Health Nov 18 How the pandemic is contributing to alarming rise in opioid overdose deaths The nation’s opioid epidemic has never been deadlier. The Centers for Disease Control Prevention says 100,000 people died of drug overdoses over the last year — a 30 percent increase from the year before and an all-time high. As William…
Nation Oct 26 U.S. Northeast, Midwest hit by big storms; West Coast recovers from ‘bomb cyclones’ Much of the U.S. is dealing with powerful storms that brought extreme winds and rain that triggered floods and mudslides. Governors of New Jersey and New York declared emergencies over the storms. Americans in the Midwest are also recovering from…
Health Oct 25 Benton Harbor’s Black community fuming over ‘environmental racism,’ water crisis As Congress debates a massive bill to overhaul the nation's physical infrastructure, one Michigan city is an example of how badly help is needed, and how communities of color are often the last to receive it. John Yang traveled to…
Nation Oct 14 Benton Harbor’s water has had excess lead for years. Residents are only now receiving help Residents in Michigan's Benton Harbor — a predominantly Black city — have been advised to only use bottled water for things like cooking and bathing due to lead contamination. The warning comes just a few years after Flint’s water crisis…
Nation Oct 11 Many Greenville residents struggled to get fire insurance. Then the Dixie Fire came For over two months straight this summer, the Dixie Fire ravaged Northern California, burning nearly one million acres before firefighters were able to put out the flames. One small historic town was nearly destroyed in its wake. Special correspondent Cat…
Nation Sep 29 California’s giant sequoias are pillars of living history. Climate change may kill them California's famous giant sequoias can live for thousands of years. But the KNP Complex Fire is just 11 percent contained, and is burning across nearly 50,000 acres, including treasured groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Another fire is…
Nation Sep 09 New York’s 9/11 first responders are battling a new kind of mass trauma For our endeavor to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, John Yang spoke to first responders and medical workers who have lived and worked through both the attacks and have also more recently seen the mass trauma…
Nation Sep 01 Some Louisiana parishes may be without power for months Hundreds of thousands in Southeast Louisiana are still facing a lack of power, water, and gasoline three days after Hurricane Ida struck the area. President Joe Biden is expected to visit Friday. Overall, more than a million are without power.
Nation Aug 31 Millions in Louisiana struggle with heat, loss of power in the aftermath of Ida Residents along the Gulf Coast are struggling after Hurricane Ida, which left at least five people dead. Soaring temperatures added to the struggles of more than a million people in and surrounding New Orleans who lost power and have no…
Nation Aug 03 Worsening wildfires in California’s wine country threaten low-wage farm workers Wildfire season is here and in California alone, this year's fires have already burned more acres than at this time in 2020. In recent years, Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, where wine vineyards dot the landscape and tourism is…