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Coal's Deadly Dust

Elaine Sheldon/FRONTLINE
Greg Kelly is a former coal miner suffering an advanced stage of black lung disease.

Monday, Howard Berkes joins us to talk about his reporting of an epidemic of black lung disease that is suffocating and killing the country's coal miners. Federal regulators and the mining industry have done little to help.

RadioWest divider.

NPR’s Howard Berkes has reported on mine safety and regulation for almost a decade. Lately, he has teamed up with reporters at PBS’s Frontline to document an epidemic of black lung disease that is suffocating and killing the country’s coal miners. They've shown how federal regulators and the industry have consistently failed to protect vulnerable mine workers, who are often forced to choose between their livelihoods and their lives. Berkes joins us to talk about his reporting and its impact.

On Tuesday, January 22, Frontline is airing the documentary “Coal’s Deadly Dust.” In Utah, that’s at 9 p.m. on KUED Channel 7. Check your local listing for show times in your area.

You can also join KUER and KUED for a special screening of the documentary on Monday, February 11, at the Main Salt Lake City Library. Howard Berkes will join KUER News Director Andrew Becker for a post-film Q&A. DETAILS

Howard Berkes is a correspondent for the NPR Investigations Unit based in Salt Lake City.

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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