Investigations : NPR

Human Tissue Donation

July 10, 2013 • Many organ donors are unaware they've also agreed to donate their veins, bones, skin and other tissue that can be used not only to save a life, but help a cosmetic surgery patient. It's a $1 billion a year industry with little regulation.

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

May 31, 2013 • Toxic air pollution, involving nearly 200 chemicals deemed so harmful to health Congress sought to bring emissions under control 21 years ago, persists in hundreds of U.S. communities.

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Houston's Petrochemical Industry, Source Of Jobs And Smog

May 31, 2013 • Houston's air quality improved dramatically over the past decade, but the city is still short of meeting the latest smog standards. Getting there isn't simply a matter of cracking down more on the petrochemical industry — the city needs to deal with cars on its sprawling roads, and bad air blowing from out of town.

Houston's Petrochemical Industry, Source Of Jobs And Smog

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Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery complex in Baton Rouge, La. John W. Poole/NPR hide caption

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John W. Poole/NPR

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

May 30, 2013 • The Standard Heights neighborhood sits next to the nation's second-largest gasoline refinery. Recently, residents learned a new truth about the plumes of exhaust they see every day: Exxon Mobil's aging refinery and petrochemical facilities — like many others — are pumping out far more pollution than the law allows.

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

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Breathing Easier: How Houston Is Working To Clean Up Its Air

The Houston Ship Channel is home to a wide range of heavy industry, including chemical processing plants and petrochemical refineries. Richard Harris/NPR hide caption

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Richard Harris/NPR

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Breathing Easier: How Houston Is Working To Clean Up Its Air

May 30, 2013 • Intensely smoggy days are striking less often thanks to better technology that pinpoints problems, and laws that have prompted fixes. Still, scientists say they haven't yet tracked down all the sources of the pollution fouling the region's air.

Breathing Easier: How Houston Is Working To Clean Up Its Air

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Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

Frank Morris (in the apron and visor) stands in front of his shoe shop in Ferriday, La., in the 1950s. He was killed when his shop burned down in 1964. Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown hide caption

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Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown

Law

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

May 18, 2013 • With the death of a possible suspect in one notorious case, activists are weighing the FBI's efforts to tackle cases from the 1950s and '60s. Some are calling for a congressional hearing to see whether the FBI has done enough investigating.

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

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Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families

May 16, 2013 • Nearly 700 Native American children in South Dakota are being removed from their homes every year, sometimes in questionable circumstances.

Justice In The Segregated South: A New Look At An Old Killing

Jasper Burchfield was a 36-year-old part-time constable when he shot and killed Queen in 1965. Joseph Shapiro/NPR hide caption

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Joseph Shapiro/NPR

Justice In The Segregated South: A New Look At An Old Killing

May 3, 2013 • A white off-duty constable shot and killed a paraplegic black man in Fayette, Miss., in 1965. Despite new witnesses who have memories of what happened that day, there's still not enough evidence to say whether Jasper Burchfield's claim of self-defense is true.

Justice In The Segregated South: A New Look At An Old Killing

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Old Newspaper Clipping Spurs Cold Case Investigation

A photo of Marge Manderson, from the Southern Regional Council's newsletter. Her files of newspaper clippings included John Queen's story. Courtesy of Steve Suitts hide caption

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Courtesy of Steve Suitts

Old Newspaper Clipping Spurs Cold Case Investigation

May 3, 2013 • It was a saved newspaper article that led to the FBI investigation into John Queen's death four decades later.

Civil Rights Era Books Focus On Local Citizens

May 3, 2013 • The conventional way of looking at American civil rights history teaches about the important and famous civil rights movement heroes. But little is taught about the ordinary people who took risky and courageous stands for their newly protected civil rights.

March 30, 2013 • NPR's Howard Berkes joins host Scott Simon for a look back at his reporting this week on the NPR series Buried In Grain. Berkes reviews the death toll from grain storage bins and the weak laws and enforcement that have failed to prevent these accidents.

NPR 'Grain' Series Investigates Industry, Sparks Response

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Buried In Grain

Simple Strategies Can Prevent Grain Bin Tragedies

March 27, 2013 • A series on worker deaths in grain bins continues with a trip inside a grain bin — stepping into thousands of bushels of corn — to demonstrate the power of corn and the safe grain bin entry methods that are required by law.

Simple Strategies Can Prevent Grain Bin Tragedies

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Buried In Grain

Enforcement Of Penalties Weak In Grain Bin Deaths

March 27, 2013 • Nearly 500 farmers and workers have suffocated in grain storage bins in the past 40 years. The worst year on record was 2010, with 26 people dying. Hefty fines and criminal charges are possible for negligent employers. But NPR and The Center for Public Integrity found that enforcement is weak, even as workers continue to die.

Enforcement Of Penalties Weak In Grain Bin Deaths

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Buried In Grain

Should Grain Bins On Farms Be Regulated, Too?

March 24, 2013 • When it comes to regulating worker safety for grain bins, OSHA only oversees the commercial industry. There's debate on whether that should also extend to private farms.

Wednesday July 10, 2013

Friday May 31, 2013

Houston's Petrochemical Industry, Source Of Jobs And Smog

Thursday May 30, 2013

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

Breathing Easier: How Houston Is Working To Clean Up Its Air

Saturday May 18, 2013

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

Thursday May 16, 2013

Friday May 3, 2013

Justice In The Segregated South: A New Look At An Old Killing

Saturday March 30, 2013

NPR 'Grain' Series Investigates Industry, Sparks Response

Wednesday March 27, 2013

Simple Strategies Can Prevent Grain Bin Tragedies

Enforcement Of Penalties Weak In Grain Bin Deaths

Sunday March 24, 2013