Autopsies of the coal miners killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 showed an extraordinarily high rate of black lung disease among the victims, including younger miners with fewer years underground. That prompted a series of investigations, first with the Center for Public Integrity in 2012 and later with the Ohio Valley ReSource in 2016 and 2018.
The results – a shocking failure by the industry and government regulators to prevent exposure to toxic amounts of coal and silica dust, even though they knew for at least 20 years that thousands of miners were being over exposed. We also documented 20 times more cases of severe black lung than government researchers had officially reported.
The 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia was the country’s worst mine disaster in 40 years and came as the mining industry and regulators were celebrating a period of relative safety. NPR’s multi-year investigation documented safety lapses at mine owner Massey Energy, federal regulatory failures and weak mine safety law.
A multi-year investigation of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s failure to collect fines for violations of safety laws, and the ongoing threats to the health and safety of coal miners that followed. The investigation also led to one of the mining industry’s biggest scofflaws, who happened to be West Virginia’s richest man and the Governor-to-be. We followed that thread to millions of dollars in delinquencies in county, state and federal taxes, and failure to provide millions of dollars in promised charitable contributions.
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The continuation of our black lung investigation in 2018 documented in detail 30 years of government dated that showed thousands of excessive exposures to the deadly silica dust that causes advanced disease. We also found documents showing government regulators and industry were aware of the danger but failed to directly address silica dust exposure in coal mines. We also documented for the first time an epidemic of advanced black lung disease that government researchers had failed to identify.
In 2015 and 2016, I teamed up with Michael Grabell of ProPublica for a series of award-winning stories charting a precipitous decline in workerss compensation benefits in states across the country. This “race to the bottom” defied a century of policy and practice that guaranteed medical care and wage replacement payments to workers injured on the job in exchange for protection from lawsuits for employers.
We also discovered and documented a scheme by employers to “opt out” of workers’ compensation laws in some states with what were billed as equal benefits that complied with state law. Our investigation showed that, in fact, the “opt out” plans failed to provide the minimum benefits and access to care state law required. We also documented the failure of state regulators to respond.
And we exposed a practice in Florida in which employers avoided paying workers’ comp benefits by reporting to immigration authorities undocumented workers injured on the job and entitled to benefits by law.
The 2013 investigation with the Center for Public Integrity on OSHA’s failure to strictly and firmly enforce laws protecting workers entering dangerous grain bins. Hundreds have “drowned” in grain, including teens too young to legally work in bins.
My stories from the 2011 collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and NPR colleagues showing the failure of the EPA and state regulators to control toxic air pollution 20 years after the passage of the Clean Air Act.
The 30-year arc of reporting on the 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, including the first detailed account of the 11th hour effort to keep Challenger grounded, and the 2016 stories about the booster rocket engineer who shouldered 30 years of guilt.
Stories from the 2005 storm that devastated the Gulf Coast, and a return to the region a year later.
Hurricane Katrina exposed failures in the emergency response by FEMA and the American Red Cross. I focused on the Red Cross given complaints from rural communities left without assistance.
Forty years of stories beginning with the 1980 dramatic and deadly eruptions of Mount St. Helens, and the human and natural impacts in the decades since.
Stories and analysis from coverage of eight winter and summer Olympics, including the investigation of the bribery scandal that threatened the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the subsequent congressional and federal criminal investigations, the reform efforts at the International and United States Olympic Committees, and Mitt Romney’s role in the recovery of the Salt Lake City Olympics. Come for the scandals but stay for the little-known sports and athletes who provided some of the most memorable moments at the Games.
Selected stories from 10 years of reporting as NPR’s first Rural Affairs Correspondent. Featured are people and places from islands off the coast of Maine to small towns in the Deep South to the Sand Hills of Nebraska and beyond. Also featured are soldiers and families making a disproportionate sacrifice in distant wars, and people trying to save their communities. In 2019, I was proud to share the Tom and Pat Gish for Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism.
With my home base in Utah, where the Mormon Church is dominant, there were plenty of opportunities to do stories about the faith and culture. From controversial involvement in political issues, to conflicts with dissidents, to exploiting the 2002 Olympics, to Mitt Romney’s run for president, the stories were endless and endlessly interesting.
Polygamy was an early tenet of the Mormon faith that lingers in Utah and other western states despite firm rejection by the modern church. The practitioners include large and small groups led by men claiming to be prophets and practitioners of Mormonism as founder Joseph Smith intended. My stories during three decades of covering polygamy included the crackdowns that began in the late 1990’s, the revulsion over child marriages and fraud in the FLDS group, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the religious and cultural diversity among polygamists, and even a polygamy cafe.
One of the great honors and most stressful assignments for NPR reporters are the remembrances or obituaries in which we try to sum up a life. We want to do justice to the life we remember, and include the unsavory aspects when warranted. And we often have just a few minutes of airtime to do it. These are some of my most favorite stories because of the opportunity to highlight someone’s life on earth, whether well-known or not.
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My retirement from NPR led to some “exit interviews” and stories about my career and work.
Highlights from a long career, including the Last Annual Utah Jello Salad Festival, notable interviews and stories while hosting NPR shows, plural stories on plural marriage (polygamy), and signature stories from Utah, the west, and the world.
Most of my on-air work at NPR consisted of reporting and hosting. But occasionally, I wrote essays or “Audio Postcards,” as NPR called them. We would also reflect on our coverage of major news with an occasional “Reporter’s Notebook.” Some were among my most popular stories based on listener reaction.