon,

forge Tennessee, getting ready to see the park's lights for the first time this season. This podcast was recorded at

207 PM on December 27th.

Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I'll be admiring the lights of my family. Enjoy the show!

Dollywood. Dollywood is great. I actually went there as a kid. Oh really? It's an amazing place. It is. It's very cool. Lots of fun.

Hey there, it's the MPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting and misinformation.

And I must my call it. I cover the White House.

And Ping Wong is here from MPR Science desk. Hi Ping.

Hey Miles, yes ma. Hey there.

So, Omacron continues to scramble things in the United States. We've got hundreds of canceled flights,

lots of affected football, including my fantasy football team, and the number of daily cases are still climbing.

Ping, can you just start there not talking about my fantasy football team, but talk about an overview of what COVID looks like in the country right now?

Yeah, well, case counts are really exploding across the country right now.

...