Impact

Bill Minick, the president of PartnerSource, a Texas company that writes and administers opt-out plans, vowed that despite the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision, he would continue efforts to promote alternative plans in other states.

National

Companies Can't Set Own Rules For Injured Workers, Okla. Court Says

5:24pm September 13, 2016

by Michael Grabell

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional for big companies such as Wal-Mart and Lowe's to opt out of state workers' compensation insurance in favor of writing their own plans.

Some homes have fallen into disrepair in the Midland Beach neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. Almost four years since the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy, many are still dealing with the storm's consequences.

National

N.Y. Attorney General: Nation's Flood Insurance Program Defrauding Taxpayers

1:20pm August 02, 2016

by Laura Sullivan

The report comes after a joint investigation by NPR and PBS' Frontline that uncovered how private insurance companies in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy were profiting while homeowners suffered.

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Haitians outside a Red Cross field hospital in Carrefour, Haiti, on Dec. 14, 2010, 11 months after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Report: Red Cross Spent 25 Percent Of Haiti Donations On Internal Expenses

7:17pm June 16, 2016

A congressional inquiry finds that the American Red Cross stonewalled lawmakers as they sought to understand the charity's finances, and that it sent significantly less money to Haiti than claimed.

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Some homes have fallen into disrepair in the Midland Beach neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. Almost four years since the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy, many on Staten Island are still dealing with the storm's consequences.

National

Lawmakers To FEMA: Flood Plan Overhaul Is 'Too Little, Too Late'

9:08pm June 03, 2016

by Laura Sullivan

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency vows to make sweeping reforms to the nation's flood insurance program, senators say the program "needs to fundamentally transform."

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National

'Darker Possibility' For Workers When Employers Opt Out of Workers' Comp

2:16pm May 18, 2016

by Howard Berkes

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."

Last year, the ACLU of Colorado discovered nearly 800 cases where people had gone to jail in Colorado Springs, Colo., when they couldn't pay their tickets for minor violations. Pictured above is Alamo Square Park, site of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Mus

National

Colorado Springs Will Stop Jailing People Too Poor To Pay Court Fines

11:45am May 05, 2016

by Joseph Shapiro

The Colorado city and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado have announced a settlement that will end the practice. The city will even give payouts to people who were wrongly sent to jail.

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Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, pictured in 2015, says,

National

Labor Secretary Calls Workers' Comp Opt-Out Plans A 'Pathway To Poverty'

3:13pm March 25, 2016

by Howard Berkes

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, now 89, at his home in Brigham City, Utah.

National

Your Letters Helped Challenger Shuttle Engineer Shed 30 Years Of Guilt

6:57pm February 25, 2016

by Howard Berkes

After NPR reported Bob Ebeling's story on the anniversary of the Challenger explosion, hundreds of people responded. Ebeling, now 89, says those letters "helped bring my worrisome mind to ease."

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Larry Morrison, who returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder after four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is being kicked out of the Army for misconduct, leaving him without military benefits.

National

Senators Want Moratorium On Dismissing Soldiers During Investigation

7:26pm February 01, 2016

The Army continues to kick out combat soldiers with mental health problems for misconduct, even as it investigates the practice.

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Evans Army Community Hospital, which stands on the Fort Carson military base, is a central part of the base's behavioral health system.

National

Army Says It Will Review Cases Of Dismissed Soldiers With Mental Health Problems

1:50pm December 04, 2015

by Daniel Zwerdling

The Army says it will conduct a "thorough, multidisciplinary review" to determine whether thousands of combat soldiers with those issues or TBIs have been unfairly kicked out of the Army.