Howard Berkes

After NPR reporting on the Progressive Massive Fibrosis epidemic, Congress and the White House agreed to give the maximum funding authorized for clinics treating the disease in 15 coal-mining states.

The cluster, found in central Appalachia and first reported by NPR, indicates that a disease once thought to be on the decline is still a common killer among coal miners.

Those who knew Stephen Paddock say they can't believe he committed that terrible act. And investigators have yet to identify any sort of grievance that might have motivated his crime.

More details are emerging about Stephen Paddock, who perpetrated the massacre in Las Vegas. The reclusive professional gambler had few friends and made little impression on his neighbors.

Who is Stephen Paddock, the suspect in the Las Vegas mass shooting? The 64-year-old had no criminal record, and family and neighbors are shocked that he could have killed dozens of people.

A joint investigation by NPR and ProPublica shows how a loophole in Florida law has led to the arrest and even deportation of undocumented immigrants after they suffer legitimate injuries on the job.

Black lung results from exposure to coal dust. Progressive massive fibrosis is an especially aggressive form, blamed on inhalation of silica dust from the cutting of quartz rock and coal together.

Government researchers met in West Virginia this week in response to an NPR investigation and federal study showing much higher rates of the most serious stages of the coal miners' disease black lung.

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship announced his plan to appeal after he completed a one-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to violate federal mine safety laws.

In response to an NPR investigation that shows 10 times the number of cases as currently reported, members of Congress are asking three federal agencies to work together to obtain an accurate count.

NPR looks at the causes of a dramatic spike in the most serious stage of the coal miners' disease. The spike also could stress the federal black lung benefits program, which is already struggling.

An NPR investigation has documented dramatic spikes in complicated black lung, the most serious stage of the deadly coal miners' disease.

Two years after an NPR investigation showed mines owned by Jim Justice failed to pay safety penalties, a new analysis shows he is the nation's top mine safety delinquent and owes millions.

The Department of Labor is calling for an "exploration" of federal oversight of state workers' compensation laws because of "inadequacies of the system," leaving workers with "limited benefits."

As funerals continue for the five police officers killed in Dallas last week, investigators are focused on shooter Micah Xavier Johnson and his military service.

The first independent assessment of an emerging alternative to state programs found that injured workers face "inherent conflict of interest," barriers to benefits, and "unequal treatment."

When Rachel Jenkins was denied benefits for an on-the-job injury, her case was cited as a failure of a controversial alternative to state workers' compensation. Now, she and her employer have settled.

The U.S. Department of Labor has begun investigating whether alternative plans to state workers' comp benefits are unfair to injured workers and violate federal law.

Bob Ebeling was one of five booster rocket engineers at a NASA contractor who tried to stop the 1986 launch of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded 73 seconds into its flight. He was 89.

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 called the alternative workplace-benefit plans that some employers adopted under the law "a water mirage on the highway that disappears upon closer inspection."

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