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The Cambria factory in Minnesota manufactures slabs of engineered quartz for kitchen and bathroom countertops. If businesses don't follow worker protection rules, cutting these slabs to fit customers'<strong> </strong>kitchens can release lung-damaging silica dust.

'There's No Good Dust': What Happens After Quartz Countertops Leave The Factory

Slabs of engineered quartz are cut to order in thousands of shops around the country that may not adequately protect workers from dangerous levels of the lung-damaging contaminant.

A worker cuts black granite to make a countertop. Though granite, marble and "engineered stone" all can produce harmful silica dust when cut, ground or polished, the artificial stone typically contains much more silica, says a CDC researcher tracking cases of silicosis.

Workers Are Falling Ill, Even Dying, After Making Kitchen Countertops

Irreversible lung disease has started to show up among young workers who cut, grind and polish countertops made of increasingly popular "engineered" stone. The material is more than 90% silica.

Paul Williams (left) helps Scott Beatty build his 'backpack' guitar. It has a smaller body, meant to easily fit in a pack. Beatty is in the Culture of Recovery program which teaches instrument making to people recovering from addiction.

'A New Start' — In Recovery And Learning To Make Musical Instruments In Appalachia

In a region ravaged by job loss and addiction, a musical tradition provides a lifeline for people in recovery.

China Reacts To Uighur Bill

China has reacted with fury and defiance to the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act this week. The bill condemns the mass detention of ethnic minorities in China.

To reverse a medical abortion, some doctors have prescribed progesterone. A new study raises fresh doubts about the approach.

Safety Problems Lead To Early End For Study Of 'Abortion Pill Reversal'

Three of the 12 women enrolled in a study of progesterone to reverse a medication-based abortion required ambulance transport to a hospital for treatment of severe vaginal bleeding.

Neil stands in a room with military cyber operators from Joint Task Force ARES to launch an operation that would become one of the largest and longest offensive cyber operations in U.S. military history.

How The U.S. Hacked ISIS

In 2016, the U.S. launched a classified military cyberattack against ISIS to bring down its media operation. NPR interviewed nearly a dozen people who lived it.

City employee Sally Vehrenkamp, a member of the Crow Patrol, uses a green laser pointer to scare crows off of buildings in downtown Rochester, Minn.

This Minnesota City Has A Bird Poop Problem, But The Crow Patrol Is On It

Rochester's fight with downtown crows and their poop intensifies each winter. Chasing them away falls to a dedicated band of city workers armed with lasers, starter pistols and crow distress calls.

A Dreaded Part Of Teachers' Jobs: Restraining And Secluding Students

"It's a rare day where you don't get hurt." "I just never felt fully comfortable." Those are just a few of the things educators told NPR about their use of restraint and seclusion in classrooms.

Dr. Laurie Punch, a trauma surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, is adamant that violence is a true medical problem doctors must treat in both the operating room and the community.

Trauma Surgeon Battles Bullets In The Operating Room And The Community

Weary of losing neighbors and patients to gunfire, St. Louis trauma surgeon Laurie Punch has a message: Gun violence is contagious, but so is healing. Doctors who teach can be part of the solution.

Based on actual events, the graphic novel <em>Grand Theft Horse</em> tells the story of a trainer who rescues a horse from its villainous owner. Journalist Taylor Haney set out to learn how much of the story is true. Above, a scene from the novel.

He Was A Horse That Never Won A Race. So Why Would Someone Steal Him?

On Christmas Eve 2004, Urgent Envoy disappeared from his stable in the middle of the night. He had finished his only ever race in last place, but that didn't matter to the trainer who took him.

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