15 Best Alexa Skills for News and Current Events

Alexa lets you stay abreast of the day's news with its included default Flash Briefing skill, which you can customize to your liking. But beyond that, there are more defined skills that offer in-depth looks at certain topics. From politics to sports to weather, here are the best news skills to add to Alexa.

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Just say, "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" to get a customized audio news report each morning. You can pick from all of the most popular worldwide and local news sources, including NPR, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and more. In most cases, the sources get added to your Flash Briefing, and you can arrange the order in which you hear them.    

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Many news stations and newspapers offer skills so you can hear your local news in your Flash Briefing, whether you live in Washington D.C., Austin or anywhere else.    

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While Alexa can tell you the weather, it doesn't provide the detailed forecasts of Big Sky. This skill offers forecasts based on your street address, and can tell you what's expected on an hourly basis. You have to link your Big Sky account with Alexa for it to work. If you don't have a Big Sky account, Ask Wxbrad delivers an in-depth and entertaining forecast in your daily Flash Briefing.      

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Let the crew at Digg comb the Internet for the most interesting articles of the day, then give it to you as part of your Flash Briefing. You can pick from politics, tech, entertainment and sports.    

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Get science news from those who know what they're talking about. Curiosity Daily is produced by Curiosity.com, and answers frequently asked questions about science and technology each morning, from why we spread fake news to how a planet sustains life.

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Economics and lifestyle publication Marketplace delivers daily news in economics, pop culture and technology. You'll hear from Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood, hosts of the site's podcast Make Me Smart.    

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Politico's Playbook delivers the essential news from Washington in a bite-size portion — the audio report crams the day's big takeaways in politics into just 90 seconds.   

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