Brian Mann
Brian Mann is NPR's first national addiction correspondent. He also covers breaking news in the U.S. and around the world.
Mann began covering drug policy and the opioid crisis as part of a partnership between NPR and North Country Public Radio in New York. After joining NPR full time in 2020, Mann was one of the first national journalists to track the deadly spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, reporting from California and Washington state to West Virginia.
After losing his father and stepbrother to substance abuse, Mann's reporting breaks down the stigma surrounding addiction and creates a factual basis for the ongoing national discussion.
Mann has also served on NPR teams covering the Beijing Winter Olympics and the war in Ukraine.
During a career in public radio that began in the 1980s, Mann has won numerous regional and national Edward R. Murrow awards. He is author of a 2006 book about small town politics called Welcome to the Homeland, described by The Atlantic as "one of the best books to date on the putative-red-blue divide."
Mann grew up in Alaska and is now based in New York's Adirondack Mountains. His audio postcards, broadcast on NPR, describe his backcountry trips into wild places around the world.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport begins a hearing Tuesday into the doping scandal of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. U.S. skaters still haven't received team medals from the 2022 Winter Games. -
Russia has occupied the massive Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which sits roughly 50 miles from the front lines. Ukraine's other reactors are also operating in a volatile war zone.
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Beaches on the Black Sea that closed after Russia's invasion have reopened. People say swimming and sunbathing are ways to find a taste of normal life, even while under threat from Moscow.
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Andrii Pilshchykov, known as "Juice," died in a training flight Friday. He was a veteran of early combat missions during Russia's invasion and later advocated for Western countries to donate F-16s.
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Many residents had just finished a morning of festivities and were leaving church in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, when a Russian missile struck the city's center, heavily damaging a theater building.
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Populist politicians and right-wing media have convinced many voters that U.S. aid for Ukraine is a waste of money. Domestic problems should take precedent, they say.
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New York's Adirondack Park used to be a political powder keg. Now factions are working to find common ground, while tackling some big problems.
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Supreme Court's decision to review the controversial bankruptcy deal involving the maker of Oxycontin means the settlement will remain on hold at least through December.
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Overdose deaths from fentanyl and other opioids have surged but medications that could save thousands of lives "are sitting on the shelf unused," according to new research.
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Funny Cide was an unknown racehorse from New York state in 2003 when he came out of nowhere to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. He died this week at the age of 23.
