Ari Shapiro

Evelyn and Grattan Betancourt live in a wealthy, majority-black county in the U.S. They did everything they were supposed to: steady jobs, bought a house within their means. Things still went wrong.

Photographer Collin Richie and three colleagues have been shooting portraits of people who were impacted by the floods in Louisiana. The images focus on what people were able to save.

More than 100,000 people have applied for federal aid as the area around Baton Rouge, La., recovers from catastrophic flooding. At one church in Denham Springs, displaced residents are taking shelter, and volunteers are distributing food and supplies.

The middle class has shrunk faster in Midland, Texas, than nearly anywhere else in the U.S. Overall, more people are getting rich than falling behind. But extreme booms and busts make life precarious.

Hundreds of eateries selling chili-topped hot dogs dot Detroit. The story of how this food became the city's signature dish is deeply entwined with its auto industry and the workers who flocked to it.

As part of the series, "The New Middle," NPR's Ari Shapiro explores some of the trade-offs and struggles of being middle class in the country's most expensive city, New York.

Jason Galvin, a former Army sharpshooter in Afghanistan, saved a bald eagle that was caught hanging by a rope in Minnesota. Neighbors, who named the eagle "Freedom," watched as Galvin shot through the rope to let Freedom down.

While covering the aftermath of the shooting at Pulse in Orlando, NPR's Ari Shapiro realizes he went there over a decade ago, and revisits his memory.

People in Orlando continue to recover in the days after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub.

Families of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., this weekend are gathering at the Beardall Senior Center on Monday. While authorities have identified most of the 49 victims, notifying next-of-kin has been a slower process.

The timeline is now coming together for what unfolded inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning when a gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens.

NPR's Ari Shapiro was in Orlando, Fla., Sunday night. He spoke to members of the LGBT community at Parliament House, a historic gay club.

Climate change has forced tens of thousands out. "I know I have a beautiful home," one islander says, "but ultimately it will go into the womb of the river. All we can do is try to delay the process."

On the small Indian island of Ghoramara, many people have never heard of climate change. It has forced tens of thousands of people to move after their homes were swallowed by rising tides.

The vast patchwork of islands on a delta where three rivers meet is home to hundreds of tigers and 4 million people. As climate change squeezes the land they share, is increased conflict inevitable?

In the Indian mangrove forest called the Sundarbans, Bonbibi is worshipped by Hindus and Muslims alike. Her story reflects some of what makes this landscape so unique.

In a remote Indian mangrove forest, the arrival of solar power is good for small, local businesses and students trying to study at night. It also means fewer people are being eaten by tigers.

Climate change is reshaping land and lives in India's Sundarbans region, where paddies are being overrun by saltwater. But resilient varieties of rice may let vulnerable families stay a while longer.

Deep in the world's largest mangrove forest, which spans India's border with Bangladesh, rangers protect wild Bengal tigers. Rising seas may have rangers and tigers competing for a place to live.

Sundarbans literally means "beautiful forest," but as the novelist Amitav Ghosh writes, "There is no prettiness here to invite the stranger in."