La Brega in Levittown

One study from 2018 found that Major League Baseball umpires blow about 14 calls every game. That’s 34,000 bad calls every year. And it makes a difference. A blown strike call can decide a win or a loss, a championship or six months at home, wondering what could have been. And wh ...  Show more

A missing car reveals the confusing rules, murky fees, and private actors behind modern towing. What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at night? Submit your Service Request by recording a voice memo with your question and emailing it to servicerequest@99pi.org. Service Request ...  Show more

In this episode from WNYC's La Brega, Alana Casanova-Burgess traces back the story of the boom and bust of the Puerto Rican Levittown. For many Americans, Levittown is the prototypical suburb, founded on the idea of bringing Americans into a middle-class lifestyle after WWII. But ...  Show more

Puerto Rico is fascinating place with a complicated history and unique culture. For whatever reason, it’s not often a topic that’s covered in schools in the U.S… even though it’s a U.S. territory. As part of a new “country overview” series on the podcast, we share a brief rund ...

From the dance floors of weddings and bar mitzvahs to the Billboard Hot 100, chances are, you've enjoyed some merengue music – think about the 1998 Puerto Rican hit 'Suavemente,' which topped charts across the globe. But did you know that merengue's path to global fame started in ...  Show more

Big Rico's Pizza has a new animatronic animal band. Weather: “On a Journey“ by Theresa Ambat This episode was written by Brie Williams The voice of Steve Carlsberg is Hal Lublin The voice of Big Rico is Mal Blum Original episode art by Jessica Hayworth Read episode tr ...  Show more