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People look out at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2005, where construction had started on Freedom Tower.

How New York City Rebuilt Anew After Its Darkest Day

When disaster struck in 2001, New York City hadn't had a comprehensive city planning vision in decades. An exceptional flurry of urban strategizing — beyond ground zero — ensued.

An Illinois Town’s Hope Rests On Money And The Mighty Mississippi

The Mississippi River system is both an artery and a vein. It pumps ag products out of the heartland and into the world while bringing back fertilizer...

Mim Akter Tania, 22, thought she was getting a job as a hospital custodian in Saudi Arabia. Instead, she says, she ended up as a domestic servant with an abusive boss.

They Pump $15 Billion A Year Into Bangladesh's Economy — But At What Cost?

Bangladeshis who want to work abroad can pay thousands of dollars for a permit. The reward is a chance for a job that allows them to send cash back home. But there's a potential for abuse as well.

In rugged, rural areas, patients often have little choice about how they'll get to the hospital in an emergency. "The presence of private equity in the air ambulance industry indicates that investors see profit opportunities," a 2017 report from the federal Government Accountability Office notes.

Wyoming Wants To Use Medicaid To Reduce Air Ambulance Bills For All Patients

Frustrated with sky-high bills from air ambulance companies, Wyoming hopes to hammer down those charges with more regulation. The companies say such a proposal undermines free enterprise.

Laura Marcus, founder of The Arete Project, stands in front of the campus, lovingly called the "Hobbit Hole."

In Alaska's Wilderness, A New Vision Of Higher Learning

The Arete Project in Southeast Alaska brings very different students from around the world together to learn from nature and each other, and earn college credit along the way.

Can The Government Help Young People Find Jobs?

The school year is winding down, and lots of young people are in the market for a summer job. But finding one in this economy can be hard, especially for teenagers. Host Michel Martin speaks with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis about what the Obama Administration is trying to do to help.

Fifty Years After Major Report, Surgeons General Work To End Smoking

The first Surgeon General's report on the dangers of smoking came out just over 50 years ago. Now a group of former surgeons generals are finding new ways to prevent smoking. Host Michel Martin speaks with two of them: Dr. Regina Benjamin and Dr. Antonia Novello.

Standardized tests are an important consideration for admissions at many colleges and universities. But one new study shows that high school performance, not standardized test scores, is a better predictor of how students do in college.

College Applicants Sweat The SATs. Perhaps They Shouldn't

Many students who don't ace the SAT and ACT tests apply to schools that make standardized test scores optional. A new study shows those students do just as well in college as those who submit their scores.

Who's Bill This Time?

Bill Kurtis reads three quotes from the week's news: Leave the gun, take the baklava; Extreme Makeover: GOP; Who's the Dodo now?

Arriving at a hospital seven hours' drive from his remote village in the mountains, former gold miner He Quangui is finally put in a ward. The doctors are puncturing his chest cavity with a needle to remove air that had escaped from his damaged lungs. In pain, He Quangui tries to clasp the drip pulley hanging from the ceiling; his brother-in-law Mi Shiliang is at a loss for how to comfort him.

What It's Like To Take Photos Of A Dying Man

Like millions of Chinese gold miners, He Quangui was stricken with the lung disease silicosis. At first he didn't want his story to be told, but over time he came to trust the photographer.

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