Howard Berkes
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Rates are now the highest they've been in nearly 50 years among veteran coal miners. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines. -
Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today. -
Addressing a problem first identified 50 years ago, federal regulators say stricter new rules to limit miners' exposure to silica dust are expected to finally go on the books on Tuesday. -
For decades, miners have called for limits on highly toxic silica dust, which they're exposed to while mining. An investigation shows its impact and the weakness of proposed rules to protect them. -
Allan McDonald, who directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, urged delaying the launch of the space shuttle before it exploded in 1986. He has died at age 83. -
The power of family history can lead a person to do a lot of things. For Howard Berkes, the family tradition of facing crises head-on led him to sign up for experimental testing of a COVID-19 vaccine. -
Howard Berkes covered the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens for NPR and has returned to the volcano for multiple stories over the years. He recalls the massive blast and its aftermath. -
A Labor Department audit found no correlation between the federal system that fines mining companies for unsafe conditions and safety in mining operations. -
Coal miners will press members of Congress to fully restore a coal excise tax that supports miners diagnosed with black lung. The tax was cut more than 50% at the end of last year. -
A top mine safety regulator testified before Congress that no new regulations are needed to protect workers from deadly silica dust, despite an epidemic of advanced black lung disease.
