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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U.S. Is Still Without Regulations For Personal Protective EquipmentNearly 300 American health care workers have died during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, lawmakers will question Trump officials about how and why that happened.
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"If that rule had gone into effect, then every hospital, every nursing home would essentially have to have a plan," said David Michaels, former Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief. -
The pandemic's disruption of international labor and transportation sectors has made it harder to produce and transport illegal drugs and to send profits back across national borders. -
In upstate New York, where statewide restrictions on public gatherings were loosened, people ventured out for Memorial Day weekend activities. But the crowds still paled in comparison to past years.
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"Before the coronavirus, we thought somewhere around a million people were food insecure and needed food," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Now, 1 in 4 New Yorkers may be going hungry. -
Nurses Left Vulnerable To COVID-19: 'We're Not Martyrs Sacrificing Our Lives'Many nurses say they've been fighting the coronavirus pandemic without proper safety equipment, and unions and professional groups are demanding change. -
Market And Business Ties Often Determine Where COVID-19 Supplies GoUnder a collaboration between the Trump administration and major corporations, the marketplace and business ties often shape decisions about who gets life-saving equipment, and who has to wait. -
The Trump administration has enlisted some of the biggest U.S. corporations to help boost the supply of medical equipment. But many of the supplies still aren't going where they're needed most.
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Ventilators and other key supplies still are badly needed in New York, the state hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus so far. Social distancing may be slowing growth, but the worst is yet to come.
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A new containment zone in New Rochelle, N.Y., is designed to slow the spread of coronavirus, but officials worry about it reaching seniors, especially those living in nursing homes.
