All Things Considered for April 28, 2020 Hear the All Things Considered program for April 28, 2020

All Things Considered

In recent years, former coal miners were retrained to work with fiber optics, expanding high-speed Internet — and possible economic opportunities — to rural areas. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

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Meredith Rizzo/NPR

The Coronavirus Crisis

Even In Crisis Times, There Is A Push To Wire Rural America

The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to move almost everything online. But more than one-third of the U.S. population in rural areas has little or no access to the Internet.

In recent years, former coal miners were retrained to work with fiber optics, expanding high-speed Internet — and possible economic opportunities — to rural areas. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

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Meredith Rizzo/NPR

Even In Crisis Times, There Is A Push To Wire Rural America

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New Kids on the Block's "House Party," featuring Boyz II Men, Big Freedia, Jordin Sparks and Naughty by Nature, is just one of the coronavirus quarantine-inspired songs released over the past months. YouTube/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

From The Urgent To The Absurd, Musicians Take On The Coronavirus Through Song

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San Francisco's California Street, usually filled with cable cars, is seen empty on March 18, 2020, after residents were ordered to shelter in place in an effort to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Author Lawrence Wright's new novel imagines a mysterious virus that sweeps the globe. "All I'm doing is examining the world that we live in and extrapolating where it might go," he says. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

This Is 'Creepy': Lawrence Wright Wishes His Pandemic Novel Had Gotten It Wrong

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Searching for a song you heard between stories? We've retired music buttons on these pages. Learn more here.

All Things Considered