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THE WEEKLY REVEAL
Saturday, July 19, 2025
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The Real Conspiracy Behind the Texas Floods
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Hi, Iâm More To The Story producer Josh Sanburn.
A few years ago, I watched Donât Look Up, the 2021 Oscar-nominated movie about our collective paralysis to address climate change. The filmâs overarching plot involves two astronomers warning the planet about an approaching comet that could obliterate civilization. The comet (spoiler) is climate change. And guess what (spoiler)? Most people donât look up.
Weâre still not looking up. For decades now, climate scientists have been telling us that a planet made hotter by the burning of fossil fuels will lead to wetter, more intense storm systems. Earlier this month, the Guadalupe River in Texas rapidly overran its banks following prolonged rainfall in the area, killing more than 130 with dozens still missing. Much of the news coverage has rightly focused on the lack of properly funded warning systems for Kerr County. But talking about more underlying factors is also vital.
Itâs one of the many reasons we wanted to talk to David Sirota, who co-wrote Donât Look Up. Today, heâs the founder and editor-in-chief of the investigative news outlet The Lever, but is also a former political adviser and speechwriter to Bernie Sanders. On this weekâs More To The Story, Sirota sits down with host Al Letson to discuss our persistent inability to address climate change, how President Donald Trumpâs âbig, beautiful billâ is âthe class war in legislative form,â and why some Democrats still donât know how to respond to socialist Zohran Mamdaniâs upset win in New York Cityâs mayoral primary. Make sure to check it out in your favorite podcast app. And keep looking up.
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Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and donât forget to subscribe:
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The Landlord Gutting Americaâs Hospitals
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In April 2024, medical staff testified before Louisianaâs House Health and Welfare Committee about just how bad things had gotten at the Glenwood Regional Medical Center.
The West Monroe hospital had been under fire from the state Health Department over lapses in patient care that seemed to be escalating. The hospital had stopped paying bills for oxygen supplies, the blood bank, and repairs to the elevators that take patients up to surgery.
Former Glenwood nurse Debra Russell testified that there wasnât a cardiologist available when a man suffered a heart attack or a $5 piece of equipment she needed for a routine procedure.
âYou would send a nurse to go get it,â Russell said. âAnd she would come back and say, âOh, Miss Debra, I donât have any.â I said, âGo to another unit.â...âWe donât have one.ââ
Glenwood was run by Steward Health Care, at the time one of the countryâs largest for-profit health care operators. But its building was owned by Medical Properties Trustâa real estate company based in Birmingham, Alabama, that charged Glenwood monthly rent.
State Rep. Michael Echols, a Republican whose district includes Glenwood, had been flooded with concerns from community members. Echols had begun to wonder whether the high rent to MPT was fueling Glenwoodâs financial crisis. He struggled to get real answers.
Glenwood is just one of nearly 400 health care facilities owned by MPT and rented out to hospital chains. Nine companies that leased hospitals from MPT have gone bankruptâincluding Steward, Glenwoodâs former operator. And while dozens of hospitals have been sold, entangled in bankruptcy proceedings, or become depleted shells, MPTâs top brass has earned millions.
This week on Reveal, Mother Jones reporter Hannah Levintova and Reveal producer Ashley Cleek dig into MPTâits history, its business model, and how treating hospitals like financial assets leaves them gutted.
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