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Can The Agent Orange Act Help Veterans Exposed To Mustard Gas?
To understand the predicament of World War II veterans exposed to mustard gas, take a look at what happened to another set of American veterans who were exposed to a different toxic chemical.Last...
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ACLU Sues Benton County, Wash., For Operating 'Modern-Day Debtors Prison'
After years of drug addiction, Jayne Fuentes feels she's close to getting her life back on track, as long as she doesn't get arrested again — but not for using drugs. She fears it will be because she...
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Lawsuits Target 'Debtors' Prisons' Across the Country
Civil rights lawyers are using a new strategy to change a common court practice that they have long argued unfairly targets the poor.At issue is the way courts across the country sometimes issue arrest...
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Families React To NPR's Reporting Of Secret Mustard Gas Testing
In response to NPR's investigation into once-classified U.S. military experiments with mustard gas, we've been hearing from people who learned about their loved ones' experiences in the...
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Army Says It Will Review Cases Of Dismissed Soldiers With Mental Health...
The acting secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning, promises to conduct a "thorough, multidisciplinary review" to determine whether thousands of combat soldiers with mental health problems or traumatic...
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Senators Want Moratorium On Dismissing Soldiers During Investigation
Four U.S. senators are calling on the Army to stop kicking out soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and have been diagnosed with mental health problems or traumatic brain injuries — effective...
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Senator Presses VA On Failure To Help Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., had strong words for Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Thursday regarding the VA's failure to compensate thousands of World War II veterans who...
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Your Letters Helped Challenger Shuttle Engineer Shed 30 Years Of Guilt
When NPR reported Bob Ebeling's story on the 30th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, hundreds of listeners and readers expressed distress and sympathy in letters and...
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Oklahoma Commission Declares Workers' Comp Alternative Unconstitutional
An Oklahoma law that lets employers opt out of state-regulated workers' compensation has been rejected and declared unconstitutional by state regulators.The Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission...
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Labor Secretary Calls Workers' Comp Opt-Out Plans A 'Pathway To Poverty'
U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez says his agency will use its "bully pulpit" to strike at what he calls "a disturbing trend" that leaves workers without medical care and wage replacement...
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Colorado Springs Will Stop Jailing People Too Poor To Pay Court Fines
Debtors' prisons have long been illegal in the United States. But many courts across the country still send people to jail when they can't pay their court fines. Last year, the Justice Department...
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'Darker Possibility' For Workers When Employers Opt Out of Workers' Comp
Injured workers face "inherent conflict of interest," barriers to benefits, "unequal treatment," limited appeals and little to no independent oversight when employers opt out of state-regulated...
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Lawmakers To FEMA: Flood Plan Overhaul Is 'Too Little, Too Late'
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is making sweeping reforms to the nation's flood insurance program in the wake of a series of critical reports on NPR and the PBS series Frontline. But lawmakers...
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Report: Red Cross Spent 25 Percent Of Haiti Donations On Internal Expenses
The American Red Cross spent a quarter of the money people donated after the 2010 Haiti earthquake — or almost $125 million — on its own internal expenses, far more than the charity previously had...
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N.Y. Attorney General: Nation's Flood Insurance Program Defrauding Taxpayers
A new report by the New York attorney general's office finds that a lack of accountability in the nation's flood insurance program is costing taxpayers millions. The office also announced 50 felony...
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Companies Can't Set Own Rules For Injured Workers, Okla. Court Says
A national campaign to rewrite state laws and allow businesses to decide how to care for their injured workers suffered a significant setback Tuesday when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that...
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Labor Report Urges Study Of A Federal Role In State Workers' Comp Laws
A "race to the bottom" in state workers' compensation laws has the Labor Department calling for "exploration" of federal oversight and federal minimum benefits."Working people are at great risk of...
View Article[Update] Billion-dollar scam
This week, we’re revisiting California’s workers’ compensation program that covers 15 million workers across the state. Reporter Christina Jewett discovered serious fraud in the system after reviewing...
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37 Civil Rights Groups Seek Investigation Into 'Torture' At Lewisburg Prison
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, 37 civil rights, human rights and church groups on Monday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate "harrowing allegations of abuse and...
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Senators, Military Specialists Say Army Report On Dismissed Soldiers Is...
An Army review concludes that commanders did nothing wrong when they kicked out more than 22,000 soldiers for misconduct after they came back from Iraq or Afghanistan – even though all of those troops...
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