Brian Mann
Brian Mann is NPR's first national addiction correspondent. He also covers breaking news in the U.S. and around the world.
Mann began covering drug policy and the opioid crisis as part of a partnership between NPR and North Country Public Radio in New York. After joining NPR full time in 2020, Mann was one of the first national journalists to track the deadly spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, reporting from California and Washington state to West Virginia.
After losing his father and stepbrother to substance abuse, Mann's reporting breaks down the stigma surrounding addiction and creates a factual basis for the ongoing national discussion.
Mann has also served on NPR teams covering the Beijing Winter Olympics and the war in Ukraine.
During a career in public radio that began in the 1980s, Mann has won numerous regional and national Edward R. Murrow awards. He is author of a 2006 book about small town politics called Welcome to the Homeland, described by The Atlantic as "one of the best books to date on the putative-red-blue divide."
Mann grew up in Alaska and is now based in New York's Adirondack Mountains. His audio postcards, broadcast on NPR, describe his backcountry trips into wild places around the world.
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Family size around the world is dropping. That choice by couples is triggering a population shift that's sending shock waves through economies. -
Newcomer Zohran Mamdani, age 34, has used social media and big progressive ideas to shoulder past Andrew Cuomo, who's 67 and long a member of Democratic Party royalty. -
Nabarun Dasgupta was recognized with a MacArthur "genius" award for work studying the deadly overdose crisis. He's also a front-line organizer, helping people survive. -
President Trump says one part of the answer to homelessness is civil commitment and forced medical care. Some Democrats agree. -
On the first day of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration froze "roughly $18 billion" in infrastructure projects for New York City, home to two of Trump's Democratic congressional opponents. It's not the first time Trump has threatened city funding over politics. -
Zohran Mamdani is leading in the polls in the NYC Mayor's race. Kamala Harris says he's earned Democratic backing, but some party leaders have been slow to endorse the Democratic-Socialist candidate. -
A late summer run for NPR's Brian Mann featured an abundance of ripe, wild berries and a dip in the river. -
Drug deaths in the U.S. are at their lowest level since March 2020, according to federal data. Trump continues to cite fentanyl as justification for policies ranging from tariffs to immigration. -
Leaders in Washington, D.C., say they're striving to maintain calm as growing numbers of National Guard soldiers deploy to the city. President Trump hasn't said how he wants this "crisis" to end. -
National Guard members and federal law enforcement officers are patrolling the city as part of President Trump's effort to assert federal control over policing in the District.
