Top 5 at Five

Top 5 at Five

Daily top news stories, always waiting for you M-Th at 5pm ET. Short enough to learn something, long enough to walk your dog. Dodge the news and catch up with Jonni.

Episodes

August 27, 2025 6 mins
A school shooting shakes Minneapolis to its core; Trump slaps India with a 50% tariff like it’s Black Friday gone wrong; DC’s Union Station turns into Fort Trump; Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce break the internet with their engagement; and Trump tries to DJ the Federal Reserve like it’s his personal money machine. Kids in church, tariffs at Walmart, stormtroopers at the train station, pop’s reigning couple, and one big Fed fight—wel...
Mark as Played
While New York was busy sweeping Boston and clowning the Mets, the rest of the country got hit with some serious headlines: Biden’s facing down aggressive prostate cancer, Trump told Walmart to “eat the tariffs” like he forgot how inflation works, Elon’s chatbot went full extremist before xAI could pull the plug, a New Orleans jail pulled off the dumbest escape since Mario Bros., and Sesame Street found a new home on Netflix withou...
Mark as Played
The U.S. and China sign a trade truce with an expiration date. Trump suddenly loves pharma price caps—as long as he gets credit. Bill Gates hits the gas on giving it all away. White South Africans get the refugee fast lane while TPS holders get ghosted. And YouTube? Just figured out Shrek 5 was fake. Classic.
Mark as Played
Today updates: Newark air traffic controllers go full bird box after a 90-second radar blackout—and now 20% of them are on mental health leave. Meanwhile, Powell hits pause on rate hikes while Trump rage-posts like it’s the cure for inflation. Over in Vatican City, it’s Conclave IRL as 133 cardinals pick a new pope. Plus, India and Pakistan decide peace was overrated, and high schoolers are turning down college for six-figure jobs ...
Mark as Played
Still shaking off that Cinco fog? Don’t worry, I got you. Today we’re breaking down Trump’s bizarre real estate pitch to Canada, the VA’s head-scratching decision to yank a foreclosure lifeline from veterans, and Rockstar’s shiny new GTA VI trailer that dropped right before they told us we’ll have to wait another full-ass year. Plus: trans rights on trial at SCOTUS, and why Alex Karp just made more money than your whole bloodline. ...
Mark as Played
Trump goes on national TV and says the Constitution is more of a suggestion than a rulebook. Student loan collections are officially back, so ignore those notices at your own risk. Meanwhile, scientists manage to teleport quantum data through regular internet cables, the White House wants to bribe undocumented immigrants with $1,000 to leave, and one Pennsylvania teacher proves $20 and a little empathy still go a long way.
Mark as Played
Pope Francis is gone, and with him ends one of the most headline-generating papacies in modern times. President Trump’s threats to the Fed have the dollar in freefall, ChatGPT’s getting politely bankrupt, and the NBA Playoffs have entered their chaos era. We end with something rare: an actual feel-good story out of Tennessee that doesn’t involve country music or BBQ.
Mark as Played
Florida State goes on lockdown, Puerto Rico goes dark (again), and Trump’s still trying to fire people he legally can’t touch. Meanwhile, China bans self-driving hype while Tesla continues cosplaying as a tech god, and a ranch dog in Montana makes everyone else look lazy. It’s the Top 5 @ 5—and this week, even the good news comes with fur.
Mark as Played
Trump’s back on his “lock her up” arc—except this time it’s Letitia James, and he’s the one begging the DOJ for a criminal referral. Meanwhile, Jerome Powell politely drags Trump’s tariff tantrum while Elon’s baby count quietly sneaks into NBA team territory. Plus: a rare feel-good win from Trump on prescription drug prices (we said rare, not fake), and we end in Michigan, where 300 people formed a human chain to move 9,000 books j...
Mark as Played
From federal shakedowns at Harvard to zombie chicken diplomacy, today’s episode has it all. JD Vance fumbles the football—literally—at the White House, Trump wants history class to skip the bad parts, and Jack Black tries to save movie theaters one chicken jockey at a time. Plus, Meta offers the FTC pocket change to settle a $30 billion antitrust case. So yeah… things are going great.
Mark as Played
Trump cozies up to Bukele and shrugs off the Supreme Court like it’s spam mail, KFC wants your morning breath to taste like drumsticks, TikTok becomes China’s luxury goods showroom thanks to a backfiring tariff war, Southern California gets rattled—again—and Paige Bueckers signs a deal that makes the WNBA look like the unpaid internship of pro sports. All that and more on today’s Top 5 @ 5, where the news is messy, petty, and someh...
Mark as Played
Trump’s about to ghost Elon, TikTok’s getting wrapped in a flag and sold for parts, and Mayor Adams just walked out of federal court like it’s an episode of Suits. Plus, the NFL finally fixes its overtime mess, and the most heartwarming story of the week is coming straight outta San Quentin—yep, prison puppies are the emotional support story you didn’t know you needed.
Mark as Played
Trump declares a new holiday and it’s just tariffs in drag. OpenAI grabs $40 billion while Elon fumes in a corner. Cory Booker talks for 19 straight hours and somehow still doesn’t filibuster. France kicks Marine Le Pen off the 2027 ballot and the far-right eats itself alive. And corporate April Fools’ jokes continue their war on comedy—with chip sandwiches, BBQ lipstick, and a candle that smells like cat poop. Let’s get into it.
Mark as Played
From baseball bats built like missiles to precinct pranks gone full psycho, today’s Top 5 is a chaos buffet. We’re talking Yankees going nuclear at the plate, a Jersey police chief running the world’s grossest HR department, Trump flirting with a third term (again), submarines full of cocaine, and a massive earthquake rocking an already unstable Myanmar. It’s politics, sports, crime, and cocaine—with your daily dose of side-eye.
Mark as Played
Trump’s crew thinks a Signal group chat is a secure comms channel—spoiler, it’s not. Meanwhile, the administration walks away from Saudi talks with less than a ceasefire but more than zero, Diddy gets half a lawsuit dropped, and an Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker gets arrested for existing. Plus, your women’s March Madness bracket is about to get wrecked.
Mark as Played
Private chats re Houthi attacks in Yemen in Signal got leaked to a journalist like it was WhatsApp in 2012, Trumpito’s back in court doing his best impression of a man who’s never read the Constitution, and 23andMe just filed for bankruptcy—which, let’s be real, is poetic for a company that sold your DNA like Groupon coupons. We say goodbye to the champ George Foreman, grill king and heavyweight icon, and spotlight the 21-year-old ...
Mark as Played
Hollywood meltdowns, billion-dollar sports sales, and the government making moves no one asked for—welcome to another day in 2025. We break down Gal Gadot’s protest-filled Walk of Fame ceremony, Disney’s Snow White disaster (spoiler: it’s bad), and why Boston fans just got even more unbearable with the Celtics’ $6.1 billion sale. Then, Trump decides schools are overrated and signs an executive order to gut the Department of Educati...
Mark as Played
A $95 million Texas Lottery hack that might get shut down, the JFK files drop that wasn’t the bombshell some hoped for, Trump’s FTC purge and Musk’s Social Security overhaul, RFK Jr.’s bird flu “strategy” (spoiler: it’s chaos), and Drake suing UMG over a diss track… and getting roasted in court. Plus, a 3-year-old hero saves the day. Stay tuned for the best, the worst, and the downright ridiculous in today’s Top 5 at Five!
Mark as Played
Trumpito is back at it—spinning a non-ceasefire in Ukraine, throwing tantrums about judges, and quietly rehiring the government workers he fired. Roku is testing autoplay ads before you even reach the home screen (gross). Meanwhile, Forever 21 is finally shutting its doors for good, aka Temporary 21, and the great black spatula panic turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. But don’t worry—it’s not all bad. A man just survived 100 ...
Mark as Played
Happy Monday, Top 5 fam! Today, we’re breaking down the weekend’s wildest news: Trump ignored a judge and shipped Venezuelan gangsters to El Salvador anyway, Arlington Cemetery casually erased minority war heroes (history? who needs it?), and Amazon decided your Echo should record your every whispered secret—because privacy is so 2024. Plus, Harvard finally shares some of its cash mountain, Biden’s pardons might be fake (if you bel...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Burden

    The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

    SmartLess

    "SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.