Here & No‪w‬ NPR

Jazz composer Terence Blanchard is nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score for his work on Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods." He joins us. And, rapper DMX has died but his legacy will live forever. The Undefeated's Justin Tinsley explains the lessons to embrace from DMX's life and death.

Biden's infrastructure plan promises to clean up the country's electricity system. Leah Stoke, assistant professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, explains. And, two new museums devoted to mermaids recently opened independently of each other. Tom Banse of the Northwest News Network gives us a look into the museum in Washington state.

Brockhampton announced that their new album, "Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine," will be one of their last. Kevin Abstract and Romil Hemnani discuss how a year in isolation shaped the new sound. And, the state of Georgia is concerned that loggerhead sea turtles nest now face a threat from a federal change in ship canal dredging. WABE's Molly Samuel reports.

Biden's infrastructure plan calls for $174 billion to rev up the American market for electric cars. We speak to Nora Naughton, WSJ auto reporter, and Jonathan Levy of electric vehicle charging company EVgo. And, writer Daniel Alarcón says when the world-renowned Arecibo telescope collapsed in December, it was a crushing blow to astronomers and to the island of Puerto Rico.

Rhiannon Giddens joins us to discuss "They're Calling Me Home," the new album she recorded with her partner Francesco Turrisi. And, Minneapolis racial trauma expert Resmaa Menakem says for Black and Brown Americans, trauma is passed down from generation to generation, becoming a physical manifestation of the systemic racism the U.S. is only now starting to acknowledge.

As more people get vaccinated for COVID-19, journalist Celeste Headlee says this time can serve as an opportunity to rethink what our personal lives could look like going forward. And, WHYY's P. Kenneth Burns tells us about one woman helping to bring more books to Camden, New Jersey's more than 70,000 residents.