Daniel Zwerdling

After Deadly Chemical Plant Disasters, There's Little Action

Daniel Zwerdling — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:11:00 +0000

You might think that everything would have changed for the chemicals industry on April 16, 1947. That was the day of the Texas City Disaster, the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. A ship loaded with ammonium nitrate — the same chemical that appears to have caused the disaster last month in West, Texas — exploded. The ship sparked a chain reaction of blasts at chemical facilities onshore, creating what a newsreel at the time called "a holocaust that baffles description."

Or you might think everything would have changed on Dec. 3, 1984.

From Family To Digital Footprints: A Portrait Of Tsarnaevs

Daniel Zwerdling — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:01:00 +0000

NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports on what's known about the two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia's Poor Find Better Homes

Daniel Zwerdling — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:55:00 +0000

If you've applied for a mortgage recently, you know how hard it can be. The bank demands all kinds of obscure documents and wants proof of almost every asset you own. But an innovative mortgage program halfway around the world will evaluate your application without any extra documentation — and if you're approved, it will give you a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. There's just one catch: The mortgages are only for low-income people in Cambodia.

For A Florida Fishery, 'Sustainable' Success After Complex Process

Daniel Zwerdling — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:35:00 +0000

Part three of a three-part series by Daniel Zwerdling and Margot Williams.

The long, clunky-looking fishing boat pulls up to Day Boat Seafood's dock near Fort Pierce, Fla., after 10 days out in the Atlantic.

Conditions Allow For More Sustainable-Labeled Seafood

Daniel Zwerdling — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:42:00 +0000

Part two of a three-part series by Daniel Zwerdling and Margot Williams.

Next time you walk up to the seafood counter, look for products labeled with a blue fish, a check mark, and the words "Certified Sustainable Seafood MSC." Then ask yourself, "What does this label mean?"

The MSC — Marine Stewardship Council — says that the "sustainable" label means that fishermen caught the seafood with methods that don't deplete its supply, and help protect the environment in the waters where it was c

Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?

Daniel Zwerdling — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:38:00 +0000

Part one of a three-part series by Daniel Zwerdling and Margot Williams.

Rebecca Weel pushes a baby stroller with her 18-month-old up to the seafood case at Whole Foods, near ground zero in New York.

Once Denied A Purple Heart, A Soldier Gets Her Medal

Daniel Zwerdling — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 07:57:00 +0000

In 2010, NPR reported that some Army commanders refused to award the Purple Heart to many troops who got concussions in combat because they didn't consider these "real" injuries. As a result of our story, the Army did its own investigation and put out new guidelines on Purple Hearts.

Before Reaching War Zones, Troops Risk Concussions

Daniel Zwerdling — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:12:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb4Kr_9I920

For One Soldier, Rap Is A Powerful Postwar Weapon

Daniel Zwerdling — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:38:00 +0000
When Jeff Barillaro came home from fighting the war in Iraq, he felt lost, like thousands of veterans do. He didn't have a mission anymore.
But now, through music, he's found one: Under the stage name Soldier Hard, Barillaro raps — about how war has changed troops and their families. Other vets and their family members are now turning to his music, because they say he's speaking to them.
On a recent morning, the National Guard Armory in Evansville, Ind., looks and sounds like any military base in the country.
A batch of new recruits goes through its weekend drills.

One Soldier's Progress Against Traumatic Brain Injury

Daniel Zwerdling and Joaquin Sapien — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:25:00 +0000
One of the guests in the congressional gallery at last week's State of the Union address was Roxana Delgado, an advocate for soldiers returning home with traumatic brain injuries. Her husband, an army sergeant who NPR profiled in June, 2010, had been dramatically affected by the concussion he received from a roadside blast in Iraq.
The story, reported and produced with ProPublica, detailed Victor Medina's inability to read, speak and think.

Pentagon's Spending On Key Injuries Isn't Being Tracked Well, Auditors Say

Daniel Zwerdling — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000
The Defense Department has spent close to $3 billion since 2007 to treat and study traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder — the leading injuries suffered by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. But a federal investigation finds that the department's programs are so disorganized that it's difficult to figure out how the money has been spent.
The report by the Government Accountability Office says that nobody in the Defense Department coordinates all the programs on brain injuries and PTSD.

A Year That Was Good To Beets

Daniel Zwerdling — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:08:00 +0000
Children hate beets. Many adults hate beets. In fact, so few people in the U.S.

Military's Brain-Testing Program A Debacle

Daniel Zwerdling — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:02:00 +0000
The U.S. military has spent more than $42 million to test every service member's brain to find out who suffered a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But an investigation by NPR and ProPublica has found that military leaders are refusing to carry out the testing program as Congress ordered. Partly as a result, the program that was supposed to fix things has hardly helped any of the troops.
On a recent morning, four dozen soldiers who were about to be deployed to Afghanistan filed into a squat wooden building at Fort Lewis, in Washington state.