Up First from NPR

Episode Summary

Rates of black lung disease amongst Appalachia’s coal miners are at the highest they’ve been in 50 years. Recent data shows that a third of veteran miners have the disease. The epidemic is also striking younger workers, too. On The Sunday Story, Howard Berkes investigates the devastating human cost on Appalachian families, decades of regulatory failures,…

Published August 9, 2026 · 37:54