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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For months the Biden administration has suggested drug overdose deaths are finally leveling off or declining slightly. But new data in some cities show increases in drug deaths caused by Fentanyl.
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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. -
Ukraine is the first nation with a large-scale nuclear power industry to face a full-scale war. Experts say the risks are daunting.
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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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Ukrainian media are reporting that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way there as Ukraine's counter-offensive continues to grind forward.
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Ukraine has made significant progress but at great cost, and the terrain ahead is heavily defended.
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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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Andriy Pilshchykov, known by his call-sign "Juice" became an icon in Ukraine helping deny Russia air superiority in the early days of the war. He was given a hero's funeral Tuesday in Kyiv.
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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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In Ukraine, news of the apparent death of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash is being greeted with satisfaction and gallows humor.
