Reveal

Wildfires are getting bigger, more expensive to fight and closer than ever to where people live. The consequences can be deadly. We examine how wildfires got so dangerous – and how some are fighting back. Parts of this episode originally were broadcast Oct. 8, 2016.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Crusading prosecutor Iván Velásquez has been called the Robert Mueller of Latin America. He’s known for jailing presidents and paramilitaries. But Velásquez met his match when he went after Jimmy Morales, a television comedian who was elected president of Guatemala. Morales found an ally in Donald Trump. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

The 40-year fight over drilling for oil in one of the world’s wildest places, Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is coming to a head. The Department of the Interior has just removed the final hurdle to allow oil industry bids for the right to drill in the refuge. Opponents say climate change is warming the Arctic twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and the plants, animals and people living there are struggling to adapt. In this episode, we examine the future of the refuge for the people who live there. It’s a collaboration with the award-winning podcast Threshold, which was supported by the Pulitzer Center.  This episode originally was released March 7, 2020.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Quickly delivering donated organs to patients waiting for a transplant is a matter of life and death. Yet transportation errors are leading to delays in surgeries, putting patients in danger and making some organs unusable.  This episode originally was broadcast Feb. 8, 2020.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

The Civil War ended more than 150 years ago, but the Confederacy didn't completely die with it. Monuments, shrines and museums are found throughout the South. We teamed up with Type Investigations to visit dozens of them and found that for devoted followers, they inspire a disturbing – and distorted – view of history: Confederate generals as heroes. Slaves who were happy to work for them. That twisted history is also shared with schoolchildren on class trips. And you won't believe who's funding these sites to keep them running.  Plus, the story of New Mexico’s great monument controversy. In 1998, the state was set to celebrate its cuarto centenario: the 400th anniversary of the state’s colonization by the Spanish. But a dramatic act of vandalism would turn the making of a monument in Albuquerque into a fight over history the city didn’t expect. This show has been updated with new reporting, based on a show that originally was broadcast Dec. 8, 2018.   Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly R

For decades, work-based rehabs have spread across the country. No one knows how many are out there, so we counted them ourselves. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

One man’s journey into Cenikor leads to almost two years of backbreaking labor. The program will change him. But can it help Chris Koon with his addiction? Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Before sunrise, a line of passenger vans heads to job sites across Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Cenikor didn't want to show us where they were sending rehab participants to work. So we followed the vans to find out. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Cenikor rises from the ashes, thanks to the inventor of NFL football pads, the war on drugs and the endorsement of an American president. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

He’s a liar, a killer and a wannabe country music singer. Luke Austin finds Synanon in prison and borrows from its philosophy to create Cenikor. But graft and violence nearly destroy it. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

After amassing a small fortune, Synanon’s megalomaniac leader turns the revolutionary rehab into a violent cult, with mass sterilization, a paramilitary group and a rattlesnake in a mailbox. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Cenikor’s bizarre form of rehab has its roots in Synanon: a revolutionary rehab that started in the 1950s on a California beach. Its charismatic leader, Charles Dederich, mesmerized the nation by claiming to have developed a cure for drug addiction. The program became a phenomenon and quickly spread across the country. But soon, Dederich wanted to profit off its success, and this “miracle” began to change.   Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Penny Rawlings is relieved to finally get her brother into rehab at a place called Cenikor. She doesn’t realize that getting him out of treatment is going to be the bigger problem.  This is the first chapter in Reveal’s American Rehab series, exposing how a treatment for drug addiction has turned tens of thousands of people into an unpaid shadow workforce. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Since the coronavirus started spreading in the United States, members of the Asian American/Pacific Islander community have been verbally assaulted, coughed at and spit on, and even physically attacked. This is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga of hate and racism spreading alongside a public health crisis.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

The Trump years have seen an increase in domestic terrorist attacks linked by hateful ideologies that thrive online. Reveal teams up with Type Investigations to track each case and determine what the government has done to fight them. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Despite revelations of clergy sex abuse and promises of transparency, a prominent Jesuit university does little to punish priests who cross the line.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

The federal government’s early failures to manage the coronavirus shifted a heavy burden to local officials. We look at how decision-makers in two states, California and Florida, found their way to shutdown and beyond.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

As Americans take to the streets, we hear from the person prosecuting the police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing. We also hear from protesters around the country and remember the history of policing in black communities.  Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

Online learning works only if you can get online. Why tens of thousands of families are still caught on the wrong side of the digital divide. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

As racial disparities in health come into the spotlight amid COVID-19, we explore how the legacy of racism affects maternal health in the U.S. Plus, we hear from doctors working hard to turn things around. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.