How to Understand NYC Schools' Lead Contamination Results
Officials at the New York City Department of Education said they're close to wrapping up the latest round of testing for lead in school water, possibly by next month, with complete results following a...
View ArticleCan Mayor de Blasio Roll Back Fatal Overdoses? He's Going to Try.
Sitting in front of a dramatic line graph showing that drug-related overdose death rates in New York City have soared, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday released a plan he hopes will reverse the trend.The...
View ArticleMAP: Find the Lead-Tainted Water Fountains in NYC Schools
Over the last several weeks and months, public school parents in New York City have received letters explaining that water fixtures in their children’s schools tested positive for lead. Remember, this...
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Trans Kids Update: Dating, PMS, And, Yeah, Bathrooms
Last year, North Carolina passed HB2, the so-called "bathroom bill,” banning anyone from using a public restroom that didn’t match up with his or her biological sex. After the law passed, we went to...
View ArticleHow One Syringe Exchange Is Turning Drug Users Into Scientists
At St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction, a needle exchange in the Bronx, the people who come for "safe use kits" also get a crash course in data collection. Leaders at the exchange told WNYC they are...
View ArticleThis Professor Teaches About Drug Use, Including His Own
Dr. Carl Hart, a neuroscientist and the chair of Columbia University's Department of Psychology, likes to tackle stereotypes. That's one reason why he teaches his class "Drugs and Behavior" at 8:40 in...
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An Experiment Helps Heroin Users Test Their Street Drugs For Fentanyl
In the day room at St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction, which runs a needle exchange program in the Bronx, a group of guys are playing dominoes and listening to salsa music while they wait for lunch....
View ArticleWeight Equals Health? Patient Experiences Tell a Different Story
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. Amanda Hourihan was just a kid the first time a doctor told her she was fat. At the time, she didn't think much of it, but as she got older,...
View ArticleObesity: The Greatest Threat to American Society?
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. This week, The Takeaway is exploring America's obesity epidemic. More than two in three American adults are overweight, and one in three are...
View ArticleWhat Fighting Big Tobacco Can Teach Us About Taxing Sugary Drinks
In 1994, Dr. Kelly Brownell had a bit of a radical idea for the times. In an op-ed written for The New York Times, Dr. Brownell proposed a tax on unhealthy foods."While the government has imposed...
View ArticleThe Big Business of The Obesity Crisis
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. Today, about one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese, making childhood obesity one of the biggest concerns for healthcare...
View ArticleBattling Obesity as the Water Rises
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. Each year, about 16 square miles vanish from the Louisiana coast. In 1916, water made up 10 percent the area surrounding Terrebone Bay. By...
View ArticleThe Problem with Addiction Treatment: Getting People to Take It
One weekday night in May, members of the Cartigiano family — 35-year-old Mike, his mother, Linda, and his sister, Michele Abreu — headed to Our Lady Star of the Sea Elementary School on the south end...
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With Health Care Vote Delayed, Take This Moment to Catch Up
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., and other Democratic Senators, holds up photographs of constituents who would be adversely affected by the Republican Senate healthcare bill.(Andrew...
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This Might Challenge What You Think About Medicaid
Half of all births. The vast majority of nursing home care. Even some school health centers. All of these services have one thing in common: Medicaid provides for them. WNYC wanted to figure out how...
View ArticleWho's On Medicaid and What do They Stand to Lose?
The Senate released their version of a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare this past month. The plan would make deep cuts to Medicaid, the federal program that provides health coverage to millions of...
View ArticleThe Healthcare Repeal Is Dead. Long Live the Healthcare Repeal
Last night, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) announced they wouldn't support the Senate's latest effort to replace Obamacare, the Better Care Reconciliation Act. But if you live in New...
View ArticleThe State Legislator Will See You Now
Dr. Leah Torres, an OB-GYN who practices in Utah, has rules for how she talks about abortion with her patients. Not rules she’s come up with herself. Rules state legislators have made for her, in an...
View ArticleThe Opioid Crisis Is Way More Complicated Than We Think
As the opioid crisis continues to worsen, Mark Kleiman, professor of public policy at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management and at NYU Wagner and author of Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to...
View ArticleHere’s Why New York’s Medical Marijuana Rules Are About to Change
If you want to know why New York is set to change its rules and regulations around medical marijuana, all you have to do is show up at a local dispensary and start talking to patients. But first, be...
View ArticleNew York vs. New Jersey: A Tale of Two Health Exchanges
Maura Collinsgru has worked in health care policy for decades, but joined New Jersey Citizen Action just as the Affordable Care Act was rolling out five years ago. She has gotten used to being scrappy:...
View ArticleInvestigation Sheds New Light on Lead Exposure in New York City
Despite reports from New York City officials showing a drop in the number of children with elevated lead levels, new data published this week suggest that the city still has not reached its goal of...
View ArticleYour Healthcare: What Happened?
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segmentWhat the American healthcare system should look like has roiled our politics for years.During the Obama Administration, congressional republicans...
View ArticleCanadians Have Universal Health Insurance. Why Not the U.S.?
Ask Queens College professor Joseph Cohen when he knew that health care was broken, and he'll tell you about the $4,000 bill he received a few years back. He had no idea what the specific charges were,...
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Why Drugs Can Be So Expensive
Deby Provost of Stockton, California has one question: If her drug for multiple sclerosis has been around for 20 years, why does it cost so much? It's a question that Congress is asking, too.This...
View ArticleCanadians Have Universal Health Insurance. Why Not the U.S.?
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segmentThe day after President John F. Kennedy celebrated his birthday with a serenade from Marilyn Monroe, he returned to Madison Square Garden for a...
View ArticleThe State Legislator Will See You Now
Dr. Leah Torres, an OB-GYN who practices in Utah, has rules for how she talks about abortion with her patients. Not rules she’s come up with herself. Rules state legislators have made for her, in an...
View ArticleWhite House Paves the Way for Medicaid Work Requirements
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segmentThe Trump Administration announced Thursday that states could impose a work requirement on many Americans who rely on Medicaid. It's the first...
View ArticleEpisode 5: 'The Teenage Brain Is Like a Sports Car'
Stephen is one of thousands of so-called "juvenile lifers" who have an unexpected shot at freedom today. Up until 2005, most juveniles could be sentenced just as harshly as adults: that meant life...
View ArticleEpisode 1: This Sunny Day Right Here
Prodigy and Havoc begin laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flops, they come up with a new sound that's directly influenced by P's sickle cell, and it helps define a...
View ArticleEpisode 2: T'Chaka
As a kid with sickle cell anemia, Prodigy was told he'd barely make it to adulthood. The work of doctors, athletes, Hollywood stars and The Black Panthers help transform his fate. But what kind of life...
View ArticleSickle Cell Anemia, Disparities in Care and the Late Rapper Prodigy
Mary Harris and Christopher M Johnson, WNYC health reporters, discuss their new podcast, The Realness, which takes listeners behind the rapper Prodigy’s music to his life with sickle cell anemia,...
View ArticleEpisode 3: Son, They Shook
Someone is shot inside Def Jam. A rap star chases Mobb Deep through Lower Manhattan. And Prodigy convinces a hip hop mogul to sneak weapons into one of New York's most decadent nightclubs. Mobb Deep...
View ArticleA "Realness" B-Side: Roxanne Shanté
Roxanne Shanté is the queen of Queensbridge rappers. As a teenager in the 1980s, she lyrically demolished all comers. In this B-side outtake, we talk with Roxanne about meeting Prodigy, encouraging Hav...
View ArticleEpisode 4: The Most Racist Judge in Nassau County
When Prodigy goes on trial for violating parole, his lawyer files over 90 pages of P's medical records in his defense. We find those records buried deep in a Brooklyn courthouse, and they open a window...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep1: This Sunny Day Right Here
Prodigy and Havoc begin laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flops, they come up with a new sound that's directly influenced by P's sickle cell, and it helps define a...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep2: T'Chaka
As a kid with sickle cell anemia, Prodigy was told he'd barely make it to adulthood. The work of doctors, athletes, Hollywood stars and The Black Panthers help transform his fate. But what kind of life...
View ArticleEpisode 5: Go See About the God
It's The Alchemist's birthday, but thanks to the NYPD's "Rap Intelligence Unit," he and Prodigy are forced to celebrate in a jail cell, and soon after, P is headed upstate. But even Prodigy says prison...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep3: Son, They Shook
Someone is shot inside Def Jam. A rap star chases Mobb Deep through Lower Manhattan. And Prodigy convinces a hip hop mogul to sneak weapons into one of New York's most decadent nightclubs. Mobb Deep...
View ArticleThe Realness B-Side: Roxanne Shanté
Roxanne Shanté is the queen of Queensbridge rappers. As a teenager in the 1980s, she lyrically demolished all comers. In this B-side outtake, we talk with Roxanne about meeting Prodigy, encouraging Hav...
View ArticleEpisode 6: Missing You
Prodigy is supposed to fly back home right after a show in Vegas, but he never gets on the plane. As the world of hip hop mourns, there are still questions surrounding his death. We try to find...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep4: The Most Racist Judge in Nassau County
When Prodigy goes on trial for violating probation, his lawyer files over 90 pages of P's medical records in his defense. We find those records buried deep in a Brooklyn courthouse, and they open a...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep5: Go See About the God
It's The Alchemist's birthday, but thanks to the NYPD's "Rap Intelligence Unit," he and Prodigy are forced to celebrate in a jail cell, and soon after, P is headed upstate. But even Prodigy says prison...
View ArticleThe Realness Ep6: Missing You
Prodigy is supposed to fly back home right after a show in Vegas, but he never gets on the plane. As the world of hip hop mourns, there are still questions surrounding his death. We try to find...
View ArticleCan the Department of Education Get the Lead Out?
Every water fixture that tested positive for lead in New York City schools has been remediated, according to the Department of Education. There's only one problem: for hundreds of water sources,...
View ArticleOnly Human Presents: Undiscovered
Only Human presents: Undiscovered, a podcast from WNYC Studios about the left turns, missteps, and lucky breaks that make science happen. In this episode, a new life support technology leaves a doctor...
View ArticleSpecial Broadcast #1: This Sunny Day Right Here
Prodigy and Havoc began laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flopped, they came up with a new sound that was directly influenced by Prodigy's lifelong battle with sickle...
View ArticleSpecial Broadcast #2: Son, They Shook
Someone is shot inside Def Jam. A rap star chases Mobb Deep through Lower Manhattan. And Prodigy convinces a hip hop mogul to sneak weapons into one of New York's most decadent nightclubs. Mobb Deep...
View ArticleSpecial Broadcast #3: Missing You
After Prodigy was locked up on a gun charge, he took a plea deal and was soon headed upstate to prison. But even Prodigy said prison changed him for the better.As the world of hip hop mourns his loss,...
View ArticleKeeping White Power at the Polls
The United States of Anxiety presents: What Next"One person, one vote" has not always been a given in America. After the Civil War, there was some debate over who should be counted in a congressional...
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