Kathleen Flynn

Out of Balance

The World Bank Group enabled the devastation of villages and helped a mining company justify the deaths of endangered chimps with a dubious offset.

The Scientist and the Bats

Funders thought watching bats wasn’t important. Then she helped solve the mystery of a deadly virus.

This Scientist Tracked Bats for Decades and Solved a Mystery About a Deadly Disease

Ecologist Peggy Eby’s discovery after decades of studying bats in Australia underscores the time and shoe-leather research needed to prevent future pandemics.

Au bord de la catastrophe

Une simple clairière de forêt nous sépare de la prochaine pandémie mortelle. Mais nous n’essayons même pas de la prévenir.

Seeding Hope

They set out to save rainforests — and stumbled upon a way to help prevent the world’s next deadly pandemic.

On the Edge

The next deadly pandemic is just a forest clearing away. But we’re not even trying to prevent it.

A Fifth of American Adults Struggle to Read. Why Are We Failing to Teach Them?

The nation’s approach to adult education has so far neglected to connect the millions of people struggling to read with the programs set up to help them.

Air Monitors Alone Won’t Save Communities From Toxic Industrial Air Pollution

Calvert City, Kentucky, has long had what people in other toxic hot spots have been begging for: monitors to prove they’re being exposed to toxic industrial air pollution. Regulators have years of evidence, but the poison in the air is only growing.

Planta de esterilización de equipo médico contamina con sustancias cancerígenas a decenas de miles de alumnos

Nadie le dijo a la familia de Yaneli Ortiz que la fábrica cerca de la que vivían emitía óxido de etileno. No les dijeron cuando en la EPA se descubrió que causa cáncer. Tampoco cuando le diagnosticaron leucemia.

A Plant That Sterilizes Medical Equipment Spews Cancer-Causing Pollution on Tens of Thousands of Schoolchildren

Nobody told Yaneli Ortiz’s family that the factory they lived near emitted ethylene oxide. Not when the EPA found it causes cancer. Not when she was diagnosed with leukemia. And not when Texas moved to allow polluters to emit more of the chemical.

The Dirty Secret of America’s Clean Dishes

The world’s largest chemical maker, BASF, produces ingredients for America’s most popular products, from soaps to surface cleaners to dishwasher detergent. Emissions from their U.S. plants elevate cancer risks for an estimated 1.5 million people.

When Home Is a Toxic Hot Spot

More than a thousand people talked to ProPublica about living in hot spots for cancer-causing air pollution. Most never got a warning from the EPA. They are rallying neighbors, packing civic meetings and signing petitions for reform.

Veneno en el aire

La EPA permite a los contaminadores que conviertan barrios en “zonas de sacrificio” donde los residentes respiran carcinógenos. ProPublica revela dónde están esos lugares en un mapa, el primero de este tipo, y con análisis de datos.

They Knew Industrial Pollution Was Ruining the Neighborhood’s Air. If Only Regulators Had Listened.

Raw throats, burning eyes, strong acid smells. Air monitoring that showed chemicals linked to leukemia. Barbara Weckesser and her neighbors told regulators that air pollution was making them sick. The law let them ignore her.

Poison in the Air

The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis.

“They Saw Me and Thought the Worst”

For years, Black residents of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, have voiced complaints about abuses and a lack of accountability within its Sheriff’s Office. Unlike in neighboring New Orleans, no one has stepped in to help.

Entergy Resisted Upgrading New Orleans’ Power Grid. When Ida Hit, Residents Paid the Price.

The power company failed to build a stronger system after hurricanes repeatedly pummeled Louisiana. Then Ida knocked out power for more than a week. “I don’t think it’s just Mother Nature,” said one resident. “This is neglect.”

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