Renee Montagne

NPR's Renee Montagne speaks to songwriter Patterson Hood about his band's new album, which threads dark tales of our perilous times and tries to end on a note of optimism.

The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, but California is leading the charge to reverse that trend. Since 2006, the state has cut its rate by more than half.

More than 50,000 American women nearly die from childbirth every year, according to a CDC estimate. These catastrophic complications can come at a terrible cost emotionally, financially and medically.

NPR and ProPublica have reported American mothers die in childbirth at a higher rate than mothers in all other developed countries. And for every woman who dies, 70 women reach the brink of death.

An Oscar-nominated documentary short explores the country's opioid crisis through the heroism of women in Huntington, W.Va. — women like fire chief Jan Rader and drug court judge Patricia Keller.

The famed composer of Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera and many more tells his story in a new memoir.

A year ago, a Cincinnati mosque said it would be a sanctuary for asylum seekers — and backed out three weeks later. Now, mosques continue to explore ways to be involved in the sanctuary movement.

Black women are three times more likely to die from complications of childbirth than white women in the U.S. Racism, and the stress it causes, can play a leading role in that disparity.

The author of Megafire: The Race To Extinguish A Deadly Epidemic Of Flame, says a wet spring counterintuitively is feeding Western wildfires this year — and dangerous dry winds haven't peaked yet.

A nationwide survey shows that postpartum nurses often fail to warn mothers about potentially life-threatening complications following childbirth, mainly because they need more education themselves.