Wait to Delete "Reading in Progress" episodes
There is an option in PA to not automatically delete "favorite" episodes. How about an option to defer deletion of "reading in progress" episodes? Many times I return to my car to listen to an unfinished episode, only to have PA skip to the next item in the playlist because the episode was removed during the nightly update. (Using such a feature would imply that I am responsible enough to keep the "reading in progress" list cleaned up.)

The app only removes episodes on its own based on your ‘automatic cleanup settings’. Even in that case the playback progress isn’t reset and the episode are still in the ‘reading in progress’ list. Press on the toolbar eye button to show content marked as read to see them.
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Greg Searle commented
Perhaps you misunderstood my request. I would like PA to exclude "in progress" episodes from the automatic cleanup. Skip them until they are completed (or their progress is reset).