Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
As immigration enforcement actions have ramped up in Minnesota, people of faith have been at the forefront of the response to ICE detentions and the killing of Renee Macklin Good by a federal agent.
Inflation didn't get worse in December. But it didn't get better. Prices were up 2.7% a year ago. A drop in gasoline prices was more than offset by rising grocery and electricity bills.