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.
-
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin finally medaled at the Winter Olympics, winning gold and breaking a long, agonizing streak of Olympic losses.
-
Third race is the charm for Shiffrin, who won gold today after failing to podium in her first two races of the 2026 Olympic Games. -
U.S. cross-country skiers Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher power to a silver medal in the men's team sprint. U.S. women led by Jessie Diggins finish off the podium. -
American sliders Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, and Kaillie Humphreys, 40, secure gold and bronze medals. Meyers-Taylor built on her record as the Black athlete with the most Winter Olympics medals. -
Call it homefield advantage, call it national pride. Italy's athletes are shining in the Winter Olympics underway in Milan and the Alps. -
Ilia Malinin's painful falls at the Milan Cortina Games follow in a long tradition of great U.S. athletes who get the "yips" or the "twisties" during the Olympics. -
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin looks unstoppable everywhere except the Olympics. She's running out of chances to medal at the Milan Cortina Games. -
Ukrainian skeleton sled racing athlete Vladyslav Herskevych drew attention to his sport after being disqualified for wearing a controversial helmet at the Winter Olympics.
-
Ukrainians are dismayed after skeleton sled racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from the Olympics for his helmet decorated in honor of war victims.
-
She's done it again. Jessie Diggins, age 34 and skiing in her final Olympics, captured a bronze medal for the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Games. She battled through the pain from injured ribs to reach the podium.
