EDITORIAL STAFF
Sarah Weiser
Sarah Weiser is a Producer and photographer at Retro Report. Previously, she worked as a photojournalist and reporter across the country, at newspapers in Washington, Illinois, and Utah.

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Covid Deaths Left Orphans. The Stress of That Loss May Carry With It Lifelong Risks.
Avion Simon and his siblings, C.J., and Momo, lost their mother to Covid-19. Science has some ideas about the health hurdles that Covid orphans could face in the future.
covid-19

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Bringing Midwifery Back to Black Mothers
For care in pregnancy and childbirth, Black parents are turning to a traditional practice.
civil-rightshealth-medicine

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Shamed by Sex, Survivors of the Purity Movement Confront the Past
A “purity” movement in the 90s led by evangelical Christians promoted a strict view of abstinence before marriage. Today, followers are grappling with unforeseen aftershocks.
sex-genderpopular-culture

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How Black Women Fought Racism and Sexism for the Right to Vote
African American women played a significant and sometimes overlooked role in the struggle to gain the vote.
sex-genderpolitics

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From Women’s Suffrage to the ERA, a Century-Long Push for Equality
The Equal Rights Amendment, proposed nearly 100 years ago, sparked debate from its very beginning, even among many of the women who had worked together for suffrage.
sex-genderlaw-policy

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Coronavirus Reignites a Fight Over Rights of Detained Migrant Children
Migrant children in federal custody have tested positive for Covid-19, reopening a legal battle over the rights of children in custody.
covid-19law-policyimmigration

Video
Teaching Teens About Sex: The Decades-Old Debate over Abstinence-Only
A decades-old battle is re-emerging over abstinence-only sex education.
educationsex-gender

Video
Send In the Special Ops Forces
The rise of special operations units today can be traced to two historic military missions: one a legendary success, the other a spectacular failure.
military

Video
Population Bomb: The Overpopulation Theory That Fell Flat
In the 1960s, fears of overpopulation sparked talk of population control. So what happened?
environment

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Could We Geoengineer Ourselves Out of Climate Change?
Is geo-engineering the climate an answer to global warming? Cold War science has some lessons.
science-technology

Video
Could a Simple Intervention Fight a Suicide Crisis?
A simple intervention to reduce suicides – “caring letters,” messages of compassion and empathy – showed promise in the 1960s, but has been overlooked until now.
militaryhealth-medicine

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A Barge Full of Garbage Helped to Fuel a Recycling Movement
In the 1980s, rising public awareness about waste was fueled by a bizarre news story about a meandering New York City garbage barge.
environment

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This Snake Is Eating the Everglades
Burmese pythons released into the wild by well-meaning pet owners have created a reptilian nightmare in the Everglades.
environment

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For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business
An inmate population surge in the 1980s led to the growth of for-profit prisons. Today, despite their mixed record, private prison companies are overseeing the vast majority of undocumented migrants.
criminal-justiceimmigration

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Surviving Heroin
After surviving four heroin overdoses, Heather Wetzel hopes she can stay clean for her daughter.
health-medicine

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Suing the President: The Students Who Challenged the Travel Ban
With the release of Donald Trump’s new travel ban, a brief look at a Yale group that fought the original ban.
immigration

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Sanctuary Cities: An Uproar That Began Long Ago
As deportations of unauthorized immigrants rose under President Donald Trump, some churches and cities declared themselves sanctuaries and shielded migrants from immigration enforcement.
immigration

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Forever Prison
Guantanamo Bay has become a symbol of the war on terror, but its story actually begins a decade before, when it was first used to detain thousands of Haitians outside the reach of U.S. law. This story was created in collaboration with NPR and PBS, FRONTLINE.
law-policyimmigration

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Rachel Carson’s Warning on D.D.T. Ignited an Environmental Movement
Author Rachel Carson’s strike against the pesticide DDT turned her into both an environmental hero and a foil for those who believe regulation has gone too far. That fight is more relevant than ever.
Environment

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Princess Diana Brought Attention to Land Mines, but Their Danger Lingers
In the late 1990s, Princess Diana brought public attention to land mine victims. But, more than two decades after her death, how much progress has been made in the worldwide fight against leftover munitions?
Environment

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Life After Welfare
Twenty years ago, welfare reform was signed into law, promising needy families a path out of poverty. This is the story of Tianna Gaines-Turner, a former welfare recipient, who still struggles to make ends meet.
law-policy

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Welfare and the Politics of Poverty
Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform was supposed to move needy families off government handouts and onto a path out of poverty. Twenty years later, how has it turned out?
civil-rightslaw-policy

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How Heroin Addiction's Rural Spread Changed the War on Drugs
From time to time over the past 40 years, efforts were made to treat heroin addiction as a public health instead of a crime problem. But they were not successful.
law-policy

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From Crack Babies to Oxytots: Lessons Not Learned
In the 1980s, many government officials, scientists, and journalists warned that the country would be plagued by a generation of “crack babies.” They were wrong. More than 25 years later, the media is sounding a similar alarm.
media-criticismlaw-policy

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Is Multiple Personality Disorder Real? One Woman's Story
In the 1970s, the TV movie “Sybil” introduced much of the nation to multiple personality disorder and launched a controversy that continues to resonate.
popular-culturehealth-medicine

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A Mother, a Dingo and an Australian Media Frenzy
In 1982, an Australian mother was convicted of murdering her baby daughter. She was later exonerated, but soon fell victim to a joke that distracted the world from the real story.
Criminal JusticeMedia Criticism

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The Preschool Sex Abuse Case that Changed How Molestation is Investigated
The nightmare began in 1983 when a 39-year-old mother called the police department in Manhattan Beach, California and accused a teacher at the McMartin Preschool, Raymond Buckey, of molesting her two and a half-year old son.
media-criticismcriminal-justice

Multi media
The Malaria Warriors
The West African country of Burkina Faso, an epicenter of the world’s malaria epidemic, is also a thriving research hub where scientists have been embedded within local villages for years, looking for new solutions to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Multi media
Life After Welfare
Tianna Gaines-Turner, a former welfare recipient, still struggles to make ends meet with her family in Philadelphia.

Multi media
Surviving Heroin
After surviving four heroin overdoses, Heather Wetzel hopes she can stay clean for her daughter.

Multi media
Faces of Treatment
A photo essay by Sarah Weiser detailing the difficult path to recovery faced by pregnant addicts at New York City's Non-profit Center for Comprehensive Health Practice, one of the oldest centers in New York City to offer such treatment.

Multi media
The Story of Sasha and Olympia
Transgender issues today are rooted in a decades-long struggle for inclusion.

Multi media
A Journey through India: The Legacy of Population Fears
By 2030, India is poised to become the most populous nation in the world. The country's fertility rate has declined from an estimated 5.9 children per woman in the 1950s to 2.5 today, but concern over population growth persists.

Multi media
Lessons from the Nuclear Dream
A photo essay by Sarah Weiser