Economy Mar 11 What a well-off couple learned from cutting consumer habits A software engineer and professional fundraiser in Boston decided four years ago to purge some of their consumerist habits to save more than 70 percent of their salaries. The result was a big move to rural Vermont and the release…
Health Dec 17 How an unregulated chemical entered a North Carolina community’s drinking water One of about 85,000 chemicals registered in the United States are not tested for in drinking water. One of them is GenX, a man-made compound that manufacturing facilities have discharged into North Carolina’s Cape Fear River for decades. In the…
Health Dec 16 Long Island residents worry their tap water is unsafe While most of the country’s tap water is tested for hundreds of pollutants, including volatile chemicals, pesticides, metals and bacteria, it is not always safe to drink. In the first of a two-part series, NewsHour Weekend’s Hari Sreenivasan reports from…
Politics Oct 01 Supreme Court to hear case testing the limits of partisan gerrymandering In the 2012 elections, Republicans in Wisconsin won 60 of the 99 Assembly seats, despite Democrats having a majority of the statewide vote. The disparity lead to the federal lawsuit Gill v. Whitford, in which plaintiffs alleged that voting districts…
Nation Jun 24 Private prisons help with overcrowding, but at what cost? The Obama administration last year announced it would phase out privately-run prisons, citing little benefits to public safety and higher rates of assault and violence on the inside. The Trump administration reversed that decision while pointing to potential increases in…
Nation Jun 11 A year after Pulse shooting, survivor reflects on recovery In the early morning of June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was the worst mass shooting of civilians in American history, leaving 49 people dead and dozens injured. NewsHour…
Nation Jun 10 How online social movements translate to offline results In recent years, social media has played a key role in organizing and getting protesters into the streets in the U.S. and around the world. Though these tools can help rally people to action, a new book, "Twitter and Tear…
World May 20 Kenya races toward goal of electrifying every household Kenya has made rapid gains in connecting households across the country to the electrical grid, as part of a goal to achieve universal access to power by 2020. Over the past three years the East African country has connected 12.4…
World Apr 30 Drones keep elephants away from people in Tanzania In the Serengeti region in Tanzania, conflict can arise between humans and the elephants that graze on their crops. The U.S.-based nonprofit RESOLVE is testing a new way to reduce these clashes while protecting both elephants and humans: drones. NewsHour…
World Apr 08 Group gives cash aid to rural Kenyans, then studies its effects Since it was founded in 2011, U.S.-based nonprofit GiveDirectly has given cash unconditionally to villagers in eastern Africa, particularly Kenya and Uganda. The nonprofit’s most recent project involves providing a basic income consisting of cash payments to every adult in…