Brian Mann

As recently as last month, Surfside, Fla., officials were ordering changes at Champlain Towers South. But the demands never focused on the building's fundamental soundness.

There are 152 people still missing from a Florida residential building that collapsed last week. Residents are demanding answers to why the section fell, and are coping with the loss of loved ones.

An engineering report in Oct. 2018 warned of "major structural damage" in the Florida building that collapsed last week. The next month, a town inspector said the building was in "very good shape."

Dozens of people are feared dead following Thursday's collapse of a 12-story condo building in Surfside, Fla. Rescue crews are still searching for survivors who might be trapped in the rubble.

Rescue crews in Surfside, Fla., have to work slowly as they pick through the ruins of the 12-story condominium that collapsed Thursday. Dozens of people remain missing as families hope for the best.

The 2018 report found major damage to the concrete structural slab below the pool deck and warned that extensive repairs would be needed soon. The mayor is considering evacuating a sister building.

Crews continue to work on the building collapse in the town of Surfside, Fla.

The Rev. Juan Sosa's St. Joseph Church sits near the site of the collapsed condominium. "I do believe in hope," he told NPR.

President Biden wants to eliminate sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine that led to the incarceration of far more Black and Hispanic Americans. Critics are skeptical of the reform.

The White House announced support Tuesday for eliminating sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine, which experts say unfairly target Black and Hispanic communities.

American communities were devastated by addiction and the war on drugs. Now they're struggling for a future but the damage runs deep. Healing and hope often clash with overdose deaths and poverty.

Researchers know how to curb the risks of overdose and disease among drug users, but policymakers are reluctant to allow public health measures that include needle exchanges and access to safer drugs.

Researchers and doctors say they know how to curb harm caused by addiction and the spread of dangerous drugs. But lawmakers are reluctant to allow needle exchanges and access to safer narcotics.

President Nixon called for an "all-out offensive" against drugs and addiction. The U.S. is now rethinking policies that led to mass incarceration and shattered families while drug deaths kept rising.

A federal bankruptcy judge cleared plans for a final vote by Purdue Pharma's creditors that would release members of the Sackler family and their financial empire from liability for the opioid crisis.

A bankruptcy judge cleared a plan for final vote by creditors of Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, that would release the Sacklers and their financial empire from liability for the opioid crisis.

Drug distributors have faced embarrassing revelations about their internal practices. One email shared by corporate executives described rural Americans addicted to opioids as "pillbillies."

Drug distributors are in court in West Virginia over their role in the state's opioid crisis. Documents spotlight revelations — including internal communications that mocked people with addiction.

A diplomatic row has frozen U.S.-Mexican efforts to target drug cartels. American officials say illicit fentanyl from labs in Mexico is driving a surge in overdose deaths.

Under a bankruptcy procedure prohibited by courts in part of the country, the Sacklers could be sheltered from opioid lawsuits even without declaring bankruptcy. Some states are crying foul.