Investigations

Clockwise from upper left: Holly Sox, Catarino Escobar, Frank Thompson, Bill Breeden, Craig Baxley and Ron McAndrew have all been affected by work related to executions.

Carrying out executions took a secret toll on workers — then changed their politics

4:01pm November 16, 2022

by Chiara Eisner

NPR spoke with 26 people who were involved with more than 200 executions across the country. Most said their health suffered and they had little support to help them cope with their unusual jobs.

A man wearing American flag pants casts his ballot at a voting station in Los Angeles on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the LA County district attorney dropped charges against the CEO of Konnech, which makes scheduling software for poll workers.

Politics & Government

LA County drops charges against election software executive, citing 'potential bias'

6:31pm November 10, 2022

by Juma Sei

The abrupt reversal of charges marks the end of a case that prominent election deniers cited as evidence of foul play in American elections.

Voters cast their ballots on Election Day in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 3, 2020. Several Democratic state lawmakers have proposed bills to make Election Day a holiday. Republican lawmakers are proposing similar legislation, some influenced by prominent election deniers.

Politics & Government

Should voting day be a holiday? Some election deniers say yes

6:06pm November 07, 2022

by Allison Mollenkamp

Republicans have proposed seven bills in the last two years to give voters the day off to cast their ballot. The legislation often comes with measures drawn from election denier talking points.

Queue Listen Now

Lois Curtis was the plaintiff in a civil rights case that gave people with disabilities and older people the right to live outside of institutions and in their own homes. Curtis died Thursday of cancer.

National

Lois Curtis, who won a landmark civil rights case for people with disabilities, died

10:56am November 05, 2022

by Joseph Shapiro

Lois Curtis, an artist with an intellectual disability who brought a landmark civil rights lawsuit that gave people with disabilities the right to live outside of institutions, has died.

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Ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 14, in Washington, DC. Jordan and House Judiciary Republicans plan to investigate the FBI and Justice Department--if conservatives retake the house--for political bias.

Judiciary Republicans hint at investigation into FBI, DOJ if they retake the House

8:30pm November 04, 2022

by Dustin Jones

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have asked the Justice Department and FBI for documents ahead of what they said will be a series of investigations if Republicans retake the House.

Former President Donald Trump is pictured at a rally on Oct. 22 in Robstown, Texas. Trump was subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in October, ordering him to turnover documents and testify before the panel.

The deadline for Trump to deliver subpoenaed documents has arrived. What now?

6:40am November 04, 2022

by Dustin Jones

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the House select investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, said Trump is legally obligated to comply with the subpoena, but there's a chance he won't.

A police vehicle parked outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, on Saturday. The accused assailant, David Wayne DePape, faces felony charges — assault and attempted kidnapping of an immediate family member of a U.S. official — which could land him in prison for a maximum of 50 years.

David DePape charged with assault, attempted kidnapping in attack on Paul Pelosi

5:25pm October 31, 2022

by Dustin Jones

DePape faces a maximum of 50 years in prison if convicted of the crimes against the immediate family of a United States official.

Miles Hatfield at his Kentucky home, which he had to abandon after it was flooded by runoff from an old coal mine.

National

How big coal companies avoid cleaning up their messes

6:00am October 29, 2022

A Bloomberg News/NPR investigation found that large U.S. coal companies used bankruptcy and asset transfers to move old mines to shaky new owners, putting at risk federally mandated land reclamation.

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Chicago police officers arrive at the scene of a May 19 mass shooting outside a McDonald's restaurant.

National

In Chicago, handguns turned into high-capacity machine guns fuel deadly violence

5:09am October 28, 2022

A thumbnail-size "switch" turns a gun from semi-automatic to automatic. Authorities see a correlation between an uptick in mass shootings and the rise of switch-equipped guns and extended magazines.

FTC Chairperson Lina Khan, speaking at a Senate Committee hearing in 2021. Last week, the FTC moved closer to modernizing a rule that requires funeral businesses to provide prices to consumers when they visit or call.

National

Funeral homes could soon have to post prices online

2:43pm October 26, 2022

by Robert Benincasa

A 2017 NPR investigation found that many funeral businesses failed to disclose prices to consumers. The FTC may modernize the existing rule to make such information more transparent.